Secret of the Two Kings (89 CHAPTERS - ON HOLD)

제 15 부

A deep hoarse voice frightened Lady Jang. "You are awake at last!"

Oh no! Why? Why him? 

The unknown man's face illuminated as the light coming from the torches exposed his long beard and wrinkled as a prune face.

"Minister... Yeol?" She gasped in disbelief.

"Yes, Lady Jang. Have you not expected it would me?"

Lady Jang started questioning herself. War of thoughts happened inside her head, trying to figure out why the old minister had done that. She realized that he was the Queen's father after all. 

"So now what? After messing the whole ceremony, were you planning to leave?"

Lady did not respond. She looked away from the minister, afraid of what he might do to her. Annoyed with her stubbornness, the elderly minister signaled one of the hwarangs to splash a bucket of water to Lady Jang. The water was so cold that it pinched every part of her skin like a thousand needles pricking her face simultaneously. It felt like her soul was going out of her body. She shook her head and totally got back to her senses.

She groaned. "Minister."

"How dare you fool us, Lady Jang? The King has trusted you!"

He continued, "I am just following the King's orders, but most of all, I am just a father trying to protect my daughter."

"My Lord, I do not understand what you are saying."

She sniffed, holding back any tears that could come out from her eyes.

The elderly minister gritted his teeth upon hearing the Head Priestess' obvious lies. He lifted an arm and struck her face with his heavy palm, in an intense slap. His whole arm moved as quick as a viper striking its prey. He could not think straight, emotions fueling his actions. He could not contain himself, and he wanted to inflict more pain to her (a more painful one compared to a sting of a slap).

"You have fooled the King and the entire kingdom regarding the arrival of the eclipse. Now everyone is praising the Prime Minister's name. You have planned this ahead with him!"

"I do not know anything. Please believe me." Beads of tears started to come out from her puffy eyes.

"Clearly, this is an act of treason. You need to pay it with your life." The stern tone and narrow eyes of the minister sent more shivers inside the Head Priestess, knowing that anytime she could be dead.

"Please have mercy, My Lord. Spare me, please!" she pleaded with a muffled cry, her voice barely audible.

"Punish her. Do not stop unless she confessed everything," Yeol ordered. Lady Jang started to panic and wiggled her body, trying to get out from the chair. She started screaming and pleading for her life.

Two guards took a thin wooden bar and inserted those in Lady Jang's thighs. After the count of three, they pumped those wooden bars slowly, trying to separate her thighs, which were tied on the chair. Lady Jang screamed in pain, her hoarse, piercing voice echoed on the four corners of the dungeon.

"Again!" Yeol exclaimed with a blank facial expression.

Lady Jang wailed, "Ahhh!"

"Again!"

At the first rounds, Lady Jang had the energy to scream at the top of her lungs because of extreme pain. However, as the guards continued, her screams had lost their intensities as her entire body surrendered. All of her little energy was drained by the combinations of excruciating pain, screams, and the fear of dying.