"Ow, don't you think that was a little harsh? " The blond haired boy whined as he held his nose which was now bleeding.

"No, I think I am being too easy on you. All of us almost got mauled by monsters! Myungsoo and I almost killed ourselves because of that stupid music box. And Dongwoo is almost dead from blood loss while you sip tea with the Queen as if nothing is wrong!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong but I am getting this strange feeling that your upset." Sungjong calmly said as he carefully got up and brushed off his clothes. Wiping the blood from his nose, he reaches over the table and picks up a small piece of candy that was wrapped in golden paper.

"Here, have a lemon drop." The feminine boy smiled as he offered the piece of candy. "It's the best if you have a lot to think about. "

"Ahhh thanks." I said as I smiled back while picking up the candy from his open palm. And then taking the candy, I threw it right back in his face.

"What's wrong with you?! I just told you that my friend was dying from blood loss and all you got from that was that I had a lot on my mind?!" I yelled at the boy in frustration.

Sensing my anger escalating, Myungsoo gets up and places a restraining hand on my shoulder to calm me down. Shaking his head, his eyes flash a warning not to abuse the boy anymore.

With concern, Meera goes to the boy and helps him up.

"Please forgive him, he has anger issues. " I could hear Meera whisper to Sungjong which didn't really make me any happier. Helping him get to his feet she picked up the thrown candy from the floor.

"I fell from a tree!! And you give me a piece of candy." Before I could yell at Sungjong any more, Meera rolled her eyes at me and shoved a piece of the candy in my mouth.

"Let the poor boy explain himself."

I roll my eyes when Meera said boy. The boy almost killed us.

Moving the lemon flavored candy in my mouth with my tongue, the taste of bitterness crept into my mouth. Or is it jealousy?

With a dramatic sigh, Sungjong mumbles something about voilent outsiders.

Violent. Pfft...I haven't even started.

"If the gentleman in the back will put the bloodied bat down and follow me, I will show you my grandfather's room where he use to practice medicine. If I remember correctly, Meera told me that you are a doctor? " Sungjong pointed the question towards Woohyun.

"I am. No offense though, but I don't trust you. Nothing personal of course but it's hard to believe that you want to help us when your the reason we are injured." Woohyun said drily as he lazily swung the bat with his free hand.

"Okay." Sungjong shrugged his shoulders. "Since you don't trust me then we can just stay here and watch your friend die in front of us."

Woohyun gulped at his words as Dongwoo grimaced in pain.

"Or you can put away your pride and follow me to my grandfather's infirmary. If you want, we can all go and I can explain once the injured man is in a more stable condition." Even though the young man looked fragile to the touch, his sense of presence was strong as he easily took control of the situation in the room.

Lowering his eyes, Woohyun nodded his head. "Please help my friend." He begged as he dropped the bat along with his pride in order to save his friend.

"That's more like it. I like people with manners." Sungjong carefully looked at me when he said that.

Motioning with his hand, the blond prince lead us out of the small room and out of the dark encased room. Walking up the stairs we continued up into what I thought was the attic.

The stairs screamed in pain at our heavy footsteps but it couldn't be helped.

Reaching up, Sungjong pulled on a white string that illuminated the whole room.

The whole back wall was covered with metal containers and glass jars filled with exotic ingredients that were persevered in a yellow liquid.

Some jars seemed to eerily glow as the organs of unknown animals floated in a jelly-like substance.

"You can lay your friend on this table. " Sungjong patted a sterile looking counter that was in the center of the room. Looking around for his tools, Sungjong hands Woohyun a mask and some plastic gloves.

"I'm going to need your help for this procedure. If the worst happens, we will have to amputate the leg."

My mouth drops at what he says.

"What's that smell?!" Meera asked as if she didn't hear what Sungjong just said.

Covering her nose with the sleave of her shirt, Meera walks closer to one of the glowing jars in fascination.

"The liquid used to preserve my ingredients tend to have a distinct odor but you get use to it after a while." Sungjong's muffled voice explained from the mask as he concentrated on his job.

"What is this?" I asked as I pointed at jar filled with balls that was above Meera's reach. When I poked the jar, the balls opened to reveal eyes of different colors as the stared at me without blinking.

"I use those to make candy. They have a rather pungent taste that I disguise with a touch of lemon flavoring."

When he said that I immediabtly spit out the rest of the lemon candy and tried to wipe my tongue on my shirt.

"Just kidding." Sungjong smiled at my misery before continuing to treat Dongwoo's wound.

Sticking my tongue out at him, I cross my arms and watch the boy to make sure he doesn't "accidentally " kill Dongwoo.

Thankfully Dongwoo passed out before we even made it into this room.

Taking some scissors,  Sungjong cuts part of Dongwoo's pants but it was difficult since the wound had begun to heal on the pants. Removing the fabric would only result in re-opening the wound which would cause extreme pain for Dongwoo.

I need the wound to be cleansed before I apply this special medicine." Sungjong explained.

"We are going to need some water to try and loosen the fabric." Woohyun said as he looked up at both me and Meera.

"Okay...where can I get that?" I asked.

"Up your butt. Where do you think?!" Woohyun rolled his eyes.

"Hey, let's refrain from any sarcastic remarks until after Dongwoo gets treated." Meera says as she eyes both of us seriously.

"There's a bucket." Sungjong kicks a metal container without looking up as they both tried to remove fragments of material without tearing open the wound any more.

