"I live for the dream that my children will be born free," the princess breathes. "That they will be whoever they want to be, and that they'll never ever have to carry a sword wherever they go."
"I live for you," Jeongguk answers. Simply because, he...
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THE USUAL SILENCE of the land was unceremoniously disrupted that night.
Horses trampled over the forest floors, carrying men with their metal chains and swords clicking against each other like chaotic bells. It was impossibly cold. Freezing, as the snow grew thicker and thicker on the forest floor and white rained down endlessly from the sky.
"Get them! Get them all!"
It was a single command that echoed, causing the walls and ground to tremble in its wake.
Blood, smoke, ash.
Decomposing bodies. Reeking.
The full moon escaped to seek protection beneath the clouds, rendering the earth below it dark and lost. All it could see was red; red on the fire, red on the blood staining the castle walls, red on the flags that kept flooding in through the gates like omens of death.
All around was nothing but a whirlwind of disorder and violence, a blur of color and vicious motion. The parched, panting tongue collected the dust choked air intermixed with the bitterness of iron.
Blood pounded in the ears, drumming to a ferocious beat. The sound was barely enough to obscure the cries of men, the screams of injured beasts, and the thunder of steel striking steel.
A man falls. Another one follows.
Dead bodies falling.
Piling up like mountains. Mountains of soulless beings buried slowly under thick snow.
The royal family that had relied solely on their own power for generations, fallen into the hands of an unexpected force in a matter of minutes.
Amidst the chaos, the sound of a crying baby tore through the sky.
A black stallion rode through the unforgiving darkness, powerful limbs tearing into the barren earth. The queen clutched to the newborn baby in her arms, wrapped up in drapes to keep warm. Behind them, the people she knew all too well, their screams as they look death in the eye ringing in her ears, banging against her eardrums unforgivingly.
