"We'd met before, as well." Yun Ki completes, causing Soojin's eyes to be filled with confusion.

Had she really met The Crowned King before the unfavourable night they shared as a mere Concubine and a Lust-triggered King?

Yun Ki looks at Soojin, as though she ought to know what he's talking about.

"W-We did?" She stutters, nervously.

Brows bunched over her forehead in wonder.

Soojin had lived her life in the confines of her own home.

She stepped out only when she was out working at the Blacksmith's.

She even avoided going to the Capitol as much as possible as Men there were far rowdier.

They'd grab a young girl's hand right in the middle of a crowded Market.

They'd roam the streets drunk, not-so-subtly groping women as they passed by.

Soojin had been exposed to this harsh men-ridden society since she started menstruating.

They didn't see her as an equal.

To them, she was meat.

Meat to feast on.

Soojin remembers being caressed by a man while she was at the Market buying carrots.

He'd squeezed her buttocks and breathed down her neck.

But Soojin really wasn't a pushover, never then and never now.

She'd twisted his wrist in public, as groups of women watched and made it appear as though Soojin was at fault.

Only, she'd been backed by another man, who had intervened and stopped the drunken mess from laying his hands on Soojin.

That was the last time she wandered outside Daegu on her own.

Then there were times her Mother coerced her into wearing vests that exposed her neck, stopped her from wearing a stole so that a suitor, preferably a nobleman, would offer her a valuable exchange in return for Soojin.

That's essentially what scarred Soojin.

How everyone viewed her as such a soft target, as though she was made of clay and could be squeezed and played with, as one desired.

This was partly why she worked at The Blacksmith's.

She welded daggers, sharpened knives, beat down metal into thin sheets, under temperatures that could scald one's skin.

She carried a knife with her, at all times and her hands bore grease.

Grease and the bronze tint of rusted silverware.

She was drowning in sweat when she got back home and handed her mother, a daily stable wage of silver coins.

When had someone as grand as Jeonha himself made a feature in her oh-so-ordinary life?

She snaps out of her thoughts as Yun Ki nods.

"We did." He responds.

"Oh, tell us also. Yun Ki-ssi, you're quite the sly romantic..keeping an eye on your wife from the very beginning!" Wang Taeiji says and Yun Ki smiles into his plate.

He takes a big bite of his meat and looks back up to be met by pairs of curious eyes, watching him intently.

"What?" He asks, drawing pleasure out of the curiosity he's stirred in everyone on the table.

"I don't remember meeting you.." Soojin murmurs and Yun Ki looks at her, placing his head over the palm of his hand, over the table.

"How would you? You were consumed by rage.." He responds, passing a sly wink over to Soojin, whose cheeks flush in embarrassment.

The extravagant dinner passes by in the blink of an eye, masked by laughter and alcohol.

Being the first day, Yun Ki and Soojin stayed in, resting their stiff limbs and really taking in the change of atmosphere.

Back in the Chamber, Soojin is followed in by her maidservant, who has her seated before the wooden framed mirror, removing the heavy head-piece she had adorned over her head.

One that had been stuck in with pins and had Soojin withering in pain, tiny bouts of pain-stricken words spilling past her lips.

Beauty came with a price and the one Soojin was having to pay with was pain, as though the skin of her scalp was being pulled apart from her calvarium.

Yun Ki was sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the quivers that left the Dressing Room, scratching the nape of his neck.

He wanders off to the end of the room, eyes landing over scented candles.

One he brings to his nostrils and catches a whiff of Vanilla Beans.

He lights a matchstick, allowing the sweet aroma to waft through the room.

It helped him unwind, as he untied the top knot his hair was in, discarding the black mesh coating over his bun.

He lets out a laboured breath, shoulders relaxing from the tumultuous stress he felt with his mane pulled over the top of his head, forcefully.

He lets out a satisfied hum running the pads of his fingers through his trousseled hair, watching them fall over his back, tickling him with their weightless demeanour.

"You didn't answer my question, e-earlier.." A voice comes up from behind him, causing him to flinch.

