Decisions

The Counterattack

Hello everyone! I hope the New Year has been treating you well. I apologize for such a long wait on this chapter, especially with the major cliffhanger I left you all with last time. Thank you for your continued support, and I hope you will continue to remain patient with future updates. I am back at school again and that will occupy most of my time for now. I will try to update as often as possible (every two weeks?), but no promises. Please enjoy this chapter, and I shall see you in the next one!

As always, please comment and subscribe if you haven't already :)

Also a note: the first line of Jung's message, I got it from 300 Translated Tang poems, which is where So's poem to Soo in the drama came from. This particular poem was called "On the Festival of the Moon to Sub-official Zhang" by Han Yu.

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The man who Yo pointed his sword to turned around, revealing himself.

"I have no throne to surrender, hyungnim. But if you surrender now, then I will talk to Paeha about sparing your life."

At the sound of So's voice, the rest of the doors opened and royal troops filled up Damiwon, all of them pointing their swords at Yo and his rebel troops. So also revealed the sword he had been holding and held it up.

Yo seemed startled, but he quickly masked it and narrowed his eyes.

"I did not come here to surrender. Either I will get the throne, or I will die trying to. Attack!"

With a yell, he charged forward to meet the royal troops head on. Someone grasped Soo's arm from behind and she gasped, whipping her head around, only to see it was Soon Deok.

"Let us leave, your highness! It will be safer for you elsewhere."
"But what about So?!"

She looked over at her husband and he turned from where he was still holding his sword, smiling reassuringly.

"I will be fine, Soo ya. Go with Soon Deok and I will follow you soon."

With that, he charged into the fight. Soo let out a breath before she turned and ran with Soon Deok out of the room. Her sister-in-law led her out of Damiwon and towards the King's quarters. When Soo arrived, she saw him pacing back and forth. Both ladies bowed and once the King saw, he approached them.

"Hae Soo, are you all right?"
"Yes, Paeha. They took the bait and went to Damiwon instead of here. So and the royal army are taking care of the troops and Yo as we speak."

He looked over at Soon Deok.

"Soon Deok, how are things on your end?"

"My father is with the troops at Damiwon. I was told to stay here along with the rest of the guards to protect you and Lady Hae Soo."

"I am glad things went according to plan. It would have been difficult if he had chosen to attack here first."

Soo and Deok stood there as the King continued to pace around his room. As she watched him pace, she began to think back to the scene at Damiwon. How was So doing now? Was he still fighting? Was he fighting with Yo? She knew how distressed he was the day he came back from chasing his older brother, and was filled with grief and guilt that he had played a role in Yo's death. However, all that proved to be false, since Yo survived and had gone into hiding this past year.

She knew this time around that So would be the same; he would not want to kill Yo, but only disarm him. She didn't know what the King would do, but she had a feeling that So would plead for Yo's life, even when he knew the brother was undeserving.

Soo thought back to the night when they found out about Yo's plot.

Soo and So were quietly enjoying their dinner when the eunuch made a sudden announcement.

"The 14th prince has arrived, your highnesses."

The two looked at each other curiously before returning their attention to the door.