Places We Keep Our Sins

25 - Defender

Y/N flew in the door of the family guest house, leaping forward to punch her sister straight in the jaw.

"You traitorous bitch!" Y/N screamed as she swung. Ningyi hit the wooden floor before she could even make a gasp out of surprise. "You betrayed Taehyung!"

Ningyi scrambled to her feet, seeming to not have taken the hit hard whatsoever, returning by shoving Y/N away.

"I reported a traitorous Fallen to the prince!" Ningyi spat back. "He made his own path! His own consequences!"

Y/N went to charge her sister again, but their mother held her back.

"Stop this!" their mother yelled. "You will not attack your sister in the High Temple!"

"Taehyung is part of our family!" Y/N yelled at her sister, not paying any attention to their mother. "Father considered him as a son! You betray family so simply? For what? So your precious teacher can love you?"

Ningyi's face flashed red, and she picked up a vase threateningly. "It's my duty as a Daocian to protect the kingdom from threats! Family or not!"

Their mother stepped between them, her hands up. "Don't do it, Ningyi! Put it down!"

"Then if I were a Fallen," Y/N yelled past her mother's reprimands, "would you turn me in to die?"

"If you were stupid enough to be a Fallen, you would earn your death!"

Their mother marched forward to take the vase from Nigyi's hands, putting it on the table with a loud thump.

"Enough both of you!" she commanded. "You both shame your father with this outburst!"

At the sound of their father's name, they both went silent despite their anger. Their mother heaved a deep breath, holding onto her shoulder as she lowered herself into the chair next to the table. Both daughters rushed to their mother's side.

"What's wrong?" Ningyi asked.

Y/N automatically turned to the guards at the door. "Go get the medic!"

One of the guards left at her command, and Y/N turned back to their mother.

"You fuss too much," she scolded them both. "I'm fine. But your hatred for each other will not be accepted as long as I'm breathing. Y/N, get a towel for your sister to wipe her face."

Y/N looked at her sister, now noticing that her eyes were narrowed and watery, a thin line of blood starting to drip down her upper lip. Regret and frustration twisted her gut as she went to the side of the room and picked up a spare washing cloth to wipe her sister's face. Y/N reached up to wipe the blood from Ningyi's face, but Ningyi dodged her.

"I can do it myself," she said, snatching the towel out of Y/N's hand.

Their mother pulled open a red and gold fan, huffing as she fanned herself. "If your father knew how much you two would fight after his death, maybe he never would have left us."

Y/N and Ningyi lowered their heads at the reprimand. Ningyi dabbed the blood from her nose, sniffing a time or two in the long silence. But if their mother was waiting for an apology, neither one of them was about to do it.

"It's a tragedy that Taehyung felt he needed to pursue a life of crime after everything," their mother said with a sigh. "I had hoped for his flourishing under your father's mentorship. Let us spend this time praying for his repentance, and that mercy will be on his side."

Ningyi nodded. Y/N looked down at the floor, clenching her teeth.

How can he represent from prison? He'll be exiled. Does that mean nothing?