.twenty four.
Minji hurried after Prince Eun when Yeon Hwa dragged Hajin away and caught him just as he was about to climb onto his horse on his way out. "Eun oppa," She called his name to get his attention. It was one of the first times, if not the first time, she was calling him by his real name and not Shrimp Prince. Her words had managed to take him by surprise, but only for a fraction of a second. She didn't give him any time to think about it as she continued in a pleading voice. "Take me back to the palace with you. We need to do something to help her." She needed to see Jung. He would be able to do something about this. He could talk to his mother, or the king. They would help them.
Eun gave a firm nod of his head and seemed to have grown strength from out of nowhere. He lifted her up so easily, like she was weightless, and he placed her onto the horse without so much as breaking a sweat. Minji was able to steady herself as he climbed on behind her, trapping her securely between him and the reigns of the horse. Minji placed her hands on top of his to keep her balance and he didn't flinch away like he normally would have. There was no time for any childishness since they were trying to save Hae Soo from a horrible fate.
It took about a moment for them to both get settled and they were on their way, the tenth prince making his horse dash across the dirt road back to the palace.
At one moment Minji gulped, scared that she might fall off. "Eun-ah, slow down..." She called his name, afraid. Everything was passing so quickly before her eyes and horse riding was still something new to her. She was afraid they would both fall and get hurt.
But the tenth prince reassured her. "Don't be scared. I won't let you fall."
And right then, she believed him.
They reached the palace in record time and the guards opened up the gates for them, bowing their heads to the tenth prince as the seventeen year old didn't even stop to greet them. Eun stopped by the back of the palace, where there was a gazebo overlooking a lake in which he and his brothers often had lunch together to enjoy the nice view of nature. He tugged on the reigns gently to get his horse to come to a stop and jumped off the horse shouting off the top of his lungs, his arms flailing high above his head. "Brothers! Brothers, come quick! There's an emergency!"
The others turned, distracted from their lunch, when they heard the commotion and Jung was the first to shoot up from his chair at the sight of Minji. He pushed past his brothers to get to them and asked with concern. "What's wrong? Is Hak Soon hurt?" He looked from his older brother to his girlfriend. She didn't look like she was injured or in any pain, but he couldn't be too sure.
The fourteenth prince helped Minji off the horse as his older brother explained frantically to the other princes who were gathering around them. "No, no. Your girl if fine. She just came with me because we have urgent news from brother Wook's house." He reassured Jung first before starting to explain. The other princes waited with excitement for him to continue. "Yeon Hwa said the Haes are going to marry Soo-yah off to some man and she's going to have to go somewhere far away."
His words quickly gained the fourth prince's attention. He had been standing off to the side, not too close to the others, pretending not to care about anything. But the others knew that out of all his brothers, he had always had a soft spot for both Baek-ah and Eun. They were two of the youngest and he never had a problem with them. With Jung, even though he was the youngest of them, it was a different story. His youngest brother was poisoned against him by their mother. And for that reason, the two could never get along.
"Its some man who's old and has many children." Minji informed them desperately, her hands gripping tightly onto the material of his gown. Yeon Hwa had given them the vague details that she knew about, but there was a satisfaction on her face. She was glad to be getting rid of Hajin. "We have to save her. Its unfair to force her into a marriage like that." But she also didn't want to be separated from Hajin so that they could continue to search for a way back to the present together. Hajin was the only person who she knew from back home.
