It had been 10 days since Hoseok had placed the letter in her room and Aaya still found herself in a daze whenever she recalled its content.

The tone of the letter was not the Hoseok she knew in the days she spent with him.

When he had said that it was now time to get to know him, he truly did let go of any pretence. He was honestly letting her see him, know him.

Generally, she could take it in a romantic direction and think him to be so romantic and loving, that he could not bear to keep any side of his hidden from her. That he found happiness in letting his lover know all of him.

But Aaya knew, with Hoseok, that was not the case.

For him, revealing everything meant that he would never let her escape, so letting her know who exactly he was, was inconsequential.

Really? Weaving stories of him being obsessively possessive about me and thinking he meant the thought he wrote about never letting me go while he simply left her in her village and coolly went back home?

These days, Aaya oscillated between elation and dread. She was confused over whether she was nervous for his arrival again or angry at the way he left.

A letter, and broken arms of another man, was NOT the way to be parted from a lady!

"Aaya!! Why are you simply standing there?? Go serve the guests!!" her foster mother screamed at her.

Grimacing, Aaya quickly finished preparing the juice and then loaded the tray with fruits and rice wine, then prepared to let it be passed to another servant to be taken out to the group of men being entertained in the outer reception area of the house.

"Those are the men from the family of your sister's future husband!! How dare you delegate and not attend to them yourself??"

Aaya did not look at her, being habituated to her greed and insensitivity, "The men are drunk. It is risky for me to go."

Her mother grunted and then let it be, walking out of the kitchen, "I will be entertaining the Ladies, make sure you send the food there too. Once you have done your job, you may go back to your room. Do NOT come out till the morning!"

Just like blank noise, Aaya did not pay attention to it and kept on making the food. The heat from the fire made her sweat freely, but she still did not remove her veil.

Few hours later, she instructed the servants to send the dishes to the rooms, inquired about her Nana and Tang. After receiving a reply that they had both retired, she bid the servants goodnight and crossed the courtyard.

In between reaching for the quarter of the wings having her rooms adjacent to Nana's, Aaya stopped to look at the full moon. The moonlit night draping the world in its silvery light made the evening softer. The sounds of laughter coming from the house, the streets lit with lantern and still occupied with people returning home, inexplicably made her feel peaceful.

She wanted to sit in the courtyard for a while, but the exhaustion in her body would soon make her fall in a deep sleep, the second she allowed herself to relax. It would be better to be in her room than being defenceless at a time her house was filled with strangers.

As Aaya leisurely walked forward, humming a little tune to herself, she pondered over why the groom's family had suddenly changed their minds.

Previously the family had come to bear gifts and have a ritual before the date of the marriage ceremony was fixed, but they had decided to stay in an inn and would only come at an auspicious time, which was four days later.

Suddenly in the morning, they had sent a letter informing the change of their mind to visiting tonight.

As such, Aaya was pulled from her duties in the Physician's hospital and had to hastily go to the market place with the servants to buy the ingredients and to cook a feast.

Even though her Foster mother knew she was engaged to a Prince, she never spared to remind her of the way she had brought Aaya up and her still being unmarried at the shameful age of 19, causing a burden to the family.

It was mainly because Aaya never complained, nor did she have any intentions of snitching on her foster parents, that she was always taken advantage of.

After her Foster Uncle went crazy due to the loss of his hands, Aaya felt partly guilty and she did not refuse the woman of this request.

Reaching her room, Aaya was hit by a wave of exhaustion. Closing her door, she felt overwhelmingly sleepy and decided to not fight it. Yawning loudly, she slumped to her bed in the far coner of the room, and promptly fell asleep even without removing her veil or lighting any lamps.

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A few hours later, Aaya woke up, still groggy from her sleep. Her senses gradually came back and she remained laying down. Turning her head towards the window, she saw that the glow from the lanterns of the road had diminished, indicating the time being late into the night.

She could fall right back to sleep, but the veil was itch on her. Deciding to change her clothes and then lay back down, Aaya reluctantly sat up. Immediately, she saw the 3 lamps lit in her room.

"Good Evening Aaya."

