Chapter Text
Wanggeom-seong, Capital of Wiman Joseon, early 109 BC
The main hall bled red and gold in light of the candles littering the tremendous room in ceremony. The scarlet of banners, rugs, and darkened sweet drinks all tickled your nose, twinkled in your eyes, overwhelmed your senses entirely. It was the biggest ceremony you had ever attended, even during your esteemed title as princess.
The throne glowed in the centered back of the hall, gold and tall as its humble wielder stood before it with outstretched arms, intricately designed robes spreading waves of silk over his body. Words of importance and honor tumbled from his bearded lips, echoing against the wooden bracings of the throne room, flowing past ears of the countless, notable guests gathered in front of him. The aged wisdom in his eye had long since shifted into one of fondness and pride as he gazed upon the sole focus of this festive ceremony, a boy no older than twenty years bowing before him upon the blood colored rug, arms splayed out and forehead pressed into the ground in an utmost display of unquestionable respect. Scales of reflective, gray armor embraced his form, spiraling across the expanse of his body from neck to toe with a matching helmet resting by his side.
The speech that flowed over his head was filled to the brim with praises, recounting the young boy’s accomplishments to the many eager listeners of the room, and stirred the swelling of pride seated in your chest. Your eyes traced the blackened head of hair on the ground an appreciable distance away from you, and ripped away only when the words of praise grew louder in volume, approaching finality, signaling the end of this commencement.
“In celebration of the successful neutralization of our enemy,” the aged voice of royalty spoke with irises unmoving from the being before him. “Please, applaud the hero of our land, my son.”
The deafening applause that filled the room in an instant was not loud enough to quiet the glow of a king’s smile. “Rise, General Jeon Jeongguk.”
And so the dark prince did rise, slowly but surely, yet with a difficulty and hesitance that you knew was uncharacteristic of him. You could see, however, from your position tucked behind other noble ladies in colorful bell-shaped dresses, that there were tears in his eyes.
The smile that his king allowed him to see was something you had rarely ever laid your eyes upon, and the following embrace enveloping him was almost alien. The applause only thundered across the hall in louder volume and Jeongguk’s teary beam of a smile was enough to spread one across your lips as well.
Then, his father, the notable leader of the land, was spreading his arms once again with a voice booming of enjoying the feast and refreshments. The neat lines of worthy guests and attendees then broke into chaos, all expensive cloth-cladden framed bustling and moving about to the tables set up at the side.
Food was hardly your interest at this moment, however, because the prince-turned-general’s eyes were on yours now, not paying any mind to the king’s retreating presence to the throne or the distracting swoosh of guests past his line of sight. The grin breaking at your lips did not stop your gaze from falling into place with his, either, and the only thing keeping your frames from clashing together like two swords in a battle were the people still milling about in this area.
When they eventually diffused to the tables of mouth-watering delicacies, with hunger and thirst finally too strong for meaningless chatting to be favored over, there was suddenly a naked space between you and your prince that was then closing in a blink of an eye.
The helmet clutched in his hand fell to his side, forgotten, arms favoring spreading out in the welcome of an embrace when you started running towards him. His strong arms enclosed around you the same time yours laced around his neck, and he spun, twirling both your forms with airy laughs falling from both of pairs of lips.
When he had stopped the dizzying play of romance, you melted comfortably against his armored body and looked up at him through your lashes.
“Now, how should I address my fiancé? ‘My prince’ or ‘my general’?” Your glossed lips teased with a smile, words flushing his cheeks in pink under your affectionate gaze.
“You can just keep calling me ‘Jungkookie’,” he offered, leaning forward slightly to press a kiss to your lips. You leaned into the contact, but, after seconds too long, squeezed his shoulder when he refused to let go, washing your face in a blush as several nobles looked on with amusement. Most people were aware that King Ugeo’s son was in a beneficial arranged marriage with you, the daughter of an esteemed nobleman, but knowing that you two were in love only made it appear that much better.
He parted from your lips with a knowing smirk, inciting a mock glare from you, before his nose nuzzled yours. He obviously did not care about holding up a show of stoic masculinity off of the battlefield when he was with you. You sighed with a smile.
“I can’t keep calling you Jungkookie. You did something very important. You killed an important man...who was that man again?”