Myungsoo raised his hand to volunteer to go with Meera instead but Woohyun shook his head. "I'm going to need your strength in case Dongwoo wakes up during the operation. We are going to need you to hold him down."

"What? I'm strong too!"

Ignoring my comment, Sungjong addressed Meera when he spoke.

"It should still be raining and I unlocked the doors when all of you entered the dark circle room."
Sungjong said before Meera and I were dismissed from the room.

With the bucket around my arm, We walk down the stairs in silence.

"So...what happened when we separated?" I awkwardly asked Meera.

"Nothing much...when the storm hit I found that I was alone."

"I'm sorry...I should have stayed closer to you." I apologized as we made it to the front door.

Opening it, we placed the bucket under the pouring rain before sitting on the porch steps to watch.

"When I tried to find cover, I happen to find this house. Sungjong was there to greet me at the front door."

"I would open the door to any pretty lady that knocks too." I joked.

"Lier!" Meera punched my arm as her laughter rang out through the forest.

Even though the forest seemed to possess a peaceful aura about it, there still was a shadow of danger that was present.

"Your right, I wouldn't just open the door to any pretty woman." Just you...

Smiling, Meera continued to explain what happened.

"He asked me if I wanted to see something entertaining. Leading me into the small dark room, we were able to watch each one of you as you entered the house. The first one to come to the room was Myungsoo.  He was so worried for me......"

As Meera trailed off, I could sense the unspoken message.

"Do you....." I trailed off

"I want to..."

"But....."

"But I am not allowed to experience love. As a Queen, my full focus should be for the people of my country. One false move and someone could die...I couldn't bear that."

"Nor could Myungsoo. But do you think your people would want you to be unhappy?  Wouldn't they want their Queen to be experienced in the dangerous field called love?"

"Love is far from dangerous." Meera sadly said.

"Love is something that I believe everyone has experienced at least once. It can kill a person as easily as a weapon could. Some would even say they would prefer the weapon. "

"Which is even more of a reason why I shouldn't fall in love."

"But that's impossible. Whether it is romantic or not, love is unavoidable. "

"I don't know what to do..."

"Maybe being a Queen isn't something you should do..." I carefully said.

"What?! Of course I'm meant to be Queen. I was born and raised to be the ruler of this country. I've never dreamed of anything else."

"Dreams change" I said softly.

"I can't believe this!" Meera got upset as she stood up and made distance between us.

"Is this what you wanted all along?! That I just step down?! " With her hands on her hips, she stared daggers down at me.

Getting up as well, I held her gaze seriously.

"What I want means nothing. Neverless...I want you to be more...reckless sometimes. Take chances..and live every day.....almost as if you are forever in love. But how can you if you never fall?"

With glazed eyes, she stared up at me. The anger in her eyes slowly melted into hope.

I could almost hear her thoughts wondering if what I said was too good to believe.

But as quick as the moment began, it was quickly broken when she tore her eyes away.

Even with the realization of who Meera chose...I still can't seem to want to back off. Would she have torn her eyes away if I was Myungsoo?

That thought will forever plague me until the day I die.

Hearing her slightly pant from her emotions, she gently shakes her head before going over to the now full bucket and picking it up.

"We need to help Dongwoo get better or else we won't be able to go through the door." She said as she changed to a more safer topic.

"Door? What door?"

******

When we arrived back at the shady medical room, everyone looked up at us.

"Took you long enough. " Woohyun muttered as he took the bucket from Meera's hands.

Myungsoo shot a curious look at me before turning his full gaze towards Meera.

Carefully Sungjong poured the water on the wound while Woohyun removed the remaining fabric.

Reaching behind him, Sungjong unscrewed a small jar which held a blue ointment. With two fingers he gently spread a generous dab on the wound.

Instantly before my eyes,  the wound began to immediantly heal. It was as if time was fast forwarded as we witnessed the healing of the wound and the regrowth of new skin.

It wasn't even a minute before Dongwoo's leg looked brand new.

"Sorry about the escape house I made. I have a weird fascination with horror. I thought for sure that Sungkyu would have warned you." Sungjong smiled when he was assured that Dongwoo would pull through.

"No...he must have forgotten to mention it." Woohyun said tersely.

"Meera was telling me of a door. What is that about?" I asked.

Turning to Meera, Sungjong raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"Is he your brother?"

"Bodyguard. "

"Ahhhh" Sungjong said with fake surprise.

"Well in that case, I can't tell you. I am only allowed to tell certain people this secret."

"Please tell them. We need to know in order to save a life." Meera requested

"But in order to save a life, another life must be exchanged." Sungjong argued as he shook his head at Meera's forwardness.

"I'm willing to exchange my life for Shizuka's. " Woohyun said with a serious face.

"Are you related to the boy who is in danger?"

"I am the closest to a father that he has experienced." Woohyun confessed.

"Ahhh. I don't focus on blood ties but rather the ties of the heart. In that case, I will allow the Queen and Woohyun through the door, but the rest will have to stay here until someone returns." Sungjong slowly explained to us.

Before any of us could say anything Woohyun said "Okay, let's go."

I wanted to disagree and say that I should go, but I didn't want to waste any more time. Who knows how Shizuka's health is right now.

"If you two will follow me, then I will explain the rules and regulations. When they left the room I could hear the all too familiar sound of the door locking.

As I watched the door close, I hope beyond all things that it won't be the last time I would ever see my Queen again.

********

Hello! This was an uninteresting update...but hopefully the next one will be more interesting;) Do you like my new cover？