Behind These Walls | Park Banryu

XX

"Areum what are you smiling about?" Seonwoo asks. "H-huh? I'm not smiling." I snapped out of my daze. "You were, and you liked stupid." I rolled my eyes and flicked his forehead. "Yah! I'm the king you know!" Seonwoo exclaimed.

"Tsk, no you're not." I say. "W-what? Yes I am!" Seonwoo insisted. "Ah-ro said she knows who the real king is." I said. "Oh..." Seonwoo sighed.

I laughed. "It's okay, no one else knows you aren't the king. Your cover isn't blown just yet." Seonwoo nodded. "I want to find the king soon." I raised an eyebrow. "Why?" "He was the reason why my best friend was killed, he was also Ah-ro's brother." Seonwoo explained.

"What are you gonna do when you find the king?" I asked him and he stared at me deeply. "I'm going to kill him." my eyes bulged out. "W-well then, since we're sharing our hate for the royals I'll share mine." I started.

"My mother was a Wonhwa. She managed to escape from the queen but we ended up getting caught stealing food since we were in desperate need, we were poor. She killed my parents. Me and my brother survived but my brother had to work hard so we could have money but he became ill and died." I let out. "I'm sorry to hear that." Seonwoo apologized.

"It's alright, the damage has already been done but my hate for the queen remains." "Is that one of the reasons why you became a Wonhwa?" Seonwoo questioned and I nodded. "Yes, I want to get revenge." "How?"

"I'm going to kill the queen."

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Queen Jiso POV

"Call Areum." I demand. Mo Young bows and leaves to get Areum. A few minutes later Areum enters the room.

"You called, your highness?" she asked. "Yes, I have heard that you spoke unmannered to the princess. Is that correct?" I questioned and the young woman slowly nodded. "You see your highness, she was being too harsh on the hwarangs who have already perfected-" I cut her off.

"The princess was taught many things and one of them was sword fighting. When the princess says there's sloppiness, she is not wrong. Do you understand?" I scolded. "Yes your highness." "I must punish you for your actions." I say which makes Areum shoot her head up at me.

"Although, you are a great use to me. You are a strong fighter and I don't agree with Sookmyung's words that I made a bad choice in choosing you. In that case, this will be your so-called punishment." Areum observes me carefully.

"Tomorrow you shall battle my best royal guards." I smirked but Areum's face remains the same. "One by one you shall fight them. One wrong move could cost you your life." I say. "If that is my punishment, so be it." Areum says which caught me off guard.

"Good, tomorrow when the sun rises you should be in the courtyard. The hwarangs as well as I and the princess will be watching." I tell her. "You are dismissed."

Areum POV

I walked out the doors of the palace and groaned. "This sounds too easy, she's planning something." I mumbled under my breath. "Areum?" I hear a familiar voice in front of me. "Banryu." I smile.

"Shouldn't you be eating? It's your break." I approached him. "Yeah but I finished early so I went strolling around." he explained and I nodded. "How about you? What have you been doing?" "The queen is going to punish me." I bluntly responded.

"What? What is she going to do?" he asked. "I'm gonna have to fight her best guards. She said, one wrong move could cost me my life." I chuckled. "Yah, that isn't funny. This is your life on the line." Banryu scolded.

"Aish, I don't mind." I sighed. "You're really tough huh?" Banryu giggles. "Yeah, I guess. I'm skeptical though, her punishment seems too easy. She has to be planning something." I admit. "Like what?" "I don't know, I guess I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow. Oh yeah, she said you guys have to watch as well. If you notice anything strange, call out to me. I'll get going now." I pat him on the shoulder and ran off before he could say anything else.