He smiled at your curiosity and lifted a hand to ruffle your hair, which you immediately swatted away with a shout of protest. It had taken your handmaidens ages to style this mess and will not be ruined on your watch.
“You are so cute when you ask questions. But don’t worry about it, okay?” He smiled, verbally swiping away the entire context of the conversation. Your eyebrows furrowed.
“But I want to know, Jeongguk.”
A quirk of an eyebrow, a flicker of confusion across his features was the response. “But you’re a woman,” were his words, pricking annoyance along the inside of your body. “You have no business in knowing what happens at war. Just forget about it, okay?”
The frown digging at your lips was enough to amplify your words. “General , you tell me right now, or-”
“Alright, alright,” he laughed, although the acquiescence in his eyes still held a guarded look, as if the information might break you entirely. “But don’t say I didn't warn you.”
He swiped a beverage cup from a platter of drinks held out to you both by a maid, and ushered her away with a smile and a wave. He sipped from the cup far too slowly and urged you to snap at him for stalling, to which he laughed again.
“His name was Shé Hé,” he began, seriousness flooding his tone. His spirited eyes in light of the festivities and your presence suddenly darkened only with these words. “He was a Chinese ambassador sent here who had no business being here. So, my father sent him back to China with an escort,” he explained, sipping from his drink again.
“What happened?” You asked. His eyes only dropped to his feet before traveling up again to rest on your own.
“He killed our escort.”
Your eyes widened to the size of the saucers that held the food, thoughts swirling around the concept of one countryman killing another, both affiliated with their governments. This was not a forgivable misunderstanding.
The young prince continued with a sigh. “He killed our man at the border and the Chinese emperor went and made him commander of his army,” he laughed bitterly, shaking his head. “Now, how are we supposed to take that? You promote a guy for killing one of ours? What message is he sending exactly?”
Jeongguk leisurely swirled the liquid in the cup. “To exact revenge, my father ordered me to conduct a raid and kill Shé Hé. So I did,” he said casually, tipping the cup to his mouth for a final sip. When he swallowed, his irises of obsidian fell on yours. “And now I’m General of Wiman Joseon.”
Your tongue remained dry and your mouth unfruitful in producing words. You knew there had been some violence involved, but never something quite so intricate like this that might as well have come out of a storybook.
“But why did he come to our state in the first place?” You questioned, eyebrows knitting together. “You said he was an ambassador, so what did he want?”
Your inquiries brought a hand to rub his neck in hesitance. You knew he didn't like your lips uttering questions about a ‘man’s’ topic, but you were far too curious at this point to care.
“Do you know the Jin state?” He asked. At the name, your thoughts recounted large parchments of maps littered throughout halls, all with the state of Wiman Joseon drawn and scribbled on top of a land mass. Another space, a state, was always drawn blooming out below the lined borders. Jin.
“Yes, it’s south of the border,” you said, shifting his expression into one of surprise.
“You've been studious,” he remarked, smile flickering at his lips for an instant before melting away. “The Jin State and China are very close allies, but we are literally in the way between both of their lands. So, the Jin state sent an ambassador to our border and requested to be allowed to cross to China.” He scratched his head. “And something happened, some kind of dispute. I'm not really sure because Father wouldn't tell me, but he didn't let him cross,” he explained. “So he went back south for home. Then, Shé Hé came from the north and you know the rest,” he shrugged.
His apparent nonchalance did nothing to put you at ease. “Jungkook, that's two countries who have a bone to pick with us. Not to mention one of them is the Chinese empire and you’re the general!” You panicked, eyebrows knitting together in concern. His hands were quick to rest comfortingly on your shoulders.
“Hey, it’s alright. Everything will be fine,” he cooed, brushing a stray strand of hair away from your face. The gesture failed to slow your racing thoughts.
“But you killed the commander of the Chinese army, Jeongguk. Are we at war?”
Your words melted his smile before a curt laugh was sounding from his throat.
“Damn, you pick up on things on too easily.” His voice held no humor and the tiredness swirling in his eyes was visible. “As of now, nothing’s happened yet. But the Chinese commander is dead and the emperor probably won’t sit quietly…” his words trailed off at the silent plea your eyes sent him, for him to stop with the vague words in a situation so serious.