"Aish!" He jumps, grasping his chest as he hadn't seen her standing behind him in the reflection.

Soojin backs away at his reaction, bowing her head as Yun Ki's eyes run over her form.

Her black hair were free from bondage and were glowing under the orange hue the candlelight conferred.

She was glad in her baby pink gown, clutching at the drawstrings, tugging them closer to her torso.

"I wanted to tell you, in private." He responds.

Yun Ki ushers Soojin out to the balcony, one facing stretches of green fields as far as the eye could see.

Just as Yun Ki is admiring the view before him, catching an occasional glimpse of fireflies adorning the fields and shimmering yellow amidst the green shrubs, he hears a loud clap beside his ear and turns to face Soojin, ear twitching.

He watches her clamped hands before his face.

"I-It was a firefly.." She responds, freeing her fists, allowing the beetle to set sail from her captive grasp.

Yun Ki watches the beetle's caudal end light up in an illuminiscense before it flies off of her palm, back into the green fields and back into the open.

"Why didn't you crush it?" He asks, watching as she'd closed her palms on it first.

Soojin places her elbows over the wooden handrail, coddling her face in her spread open palms.

"I wouldn't do that.." A soft voice responds.

Yun Ki, who stands at an arm's length from her, stares at her side-profile.

Watches her eyes glint in a yellow bioluminescence as she stares on with child-like wonder.

"Why did you catch it, then?" He asks.

Soojin sighs out, "Just didn't want it to strike against your ear and startle you, again.."

"Besides, captivity and death would have put forward a full stop in it's life. Who am I to do that to another creature?" She responds.

Yun Ki's lip tugs in a half-hearted smile.

"I wish more people thought of captivity and death as you did. It would've saved me a lot of time.. Time I could've utilised to better myself as a human being.."

Soojin's gaze flickers back on him.

"Sometimes, it's better to leave things in the past and look ahead into the future..You can't change who you were back then and yet, you can't let your present self lament over who you were back then..Be the man you've wanted to be as you were growing older.." She mumbles, tucking a strand behind her ear.

Yun Ki can't take his eyes off of her.

Why hadn't someone explained to him a concept this easily?

Why was he so hell bent on thinking of who he had been in the past, rather than focussing on what could happen next?

"Yun Ki-ssi, who did you wish to be like when you were a child?" Soojin asks, turning her head to look at Yun Ki's emotionless face.

As though he's frozen.

His pupils shake, a thin glossy film covering the whites of his almond shaped eyes.

"Seokmin Hyung." He mutters.

Soojin looks away.

"Be the man he would've been.."

Yun Ki nods, turning to look at the grassy field, feeling a tear roll past his eye.

One he flickers away, immediately.

"I met you the day you ran out of your house, eyes drenched in an anger so resolute and fierce, it'd burn the one whom you crossed paths with..Needless to say, I should've known I was playing with fire, back then." Yun Ki states.

He watches Soojin's confused look, explaining further.

Interlocking his own hands together, he breathes out.

"I was on an expedition to check how the day-to-day operations were being upheld in Baekmin, dressed as a local man. I was out inspecting the Markets, the rates of basic necessities and most importantly, gaining feedback from the ordinary man of Daegu on how he viewed The Crowned King and his jurisdiction..then, I bumped into you. A girl whose nose was runny and used the back of her sleeve to wipe the moisture off of her face. A girl whose eyes bore so much hatred for The Crowned King, he could be reduced to ash from the words that left the young girl's foul mouth." Yun Ki laughs, staring ahead.

—————————

-Flashback-

"I believe, Jeonha has done a great job by subsidising the rates of basic eminities like salt, oil and rice. It really makes the produce available to a greater population, with ease.." Yun Ki spoke out loud at a Market, loud enough for the other customers to listen in on his words.

"Don't you think so?" He asks his fellow accomplice, Chief Hong dressed as a farmer.

"Of course, Jeo—I mean, Yun Ki-ah!"

Yun Ki stares at Chief Hog with narrowed eyes.

