life may not be fair but it sure is beautiful

Moving on

Jungeun felt her stomach getting sicker as time passes, her feet aching to move, to run towards her princess and her pride and heart taking the hardest of blows. She somehow lost Princess Jiwoo, the sweetheart of the Kim Dynasty, and the love of her life.

She was still on her knees, not daring to look up where the king was having a panic attack and a tantrum at the same time, veins popping from his neck as he screamed at Jungeun for being so careless. Jungeun knew, and King does too, that this was the palace guards' fault but there were many of them and there was only one Jungeun, who's responsible for the princess. Her ears heard his words, but her brain was too busy to process them, she was thinking of every single nightmare scenario that could have happened. She could have been taken by rapists, slave traders, pimps, torturers, all sorts of human garbage. She felt tears poke her eyes for the nth time that day, and she was only awake for four hours.

"Listen to me boy, you better find my precious daughter, and you better find her before my search parties. She was your responsibility, your only responsibility, and somehow she got kidnapped." Kim Jukan said, rubbing his temples in order to calm down. "I give you no resources, you are on your own. Find her or never come back here, ever again. Or I will give orders for your execution. Now, get out of my sight."

Jungeun bowed her lowest once again and exited the room, shaking with everything that's been happening.

She walked aimlessly for a while, letting the world revolve around her as she staggered behind. She felt like there is nothing to do, nothing to move for. She knew that the princess was out there somewhere, still breathing although not safe, but knowing that is not equal to feeling it. Anxiety and panic crept upon her, rising from the pit of her stomach, spiraling towards her heart and ruthlessly piercing it and finally poisoning her brain with thoughts that made breathing seem like torture. Her chest ached, she felt her own breathing everywhere, knowing that she wouldn't even want her heart to beat if she couldn't bring Jiwoo back with her, to home, to their sacred heaven.

She raised her head to find that her aimless stroll, led her to her own house. With a deep breath and finding enough determination to walk, she stepped in, taking her shoes off in the entrance. Her noona, Taeyeon, was in their common area, quietly doing needlework as Yoona played gayageum on the ground. They both noticed her as she gave them a slight bow.

"Junghyun-ah, is there something wrong?" asked Taeyeon, eyebrows raised to emphasize. "Your eyes are red and puffy. Is everything okay?"

Jungeun shook her head and crouched down on the floor, finally letting herself go. Her tears streamed down her face as she held her head between her hands, hair disheveled and sobs quietly shaking her. Her sisters immediately rushed to her side.

"Yah, Junghyun-ah, what happened? Did something happen to the princess?" asked Yoona as she shook her. Upon hearing her name, Jungeun started to weep even more.

"She's gone! Someone took her during the god-forsaken night and I am responsible for it." She said, half hiccupping, half whispering. She hugged her sisters as tears stained their dresses.

This continued for a few minutes before Taeyeon got up and dragged her to Jungeun's room. Yoona looked puzzled but didn't question them, she knew that those two were closer to each other more than anyone else.

"Get a hold of yourself, Jungeun-ah." She said sharply as she closed the door. Jungeun looked surprised as she sniffled. Her sister was not much of a talker, let alone somebody who could act tough. She was like that person you could rely on at the end of the day, always there and always listening. "You need to get going, you have no time to waste."

Jungeun didn't say a word, just looked at the floorboards. She didn't even have the courage to look up to her face. But that seemed to anger her sister even more. She grabbed Jungeun's chin roughly and forced her to look up.