The deep seductive voice pierced straight to her heart. All traces of sleep vanishing, Aaya scrambled up and turned towards the shadowy figure of a man sitting at the opposite end of her room.

Then she lifted her hand unconsciously towards her veil, feeling it to be still in place.

Soft laughter rang out, "No Aaya. I did not see you yet." Before him, several lamps were placed. Hoseok casually started lighting each one, "But I will today."

Aaya could hear the quiet happiness in his voice, "General. You seem to be very familiar with my home?"

"This is not your home. Its merely a house where you resided."

Aaya heard his inflection turn cold, "Resided?"

Hoseok's profile was bathed in the golden light of the lamps he was lighting, a slender wick held against the fire in one lamp, to be withdrawn and used to light another.

"Yes. Tonight, I will take you to your home. A home which will be yours, a place where you will only ever find joy."

His hair was loose on his shoulders, his jaw sharp, the elegant nose with the sensual lips making him become a sculpture of a living god. His eyes held infinite patience, softened indulgently as he talked.

Tendrils of joy were wounding around her like vines gathering her in a cocoon. Aaya smiled and teased her warrior, "I don't know General, will it be as easy as you make it seem? There will be a protest against the actions you desire to commit."

His actions paused for a bit, but then continued, "The palace wants to bring you to the Capital. Your Prince wants to marry you quickly. I was sent, to safely bring you back for the ceremony."

Her heart missed a beat, the warmth she was feeling, dissipated. She observed the unhurried way Hoseok finished lighting the rest nine lamps and then blew on the wick to extinguish it.

Fluidly, he stood up as his Robes amplified the leashed earthy power of his body. With his unbound hair and a little loose inner hanbok showing glimpses of his chest and graceful collarbones, he looked wild.

Wild and untamed.

"I believe that development was arranged by you." Aaya spoke.

Hoseok picked up three lamps to place it around the room. His lips curved up in a wicked smile as he replied, "Indeed. It was."

She knew that. Otherwise the warrior would not have been so calm.

The reason why apprehension quelled her rising, budding euphoria, was because if he was the one who designed the reason behind the Palace to be making such a demand, then what had he schemed to make a clean break?

Deciding to test him, Aaya casually spoke, "Then I am grateful for your thoughts. I was afraid you would harm my prince."

The General stilled.

The lamps were evenly distributed in one half of her room while the half where she sat remained in shadows.

"Your Prince?"

Not paying much attention to the words she chose, Aaya nodded.

"You are grateful that I did not harm him?" the previous happiness from his voice was gone. It was completely void of any sentiments.

Aaya was grateful. She did not want Hoseok to be tangled in a Royal battle of vulgar backstabbing. If the Prince was harmed, then the King would use that excuse to find a way to annihilate Hoseok, even if he had to bring down half of his empire's power to succeed.

Added to that, "The Prince is a good person. He does not deserve to be hurt."

"You favour him?"

Aaya was surprised, "No General. I simply don't wish to be the reason for good people to be hurt."

Hoseok pivoted slowly, then his hands lazily reached his belt. Without speaking, he untied it while his eyes never left her, "I am in love with you." His low husky whisper was loud in her room.

Aaya froze, not understanding if it was the action he was committing or the confession he made. Dumbly, she sat still.

The reply to the chain of discussion was cut. How was this the response to what they were talking about?

The belt fluttered to the ground. His outer robe was shrugged off.

"General." Her voice quivered with fear, "What are you doing?"

The inner hanbok was loose, it gaped across his chest, widening with each step he took to come towards her.

"You once asked what is the definition of innocence to me?" Hoseok strolled forward, "I will give you the answer. It is You."

"What?" Aaya stood up on shaky legs, understanding yet not wanting to.

Hoseok stopped before her, both of them enveloped in the darkness. He softly whispered as his hands played with the edges of her veil.

"You are the innocence that I protect. Its simple for me, as long as no one touches you in thoughts or any form, I will let them live. You, are the bottom line that I won't tolerate being touched. That is the form of who I consider innocent, to not be under my blade."

One of his palms boldly cupped her hips, his broad fingers cupping her waist, the heat searing her flesh.

"The Prince, is not yours. It doesn't matter if he is good or bad. I don't understand that, I don't need to. To me, people who stay away from you deserve to live, if they touch you, they need to be killed."

