"The only way I can have authority over the queen and Sir Eunsang is by conceiving the heir of this kingdom..." Yeji looks at Sian who is still unconscious and proceeds to unbuckle his belt and to her surprise, no matter how much she tried and in which way she tried, she wasn't able to unbuckle his belt.

"Ugh...Why is it not opening," She pulled the belt with all her force but still couldn't open the belt.

"This will not open..."

"I see..." Yeji replied but then suddenly her eyes widened and she looked up to see Sian casually swirling the glass of wine in his hand.

She gasped and became horrified as if she saw a ghost.

"A king should always keep his assets safe," He winks and sips the wine and this time nothing happened much to Yeji's shock. "This belt can only be unbuckled by either me or Eunsang," He shrugs and then whispers, "I've locked it up with my spiritual energy because I know there are people like you in this world..." He puts down the glass and gets up as his eyes darken and Yeji starts trembling in fear, "I knew you were up to no good....that's why I had to put up a little act. This is why I hate women...I hate you..." He grabs her hair and pulls her closer as she whimpers, "People may call me evil, tyrant, devil or whatever but can't call me a cheater even if I am unconscious..." He glares at her and then looks at the wine while Yeji's mouth goes dry and she starts to sweat, "What do you think? I am a fool? You'll mix sleeping pills with my drink and I won't notice? My senses are always working even when I am asleep...A king is always alert no matter what." He laughs and continues, "And poison...sleeping pills and all those nasty things won't work on me because I have built immunity against them..." He pushes her away and pulls out his dagger, "Now...what shall I do to you..."

Yeji tries to speak but she couldn't form any words as she was terrified. Sian holds the dagger against her throat and glares at her as she looks at him with pleading eyes.

"Killing you would create an imbalance in the Yin and Yang energies again..." He whispers, "And also it would be too less punishment for what you did...you would be confined in the cold palace alone for the rest of your life..." He said and throws away the dagger.

"C-cold p-palace?" Yeji catches her breath and asks.

He smirks, "Yes, it is located in the forest far away from this main palace. My mother used to go there to do I don't know what....but it is a dark and cold abandoned palace..." He winks, "You'll like it there..." He smirks mockingly and grabs her chin, "See...I am so generous even after what you did....I am giving you a whole palace to stay in..."

"N-NO..." Yeji tried to hold his hands but he moved away.

"Don't touch me...GUARDS!!!!!" He called the guards and they immediately entered the room and bowed.

"Take this woman to the cold palace and make sure she stays there forever..." He ordered and waved his hands in dismissal.

The guards dragged her away as tears rolled down from her eyes and she desperately screamed for help, "YOUR MAJESTY....PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME...."

.................................

Soyoung's POV

After Jimin informed me about the school and left, I was devastated and was thinking about what should I do...I knew it was none other than Sian's doings. That's when I saw Eunsang coming towards me followed by Jeongguk.

"Greetings to her majesty!" He bowed.

"Are you here to see how your king's plan is working against the school?" I glared at him.

"Maybe?" He grinned.

"You and your king will......." I got up and as I proceeded towards him, Jeongguk blocked my way with his sword. I looked at Jeongguk in disbelief.

"I am sorry, your majesty but I can't allow you near him...that's his majesty's order..." Jeongguk bowed and I was utterly shocked.

Eunsang smirked and looked at me, "I also came here to show her majesty my new bodyguard...what do you think about him?"

I frowned at Eunsang and then looked at Jeongguk in disbelief again.

"Now...I'll go and take a bath...I have to attend lunch later with my king.." He said while looking at my amethyst necklace and then gestured for Jeongguk to follow him. Jeongguk bowed and followed him without even looking at me. I watched him till he disappeared from my sight and was more devastated by his attitude towards me. After contemplating for a few minutes, I decided to go and talk to him. I went towards the direction they went and found him standing outside Eunsang's private bathing chamber. As soon as he saw me, he bowed.

"Why are you being like this?" I frowned.

"This is how subjects are expected to treat royalty," He said without looking at me.

"What? Subject? You're not my subject you're my hus-"

"Then why did you decide to punish me like a subject?" Finally, he looked at me.

"Punish you? When did I punish you, Jeongguk?" I put my hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes.

He grabbed my hand and brought it down to his chest, "You left me...you abandoned me even though I promised you that I would protect you with my life...why did you do it?"

His words really hurt me, "Jeonnguk..."

Jeongguk grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the other end of the corridor.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Back to the village..." He said.

"Jeongguk, no...Everybody will be in danger..." I grabbed his hand and tried to free myself but his grip only tightened around my wrist.

"I don't care..." He said still pulling me towards the main gate.

"Jeongguk, please try to understand....if someone sees us like this then we both will be in problem..." I pleaded with him.

"AND WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THAT? IT'S NOT LIKE I AM TAKING A RANDOM WOMAN...I AM TAKING MY WIFE..." He yelled.