"At least look your part.." He nudges the Chief in the ribs asking him to drop the honorific and use a regional Dialect of Daegu.

Chief Hong winks at Yun Ki.

"The Crowned King is really so kind! He is really upholding this Kingdom's values!" The Chief speaks in perfect Daegu dialect, causing Yun Ki's tense expressions to ease out and give him a subtle thumbs up.

"Gaesori…" A voice chimes out.

[*Gaesori = Bullshit.]

A rather high pitched voice chimes out, causing both The Chief's as well as Yun Ki's head to snap back towards the source of the sound.

Yun Ki's eyebrows raise up quirkily.

"Gaesori? What might you mean?" Yun Ki asks, stepping down from the steps of the market he was at, to come face to face with a young girl, who wore greasy clothes and had a continual flow of mucus dribbling down her right nose.

"I meant exactly what you heard, Ahjussi." The girl spits.

[*Ahjussi = meaning uncle, grown man.]

Chief Hong stands before Yun Ki, masking him from the outrageous girl.

"You should use better words as a young girl. It doesn't suit you." He scolds.

The girl rolls her eyes, placing down the jute bag from which the Spinach Leaves she'd bought, pop out.

"Ahjussi, it may not suit me or my mouth but it sure does suit that rascal Min Yun Ki! He really should step down, already!" She complains, wiping her snot with the back of her sleeve.

Yun Ki looks over the Chief's shoulders in confusion.

"Wh-Why do you hate him so much? What harm has he done?" Yun Ki voices out, staring the girl up.

She snickers.

"What harm has he done? Other than sacrificing the men of Baekmin and leaving their bodies to rot at the battlefield? I'd rather have Baekmin turn into a Democracy than be run by someone as ruthless as Min Yun Ki..He's an animal." She responds, raising the sleeves of her vest, just getting started.

She snaps her neck, in irritation.

"Does he think his father, Late Min II, was the only martyr? How about Father's, Husband's and Brother's, who sacrificed their lives for that animal? They gave us 2 gold coins to keep our mouth shut. But, my mouth can't be bought with his dirty money.." She comments.

The Chief tries to interject but is pushed away by Yun Ki, roughly.

"Have you ever thought that perhaps The Crowned King himself was underprepared to take up the throne?" Yun Ki questions.

The girl laughs at his question, palm covering her mouth as she bends forward, chuckling.

"Aish, Ahjussi's these days..What was Min Yun Ki doing all his life, that left him so underprepared? All he had to do was groom himself to become the King. Why is he acting like he's a village bum who has been handed the reigns? In fact, I believe a commoner would do better than the man who poses as a puppet. Him and his army of delinquents know just to spread terror through all of Baekmin. The man thinks Terror and Fear will get people to respect him.." She responds.

Yun Ki's lips quivers, throat run dries as he coughs out loud, cupping his mouth.

"Cat caught your tongue, Ahjussi?" She smirks, lifting her jute bag ad giving it a loud smack, dusting off the dirt.

"Walk a mile in my hemp sandals and then, maybe we can talk about what good Min Yun Ki has done for Baekmin..If anything, he's made the rich-richer and the poor-poorer!" She bows before the two men, walking away, disappearing amidst the crowd as Yun Ki stares at her leave, dust hitting his eyes or reality pricking his eyes, he doesn't know.

All he knows is the girl spat fire.

"J-Jeonha, are you alright? T-That girl obviously didn't know what she was talking about…Aigoo, you're turning red.." Chief Hong whispers, grasping the hem of Yun Ki's beige coat.

Yun Ki shrugs his hand away, watching the crowd become one.

The smell of salted sardines overwhelms his senses.

Yun Ki clenches his fist and his mind is filled with questions.

What had he done so grave for her to hate him, so intensely?

"Chief, find out all you know about her.." Yun Ki mumbles, mouth agape.

"Why, Jeonha? She's just am unknowledgeable girl.." Chief Hong asks, biting into the salt and peeper flavoured cob of corn, crunching loudly.

"She's bewitched me.." is all Yun Ki can say.

-------End of Flashback-------