Soyoung's POV

I bowed and asked, "Why have you summoned me?"

He just stared at me in shock with wide eyes but after a few minutes, she smirked and stood up from his throne, "Oh look...what do we have here..." He came near me and circled me once before coming and standing in front of me, "A two-tailed cat...no wait...the daughter of the guardian of my kingdom..." He bent down to my height and smirked.

My eyes widened in shock, "What?"

How did he know about it?

He chuckled and pointed behind me, "Not aware of your shadow, are you?" He stepped closer, "So you're a demon..."

"At least I am not the devil's son...." I looked straight into his eyes and he stopped in his tracks as his expressions darkened.

"What did you just say?" He raised a brow.

Flashback~

"The late queen summoned and prayed to the devil king himself and conceived Sian?!" Namjun gasps in shock.

"Yes, and for that she sacrificed the late king's favourite consort and her unborn baby..." I point at the lines on the diary in disbelief, "Also he was born of the 6th month of her pregnancy on the 6th day of the 6th month of the year..."

"So many 6....everything points towards the fact the fact that he is literally the prince of hell!" Namjun frowns, "He is stronger than I imagined..."

This explains his dark powers and I must not let him possess the spiritual stone at any cost.

"What are you thinking?" Namjun asked.

"Thinking of a way to deal with this devil..."

Flashback ends~

I took out his mother's diary and showed him. Sian immediately snatched the diary and clenched his jaw, "How dare you go to the secret section of the imperial palace?"

"I can do anything I want...I am the queen!"

He threw away the diary and stepped closer, "Heh...alright....ok.....you know my secret...I know yours..."

I take a few steps back, "What do you think you are doing?" I raised my brows.

He smirked and extended his arm towards me.

I frown, "Sian! You are not supposed to touch me....that was the deal..." I take a few more steps back.

He chuckles and grabs the amethyst necklace and pulls it. The necklace tears apart and all the stones scatter around. Sian looks at the stones and then his expressions darken again, "Where have you kept the spiritual stone?! None of these stones are spiritual stones..."

I smirk, "And who gave you the information that the spiritual stone would be among these amethyst stones?!"

"Do not try to be smart with me...." He uses his spiritual powers on me and ties me up with a glowing golden rope that feels like is burning my skin.

"No matter what you do...I'll not hand it over to you...." I glare at him.

He lifts his hand and I get lifted from the ground, "Sian! Put me down!"

He laughs, "Not till you give me the stone..."

"NEVER!"

The ropes tighten around me.

"Ahh!" I grit my teeth and look at him, "I will not hand it over to an evil person like you...."

"Me? Evil?" He tightens the rope more and I feel like I can't breathe anymore, "Yes, I kill people...yes, I am cruel.....yes, I am the devil's son....so that's why I am the villain? But you are no different....you kill people...you are cruel and you are a demon as well...so you shouldn't keep that stone either...HAND IT OVER!" 

I claw at the rope with all my force and the rope tears apart and I land perfectly on the floor, "Maybe I do the things exactly like you but my goal and motive are different from yours."

He smirks, "Yet, they are the very same 'villainous ways'. Well, it's fun to play like this....you're a worthy opponent," He comes closer, "Those claws of yours....you used them to kill the corrupt nobles, didn't you? It was you all along...."

"And so what if I did? I'll use them to kill you too..." I glare at him.

He laughs menacingly, "It's not easy to kill the devil prince, Queen So...."

I scoff, "And it is not easy to kill the guardian's daughter either, King Sian..."

"Hmmm....that's why I am very motivated to play this game...you shall keep the stone for NOW...but I'll have it eventually..." He whispers.

"We'll see about that..." I glare at him and that's when Taehyun, Hosung, Jimin, and Yunki entered the room.

"Where are your manners?" Sian tilts his head at them.

The four of them bow and look at me and my shadow in panic.

"Whatever you all are here for....it is already too late, "Sian laughs mockingly.

"Your Majesty, please leave her alone!" Yunki said and stood in front of me protectively. Jimin stood beside him ready to draw his sword at any moment and Taehyun and Hosung surrounded me.

Sian raised a brow, "What a scene...how interesting behaviour!" He looks at me and smirks, "Your husbands have got a death wish and I got a creative idea to kill them..." He smirks and looks at them, "Listen, my dear knights, me and the queen signed an agreement....."

