Chapter Text
He found her sitting at the wooden table by herself drinking, small stature hunched over and shoulders tight. Even then, she wasn’t relaxed. The image pains him a little, bringing to reminiscence the many late nights they’d be drinking, not as master and pupil or servant and master, but just as Jang Uk and Mu-deok, two souls intertwined and woven into fate, till the last night before they were separated, when she was adorably inebriated, declared her affection for him, and dropped abruptly into bed. He missed those times. It seemed distant now, like a fever dream, a reverie he was too afraid to wish for.
He silently walked over and took the seat beside her, pouring a glass for her, before another for himself, the sloshing of alcohol comforting. She didn’t turn to look, but she instinctively leaned into him, her red yin jade charged up in appreciation as his blue yang jade glowed ardently in response, a promise to her for the both of them.
“Yul is in a stable condition,” He began, “once they fully reverse the effects of the blood worm, he’d be recovering fast.” He downed the alcohol, the liquid burning his throat at first but spreading warmth a second later.
“That’s good.”
Uk nodded. “Heo Yun Ok is with him. She’ll be bringing him back to Sejukwon tomorrow morning before someone becomes suspicious.”
“Yeah, she should.”
“Yeong-ah.” She was being uncharacteristically laconic. He willed for her to look at him, to tell him what was wrong, for he wanted for them to face it together, too.
She turned to him, and he could see that she was haggard and drained, dark circles around her eyes, the shimmer of blue in her eyes gone.
“Can’t we just leave? And run away from it all?” Her voice was a haunting whisper, her hand reaching for his. The future they had envisioned was so close to them once, yet fate was cruel and taunted them, ripping it away almost immediately. It was tempting now, to let go of everything, for Jang Uk was considered dead in Daeho, as was Naksu, the assassin, a shadow blended into the dark as one. They could run away now, run far far away to a place where no one would find them, living peacefully, away from this mayhem.
He understood her too, how it had been so tiring, how she’d led a life of revenge and it was the fire that had consumed her soul, and he wouldn’t mind either, because he had found her, and that was all he needed.
“We will, I’d promised you.” He interlocked his fingers tightly into hers. “Once we’re done with our business here, we’ll go far, far away.” Justice for her, justice for them. He couldn't care about the world, or the King's star, or him being the crown prince, not with her here, them finally together. They just had one last thing to do.
The past was a reverie he used to be too afraid to wish for, for he’d been fearful of what the world would do in retaliation, but he knew now that he had to fight for it. That’s what they were going to do, to fight for the future they deserve.