He heaved a sigh in burdened acquiescence. “Emperor Wu is probably readying his troops right now. We expect an invasion in a month.”
Your heart plummeted to your stomach, eyes searching his face that stayed grim, such a stark contrast to oblivious not happening in the background’s festivities.
“Since I’m general, my...my father is sending me there with our troops to set up camp and take the enemy head on. I leave in a week, Y/n.” The hopeless expression he gave you only tore a frustrated shout from your throat as your fists quickly took to pounding his chest.
“No, no, Jeongguk. You’re my fiancé, you’re supposed to be my husband, not a general! I can't marry you if you’re dead --” your voice closed up in a sob before his arms were tightening around you in an instant, fingers tangling in the strands of your hair.
“Nothing is going to happen to me, alright? I’m the heir to this throne. Everyone will make sure I live even if we lose. I’m just there to organize some stuff, understand?”
Your tears bled against his armor as you buried your face into his chest. His words calmed you a little, but the fear of impending doom upon your fiancé couldn't be shaken away.
“Everything will be alright,” he cooed again, a warm hand rubbing your back slowly. You, however, only screwed your eyes shut and wished for this night to be over.
Wiman Joseon--China border, early 109 BC
A muttered curse met the chilly air in a fog as Jeongguk scrubbed the away the blood from his palms. His sunken eyes watched the ruby liquid dim slightly before he dunked his hands into the cool stream once again. His head whipped around to briskly scan the surroundings, to check for any more incoming enemies. A sigh of relief when none was spotted.
Chinese emperor Wu had decided to launch an amphibious attack, sending one invasion by land and another by sea. But the two sectors needed mastery in communication skills to coordinate such an audacious attack properly. Jeongguk, however, had made sure that wouldn't even have been seen in action by camping out by their supply route for days and killing any messengers crossing by between the two. By now they’d be missing vital information on both sides of the attack, rendering them unable to carry on and guaranteeing certain victory for Joseon.
Jeongguk stared blankly at his bloodied sword resting in the crusted earth. He wondered if playing dirty like his father taught him really was an honorable thing to do. He shook his head, grabbing the hilt of his glinting sword and dunking it into the water.
He wondered what you were up to.
Wanggeom-seong, Capital of Wiman Joseon, mid-109 BC
It had been three months since you had last seen Jeongguk. Since his departure, every report of enemy advance had had your fingernails digging into your palms and your nights spent with wide, unblinking eyes. However, each rumor of enemy retreat had you breathing a little easier. Now, the words messengers brought to the king spoke of a final retreat, a collapse of both sides of an amphibious attack, a temporary victory for the Joseon troops.
That was good enough for you. You had hurriedly requested the king for permission to travel to the camp to see Jeongguk. Had had looked at you warily, fingers stroking his chin and reluctance dousing his frame.
“It will be very dangerous. The only reason they are still there is because of the possibility of a counterattack.”
You were unsatiated. “But the messengers said they have retreated well into the Chinese border. They have almost no soldiers and few weapons or working ships to attack again. A counterattack is a possibility, but an extremely low one,” You reasoned. “It is safe there now and I want to see my fiance.”
His aged eyes twinkled as he gazed at you from his throne, a hand coming up to stroke his beard in thought. “You are a very bright young woman. Although, you shouldn't delve too much into these violent affairs. Jeongguk will not be happy once he sees you there.”
Your eyes lit up. “So I can go?”
He nodded. “I’ll send with you a small group for protection. Be careful. Remember you are to be queen of Joseon. Your life is too important.”
You bit back your reply of so is Jeongguk’s and chose instead to watch servants set scurrying off to prepare your traveling materials with a single wave of the king’s hand. You hoped your unexpected visit wouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to a certain prince.
Wiman Joseon--China border, mid-109 BC
The military camp seemed as if it were basking in a peaceful morning when you entered its grounds. Tents upon tents of soldiers, weapons, foods littered the endless grassy area and it wasn’t difficult to spot one or two horses trotting about here and there. The several soldiers that had been leisurely walking past you were forced to do a double take, only to realize you were indeed the princess, and suddenly fell to the ground in a formal bow.
They must have thought you were there to raise moral or congratulate them on a job well done, because then they were thanking you, with tired and dirtied faces lifting into ones with smiles and bright eyes. You thanked them in return, for their service and their bravery, prompting more humbled bows in response.