"Stop this!" Aaya did not want to listen. She did not want Hoseok to go on the wrong path, "You are wrong-"

"I don't care." Aggressively, Hoseok pulled her protesting body close to him, his arms like iron bands around her waist. "I don't care as long as you are near me."

"STOP! At once! This is not the way to take care of the one you love General, this is not the way you love someone. What you are doing is-"

"Madness." Hoseok was close enough for her to feel overwhelmed, "Don't speak of him to me please, for I cannot guarantee what I will do to him. You are mine. Mine alone."

Aaya tried again, but her senses were filled with his masculine scent, she was dizzy from his magnetic presence, "In the terms of society I am still his General. You need to tell me-"

"YOU ARE MINE."

"Child, attracting the attention of such individual, becoming his love, his obsession is worse than death. He wont let go, and he will never understand restraint. What will be his passion will spell a fire of destruction for the rest."

Nna's words floated in her memories, echoing in her soul making her feel a sense of foreboding.

"Your acceptance of a fact is different from how the world will see it General." Aaya tried to gently make him understand, "As things stand, the world only knows-"

Hoseok enclosed her within his embrace, "Then I'll mark you for the world to see. They'll know you belong to me."

In one move, Hoseok ripped the veil from her head, the cloth falling softly on the ground.

The protest, the need to make him see the light, faded from her will as she stood exposed to the man for the first time.

Hoseok could only look at her. He lost track of what he had said till the point, forgot what his intentions a moment ago had been. All he knew, was that he was entranced. Hypnotized by the woman he was touching.

Without being aware, he started walking backward, one step at a time. Aaya was locked in his embrace and walked forward with him, both never looking away from each other. Like two pieces of a puzzle, they fit together, even when they moved.

As the golden light of the lamp fell on her white skin, Hoseok's eyes roamed her face. He looked at her in awe, his breaths coming fast. He had fallen madly in love with the person she was without ever seeing her face.

And now, he felt a rush of darkness and acute, burning love flooding him. The emotion temporarily disabled him as his gaze was helplessly drawn to the petal soft lush ruby lips. He was drunk. Drunk with her beauty.

"My Goddess." He whispered. She was a celestial divinity.

Beautiful, was a word too ugly for her.

"General. How do you plan to break me out of the betrothal?" Aaya asked softly. She had been interrupted too many times previously while trying to make him understand.

His hand cupped her delicate face, "Bandits will kill you and your family. I was too late to save you. Your body will be found in the forest, showing signs of rape, your face mangled beyond recognition as you could not bear the humiliation and took your own life."

Aaya's eyebrows wrinkled, "The Palace will order the Bandits to be captured, they will-"

"I have already killed them all." Hoseok' thumb traced her lips, "Afterall, I will be expected to take revenge against them. In my rage for my first failure, I killed them instead of holding them captive."

Smiling at the smitten expression and the easy way the warrior talked without any attitude, Aaya was enjoying herself when what he said struck her.

"How will you fake the death of my family?" she asked cautiously.

"I won't."

No.

No.

No. No.

No it can't be. . . . No.

Eyes widening with horror, she stood stiff as a block of ice while the full implication hit her. Weakly, she shook her head, not wanting to accept what was being told. She truly could not comprehend this action.

She needed to see. She needed to witness it herself. Now. Because if it was true, then. . .

Then she truly was not capable of handling him.

She was afraid she might collapse, because if it was true, then Nana's words would truly take effect. And that was something, she wanted to deny with her whole soul.

"He is a dangerous storm who will not understand right from wrong, and anyone in his path will face extinction"

Hoseok was still mesmerized by her beauty. Taking advantage of it, Aaya pushed him with all her might. Hoseok stumbled back, frowning.

Aaya did not care. She spun on her spot and dashed towards the door. Fumbling with the wood barrier lock, she wrenched open the panels when arms from behind enveloped her and slammed the door close.

Hoseok held her from behind, capturing her arms and caging her again, his chest pressed to her back. She struggled violently, trying to get free, truly not wanting to be held.

