Sang-tu-gwan: crownlike hair décor with a pin to protect the topknot of a man.

Ga-ma: Korean name for the sedan chair

Jungkook focus

No matter how insufferable, Jungkook would never stop being grateful towards the little princess for borrowing him one of her many horses so that he could easily follow the prince and his trail of foot soldiers without straining his injured leg too much.

Their tracks were easily read, so he allowed himself to travel with some distance and rest whenever his leg was burning too badly. By those means he caught up with the troops after nightfall. They had erected their camp at some distance from a lake that graced the path through the mountains, and most were already sleeping soundly around the almost extinguished fires.

Quietly Jungkook dismounted his horse and tied it to a tree before approaching the camp to search for his target. Had there been a tent, he would have known, but the soldiers had probably decided that sleeping under the sky for one night was more comfortable than cutting down the trees to erect a proper camp with tents. Unfortunately, that humble decision made Jungkook's task harder because all the blankets looked the same. Quickly his eyes searched for some golden Sangtugwan that would give away a royal heritage.

"Come on," he growled lowly. "Where are you?"

"Right behind you," a very familiar and hated voice said angrily behind his back and made him turn around and hack for the annoying plush-lipped face of the royal lap dog. Unfortunately, his enemy had anticipated his move and an iron hand closed around the place where his wound was still bandaged and burning pain to shoot up his arm, causing him to loosen his grip, so his dagger dropped right into his opponent's waiting hand.

The merciless fingers dug deeper into his arm and he could feel the old cut opening and blood wetting his sleeve. Jungkook had suffered many wounds in his life but nothing he could remember had felt like this. It was so torturous that his knees gave in and he slumped down at the officer's feet.

"Little demon, you must be desperate to die," the man towering over him said with a dark look that shone ghostly in the dim red light of the low campfires while Jungkook was desperately trying to hold back his sounds of suffering. "I will fulfill your wish then and send you back to the underworld where you belong."

A shiny blade swished through the darkness and Jungkook was almost grateful that his pain would end in a moment, but his lips had an own will. "Wait!" he heard himself wheezing, and to his astonishment the blade stopped right at his throat, a cold press against his burning skin. Confused he looked up at the soldier. "Why did you stop?" his stupid mouth asked before he could think about it. He should have come up with lies to get out of this, but instead he had to make his executer question his motives. What a fool he was.

"I... he..." the man stuttered before he took a breath and the coldness came back to his features. "None of your concerns," he growled then. So, there was a motive; there was something that could save Jungkook's neck. His spirits were raised by the little mistake of the guard, and his brain finally worked again. His wounded arm in the palace dog's grip had calmed down to a numb thrumming as well, so he was no longer bound to kneel paralyzed by pain.

"Did you enjoy our last time together?" he asked coquettishly and reached out for the man's sash, undoing it under the shock-widened eyes of its wearer. Disgusting someone was also a form of taking control; he had learned that quite early. His hand slid over the bulge in the soldier's trousers.

"You truly are a being of darkness," the man breathed out shocked.

Fear and disgust, that was good. Jungkook needed more of it, so he leaned forward, ignoring the cut the dagger sliced into his neck, and mouthed at the manhood that was slowly waking up under his touch.

Wait! This guy was hard? Shocked, he pulled back and stared up at the equally troubled face of the soldier. Of all the damn martial arts masters he could have met, he met one that liked men?! Jungkook would have been furious, had he not been so shaken by the discovery. His luck was truly failing him.

But maybe this was good enough. He freed his arm from the weakened grip and jumped out of the guard's reach before he sprinted off through the trees like a mad man.

That was until a scorching pain shot through his right side, from his lower back up to his shoulder. He tripped and fell face forward to the ground.

"Snaky wretch! Dastard pervert! I will cut off your prick and feed it to the dogs!" he quietly cursed through his teeth and grabbed behind him to pull his own dagger from his lower back. "Ahrrr!"

Was he destined to be stabbed into mush by this stupid palace dog? He was a martial arts master, for Buddha's sake. How could there be someone who could play him like this?

With pain scourging through his whole body, he pushed himself up from the ground and limped back to where he had left his horse. He would need a doctor. And quick.

"Hey, good girl," he greeted the brown mare. "I'll have to trouble you tonight. Forgive me." And he pulled himself into the saddle with his last strength and guided her back onto the path they had come from.

When Jungkook reached the next village in cold sweat, he dropped down and took the reins to guide them into a small alley and bandage himself up roughly. Until sunrise, he would not be able to find a medic, but the blood flow needed to be stopped or he would not see the sun rise at all.

"Be good," he told the horse and sat down on the ground, tearing his undergarments into strips, rolling one into a roll the size of his fist and pressing it onto the cut in his back before fastening it there as tightly as possible with the rest of the makeshift bandages.