Your attention was entirely diverted when the leader of your human convoy pointed to a tent nestled on a small hill, the largest one you had seen yet and with intricate designs of soldiers conquering evil spirits drawn across the fabric’s expanse. When he had spoken the words General Jeongguk, your feet had already set upon their hurried journey in that direction.
A flick of the the tent flap open allowed you the sight of a small, dark area closed swallowed entirely by the cloth’s walls. In the center of the room was a certain soldier with familiar gray armor that seemed to wink at you in greeting as he busily bent over a table. His dark eyes were reading, rapidly scanning every detail, marking, and notation of the large map strewn about the wood, completely unaware of your presence.
The loud clearing of your throat had his head snapping up to face you, eyes widening and frame immediately stumbling to rush over to yours.
“Y/n!”
His body crashed into yours with a discomfort you couldn't care less about because then his arms were weaving around your frame in an embrace you missed too all much as you fell against him.
“What are you doing here?” He breathed into the crook of your neck. “You need to go back! It's too dangerous for you here,” he urged you, even though his grip on your waist only pressed you closer.
You pulled your head away to look at him. He was the epitome of exhaustion, with bags falling under his eyes and irises that seemed blank, as if he hadn’t seen anything but death and destruction in the past three months.
“The messengers said that the fighting was over. Your father allowed me to come here,” you explained, watching the worry in his face deepen.
“He let you come here?”
You sighed, having known this conversation was coming, to convince him that you weren’t only an inconvenience to be protected. “It’s fine, Jeongguk. I have protection and the enemy is well within their borders.”
“But this is no place for a wom--”
“I’ll be fine.”
His face did not relax. “Still, I have to do my daily recon trip to make sure there aren’t any of their troops still lurking around. But you’re here now, and I can’t just leave you unattended.”
You rolled your eyes. There was the inconvenience part.
“You don’t remember things, do you? Your father sent an entire protection squad with me. I’ll be fine. All of your soldiers and weapons will be here, too. The one that you should be worried about is yourself,” you reasoned, watching his resolve to away.
“But--”
“Weren’t you the one to tell me everything will be alright three months ago? Now I’m telling you.”
His lips curled into a small smile at that, eyes running over your face before he was pressing a kiss to your mouth. You complied easily, tangling your fingers into the chaotic strands of his hair and allowing three months of pent up loneliness to come crashing between your bodies.
“God, I missed you,” he breathed with a smile as his hands guided your form to press against the table. Then, his lips were diving for your neck, attaching against the warm skin and pulling a sigh from your mouth. “I missed this too,” he muttered busily.
“Jeongguk,” you weakly protested, tightening your grip on his hair. “We can't do this, especially not here.”
Anything past kissing was reserved for the consummation of a marriage, only allowed until after your wedding. It would be extremely frowned upon by the elders in your country, but from the way his hands were roaming your frame right now, it seemed like there would be a lot of frowning to do.
“Why not?” He smirked, teeth slightly scraping the skin of your neck as his hands trailed your body. “No one will know.”
That had your hand smacking his armored shoulder. “Don't you have some military work to do?” You complained.
He finally released you with a light laugh that you had not heard in far too long.
“Yes, my queen,” He teased, the nickname sending an odd flush across your cheeks as he pecked your forehead. He reached over for his helmet resting on the table and tucked it under his arm. “I’ll be back in an hour. Stay here, alright?”
You nodded. His eyes trailed your frame in one last hesitant look before he was disappearing outside. Silence filled the room shortly afterwards and you found yourself sighing disappointedly at the lack of his warmth. You also discovered the threat of utter boredom in a place of nothing else but sleeping soldiers and hungry horses.
You settled for poking around Jeongguk’s desk, your eyes immediately having caught the sight of the large map laid across the wood. It held intricate markings strewn about a large land mass, one that seemed all too familiar to you. Your fingers absently trailed the lined borders of one section at the north, noted ‘China’, down to ‘Joseon’, and traveling further down to the unmarked territory cut off at the bottom of the page, ‘Jin’.
