The Wise Monkey's POV:

3!

2!

And 1!...

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It hadn't been so easy.

That dusk, Wooyoung waited near the gate, he waited and waited; even when he was late to reach the gate, he had to wait. But Soojin didn't come. When Wooyoung went to the maid's quarter, one of the women had plainly told him no one was supposed to meet the girl. A frantic Wooyoung tried to enquire further, but the woman only said she couldn't disclose any further, she couldn't understand the specifics of what he was asking( or was he saying?) anyway. Extremely worried for his sister, he was forced to head back inside the palace until he could find out about her in the morning.

It was the same night Prince Jaejoong came rushing to his brother to tell him about the rumour his cruel heart had been ecstatic to hear.

"I heard that the arrogant wench had been put to her place," he smirked. 

"It's a shame you take interest in rumours of others' palaces now too. Resembles the trait of a few of those 'lower class' that you say you despise, leeches in your words, you see. Quite hypocritical, I'd say," Hongjoong had plainly responded, not bothering to face him as flipped through the pages of a book.

"What did you say!" Jaejoong growled in anger.

"I'd like to head to sleep now, brother. You can excuse yourself."

"I'll see to your attitude when we reach home," Jaejoong pointed a finger at his brother. "You're lucky I have to go have a word with the queen."

But there was nothing Hongjoong knew of that required having a further meeting with the royals who were hosting them. 'What for?' Hongjoong kept it in his thoughts knowing he wouldn't get an answer. "It's not the most appropriate time to meet a royal of that position as a guest." But Jaejoong only walked off ignoring his words.

It was the same night Soojin was kept shut in the quarters by the order of the queen as the girl slept peacefully under the effect of some drug, unbeknownst to anything that was coming her way.

When Soojin woke up the next morning, she was met with the same luxurious confines of the palace. Her eyes moved to and fro in dismay as she searched her brain for an explanation, and the way she was so suddenly woken gave no alms to lessen her anxiety, rather only made her brows move in a quizzical contortion and lips move in a frown. A fellow maid was aggressively shaking her in annoyance. 

"Get up, you conniving woman!" she said. "You need to go outside." She and the other maids dragged Soojin by her arms all the way to the outside in the East Wing of the estate. Throughout the way, while passing the quarters, while in the halls, while at the final steps detached from the inside of the palace, Soojin kept asking and asking,

"Where are you taking me?"

"Why are you dragging me?"

"What happened last night?"

"Why did I sleep?"

"Please at least tell me if my brother's safe!"

And even when none of her questions were answered, her intuition said a few. The will to mend things were long gone; her intuition screamed hopelessness, submission, it had sensed danger that affirmed on not finding a clear coast ever. She was already crying when she reached outside, under the open, bright blue sky with a white canopy of clouds and no sun, where a group of people were standing in clusters. One she realized was her brother, as he seemed like he was begging Master Choi Jongho of something with crying eyes and kneeling legs, and then Mingi far behind as he was following around a bunch of law enforcers with a loud, questioning, almost yelling mouth. The helpless Jongho tried to pat Wooyoung and told him to stop kneeling in front of him, and cruel Jaejoong stood smirking next to his sober, sympathetic brother, all of them also accompanied by several palace workers, the whole group around a twenty in numbers. It was almost at the same instant when the officers from the East Gate, Soojin dragged from the opposite direction, and the royal siblings had reached the waiting group.

Wooyoung got up and ran to hug his sister tight immediately as he saw her. The maids who held the girl firmly released their hands when Jisoo relayed affirmation through his eyes. The prince's newfound hatred towards the girl didn't cloud his morals, he felt pity for the innocent, mute brother. Wooyoung cried on Soojin's shoulders, rubbing the girl's back who was in a similar emotional mood. He drew back and sloppily signed. 'They found out about the child,' he relayed. Soojin nodded and cupped his face. "Please don't cry for me, please. Just forget me," she said. Mingi who was angrily glaring at the prince all the while with fisted hands was brought to attention with Soojin's voice.

One of the law enforcement officers opened his scroll as he faced Soojin, clearing his throat. "Jung Soojin is accused of defamation of the noble royalty and attempted trickery against them primarily," he paused to look at the girl. "Offenses against royalty who are distinguished associates of the State are considered offences against the State, and defamation against either royalty or the State are not trivial, miss." He looked back at the scroll. "Jung Soojin is also accused of the recurrent thievery of palace valuables, spreading of rumours within the palace with the intent of defamation over the span of years since she joined the palace, disrespect of the royals, promiscuity within the palace and illegal prostitution, and attempted absconding last night from the responsibilities of punishment and the State after the period of complaint registration. Admission of the offences aren't needed, it is an order of the State, you are guilty. You are under custody as of now, until the punishment is decided."

