Lost ↹ Yang Jungwon

.Thirty-One.

"We'll take a break here and continue our journey tomorrow." JUNGWON ANNOUNCED and everyone nodded. The knights bowed their heads and began building the tents, leaving the two girls with the five princes. Elena glanced to a certain prince and cleared her throat, her eyes avoiding his as she occupied herself with her dress.

Weird. Haeyul brushed her hair back, wincing as she felt pain from her arm. She guessed a big bruise had formed after she fell from the horse. Ignoring the pain, she tightened her ponytail and marched her way to help build the tent. "May I help?" 

A knight faced her when they heard her question, tilting their head in hesitation. "You..want to help?" He asked with confusion evident in his voice. Haeyul nodded. "I'm afraid you can't."

Her face contorted into a frown, "Why?" She asked.
"As a lady you should just sit and watch us do the heavy work."
"And as a man, you don't have the right to tell us what we can and can't do." 
With her sentence, all of the knights were silenced, too speechless to counter with her unexpected statement. "Now, tell me what I need to do." Haeyul told, her voice softened as the previous stern manner vanished. 

A smirk cracked on the raven-haired vampire who was observing the girl quietly. "Yang Jungwon," Sunoo called as he held Jungwon's shoulder, the serious expression he wore alarmed the younger one. "We saw multiple traces of a centaur's footprints." 

Jungwon perked his ears, alarmed. "Where?"
"Really near. Judging from how wet the mud is, it's still new."
"Order a few knights to guard the area."
"Already did, some are even patrolling the area." Sunoo told, earning a satisfied nod from his younger brother.

His eyes flickered to a certain brunette as Sunoo's eyes followed his gaze. Sunoo cooed mischievously as his eyes landed on Haeyul, nudging Jungwon while wiggling his brows. "Does my brother finally take a liking towards someone romantically?" 

The younger glared at him. "Mind your own business."

Sunoo's jaw opened in shock, "Yah, you're my brother obviously it's my business too!" He exclaimed. "I need to know who's going to be my sister-in-law after all." He mumbled to himself, earning a smack on his head. "Ow!"

Haeyul's movements were slower because every movement she makes causes pain to rush through her muscles. After successfully digging the branch deep into the ground, Haeyul shook the tent lightly to check its stability. She exhaled deeply as she wiped the sweat glazing her forehead. Setting a bell tent is harder than she expected.

"Here," A leather water pouch was handed to her, "you look like you need it." Prince Jake said. 
"Thanks." She accepted it.

"If you need more, feel free to ask me." He told and Haeyul gave a thumbs up as a respond. The prince quickly left her and approached his brothers, offering them drinks as well. 

The sounds of galloping resonated through the woods, taking everyone off guard and Haeyul heard groans around her as a few knights fell to the ground. Her eyes rounded in shock when she saw three centaurs filtrated their space. They were attacking both the princes and knights without mercy. 

Haeyul's back hit against a tree trunk harshly as she felt a callous hand gripped on her neck. A cry left her mouth, her hands holding the hand which was around her neck. Her eyes met furious green irises as he clenched his jaw. Her fingers tapped his hand vigorously, her vision blurring.

The centaur scoffed and his breath fanned her face. "You monsters deserve nothing but death." He muttered as his grip tightened causing Haeyul's hands to tremble.

"Y...you," Haeyul struggled, "from this.... position, are w-we really the mo..nsters?" 
The centaur loosened his hand, his face dropping at her sentence. Without wasting her time, Haeyul took this as a chance to escape as she freed herself out of his hold. She crawled on the floor as she tried to reach for a sword fallen on the ground.

Before she could extend her arm, she was pulled up to her feet by the same centaur who choked her. "You have the audacity to say that after hurting our brother." The half-man told causing the girl to frown.

"You were the one who kidnapped my friend out of nowhere!" Haeyul's voice echoed through the woods, "The only thing that was left was her necklace, and because of you-" She prodded his chest as he took a step back, "Several knights had to search the forest and I spent sleepless nights in my room, overthinking about my friend!"

"Now you all have the audacity to attack us and call us monsters." She snapped as she kicked the centaur's shin. 

The half-horse fell to the ground with a groan. 
Anther centaur joined the scene as he helped his friend up. He pointed his bow towards the human's direction, aiming for her head. He waited for Haeyul to walk away but instead the girl threw a handful of dirt to his face. 

"What is she doing?" Heeseung asked, directing the question to the vampire across him. Jungwon rushed to the centaur and took his bow away from him in a quick speed. He covered the girl out of the centaurs' sight. "Where's your leader?" He inquired, his sharp gaze never leaving the three centaurs.

"Why do you ask?"
"I'll give you ten seconds to tell me."
"And if we don't tell?" One of them asked daringly.
"I won't hesitate to rip your heads apart." Jungwon stated. 

Silence followed his threat as the three centaurs whispered amongst themselves. "Follow us." The tallest centaur said.

Jungwon nodded to his brothers as he motioned his knights to stay alerted. A sudden weight hit his back and he turned around, seeing Haeyul unconscious. Jungwon shook the girl to wake her up, but her eyes stayed shut. He muttered incoherent curses when he saw a blue bruise peeking out of the sleeve of her dress.

He cradled the girl into his arm and carried her into the carriage. "We need to reach their base as quick as possible." He announced. Heeseung nodded, understanding the situation and ran out of the carriage. 

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