Your eyes did not leave that name. They instead took to tracing the drawings of mountain ranges littering the side of the partially drawn land that had been colored a bright green and left you wondering if it was a beautiful country. All that had ever been uttered to your ears had been of China and Joseon, but not much was said between lips of the State of Jin. Its looming quietness at the south of the border only made it appear all the more mysterious to you and you entertained the idea of visiting it one day, when tensions weren’t so high.
The shrill sound of a neighing horse outside shattered your engrossment in the map. Several horses were neighing now, almost screaming as if in panic, and were followed by the frantic shouts of soldiers. The flaps of the tent were closed, but from the small open space at the bottom, you could see multiple feet running this way and that, some even slipping in their attempt to sprint. Your heart fell into your stomach.
Something was very wrong.
It couldn’t have been more than five minutes since Jeongguk had left and yet, the camp seemed to be falling into chaos outside.
The breath that had been lodged in your throat was forced out with a slow exhale, your mind grasping at anything to calm yourself. This was nothing, probably just a few overactive horses that had been spooked. Your thoughts flickered to Jeongguk’s soothing hands in your hair three months ago, when you both were safe and at home, and problems were far, far away when he had assured you that everything would be alright.
But as your trembling hands pushed away the tent flap, the sudden violent churning in your stomach proved his words completely wrong.
There were men, dozens or more, ones you had never seen before stalking throughout the camp. They did not wear the familiar uniform of your army, and instead prowled between tents dressed in armor the color of night. Some took to shoving down your own soldiers with scowls etched deeply into their faces and fire taking light in their eyes as they threateningly pressed odd, golden daggers to their necks. Their horses trotted into the camp in a strict formation, almost twice the size of yours and adorned in armor from their nose to their tail in a mix of gold and black bleeding together to make them look like regal beasts.
Your eyes frantically flew across the happenings of the scene in front of you. These couldn’t have been the Chinese; they did not have nearly enough capable troops to make an attack of this size and did not wield strange daggers as weapons. No, you could not recognize any of these as the Chinese. You could not recognize them at all.
One group of armored men entered through the gap of tents on the largest horses you’d seen. Two of them were carrying flags with alien designs that left you dumbfounded and mentally screaming the question of who were these people?
The two were led by one man on his steed, clad in armor so thin and bound so tightly to his chest, it looked as if it were only his clothing. He was the only one with no helmet, and bore his naked face bravely as he scanned the chaotic scene before him. When he had finally gotten close enough for you to see, your heart stopped in his chest.
He was young. The way his dark hair fell in fringes over his eyebrows that arched with grace made him seem like an emblem of youthful beauty that had no place on the battlefield. You watched as his tall, lithe frame slid off of the horse with ease, the onyx armor that clung to his frame making him seem almost like a feline with the same calculative look in his eye.
He must have been around yours and Jeongguk’s age. From his entrance framed by two flag bearers and the way they spoke to him with rigid stances, asking for what you believed were orders, you realized he must have been their general as well. He scanned the surroundings filled with violence and shouts, observing everything with a calmness that stunned you before relaying his wishes.
It wasn't until the two men turned around and shouted orders to the others scattered about camp did you gasp. Torches had materialized in their hands, probably when you had been too busy watching their leader, and were now being lit from the central campfire set up by your own soldiers. Then, they were being passed over tent coverings, food reserves, setting alight the hay near horses that whinnied and reared back in terror.
Your men screamed as the orange venom licked its way wildly throughout the camp, running out of tents for their lives, some of them with parts of their clothing on fire as they struggled to put it out with strangled breaths and streaming tears.
The scream that ripped from your throat was too fast to be stopped by your palm clamping over your mouth. The young general’s head snapped to your direction, catching eye of your frame that had unknowingly wandered from the safety of your tent to survey the damage in petrified observance. His eyes widened, blinking several times as he took in your figure, before they were narrowing with a tilt of a head to observe you as if looking at an unusual animal. His cat-like feet then took steps towards your frozen frame.
You could only choke back a sob as their men attacked, pillaging and raiding your entire camp with alien daggers slicing at skin without mercy. At the sound of voices calmly speaking, your attention flicked back to the enemy general who was now pointing a glinting, unblemished sword in your direction. You had only just enough time to process the words being passed from his lips to one of his henchmen with eyes glued to yours, obsidian and calculating and unforgiving all the same.
“Take her.”