"What the hell!" Mingi was about to charge at the officer before people held him back. "This is not time to show your creativity. NONE OF THOSE IS TRUE! You know it! It's a bloody conspiracy! Why the goddamned hell is she guilty without proof! What about trial and hearing! Conspiracy, I say!"

"Against a poor maid? Who would have the time and motive for that?" the officer patiently said. Mingi looked at the prince and the latter raised his brows in question.

Soojin, not finding the guts to yell out big 'No's to all the disgusting accusations, succumbed to hopelessness, could only fall to the ground, wailing loudly as she held her stomach.

Jaejoong seemed content. Jisoo's eyes had widened just a bit when he registered the offences even he had never thought of, a part of him believed she wasn't capable of some of the mentioned offences but for all he knew, it could be the true her. He decided he still would do a thorough enquiry about the new charges. 

A devastated Wooyoung knelt in front of Soojin, grabbing her attention and signing, 'Then they should arrest me too, for being your accomplice in trying to elope. I'm coming with you too.'

Soojin immediately started signing, not wanting everyone to get a whiff of it. 'NO, YOU CAN'T!'

Mingi had also rushed to his side, freeing himself of the guards' holds. 'You can't and you wouldn't, you understand? We're not translating what you said to them even if you decide to let them know.'

'Yes, listen to us,' Soojin signed.

"You can't talk in secrecy like that, stop it, you three," an officer said. "You two, use your words."

"Don't tell me what to do?" Mingi raged.

"Oh, is that so?" the officer threateningly advanced but was stopped by another. "It's not the time, we have a job to do here," the man said.

Wooyoung rushed to go fall on Jisoo's feet. 'Please, please, free her,' he begged and no words were needed to understand what he was signing. Jisoo stayed stoic, eyes averted from Wooyoung, unable to look at the pitiful youth. Jongho kneeled to help the bowing man to get up. The elder princess who had been eying Soojin with pity all this while, at Wooyoung's performance, couldn't bear to watch further; she turned on her heels and left, her new lady-in-waiting following her dutifully.

"Take her," an officer said and Soojin was helped up and dragged with the enforcers, yet no force was needed to be applied, she was complying as she walked with them.

"You heathens! You do not even have proof against the accusations!" Mingi yelled.

"Wooyoung," Soojin meekly said as she walked. "You are the best brother anyone could have asked for....P-Please...Just please don't cry because of me. I hope you live healthily.... And Mingi... goodbye..." and then she increased her pace, the officers keeping up. Jisoo turned around and strode back to the palace with tight jaws and heavy, impatient steps, his cousin and friend, Jongho, running behind him in worry. 

"Hahaha," Jaejoong laughed. "This would be the most memorable event I would probably remember for all the coming months." And he left too.

Mingi was all Wooyoung now had as the taller man comfort his wailing friend. 

'Mingi, why did she say it like that?' he signed. 'Like she'd never return. She'd come back after the time of punishment, right? Right?'

"I..." Mingi's voiced faltered. "I don't know, Wooyoung." And then he had to steady the weak body of Wooyoung who had fallen on the muddy ground, crying.

The only pair of eyes amongst the spectators, who had watched the whole scene as an outsider and understood many of the nooks, was only that of a highly observant Kim Hongjoong. The maid in question, the prince's body language, the queen's decision, his brother's elation and the guilty-looking princess who was accompanied by a brand new lady-in-waiting today replacing her highly-trusted and long-lasting previous one, he had noticed it all. 

And what he deciphered from it all had been absolutely correct as well: The empathetic princess who had known already about the pregnancy and swore to not tell but who was betrayed by her own lady-in-waiting in it; The queen who heard it from the princess' servant and decided to exact revenge towards the poor maid which was co-conspired by his own brother; But the greatest and most uneasy revelation of it all, Soojin who seemed actually innocent, Jisoo who seemed conflicted, and the theory that the chaos had all sparked first just because of a mere misunderstanding.

Shaking his head at the turmoil, Hongjoong had walked off too.

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"Jung Soojin!" a firm, coarse and manly voice called out loud. Out of the many devastated women sitting on the dirty floor behind the rusted iron bars, none turned their heads up. "Jung Soojin, get up!" the guard yelled impatiently.