"Shhhh. . . . Shhhh. . ." Hoseok's warm breath teased her ears, "Such a sight is not for you to see. Once was quite enough." He rubbed his forehead on her shoulder, "I could not stop you in the woods."

"LET ME GO!!!" Aaya shouted, tears forming in her eyes, "YOU KILLED THEM?"

Hoseok held her firm, not bothered by her outburst. His voice was still soft, his intonation seductive, "They needed to die."

"NO!!!" her struggles increased, not caring about the bruises she was undoubtedly getting from the effort it took to hold her motionless.

Hoseok frowned, not wanting to cause her pain, "They deserved it Aaya. Your mother tried with every breath to have you raped by any male. She tried to kill the patients you looked after to spoil your name. She even hinted for the Prince to openly just enjoy you without marriage or bestowing the title of concubine. Your mother never wanted to kill you, but wanted you to be humiliated to the extent you took your own life. Your father never tried to stop her because he wanted to taste you himself." He spoke rapidly hoping for her to stop her movements.

Aaya never stopped. Tears were streaming down her eyes as she sobbed, wildly trying to break free.

Hoseok pulled her more securely to himself, bodily lifting her off the ground, trying to minimize the damage while he rapidly continued, "Your sister often tried to hire men to pretend to be ill to find the chance to rape and kill you, she even made a term of cooperation with her husband to find a way to have you kidnapped before the Prince came back. Not to mention how she had a plan in place for tonight. The servants? They helped."

"Please. Please let me go." Aaya wept.

"Is this not sufficient reason to justify their deaths?" Hoseok was stunned.

Still crying, she wilted in his arms. "I knew it all. Nothing you are saying is something I was unaware of."

Carefully, Hoseok placed her on a seat and raised her chin. Seeing her eyes awash with tears caused by him, his chest suffered a curious pain, "Then why do you cry? Goodness should have a limit, Aaya. It is foolish to protect those who wish you dead."

"Nana? Tang?" Aaya looked at the man kneeling before her, her soft lips quivering. Her wet eyes, shinning with a fragility which enhanced her otherworldly beauty.

The General gently wiped her face, "Of course they are safe. They will come with us to your new home. I am well aware of how they were the ones who prevented the vile efforts of your family."

Aaya sagged with relief, but the coldness in the pit of her stomach kept spreading all over her body, smothering any excitement or love she had been feeling, "You are not God." She whispered.

Hoseok folded himself to sit before her, spearing his hand in her hair, he used the other hand to gently rub her bruised arm, "No. I am not."

"Then what gave you the right to decide the fate of one's death?" she flinched away from him, "Attempts which never became reality meant no bad deeds were done by them. Essentially, they had yet to commit any sin. Evil thoughts can be punished cruelly in a manner without taking their life." Her eyes held a flame of anger, "Tell me General, What gave you the right to kill them?"

Hoseok aura grew colder when he saw her withdrawing from him.

"If thoughts alone can be the basis of sin, then are we all not sinners who deserve to be killed?"

"They were making their thoughts the reality-"

"What do you know about it? All you have heard is the gossip from another source!! What do you know about it????" Aaya slapped away his hands, "Did you ever pause to ask whether the attempts made were ever done at a time when there would be no one to save me? Did you ever check to see the males hired or encouraged to harm me? Were they even physically capable of it? Did you ever pause to think, why was it, that even with such a strong desire to tarnish me, did I never come to any harm when they knew I went alone to the forest everyday? Could they not have sent someone to harm me then?"

Aaya pushed at the increasingly expressionless warrior, who firmly grasped her hand.

Agitated, Aaya said, "Do you honestly think a small boy and an older woman would be capable of thwarting men intent on raping me? if the men in question were not pathetically weak or badly injured??"

"What do you mean to say?" Hoseok's voice was like a whip, his emotionless face calm.

"They wanted to harm me, but only because their jealousy was tempered with bitterness. The extent was not till the edge of converting it to reality, they just were satisfied with making efforts which they knew would fail, to pacify their hearts. Human nature is complicated."

Drawing a shaky breath she ignored the motionless warrior in front, "They were still my family." Her voice broke, "How could you not hesitate? How could you make their deaths fall in the share of my blame?"

