The Cold Emperor

Chapter 22

It was eerily quiet and dark in the hallway that lead to the Emperor's chambers; all your senses on high alert for any sudden movements. When the heavy door finally opened in front of you, you were temporarily caught off-guard by the sight in front of you. Before you could fully comprehend what was happening, your body was suddenly pushed against the door, making you yelp. A cold blade was pressed against your throat, making your heart almost explode in your chest from the sudden shot of adrenaline coursing through your veins. There was darkness everywhere and you had no idea what was going on. All you could hear was the deafening pounding of your heartbeat. All that noise instantly stopped when you heard the wet, slashing sound of a blade piercing through skin. You felt a warm pool of blood forming on your tunic, becoming larger and larger by the second. People say that you see the person you love the most when you are dying, but for some reason what was not the case for you; you didn't see or feel anything.

When the heavy body of Emperor Zhao, that was leaning against you, dropped to the floor with a loud thud, your eyes met with the tear-streaked gaze of a young girl. "I-is he dead?" She asked with a hoarse voice, while still clenching the crimson dagger in her hand. It almost felt like her words broke the spell that kept you frozen in your spot. You rushed towards her and carefully took the dagger from her hand. "No not yet, but thank you for saving my life. You are so incredibly brave," you croaked, still trying to calm down your heartbeat. "What are you doing here? This is no place for a young girl like you," you asked concerned. "H-he is a bad man, he killed my family and made me a slave," she murmured with teary eyes. "He hurts me all the time and now I saw that he was going to hurt you too, so... so I hurt him," she said as the tears finally cascaded down her cheeks. "No darling don't cry, we were so brave" you cooed as you wiped the tears away. "Will you do me a favour?" You asked and saw her nod in response, slowly stopping her hiccupping.

"I need you to be very brave again and go to the throne room, there you will find a tall, sweet and brown-haired captain, I need you to bring him here, can you do that?" You asked. "Y-yes, I will do that," she promised with a fierce determination that made you smile. Once the girl had ran off, you turned back to Zhao and saw him twitching and heaving; fighting for his next breath. "Zhao, the mighty Emperor Zhao, this is what happens to people who hurt their own," you sneered, your blood boiling merely at the thought of him hurting the poor girl. To your surprise, Zhao started to heave, the gut-retching sound hardly resembled any form of laughter, but it was indeed what he was doing. He was laughing. "You-you foolish girl, do you really think that you will leave this palace a-alive?" He managed to spit out. "You are surrounded in enemy territory, you will not even last the night; you are trapped." You barked out one final time before his body stilled. With that, you felt bile-rise up in your throat; because he was right.

You were surrounded and heavily outnumbered; killing Zhao was never part of the plan to begin with and now we were stuck in a deadly trap. Before your thoughts could spiral any further, you heard muffled fighting in the corridor; alerting your senses. You grabbed the dagger and prepared yourself for a sudden attack. When the door flew open, air filled your lungs in relief. "Y/N, are you alright? Are you hurt?" Jungkook asked as he rushed towards you. A second later you were engulfed in a rib-crushing hug from the captain who was a literal bear. "I am fine Jungkook don't worry about me," you smiled as you tried to push him off, desperately trying to breath. "I think we should indeed worry about other things," Jimin said as he was crouching near Zhao's body. "This wasn't part of the plan, what should we do now" you asked, as you felt dread sink in. "It will take at least 6-7 hours for Emperor Min to arrive if I send a message now," Jungkook said as he rushed to write a note. "We don't have that much time; a servant could come by any second and realize what happened; it will be our death warrant."

"Then we need to find an ally inside the palace," Jimin suddenly said, while heavily contemplating. "The emperor has five sons that are all keen to take the throne. There is, however, only one that has friendly relations with our empire; the youngest son Zhao Suho." Suddenly a spark of hope ignited inside of you. "If we can make an agreement with Suho, we can ensure him the throne in exchange for our safety," you uttered. "Damn, that's ridiculous, but it might actually work," Jungkook agreed with a baffled expression. With that, you instructed the young girl names Sujin to secretly inform the youngest Prince. Once he would arrive in the room, they would explain him everything. When Sujin left, there was nothing for you to do but wait. Every minute that seemed to pass, felt like an eternity. All you mind could think about was Yoon; where was he? Was he alright? You weren't sure if you were very going to see him again. He want me to become his wife, you thought as you felt a lump form in your throat. You pulled the pin he had gifted you from your hair and looked at it; looked into his eyes. No, I will see him again, no matter what.

Suddenly, the door of the chambers flew open, making you all jump up. At least twelve soldiers marched inside and had you all surrounded. "Well, well, well" a tall figure said as he walked inside the room. When you looked up, you felt the last bit of hope that you had die. It was not Prince Suho; it was the oldest son Woojin. "You have made this all so much easier; I was getting tired of the old man, but you solved the problem for me," he grinned. His eyes held a cruel wickedness to them, the same you had seen in his father's. "Soldiers, throw these traitors in the dungeon and make then suffer for killing our Mighty Dragon," Woojin said with heavy sarcasm. You looked around in panic, but there was nowhere to go; you were literally surrounded. That's when a sudden realisation hit you: were was Jimin? You looked around once again, but he was nowhere to be found. It all felt like a sick game; he was here just a minute ago, you thought to yourself. Not sure what to make of the situation; you kept quiet en saw Jungkook do the same. As the soldiers tied your hands behind your back and pulled you outside of the chamber, all you could do was pray on Yoon's name.

He didn't know way, but it felt like someone was choking him slowly; making it hard for Yoon to breath with every second. All the horses were running in full speed; there was no other way he could arrive faster at the palace, but it still felt too slow. What if he arrived too late? What if something happened to Y/N? These were all the thoughts that kept haunting Yoon's mind and nothing could bring him at peace; except for seeing you safe and sound. Yoon was suddenly pulled from his thoughts when he saw a familiar messenger bird flying towards him. It was your bird; the one you had gotten from Yoon. Yoon and his army quickly halted and he rushed to read the message that was attached. Once the small piece of paper was uncurled, he immediately recognised the handwriting and it broke his heart in little pieces.

Zhao is dead, Woojin has imprisoned us, farewell my love