The Hands of Time

Chapter 11: Moonlight

Day by day, the situation in the village seemed to only grow worse. The villagers were skeptical and Jimin couldn't blame them. How could they trust their army when they were looking that nervous even though they were moving in groups, heavily armed?

Her own group was also stuck in a dead end. Not truly a dead end since Kim Aeri still insisted on her plans that Jimin doubted was the safest, but they were still holding on to it as their last resort.

Looking at Aeri and Ji Hoon without knowing they were together was already hard, now Jimin had more anger for them. She didn't know why, but she just felt annoyed whenever she saw them together. Like her mind was putting ideas in her head about what they were doing all this time behind everyone's backs.

On the other hand, Minjeong had been sticking to her during the day, she was clearly still worried about Jimin's condition and that really warmed her heart. Something that made her even giddier, was how the woman would get excited and willingly leave her when the evening came, preparing herself to snuck out of the palace, to meet Jimin again. The other version of her, the true version of Jimin.

They had been meeting secretly for a few days now, they would talk for a few hours, then she would walk her home safely after. It was never about some specific topics, just things they could come up with when they were together. And it felt really nice getting to know Minjeong as herself, not as Jimin the man. Because Minjeong wasn't as guarded and talked more freely even though she was basically more of a stranger to her than him.

Today, Jimin had to go roam around the area of the kingdom with The Royal Army, to scout for the enemies that might still be around, to find some more clues that could help them, hopefully catch one of them to interrogate, but they found nothing.

Despite his condition, Han Ji Hoon insisted on tagging along, and truthfully, she was glad that he did. She could feel the army had more respect for him rather than General Yu. and she was even more glad that he was with them when they headed towards the abandoned cottage where their group used to hide.

General Kang looked back at Jimin as he picked up Jimin's forgotten arrow in the tiny house. "You used to live here, right?" She simply nodded wordlessly, looking around the house with Ji Hoon watching the old man and her carefully as the rest of the army rested on the field. "Are you sure they weren't using this house as a hiding place?"

"I don't think they would be hiding this close to the palace." Ji Hoon answered him instead, approaching the man while also picking up Jimin's old weapon.

"The bodies from their comrades are nearby." He still had his eyes on the woman. "You said you weren't the one who did that?"

She shook her head. "I told you, it was that woman."

"You should've told us sooner, they were the abductors, we could've found something–"

"I checked." She sighed, finally looking back at him with sharp eyes. "There was nothing."

He looked down, seemingly in deep thought as his fingers turned the arrow around carefully. "What about that woman? Do you know anything about her?"

"Why? You want to recruit her or something?"

Ji Hoon faked a laugh as he looked back at Jimin nervously. "I don't think she would be suitable to join The Royal Army, Jimin-ssi."

But the old man looked up to him with a glare. "You saw how she fought, General Han." He stated. "She was like a one woman army, it would be advantageous if we have her on our side."

"Isn't she already? She tilted her head. "I don't think she would've helped you if she was one of the enemies."

"But we still don't know her intentions." He shook his head, eyes staring blankly on the wall. "If what you said about her killing those men were true, then she has saved The Princess' life twice by now without asking for rewards." His eyes refocused, glancing back between her and Ji Hoon. "That's quite strange, don't you think?"