"Your father-"

"HE WAS NOT RELATED TO ME BY BLOOD!" Aaya screamed and stood up. "He did entertain evil thoughts about me, but all he did was watch me. He was the one who wanted me veiled because he knew, his thoughts were wrong! Never did he take any excuse to touch me." Aaya rubbed her arms, misery and shock increasing her broken thinking, "His fault was being human. Even with his vile thoughts, he did not deserve the death you gave."

Then, her own words punched her hard. She lost all strength she had, dropping down on the floor as she swallowed the pain, "You killed them." She whispered, "Just to get me? They died, just so you could take me away?"

Hoseok watched her for a while, but there was no sign of remorse in his eyes. He calmly sat where he did, witnessing her coming apart.

Then he stood up, scooping her unresisting body in his arms.

"Yes." He coolly replied.

Aaya bit her lips as fresh tears flowed like translucent ink, "They were right. You are a Monster." She said hollowly.

Eyes hardening, Hoseok stood in the room surrounded by lamps, his arms holding the divine beauty while his heart plunged in absolute darkness.

"Fear can never give even an inch of space to love in the heart." Aaya closed her eyes, her mind blanking in severe regret and pain, "And I, fear you more than I can love you."

A curious tearing agony tore through Hoseok's insides, making him stagger. The words pierced him like a thousand swords stabbing into him mercilessly. He gritted his teeth but replied, "Then I'll take your fear. At least, it will keep you close to me."

Aaya opened her eyes to blankly look at him, her tear stained face invoking his agony to another level, "You want to cage me? You don't want me to choose to be with you, rather you'd be satisfied with me being chained by your side?"

He kept walking, "Both are the same."

Shaking her head, Aaya let go of the hope she held in her heart, "You are wrong."

"Because you are not strong or wise enough to guide him, Aaya. You are not capable of making him understand."

Bitterly, she accepted that her Nana was right. Yet again, her Nana was right. All which she had cautioned her against, all what she had said, had been correct.

The General watched the girl in his arm wilt and close her eyes. Her beautiful will, was gone. But he still remained calm. To him, what he had done was right. Nuances as the fluctuations of desire to harm, was of no significance to him. In his eyes, her family needed to die.

He turned and walked towards the door, carrying her away undeterred, "As long as you are with me, Its okay to not love me. You are mine, that truth will not change."

Aaya kept quiet, not knowing how to explain to him the depth of his mistake in that statement. Not knowing how to make him reflect, to make him understand the importance of love, of free will.

Love, was the only unbreakable chain which could bind two people in a way that even death would not be able to separate.

Fear would only open a chasm of distance so wide, that at the chance of the physical captivity being broken, would lead to separation. Just like sand, the more he tried to hold on, the more he would lose.

What he had done today, was equivalent of cracks opening between them. Only few more actions could make the ground between them to give way to an abyss neither could cross.

"If not love, at least I promise to make you proud. Proud to be mine-"

"I will never be proud of you General." In her clear voice, the statement slammed into Hoseok.

Breathing through the torment on top of the continued hurt of her previous words, Hoseok stopped for a while. Inside him, a screaming pain started with a raging, torn voice crying out in denial.

His hands trembled while sweat formed on his forehead. A sense of failure, fear of losing something made him clutch her harder against himself.

Make her love you! Make her love you!

MAKE HER LOVE YOU!!

MINE!! MINE!! SHE NEEDS TO LOVE ME!!

The faint voice buzzed in his head, but the feeling he got was of a deep, deep sense within him screaming loudly, but only a whisper of it reaching him.

Hoseok shook out of the frame, deciding to ignore it. His priority was bringing her back home. They both had a long life ahead, he would reflect on it later.

Suppressing the phantom pain that still coursed and throbbed through his limbs, Hoseok said, "Close your eyes." Then guided her face against his chest.

Aaya did not fight him. In the short time she had gone through a range of feelings, learning the consequence of the day she had wanted to help him by the river. Right then, She was emotionally numb.

Opening the door, the General briskly walked out to the courtyard littered with cold corpses of many servants with open eyes. The blood on the floor, dark pools in the night.

When he reached the receiving room, He calmly stepped over the headless corpse of the Foster Mother, not caring to look at the torn body of her daughter beside her.

