Dawn of a New World - Akatsuki no Yona

Chapter 3

"You're too cruel, Soo-Won! How could you believe that lie?!" Yona leaned her arms against the table and then rested her head in her arms in despair. I shook my head at her, it's her fault for blurting out that ridiculousness. "You're the cruel one. You're also a nuisance." I looked up to see Hak looking in the opposite direction from where my sister was sitting. He looked like he was so irritated by my sister's antics. I do admit, it gets on my nerves sometimes but she is my sister.

I heard the sound of footsteps approaching and glanced up to see my father entering the room. "Your marriage may not be a lie after all." Yona looked at him in confusion "Huh?" Father had a rather stern look on her face and I immediately knew that this was going to be a serious conversation. "It would only be natural for you to be betrothed by now." Yona's expression turned to one of sadness, "No..." she then starting speaking desperately towards father. "No! I want Soo-Won to-" "You can't have Soo-Won!" Everyone in the room flinched at the sound of my father's tone of voice.

Yona began to stand up and Min-Soo attempted to get her to calm down "Princess..." Yona completely ignored him and started speaking once again "I don't want to hear you speak of my love life! I'm-" Father then interrupted her with a much calmer tone. "Yona, I have always given you anything you desired. Beautiful hair ornaments, earrings, a royal villa, and a flower garden...I would give you anything that is not a weapon. But no matter how you wish it, I can not give you Soo-Won. You are the princess of the Kingdom of Kouka. The man who marries you will become the next king." I had already accepted the fact that I was always going to be second to Yona. It's how it's always been.

Yona looked down and started to get even more desperate "Soo-Won is the son of my father's brother, Yoo-Hong. He is of royal blood." Father looked on at her solemnly "True... but it is my duty as king to choose my heir." I looked back at Yona but couldn't see her expression because her bangs were covering her eyes. "Why? Soo-Won is a fine man. You're a cowardly king who is too afraid to touch a weapon." You could see in father's expression that he knew she was right. "I am indeed a cowardly king. Your mother was captured and killed by insurgents." I flinched at the mention of my mother's name, "Such dangers go hand in hand with being apart of a king's family. That is why I have found no desire to take a new wife." That is completely understandable in my opinion. After going through something like that, you wouldn't be able to cope if it happened to someone else.

"Yona, you want Soo-Won to be happy, do you not?" Yona clenched her fists tighter around the fabric of her clothes that she was clutching. "I don't understand. I don't understand, Father." Hak looked over towards her yet kept his expression emotionless. He couldn't fool me however, to me, it was obvious that he was worried for Yona.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yona was currently sitting down against a part of the building while I stood leaning against it beside her. She looked heartbroken, I hated seeing her like this. I bent down so I could sit next to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder as a form of comfort. She then spoke up after a few minutes of silence, "Soo-Won and I were never meant to be..." tears started to pool around her eyes and I knew that if she blinked they would start cascading down her cheeks. I pulled her into my side and stroked her head in a calm manner.

The sound of water splashing broke Yona and I out of our trance and looked over in the direction the sound had come from. "Who's there?" I asked curiously. Yona then began to speak up "Hak? It's you again, isn't it? Only you would do something so senseless." A shadowy figure suddenly emerged from around the corner, reaching out towards us and we started to scramble for safety. I pushed Yona in front of me to make sure she made it.

As we turned the corner Yona started panicking even more and noticed a door so she opened it and quickly gestured for me to follow. She slammed it shut and leaned against it slightly, breathing heavily. All of a sudden a hand wrapped around and clamped over her mouth in an attempt to silence her. I was about to shout out her name until I noticed who was holding her. Yona was still flailing around helplessly until she managed to pull the man's hand off and call out desperately "Soo-Won!"

What she didn't know, was that it was Soo-Won who currently had her in his hold. "Yona?" Yona quickly turned around in shock and you could sense the relief washing over her. "Soo-Won..." He smiled apologetically "I'm sorry. Did I frighten you two?" Yona and I both sighed in slight relief now that we were safe. "I did come in without warning." He stood up and lit a candle so we were able to see better. I glanced down at Yona and noticed that she was still shaking in fear. Soo-Won also seemed to notice. "Yona?" "A s-strange man came after us..." Soo-Won then strode over to the door and opened it to glance outside. By the looks of it, he didn't see anything suspicious. "There's no one there."

Yona and I looked at each other in shock and I quickly spoke up "That can't be! We..." I started to tremble slightly but tried to ignore it seeing as Yona was more important. She started to shake even more and brought her arms up to hold herself in fear. Soo- Won noticed her distress and quickly walked over "Yona?" She didn't say anything, just stared off into space with a terrified expression on her face. I rubbed my hand up and down her back to comfort her while Soo-Won took off one of his robes and lightly wrapped around her. He then lent towards her and rested his forehead against hers, "It's alright. I'm here." Yona looked up in realization and then allowed her tears to fall. I smiled softly to myself and at the scene and decided to leave the two in peace.

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