"Let's find a place to stay," he told the mare when he stepped back onto the main road, questioning his sanity for a moment before deciding that he could as well talk to a horse when no one was watching.

But his search was interrupted by a big wanted sign that was nailed to the village board. His face was staring back at him. The eyes were a little too big, but it was undoubtedly him.

Cold terror reached for his heart.

The palace dog had seen his face and tomorrow every village around the capital would be plastered with his wanted drawings. He was screwed.

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Dahee focus

Yesterday, her mother had asked for Dahee to visit the palace. Thus, she had told the servants to prepare the gama in the morning, so that they could spend the cooler hours of the morning together. After she had moved out of the palace, the time with her mother had become less. Not because she lacked time to spend as she pleased but because there always seemed something more interesting she could do.

Her mother was a mellow woman whose life purpose was to spend time with drinking tea and reading poems, much unlike Dahee. She had always been interested in power and politics rather than embroidery and drawing. Only teacher Han could make her elated over a poem and its veiled meaning.

"Chunghee, sit properly," she dunned her son who could not stop from looking outside the gama's window. He ignored her. "Chunghee, you have seen the vendors so often, can it still be this interesting to watch?" she asked lovingly and joined her son in looking outside.

Her little sunshine hummed happily.

"Does Chunghee want to get a present to bring for grandma?" she asked with a smile.

Big eyes looked at her. "Yes! Granny likes filled baggies," he announced proudly, meaning the small pouches filled with fragrant herbs that her mother liked to carry with her in place of a money bag.

"Then Chunghee should get her one," Dahee said satisfied and handed her son a piece of silver. "Stop the gama. We will wait here for a moment," she instructed the servants and followed her son outside. "You can rest for a moment."

The carriers followed her offer gratefully and sat down in the cool shadows of a building next to the road.

"Chunghee can go. Mother will wait here," she said with a glance at a jewel vendor next to them and gestured the maids to follow her son. The quality of the street vendors' jewelry obviously would be too low for a woman of her status, but the common craftsmen sometimes amazed her with their new designs.

"Look, mommy," her son pulled her out of her bargain with a vendor and showed her the soft pink pouch with delicately embroidered plum blossoms. She took the gift and held it to her nose.

"It smells so nice. Chunghee made a good choice," she praised her little sunshine and gave the pouch back to the happily jumping boy.

"Go, go," he told her and pulled at her hand to follow him back to the carriage.

When the servants saw them approaching, they stood up to gather back around, and Dahee pushed back the curtain to slip in. But what she saw made her halt abruptly.

"Chunghee," she turned towards her son. "Shall we bring grandma some pastries?"

Her son nodded quickly.

"Then you take care of finding good pastries for grandma while mommy leaves for a moment," she suggested to him with a smile.

"Where does mommy go?" her little one asked all serious.

She petted his head and smiled even brighter. "Mommy needs to help a friend. It will not take long," she answered softly and pressed another piece of silver into his small hand. "I will hurry," she assured him before kissing his head and standing back up.

Her son nodded dutifully and looked at the maids who took him by the hand to do a second round over the market.

Hastily, Dahee slipped into the gama and looked at the figure on the floor. "Bring me to To mansion!" she called out for the carriers and sunk down next to the pale man to remove the cloth that was covering his face. "Little brute, what happened to you?"

The ever so mischievous face only showed her a hint of a crooked grin before it gritted in pain when the gama was lifted up. "I'm sorry, little princess," the assassin pressed out, "This disciple is useless."

"That is not an answer!" she hissed quietly. "Why do you look like you have been tortured?" Her eyes brushed over his body and found a wet patch on the black fabric of one sleeve. She grabbed for it, causing a flinch and a hiss.

"Is that all?" she wanted to know disbelievingly. Because of such a little wound, a man like this sure would not faint.

"Back, my back," he pressed out and tried to roll to his front, so that she could see.

Unbothered by them being barely more than strangers and man and woman at that, she reached behind him and felt for anything that would raise concern. When her hand grazed a wet bump, she pulled it back in disgust, discovering belatedly that her hand was covered in blood. "What happened?" she asked again, trying to turn the huge man on his stomach to look closer.

When she received no answer, she turned back to look at him and shook his shoulder. "Little brute? Little brute, wake up," she cried frantically. "You cannot die on me. I still need your help!"

Panicked, her hand pressed onto the wound on Jungkook's back while the other one slipped the black cloth back over his face. "Move faster! My son is waiting!" she shouted at the carriers. "Little brute, do you not want your reward anymore? You still owe me the food I gave you to eat," she tried to wake up the limp man. "You cannot die here. I forbid you to die in my gama!"

Dahee's heart was beating much too fast and an invisible force choked her uncomfortably.

"My lady, we arrived," one of the carriers announced finally and she rose to exit the carriage.

