he sensed their presence long before they settheir plan in motion. he was in search of toys he could buy for the twins. theywere just a few weeks old right now but he knew that soon enough they would becaptivated by sounds, colours, shapes. he remembered his other childrenâscuriosity, how their eyes sparkles as they discovered the world and itswonders. as long as he should live, he would protect them from its uglinessuntil they grew in strength and knowledge. even his two daughters would not beleft behind. he wanted them cultivated and able to defend themselves from thedangers brought by their precarious position.
it was not the first time he was followed.assassins sent by the opposing faction (although they would deny it eventhrough torture) tried to take his life before san even learned how to walk.his sole existence was a threat and some would stop at nothing to see him fall,even now that he was more than a capable man. he pretended not to have noticedthem, going about his business and roaming the busy streets for as long as hecould without arising suspicion, maybe hoping he was mistaken despite years oftraining to detect it.
he took a left turn into a narrow, one-waystreet, picking up his pace to see if theyâd do the same. when they did, theprince seemingly vanished, only to reappear behind them. moving his hand to hisrobes to unsheathe his swordâŠ
he forgot it at home. heâd put it down to stophis son haneul from shattering a precious vase his maternal grandfather giftedhim, and left without a weapon. he usually did not carry knives or daggers onhim, deeming it unnecessary if he was just going out for an evening stroll. themen felt his hesitation.
âit seems like his highness will have to relyon his hands and feet if he wishes to keep his life,â said one of themmockingly.
san was not afraid of them despite beingoutnumbered. heâd faced a lot more dangerous than assassins at a far youngerage, and was trained in martial arts very early into his life. he was forced toimprovise, using rocks or tools around him to hit them, knowing that highlytrained assassins would not be knocked out by kicks and punches. however, theprince hadnât anticipated a fourth men hiding in the shadows and preparing hisattack, which could very well cost him his life.
sometimes he wondered what had happened of so horrible in his past life ( or lives, even if he doubted he had numerous instances beforehand knowing himself ) to deserve constant annoyances to drop onto his head so unnecessarily, especially when the day seemed to be so nice and so perfect for some forbidden book hunting at the market âfinding himself instead cautiously following some shady figures through the crowd, swiftly taking small knives while hovering nearby a butcherâs stand.Â
maybe he stole treats from a child, or kicked a puppy. or maybe both, judging by how things seemed to just get more and more ridiculous as time seemed to just keep doing its course.
and yet he could feel there was something meant to go wrong and horribly so, something that was making his stomach churn from bottom to top and his ears whistle ever so annoyingly âsomething making his grip onto the knives grow tighter just like when he used to train with his uncle, jaw clenched and cautious eyes looking always to follow, but not too much, to guard himself and whatever got those peopleâs quite insisting attention, but not too much.
and it was when the clear and all too known profile of prince and supreme commander yi san entered the picture âweapon, where was the weapon? he always had one, heâd remember, even when the prince himself seemed to shine like sunset clouds in laughing at his own public banters against his father heâd recall the blade always next to the manâs hiplineâ that he felt the plummet, the heart meeting palpitations and going fast, fast, urging him to calm down from the rush because nothing was going to go well if heâd let panic have the best of him.
he needed to breathe, to count down, in and out âone, two, one two. his hands moved, fast, the blades all too easily leaving the grip of small fingers to ease themselves onto better subjects âone, two, a back, a forehead not that far from the former.
one. squelch. two. squelch.
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