"It's not that hard, you fool! It's the pretty one, get her!" a voice of someone who screamed superiority yelled from somewhere in the hallway that aboded the many prison cells. The guard only grew irritated at the order. "You better get up, woman," he still resorted to calling, unable to see the faces of women who rested it on their knees or palms in the dim light. It was early morning, many of them had to be sleeping.

"Ugh," one woman sat up straight, giving the guard an annoyed look. "It's this one," she pointed at Soojin. The guard came inside the cell immediately and yanked the sleeping Soojin's arm to pull her up.

"Ahh," she screamed in surprise. And when her eyes were shot open, she cursed her fate remembering the happenings of the past day. She wished it was all a nightmare, but it wasn't; with the painful, hence realistic, way she was being dragged, it was just clear that it wasn't. Where was she being taken to? She did not wish to know. She knew nothing thereafter would be better than how she was now, it was all leading to the finalizing of her punishment anyway. 

And punishment, small or extremely tormenting, she didn't deserve any. Even if she did, her unborn child definitely didn't.

"Your punishment is fixed," the cell guard said, finding it unusual that the girl didn't ask anything herself. But she didn't utter a word. And then, as she was handed over to other people, escorted by them to someplace different, even when she could have the chance to look around and estimate the possible destination, she didn't turn her face up once or utter a word.

She stepped into a small building along with a guard, and then again, a new man came to show her the way as the previous guard left. She finally looked up. This new place had only one cell but it seemed to serve the same purpose as the previous place of her stay: confinement. 

The man with her sighed, Soojin concluded he seemed anxious from the only two glances her weak form gave his way. The man she assumed as the guard of this new cell, opened it and gestured for her to go in. He somehow seemed kinder than the other guards in the previous jail. The man didn't look like a stranger, but like another familiar but random face in the town where everyone recognized each other, by faces if not by identity.

Soojin sat against a lone wall, opposite to that of the only other person in the room who lied on the floor by the wall with knees brought up to the abdomen. The face was not recognizable, it was covered by long, black strands of silky, hip-length hair, but the mysterious woman looked gorgeous even when sleeping. Her curves and the delicate way she lied on her side was the epitome of femininity, it wasn't often that Soojin met women who looked gorgeous even when resting. She wore an expensive silk hanbok, like the fashionable ones the wives of wealthy merchants would wear. And even though Soojin thought it was covered in concerning amounts of dried blood stains and filth, the woman's profile and her bruised skin looked beautiful and delicate still. The woman brought back thoughts of the other beautiful women Soojin had seen in her life: the princesses she served.

And just at the thought of home, her eyes began to well up in tears again. Fear and uncertainty once again capitalized her mind. Why was she transferred to this new place so early in the morning? This place, which looked even dirtier and worse than the previous, that only had only one cell, one guard and one other prisoner? Was she brought to the outskirts? Was that her punishment? Banishment from the town? Would she never meet Wooyoung again?

The guard who was standing against the wall, outside of their cell, sighed before he decided to speak. The guard, as Soojin assumed was his designation, wasn't actually that. And the man was wondering how he'd break it to the prisoner of her purpose here, or even if he had to, primarily. It was Choi San's first day of work that he didn't reconsider up until this point, and now he only had an hour or so before his first work would start.

"You are Jung Soojin..." he quietly said and Soojin slowly turned towards him, eyes now fully watered. "The famous girl who..." and he didn't need confirmation because she had started sobbing hard.

"I know you..." he tried to say but words caught up in his throat. Soojin ignored his words, everyone seemed to know her in the town. Choi San held his head in his hands, he was glad there were no superiors to monitor him here, the previous one who guarded the other prisoner got off work in the morning when he reached. On his first day of work as an executioner, he was designated to take the life of two humans, and the first scheduled one among them, the sister of his mute childhood friend.

Soojin started crying harder. It was then that the other presence in the cell began to sit up, groaning in pain at each small movement. And those gruesome groans were what caught the instant attention of the weeping woman and the contemplating executioner. And it wasn't just the repulsive, pitiful nature of those sounds that shocked them, but rather the depth of the voice. It was a man's voice, of that of a man with a naturally deep, low-pitched voice, manlier than the average. When the person completely sat up after much difficulty, the mystery face came to light. The dull eyes that looked like it survived even the torments of hell, stared straight into Soojin's for a moment before it was averted and set on the dirty floor. The emotionless face and bruise and blood-covered body, yet still as beautiful as an emotionless, porcelain-white sculpture, belonged to a man. And the adam's apple was all that could give away that fact.

"You're a man..." San muttered in shock but the person in question ignored the words.

"So I have company now?" the man muttered to himself and his grim, hopeless face chuckled in pain like a madman, which only lasted a second before he groaned in pain, placing his hand delicately on his bruised jaw.