"Jeongguk!" I frowned and pulled my hand away from his grip.

He turned around and pinned me down against the wall. I could clearly see anger in his eyes, "You. Are. Coming. With. Me!" He said in a demanding way.

My eyes widened and I stared into his eyes in disbelief, "Jeongguk, you're not yourself right now...let's talk about it later..." As I was about to leave, he grabbed my waist and pinned me down again, this time with more force.

I gasped, "Jeongguk....what are you doing?"

He grabbed my jaw and kissed me desperately and aggressively but still, I could feel the passion in his kiss. I tried to return his kiss with the same passion but soon due to his aggressive and forceful kiss, I became breathless but he held the kiss for longer and then pulled apart to stare at me.

I took a deep breath and looked at him, "What are you doing?"

"I don't know..." He released me and turned around.

I sighed and back hugged him, "Jeongguk...I never abandoned you or anyone...I still love you...I still love all of you. Please trust me...please don't be mad at me like this..." I said as tears formed in my eyes.

He sighed and turned around to hold me in his arms closely, "I love you too," He stroked my hair, "But I can't tolerate seeing you here..." He clenched his jaw.

I stood on my toes and kissed him again gently on his lips, "Jeongguk, I promise I'll end all these soon..."

He looked into my eyes and then nodded, "I shall help you in whatever way I can," He said while caressing my cheek.

..............................

3rd person POV

"Your Grace, you gave the queen your cloak but you didn't even let me touch your cloak..." Ming puffed his cheeks.

"You don't need to touch me or my clothes..." Haejun stared at him in disbelief due to his childing behaviour.

Haejun settled down on a bench in the imperial garden that overlooked a beautiful waterfall. Ming sat down beside him and grabbed his arm.

Haejun hissed in pain and pulled away his hand, "I told you...don't touch me.."

Ming noticed blood on Haejun's sleeve exactly where he grabbed his arm, "Your Grace, look what a beautiful bird..." He pointed at the sky. As soon as Haejun looked up, Ming pulled up his sleeve and saw a deep cut on his arm.

"Oh no...you're injured..." Ming frowned.

Haejun pushed him away a bit and rolled down his sleeve, "How many times do I have to tell you don't touch me..."

"This looks like a cut made by a dagger...give me your hand..." Ming takes out his handkerchief and wets it in the waterfall.

Haejun, "You don't-"

Ming forcefully took his arm and rolled up his sleeve again before cleaning the wound gently with his wet handkerchief, "You should take care of yourself, your Grace..."

Haejun stared at the man who was tending to his wound.

After cleaning the wound properly, Ming tore a part of his own sleeve and wrapped it around his wound, "There you go....it's done..." He smiled looking at him.

"Ahh...t-thank you..." Haejun smiled a bit and rolled down his sleeve again before focusing his attention back on the waterfall.

Ming looks at Haejun, "How did you get hurt, your grace?"

"Umm...I was practising sword fighting and wasn't being careful enough..." He said while looking at him briefly.

"That's bad....you should be more careful else who'll save me from rats?!" Ming pouts.

Haejun laughs, "I must admit that you're really cute..."

"Why are you so afraid of rats though?" Haejun asked.

"Well..." he became flustered, "When I was a child, a rat went inside my pants and..."

Haejun gasped, "Is your manhood alright?"

Ming blushes hard and bods, "Thankfully yes and it really tormented me a lot and bit my thighs.."

"Oh no, my poor boy..." Haejun giggles, "Alright! I'll always protect you from rats..." He laughs.

Ming's eyes twinkle as he looks back at Haejun. He smiles to himself as he looks at Haejun laugh.

...............................

At the royal office of Yunki and Jin, all the knights were gathered to talk about the problem regarding the girls' school. The knights were staying in the office at the palace since they returned because they didn't want to leave Soyoung alone and also they didn't want to face their father.

"It's about time that we go back to our house..." Jin smirks.

"But I seriously don't want to deal with father right now..." Hosung rubs his temples.

"Same here!" Jeongguk crosses his arms over his chest.

"But why are we talking about this? We should talk about solving the problem at hand.." Taehyun said referring to the problem in girls' school.

"Right! I went to investigate and found that the teachers are not guilty... some actresses spread out such rumours and even dressed up like they were sexually abused.." Yunki said.

"This has to be the king's doing!" Namjun clenched his jaw.

"Exactly but now no matter how hard we try, the girls and women are scared and are refusing to trust the male teachers..." Jimin sighs.

"We need female teachers..." Jeongguk said.

"But how? No female except Soyoung in this kingdom is educated..." Hosung said, "And we can't have her teach the girls obviously...she as the queen is really stressed right now.."

"That's what my plan is.." Jin smirks, "I know which female can do this job and that's why we need to go home so that we can bring her home with us..."

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