Jealous Till Jade: A Hwarang Fanfic

Chapter 10: The Letters

Soo-yeon unnie, the swordsman and Pao. It breaks my heart to think that there are only four people I trust in the whole world including the king. No, I can't trust myself. Not after finding out that my best friend tried to kill me.

"Swordsman, what do we do?"

"Soo-yeon and Pao will search the palace. Miss Jade, you and I will search any place we can think of where they could have taken his majesty. We will try the Kim residence where Soo-ho and Soo-yeon's parents live, and then the Park residence where Ban Ryu's stepfather resides. But we cannot let them see us." I nod.

"I know we can't be trusting many people right now but I don't think the four of us is enough. There has to be someone who can get us through if we get caught," Soo-yeon unnie points out. "Otherwise, we're dead meat." She's right. The king's life depends on this. We can't fail.

"But who else can we possibly trust?"

After a moment, Pao snaps his fingers. "The prince. There's no doubt about him."

"Okay, but do we really want to put the prince in this kind of danger? Not only will he be risking his position but his life too."

"My Lady, we don't have time to be thinking about rules. Besides, isn't it up to the prince to decide for himself?"

I sigh. We've lost the princess; we can't lose her husband too... "Fine, but who will he go with?"

"He can come with us, Miss." The swordsman suggests. I nod.

"Okay, but that means we stay by his side at all times and his life comes first," I remind him sternly. He nods in agreement.

"Pao, could you go get him?"'

"Yes, ma'am."

The rest of us wait until we see Pao and the tall prince jogging towards us, swords stuck to their sides and ready to go.

"Your highness." I bow. "I am very sorry to have disturbed you at such a late hour."

"Are you kidding me? I haven't slept since the princess went missing," admits Prince Onjo. "I'm glad I can finally go out and do something rather than sit in my room and order others to search for her. Swordsman, do you have a plan?"

"Yes, Pao and Soo-yeon will search the palace. We suggest your highness comes with Lady Jade and myself to the chaebol residences."

"Okay," the prince agrees. "Lets go."

"Wait-," I hesitate. I'm extremely worried about the prince's safety. "Your highness, please don't expose yourself to too much danger."

He smiles sweetly. "Jade, I'm more trained in sword fighting than you. You should be more concerned about your own safety. Now, lets go."

We sneak out and keep our mouths shut until we're outside the palace walls. "We should search the Soo residence first."

"Are we barging in or sneaking in?" Confirms Pao.

"We'll sneak in," suggests the swordsman. "If they know about our search they'll try to cover up whatever they're hiding." We all nod.

"And- are we investigating the kids or their parents?"

"Both."

Forty minutes later...

"Stop! Someone's coming. We have to get out of here. Now!" But it's too late. As soon as the three of us turn around, we come face-to-face with Mr. Park who holds up a candle to make out our identities in the darkness. We've failed.

"Who is that?" He asks in his deep voice, squinting.

"Minister Kim, it is I," the prince steps up.

"Your highness, what- what is the meaning of this invasion?" He asks, half- furious; half- utterly confused and sleepy.

"Have you seen the king?"

"Have I what? You mean the king... is missing?" He seems to be genuinely shocked and terrified. And he looks way too drowsy to have the energy to lie. He's not the one.

"Sir, I am terribly sorry to have disturbed you during your slumber. Please accept our apology." I bow.

"What are you apologizing for?" The swordsman mumbles.

"He isn't the one. At least not the one in charge."

"How do you know?"

I turn to face the swordsman. "While we were in there I found a letter on his desk sent by Minister Park, as well as some older ones stacked up and stored safely." I reveal the folded papers from inside my shirt and I face Mr. Kim again. "Mr. Kim, you know where the king and princess are, don't you?"

"I don't know anything. Now leave." He tries to shove us towards the entrance.

"You're being blackmailed by Mr. Park." He freezes. "You have been for a while now. He still wants the throne more than anything and your son Soo-ho is working for him because he wants revenge on the king for letting the queen be murdered. He loved Queen Jiso. I can't think of any other reason. Mr. Park is threatening to frame all his crimes on your son if you or Soo-ho mess up or reveal anything. Am I correct?"

Mr. Kim looks down as his eyes swim in guilt. "Yes," he sighs. "Yes. Everything you've said is true."

"Woah, how did you figure all that out?" the prince asks me.

"I read a lot of mystery and crime-suspense," I admit with a smile.

"Mr. Kim," says the prince. "There's no need to worry about what Mr. Park will do to you. I shall protect you. So please. Tell us where he's keeping the royal siblings."

Mr. Kim sighs. "I can tell you where they are, but I can't assure you that you can stop that man. He is out-of-this-world smart. How do you think he's still here after he attempted to overthrow the queen?"

The queen? Whatever. But if he's hurt my king in any way, I'll crush his bones.

"Don't worry, Mr. Kim. We got this. He may be a powerful man but don't forget that he's also just an old man." I grin.

"Um, are- are you allowed to s-say that, my lady?" asks Pao dubiously. Probably not.

Once we've all gathered back together outside the palace gates, we follow the directions Mr. Kim gave us as we glance around in caution. 

"Are we going the right way?" Pao whispers.

"I don't know! You tell us, Pao," Soo-yeon unnie whispers back. "You're the one holding the map he drew for us."

We won't make it in time at this rate.

Thirty minutes later, we finally reach our destination after we took what seemed like a hundred wrong turns.

"Okay, this is it," whispers the prince as we crouch down behind some bushes in the garden.

"We won't get arrested for saving the king and princess's lives, right?" I ask, more nervous and terrified than ever. The prince looks at me and says nothing. I guess that's a yes, we will. That's great.

"How are we going to pull this off without your army?" asks Soo-yeon unnie.

"Your highness, there has to be some Hwarangs we can trust."

He sighs and we give him a moment to think, until- "Oh! Dan-Se - he turned against his father and all the chaebols after Mr. Seok made him kill his little brother."

"Yes! He and the king are very close," I add. Dan-Se oppa is another person we can surely trust... I think. I don't even know if you should be asking me, I mean, I got betrayed by my best friend for goodness sake. But this is a chance we'll have to take. We need more people and there isn't any time to ponder. "Pao, go get Dan-Se oppa. Hurry."

"Yes, ma'am." We watch as Pao disappears into the dark night. And for some reason I feel a knot in my stomach that tells me we won't be seeing him again. Yet, I have no choice but to let him go.