Soojin kept crying silently. She wanted to know why she was here but she didn't have the physical and mental energy to ask.

A few long minutes passed by like that until the man spoke. "There's no point," he grimly said and Soojin looked up. San lazily heard him as he was now sat outside the cell. "If it's because of regret, pure fear, or just for a show to get mercy. Only one person guards this cell as you can see and I'm afraid he has any call in this. I cried too at first, but now I can't e-even..... I...only have a few hours left, I'm glad." He laughed. "I'm assuming you know yours too."

"W-What?" she said, eyes wide open. "What does that mean?" Her voice was fragile, way too into submission to her worst thought scenario to be alarmed.

"Ahhh..." he whispered. "you weren't told.."

Soojin shook her head wiping all the tears.

"This place is different." He held genuine emotions now, not a pretend laughter or chuckle, but genuine, grim eyes that sheathed a whirlpool of misery as he spoke. "For the heathens, the worst human offenders who are tagged with public execution. This cell is meant to roof those like us, to spend their last few hours as a living person in confinement." A lone tear escaped his eyes that he quickly wiped.

"Oh..." Soojin breathed out and froze on her spot. She felt many things: calm due to her intuitive forecast but disbelief at the same time, shock but apathy, fear but acceptance for her fate. And now the tears wouldn't even fill her eyes, her eyes refused to; Perhaps after a point, the tears would all cease to be produced, just like the man said. Soojin sat frozen for the next many minutes, and the man hadn't dared to meet any of the other humans' eyes, he seemed lost in his own thoughts of misery, with occasional sounds of discomforts from any movements.

But even though Soojin had completely given up and lost the will to live, there were some emotions that raged in her like fire; Strong, indisputable emotions! Of discontent with her life. Of curses and profanities to her destiny and fate. Of deep resistance towards injustice that she had ignored all her life, yet not the courage to go against it and fight for herself. Of malice...

"I refuse!" Soojin strongly voiced out, her sound loudest and sturdiest in the many years of her service and submission as a low class human to the privileged wealthy.

...Of rage! Towards her wrongdoers: towards the society. Life was never easy for someone like her; Society was inconsiderate towards the poor, and also to those who just happened to fit society's beauty standards.

Two astonished pairs of eyes found themselves on her, intent for her to go on.

"I refuse to see myself as someone who deserves this punishment because I DO NOT," Soojin said. "I have nothing to lose now if I am to die this day and this is why I will speak out. I did no wrong. The only thing I did was loving someone I shouldn't have and I-I... I still can't decide if that is right or wrong." She paused, no one interrogated a word from her. 

"My brother..." she breathed out. "He would always tell me to be wary of those influential people. Only if I heard him... I did no wrong! I didn't! They always target us, the wealthy, influential ones in this society." The words suddenly piqued the interest of the other prisoner. "Today, I'm in no position to fight back. The weak are always bound to be doomed. But even if I don't have the courage to say it directly to the powerful ones — I wouldn't want any trouble for my brother— I will tell you this: they conspired, the royals did me wrong, I am innocent and this one here," she pressed her hands on her stomach and slide down her hands on the bulging outline. "is even more innocent. Poor one will be denied the chance to even breathe in this world, wouldn't it?" Soojin choked on her tears. "But it's good, it's a cruel world, after all."

"My God..." the prisoner managed to mutter when he realized she was pregnant. 

"Demons!" he growled. "The wealthy are the demons on earth!"

The executioner, if he wasn't any anxious earlier, he was now. He was more than anxious. Dread was what he felt. Something told him that the woman he was supposed to kill was indeed innocent, he didn't even need any further explanation to judge that.

"What had happened?" the prisoner asked. "If you were wronged, speak it all out one last time, it would be one last reminiscence to always remember how bitter this world had been. Tell me everything. What is your name?"

"Jung Soojin. What is yours?"

"Kang Yeosang," the prisoner said.

A/N:

Sorry for being late, but DOUBLE UPDATE!

This book is wrapping up soon, fyi.

Also, to clarify, a women's hanbok is very loose-fitted. It's hard to identify the body in it, like it's difficult to differentiate men from women, we can't always just "if there's a bust, it's a woman" unless it's a heavy chested woman wearing it. Plus, at that time, the shapewear was different, modern-day bras help to show the curve and all, but back then binders were used instead. And it's not easy to differentiate pregnant women from others unless the pregnant women have full 9th-month belly or something. That's why Soojin sticks her loose skirt against her belly to make it visible.