Ah Ma had received an in-depth message from Chief Hong.

Soojin had streaked the bedsheets rouge.

Love was blooming and it was unabashed, brave and fulfilling.

She'd been ecstatic watching love triumph and while on one hand, roses bloomed, the thorns of longing and separation plunged in the heart of the one who'd been suffering from a second lead syndrome, Areum, who stood next to a very excited looking Ah Ma, preparing Jeonha's bed.

Areum runs the flat of her palm over the surface of his pillow, the nail of her pointer finger fiddling with the threads that had come undone, towards the edges.

Ah Ma catches her before any further damage can be done.

"Were you listening to me?" She nudges, grabbing the pillow from her grasp.

Areum nods, snapping out of her imagination.

A land where she'd imagined scenarios of her and Yun Ki, in love.

Her heart had been restless all through the 3 days he'd been away with his wife.

They were in love, she told herself for the seventh time since she'd heard the news.

"I wish to change everything for Jeonha before he arrives, get him a fresh pair of everything. After all, he's starting afresh. He's turned a new chapter in his book..Truth be told, my eyes are yearning to see them as one." Ah Ma chats away as Areum watches her fling the old pillow cover, aside as it falls on the hardwood floor with a thud.

She too, had been tossed away hadn't she?

What was the difference between her and the old pillow cover, she wondered.

"Areum-ah, I want you to tend after The Queen's room. I think I'll be taking my time with Jeonha's."

Areum's fist clenches as she rolls her eyes, annoyedly.

"H-How is this any of my duty? I'm the royal concubine, not her maidservant.." She interjects.

Ah Ma tuts, hands around her waist.

"Areum, don't tell me you still haven't gotten over your feelings for Yun Ki-ssi?" She corners Areum, with an authoritative tone and yet her head is hung low, hair falling over her eyes.

She looks up at Ah Ma, eyes moist and brows furrowed.

"Do you think I haven't trued my best, Ah Ma? All through the 3 days, my heart has been anxious and unsettled, stuck upon Yun Ki. Stuck on how he must be, whether he's being tended after. Whether he's sleeping well..Whether he's eating on time.." She mutters, pouring her heart.

There's an uncomfortable silence in the room.

"T-That's no longer your business, Areum-ah. He's a married man, now. The faster you realise this, the less you get hurt.." She explains, placing a hand over her shoulder.

Areum's weak shoulders bend, as though there has been tons of weight entrusted or thrusted over them.

"Why is it me, why is it me, who's having to get hurt? Why can't I be entitled to happiness? Why can't a Concubine be loved? Why can't a Concubine be The Queen?" She shudders.

"He loves Soojin, Areum. You don't get to choose whom he looses his heart to, can you?" Ah Ma comforts, wiping the ends of Areum's eyes with he ends of her purple hanbok sleeve.

Areum wants to tell her that she's started to hate Soojin.

Hate the way she felt as though she ran the Kingdom.

Hate the way she made her feel, in front of Yun Ki.

Hate the way she'd remind her time and again that her life bore no worth, as the Royal Concubine.

Just as she's about to vocalise her hatred towards The Queen, a knock is heard outside Yun Ki's chamber, causing the women to turn over and look at the newly appointed Royal Guard, informing them that the Royal Duo would be arriving in 2 hours, just in time for dinner.

Ah Ma nods, hastily.

"Areum-ah, go. We can talk about this over Makgeolli, tonight." Ah Ma comments.

Areum nods, unwillingly, sucking in a strained breath as she runs her eyes over Yun Ki's chamber, one last time.

It'd be an inaccessible territory to her, after all.

She walks into Soojin's room, eyes plastered on the floor.

Turning around, she latches her bedroom door shut.

Just as she's about to turn around to face the room, she's shoved against the wooden door, a rough calloused palm shoved against her parted lips as she lets out a startled muffle.

Her arms are twisted behind her back, with the intruder's hand, painingly so.

Her head and chest is pressed hard against the wooden door as an unceremonious odour reaches her nostrils, with the grim lips of a foreign man touch the outer cartilage of her ear.

"I'll slit your throat open if you make a sound, Areum-ssi.." The low pitched grunge voice presses, as sharp nails dig into her wrist.

Areum uses her wit.

She shakes her head yes.

"I'm going to remove the palm of my hand off of your mouth...If you try to outsmart me. Areum, I'll end your life, in this very moment.." He spits.

Areum feels the tight suction of his palm over her lips, withdraw.

She breathes in a laboured breath and lets out a low cough, arms held stronger behind her back.

"Wh-Who are y-you?" She manages to let out, in a low voice.

Areum feels the grip around her arms loosen and she is turned, face-to-face with the perpetrator.

Her eyes go wide as she scans the entirety of the man's familiar face.

"We grew up together and you've forgotten me so soon? Why?" The man mocks, circling around her, much like a shark around his prey.

"Did he pound you into oblivion, Areum-ssi?" He asks, arms wrapped around her waist, from the back, head resting over her shoulder.

Areum's eyes fill in horror as she looks down at the hands that encircle around her waist and hold a knife, the pointy end directed away from her torso.

She recognises him in an instant.

She's known him.

He's what Yun Ki feared the most.

His vulnerability, the piece of a puzzle he wouldn't want to even look at.

He was Min Yong Sun.

"Y-You're ba-back?" Areum lets out, shakily.

She feels the back-sided embrace end as Yong Sun walks before her, cupping her cold and clammy cheeks.

"You don't see happy to see me..Am I not welcomed?" He laughs, like a devil, falling on top of Soojin's bed, legs sprawled, as he clutches her pillow and brings it to his nostrils, taking a strained whiff.

"A-After you killed The Queen of Baekmin? Did y-you think you'd be welcomed, Yong Sun-ssi?" Areum asks, causing Yong Sun to sit up in Soojin's bed, dragging Areum to stand before him, between his parted thighs.

He clutches her wrists, pinned by her sides, fingers digging into her frail bones.

"Don't be like this, Areum...You've known me. You've known how desperately I've wanted this Throne. More than anything...it was a sacrifice that had to be made.." He confesses.

"Even if it meant beheading your own mother and running away as a coward?" She spits.

Yong Sun pulls her down, such that her knees hit the hardwood flooring.

She's kneeling before him, eyes burning in rage.

Yong Sun runs the tip of the knife over the curves of her face.

"We want things we can't have, Areum..You ought to know this better than anyone else." He breathes out, watching her pupils flicker.

Areum's nostrils flare.

"If you want to kill me, go ahead. End this, once and for all.." She breathes out, closing her eyes.

Yong Sun tosses the metal knife across the floor, the clutter causing Areum's eyes to open.

"I'm here to help you, Areum.." He coos, replacing the part of her face that was being threatened by a blade, with his palm.

"I'm here to help you, get what you want.." He breathes out.

Areum's eyes widen.

In green, In longing, In dreams of attaining what should've been hers.

"W-What do you want in return?" She asks, composing herself.

A deal was being processed.

The ends of Yong Sun's lips curl in a mischievous smile.

He connects their foreheads, watching her eyes.

"Areum-ah, I want Soojin..that's all I want.." He breathes out.