He walked out of the house with his love in his arms and went towards the group of men astride horses, two huge palanquins still resting on the ground.

Hoseok went towards the one with black silk curtains while a man pulled opened the door. Hoseok bent to place Aaya gently in the palanquin. Then reached for a small vial from his inner pocket. Aaya watched his actions, but did not protest when the vial was placed on her lips.

She obediently drank it, immediately understanding it to be the mild sleeping potion she used to make for him when she feared sleeping would be difficult with the heavy pain of his injuries.

A mocking smile on her rose lips, she said, "If only I never met you."

Hoseok paused, "I would have seen you after your marriage to the Prince. Then, I would have slaughtered every soul in the Palace to make you mine."

Shakily, Aaya exhaled because she could no longer deny the truth. His, was a deep, mad obsession. He did not know the meaning of love.

A blanket was carefully placed over her. She opened her eyes when suddenly her shoulders were seized painfully, the fingers digging in.

In a blink of an eye, Aaya felt herself being laid flat.

Firm lips covered her soft ones as a ruthless tongue parted hers to invade inside her soft cavern.

The kiss was violent, teeth scrapping her flesh, the taste of blood filling her senses as the warrior's hard chest pressed on hers.

He gripped her hard while savagely kissing her. When she tried to turn her head, a strong hand cupped her jaw, keeping her in place. His tongue repeatedly entered her softness, tangling with hers, sucking at her tip.

Without any pause, the violence and depth kept increasing. She was suffocating, wanting to breathe, but Hoseok never allowed her to escape.

Licking at her lip, his teeth bit her where the blood flowed, sucking her lower petal into his mouth.

His breathing was rapid, his passion frighteningly strong. His kiss contained a brutal possessiveness that took her identity.

He never cared for what his men thought of him, his senses drunk on her taste, her blood exciting him.

When Aaya hit him due to the lack of air, Hoseok finally let her go. She gasped loudly, eyes wet, lips lightly stained crimson.

Hoseok's eyes glittered with raging lust, his eyes fixed on the bead of blood on her lips.

He leaned down and licked at it, softly lapping her mouth, his warm tongue smearing his essence on her.

"You were born for me." unlike his passion, his voice was cold, "No matter where, I would have found you. In this life, or the next, you will never be able to leave."

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In the second Palanquin, Tang nervously clutched at Nana's clothes as he drew back in after peeping out, "He- he is coming here!" his childish voice was afraid.

Nana gathered him close to her, but her face was serene. She waited for the door to be opened and gazed at the General.

He stood tall, his hair blowing in the wind, clothed in only his dark inner hanbok which gaped open. Under the light of the moon, his eyes appeared dead in an elegantly handsome face devoid of any expressions.

"Accept my greetings Head Physician." He bowed courteously; his voice deceptively polite.

A wry smile on her lips, Nana replied, "I am hardly in a position to decline it, General. Must you be so formal after the actions you have undertaken tonight?"

Hearing her unafraid tone, a slight surprise showed in Hoseok's eyes, quickly suppressed. His smile, though pleasant, appeared vicious, "Its refreshing to find a woman without fear. You have my respect."

"Fear will never touch the vicinity of a Mother concerned with the safety of her child." In a strong voice, Nana icily replied, "Nor will any person stand in my way if I perceive them to be a threat. I hope, the General will remember it."

Hoseok tilted his head, gaze narrowing, he studied the woman who looked back at him steadily. She truly was not afraid.

"Still I am standing unharmed." He mocked.

Raising one brow, Nana patiently asked, "Did you harm her?"

"I killed her family." He coldly replied.

"Me and Tang are breathing. I ask again, did you harm her?"

His arrogance diminished slightly, his mask slipping a little. With a slight unsure voice he said, "She wept for the death of her family."

A soft smile immediately spread on Nana's face, "That child does not understand what a family truly means. She is still young and naïve."

Suddenly, the powerful General blinked and hesitated. For a second, he looked lost, "Were they not her foster parents-"

"A family is not about the blood or other names. Relations do not mean anything." Nana gently cut his speech, "A family consists of the people who you love and who love you back just as fiercely and protectively. Aaya has yet to grasp that."

