Queen of Hwarang

Where There is a Spark

As all of the boys continued to have their pillow fights and fun, Jihyun slowly backed away from the boisterous laughter. The information she had intended to present them could wait for another day. But for now, she was headed towards the palace, where a certain individual was already waiting for her. 

~

In the throne room, glasses shattered and screams erupted from the frustrated queen who had failed to take down her daughter twice. The loss of her power was becoming increasingly prominent and with Jinheung planning to take over as king, she was sure to become a nobody. All these years she had failed to get what she wanted. All she wanted was love, but she had mistaken it for admiration and power. No one was going to get in her way. After all, she was the queen... and to her, the others were just her pawns waiting for sacrifice.

~

As Jihyun slowly walked to the palace in the moonlight, a cloaked figure slowly followed in suit. The mysterious person continued to follow for a couple of minutes when suddenly Jihyun had disappeared into a strange back alley. Confused, the continued down the same path when they were abruptly pinned to the wall with a dagger on their throat.

"I would be careful trying to walk in these parts. Especially when you are unarmed..."

Jihyun yanked the mask down from the man's face.

"You're one of Park Young-Sil's men aren't you?"

The man couldn't help but nervously nod. The glint of the dagger getting closer and closer to his neck. 

"Let's strike a little deal, shall we?" Jihyun offered the man. "You tell me what your mission is, in exchange, I can offer the price he gave you in double"

The man hesitated for a while.

"Not good enough for you? I could always just leave you here dead, I would win either way. Either you come out of this dead or alive, but you are never going to get the information to that wretched man. So allow me to offer this proposal again. Deal or no deal?"

The cowering man finally decided to confess, deciding his life was more important than his mission. "Yes, your majesty. Park Young-Sil sent me to spy on you as he plans on killing you to get closer to the queen and eventually kill her so that he may ascend the throne."

"And?" Jihyun positioned the dagger on his neck now, slightly drawing blood.

"And he offered 5,000 gold, your majesty. My family lives outside the border and they are all starving. I had to take his offer or my wife and children will be murdered by his other men!"

Jihyun dropped the man, who scrambled to bow down at his majesty's feet for forgiveness. But Jihyun squatted down to his level and lifted his chin.

"Let the scar on your neck remind you of this night. I know you are desperate and you had reasons, every human does." Placing in his hands a satchel of gold she had in her pockets and the dagger she had previously pinned him with, Jihyun turned to head out of the alleyway. When she was almost out. She looked back towards the man. 

"In the bag, you'll find 20,000 gold. take your family and flee to Baekje's palace. I think your family would be of good use serving inside the palace. Tell them I sent you. They'll know that the dagger is mine."

Leaving the man in shock, Jihyun put up her masked and walked away a little bit onto a balcony and watched the man slowly emerge and run off to the edge of the city. Satisfied, she continued on her journey to meet her secret weapon at the palace.

"Tch, I really need to be carrying less gold nowadays."

~

Meanwhile, A-ro was pacing back and forth in her room at the Silla palace. Anxiously awaiting the queen's arrival. She had sent an emergency letter, simply stating that she needed help, but not saying with what and how.