Yao

Chapter 1

"Enter Prince Tan, Prince Yeon, and Prince Qin!"

The three princes arrive on their sedan chairs. The servants carrying the sedan chairs put them down. The three princes get off them and walk towards the Emperor.

"Greetings, Father," says the three princes.

"My sons! Finally we are united!" the Emperor cries joyfully and turns to the crowd. "My children have arrived! Let the ceremony begin!"

As the band starts to play, Prince Tan interrupts, "Father, my brothers and I have a performance that we would like to show you as the opening ceremony, if that's okay with you."

"Oh?" The Emperor laughs frankly and taps Prince Tan's shoulder. "Show me what you prepared."

The Emperor heads back to his throne. The princes take the sword from the guards and start their performance, which is the act of men's bravery in the war.

As the sword dance is about to end, two backing dancers bring up a woman with a sack over her head. The woman is then forced to kneel on the stage, and the two backing dancers who bring her up to the stage each stand by her sides with their swords crisscrossed right under her neck. Another dancer appears behind the woman, also with a sword in his hand.

As suspicious as this scene may be, no one seems aware since it happens so fast and is in the center of all the backing dancers. Everyone in the ceremony also indulges in the princes' charm.

The three princes wave their swords handsomely and prepare to end the performance. They turn, swing their swords at each other, blocking their blades, and point their swords at all the dancers at the last moment. All the dancers spread apart, as if the princes have chopped off every enemy's head and won the war, revealing the four individuals at the center. At this moment, the woman's head falls off.

"Ahhhhhh!"

"Who is she?"

"Did the princes plan to kill the woman in their show IN FRONT of the Emperor?"

"Oh my god!"

The ceremony is now full of screams and horrified citizens.

The head rolls out of the sack. It's her.

"Yao!" the three princes cry out the woman's name.

Prince Tan stabs his sword into the dancers who brought Yao on stage. Prince Yeon points his sword at the dancer who stands behind Yao's corpse. Prince Qin kneels next to Yao's head, holds her head into his arms, and cries.

"YAO!" cries the Emperor, rushing down from his throne. "Who did this!" He grabs a sword from a knight nearest to him and points it at the three princes.

"Father, we didn't plan this. We didn't know. Yao isn't even supposed to be a part of this performance." Prince Yeon answers the Emperor calmly, but his eyes and sword never leave the dancer. He sounds calm, but his eyes expose his desire for wanting to kill the bastard in front of him.

Prince Tan's eyes are filled with rage. "Quit talking! They killed my fiancée! They need to pay!" and swings his sword towards the dancer in front of Prince Yeon.

Prince Yeon blocks Prince Tan's sword and knocks it to the ground.

"Brother?" Prince Tan says, gritting his teeth. "Don't tell me you are protecting this bastard?"

"No, brother," Prince Yeon points his sword back to the dancer, "We need him alive to know who is behind this. We need him to find out who killed Yao."

"Damn it!" yells Prince Tan and picks up his sword. "Father, we promise to find who ordered to murder Yao and tried to blame it on us." Prince Tan then looks at Prince Qin, who has said nothing, crying with Yao's head in his arms. "Brother, shut up. Stop crying like a woman if you want to get even for Yao."

Prince Qin wipes off his tears, walks to the Emperor, and kneels. "Emperor, please let us find the murderer of Yao."

The Emperor looks at the three princes for a while and says, "Fine," and finally puts down his sword. "Yao was like a daughter to me. Her father was my most trusted minister and my brother. Ever since he passed away, I adopted and raised her as if she is my own. Find me the killer who murdered my daughter and bring him to me."