The General took a step towards her, his eyes lit, "Then I did not do wrong."

Unwaveringly, Nana looked at the Living Legend of Death, who asked her the question like an innocent little boy wanting approval after insanely killing many.

"You committed a crime General." She answered, "What you did, was indeed wrong."

Hearing her, Hoseok's face again became blank.

"But," Nana continued, "That was not which was important. I will ask you again. Did you harm her?"

He stood staring at her for a long time. Then, he gave a single shake of his head.

"Which is why you remain unharmed General." Nana answered pleasantly.

Hoseok looked at her face again, then instructed the man beside the Palanquin, "Wait." Then he turned and walked away towards his horse.

Watching him go, little Tang curiously looked at his brave Nana, "Will Aaya be okay with him?"

Hearing his question, Nana's eyes turned cloudy. Though she patted Tang's small head, she whispered, "Aaya herself is too inexperienced to the greed of the world. Her soul though wise, does not understand reality. While the General is too dark, with his feet slipping towards the edge of the filthy abyss. I am afraid, Aaya is too pure to have the ability to pull him away."

Though he did not understand most of what he heard, Tang still asked, "Is being pure not good?"

Shaking her head, the Head Physician replied, "No. Purity will always be a level above this world. When such a person is integrated to the society, purity will only translate into foolishness. Its never meant to know or understand the way humans think."

She breathed in, "Balance. Balance is what makes a person strong. Aaya is like the light, she knows only goodness. Unless she understands the dark, incorporates a little in her, she will never succeed."

Tang was alarmed, "Then we must help her!"

Nana chuckled without any humour, "Yes little one. We will help her." she pinched his cheeks, "Start with befriending the General."

Hearing the requirement, little Tang's heart became happy, "That's easy! I know him well! I have been taking care of him for 20 days! I have talked with him for so long! I even complained and told him everything about what Aunty and Uncle did to Aaya, how we blocked her from getting hurt from their evil intentions!"

Nana paused. Then she resignedly closed her eyes. There was no point in telling the child just what he had done.

Then the little one chirped again, "He is coming back."

Indeed, Hoseok came back and extended his hand. In it, were two blankets.

With genuine emotions he said, "Please call me Hoseok."

Remembering what Nana had just told him, little Tang gladly took the blanket with a big smile and replied, "Okay. You can also call me by my real name!" childishly, he continued, "I am called Tang because my name can also mean soup, and as you know, Tang also means soup!"

Hoseok spread the blanket on the child, "Then what is your name?"

Tang happily replied, "Guk. My full name is Seo In-Guk."

The Warrior's eyes shifted to the Head Physician, who graciously accepted the blanket and said, "You may call me Arissa."

Hoseok bowed again and then instructed the soldier to close the door.

He went to mount his horse, and gave the instructions to the few men being left behind to place the bodies of the killed bandits and how to initiate the rumor he needed to be circulated in the sleeping village at dawn.

Finally, he spurred the horse forward, his men and him dressed in dark clothes, leaving undetected with two palanquins from the village.

With a brooding aura, Hoseok looked out front, his head filled with what Aaya had said.

"Fear can never give even an inch of space to love in the heart. And I, fear you more than I can love you."

"I will never be proud of you General."

Recalling it, hurt him yet again. But he resolutely pushed the emotion aside. His resolve hardened, ignoring the slight nagging voice.

He would make her stay.

If she refused, then he would take her by force. He would make her take him deep in her body. Once she knew her body had been conquered, she would have to give him his heart as well.

Because he knew, he could not live without those Azure Blue Eyes softly looking at him with a smile.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

A/N : Yepppp....

A lot going on and I am sure a lot of confusion is coursing, but have patience, by the end of the book, it will be cleared.

This is 1/3rd of the book.

Now, I need to work of the SOF chapter, so will update in batches again after it.

Thing is, the world building and the premise takes a lot of time for me, once the plot starts, its easier to be fast. Thankfully, the basic premise and set up of Dark Embrace is over.

Now for the Plot

Tell me, Are you enjoying it?

Thoughts about this Hoseok?

If you are, Please consider VOTING and COMMENTING.

See you again in the next chapter of SOF!