"Leave! I have private business with physician To. Wait for me on the main road," she ordered them coldly and turned towards the portal of To mansion.

A knock later, a servant greeted her with a deep bow.

"Tell master To that I need his help with an injured man," she said to the boy and turned back to her gama to take a look inside. The little brute was still breathing. Relieved she let the curtain fall back.

"Second princess," the old physician greeted her when he stepped outside. "How may I be of use?"

"My personal guard was injured. He is in the gama. Please, master To, save his life," she pleaded the man.

The physician nodded and turned to call for his disciples to carry Jungkook inside. Dahee followed along.

"My princess, the sight might not be pleasant to your eyes," physician To told her with a concerned look once they had placed Jungkook on his operation table.

"I do not care," she answered briskly. She would not leave the assassin alone; his face must not be related to her, so she had to make sure it stayed covered.

"As you wish," the old man replied and began to pull off the blood-drenched fabric from the strong back, ordering his disciples to bring boiled water and clean bandages. "How did her highness' guard get injured?" he asked then.

"I was attacked on the street by some lunatic. He caught the blow for me," she lied through her teeth. However, her eyes stayed fixed on the sliver of pale face of her passed-out helper in order not to look at the medic and the horrific wound on little brute's lower back he was treating. Thus, she missed the look of disbelieve in the physician's eyes.

"Will he survive?" she asked tensely.

"This region holds no vital organs, so he will survive," the man answered calmly. "However, the wound is irritated and needs daily care. He should not move too much for the following days in order to let it heal properly." He turned towards another of his students. "The mixture with honey."

Now that the wound had been cleaned it looked much less frightening. Only the edges were red and a small trickle of blood was squeezed out of it when Jungkook moved.

"Little brute?" she asked, leaned down to check his face.

A groan from underneath the cloth was her answer.

"Are you awake?"

"No, I'm in pain," the insolent wretch joked but chocked on his own laughter.

"How dare you shock me like this," she hissed at him.

Two tired dark-brown eyes looked at her from under a sweat-drenched fringe. "Does little princess worry for me?"

"Shameless," she mumbled, but could not make herself hate the suffering man. Not when master To was sewing his wound with a needle that looked anything but like a painless treatment. But the little brute suffered it silently with eyebrows furrowed tightly.

"I will send second princess the ointment and a brew that should be consumed twice a day, so that her own physician can apply it," master To said and covered the wound that had been sewn close and treated with ointment with a soft cloth.

Nervous Dahee realized that her father-in-law's physician should not know about this, so she needed to make up something. "That is very nice of physician To, but may I ask of the master to visit my mansion and to treat this one himself?" she tried.

"Is minister Park's physician not present?" To wanted to know and Dahee's mind was working rapidly in order to find a plausible reason she could present to the man.

"It is just... it is just that I value this guard very much and I would like to give him the best treatment," she lied.

"I can see that her highness likes this one, but I have other patients as well and physician Dong should be perfectly able to handle this," he turned her down.

He could see that? See what? What was this man talking about? "But master To," she wanted to argue, but was stopped by his raised hand.

"As her highness is a princess, she could also ask for physician Jung to lend her a hand. I am sure that the royal medic will be just as good as I," he provided and Dahee thought it over. Physician Jung was tending to her mother, so it should be easy to ask him for a favor. She could ask her mother today, whether she could deliver a message to the man.

"Thank you, master To. I will do that," she gave in and glanced at the little brute's closed eyes. She must be sick in the head for helping a man like him. But he had proven to be loyal and persistent, at least towards her money, so it was convenient to keep him for this new task as well.

"Someone, help me lift him up to do the bandaging," physician To called and several disciples came rushing over.

They rolled Jungkook to the side and then brought him into a sitting position. The little brute groaned.

"This is what you get for being reckless," she told him angrily.

The brown eyes opened a little to look at her. "If it gets me little princess' concern, it was worth the trouble," he joked again. "I'm looking forward to being taken care of by you."

Dahee snorted in disbelieve. "So shameless," she breathed out.

"Little princess already said that. Can't you be more creative?" he teased her.

"You must be drunk," she snapped at him, ignoring the half-glances of the disciples around them. Such unbelievable boldness could only come from a pain-drunk brain. How dare this little scum embarrass her in front of so many ears!

"We are done," physician To announced. "Do not move much in the next days, try to sleep on your stomach, and change the bandages daily." He gestured Jungkook to get up with the help of two of his students. "Will second princess take him home herself?" he wanted to know.

Dahee was still mad at the little brute and considered making him walk to the Park mansion alone, but then she remembered that she still had plans for which this one needed to be back in shape. "Can I trouble physician To to send one of his gamas? Mine will be too small to make him lie comfortably," she asked.

"Of course, my princess. I shall send my carriers with you."

"Thank you, master To. Your payment will arrive this afternoon."

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