My eyes widen when I realize what he is trying to do....he is trying to disclose our secret pact so that the curse gets triggered and the knights die. I scream at the top of my lungs so that Sian is cut off and the knights can't hear a single thing he said, "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

The knights look startled and the king just stands there with a smirk.

"You all should go...I can handle this..." I assure them and push them all outside and close the door shut before they can protest.

"Huh! That was interesting..." Sian chuckles.

"DO NOT TRY TO DO THAT EVER...." I glare at him.

"I am the king...I'll do whatever the hell I feel like and no one can stop me...and I'll have what I want..." He smirks, "And let me tell you...start counting your days..." He laughs menacingly and walks out of the room.

I sit down on the floor and take a deep breath, "I hate the one who wrote my life...."

"Why are you sitting on the floor, your majesty?"

I turned around and saw Ming standing behind me.

He bowed, "I am sorry but I overheard the conversation between the king and you..." He gulped and, "I...umm...didn't want to eavesdrop....but why don't you give His Majesty what he wants?!" He says.

This man is really so suspicious. I raise my brow at him, "Do you even know what he is asking for?"

"Umm....an heir?!" He looked at me.

Is he really dumb or just acting like he is dumb? I scan him from top to bottom once and then get up, "He was not asking for an heir."

"MY QUEEN...YOU SHOULD COME AND SEE THIS...." Seojun opens the door and shouts.

"What is happening?" I ask.

"His Majesty and Hosung sir....they have engaged in a sword fight..." Seojun says.

"WHAT?!" I rush out and see the two men fighting. The imperial garden was filled with the sounds of metal clanking.

"I have never seen Hosung like this...he is always a ray of sunshine!" Soyoung stares at him in disbelief.

"Your Majesty, the sun can be dangerous too..." Seojun says.

"It is very funny how you dared to attack me..." Sian pushes Hosung aside with his sword, "You do know that you can't win against me, right?" He attacks him and Hosung blocks his attack at the correct time.

Hosung grits his teeth and holds his place, "You can't treat my wife like that...leave her...ALONE...." Hosung manages to push away Sian's sword and attack him on his arm.

Soyoung watches them in shock and disbelief, "Why did he attack the king?! He shouldn't have done that..."

Sian smirks and looks at the blood on his arm, "Amazing..." He lunged forward and attacked Hosung back to back.

Soyoung gasps, "This needs to be stopped..." She gets ready to step in between them but Seojun stops her.

"Your majesty, don't go in between them...let them settle this on their own....it's between the men. And look at how many people have gathered around and watched this dual...if you intervene, it won't look good for your image..." Seojun advises.

Hosung takes steps backwards while blocking each of Sian's attacks, "I'll not give up..."

"Enough of this play...let's end this now...I am getting bored," Sian said and delivered a massive strike on Hosung's wrist.

"Ahh..." Hosung's sword fell from his grasp and his wrist started to bleed.

Sian points the sword at him and smirks, "Now...should I kill you or should I spare you for your insolence?"

Hosung looks at him with anger and hatred, "I don't care what you do....but I'll never bow to you ever again..."

Sian raises his sword ready to behead him.

"YOUR MAJESTY! STOP IT! PLEASE!" Soyoung yells.

Sian glares at her, "AND WHY SHOULD I DO THAT?"

All the people who were gathered around looked at the queen.

"The sun has already set and according to the rules you can't kill someone now else bad luck will follow you and the kingdom, your majesty..." She says.

Sian pats his blade on Hosung's shoulder and smirks, "How thoughtful of my queen to think about my luck...very well, I shall spare this man..." He chuckles and sheathes his sword. "Make sure to not come across me ever again...else not even your wife will be able to save you..." Sian says, in a low voice so that only Hosung can hear, before going away.

Soyoung looks at the crowd, "What are you all looking at? Don't you all have work? You all are dismissed...get back to work!" Soyoung says and the crowd bows and slowly disperses.

Soyoung walks towards Hosung and holds his hand, "Why did you do that?" She brushes her thumb on his hand gently.

"I can't tolerate that man anymore...I want to kill him..." He clenches his jaw.

"Hosung, please calm down...I can't see you like this..." She takes his hand and bandages his wound with her handkerchief, "I'll send you medicines later..."

Hosung sighs, "I don't know what got into me...I just couldn't resist the urge to attack me and teach him a lesson...I can't see him near you anymore..."

"Are you going to ask me to go back with you as well? Just like the others?" I look into his eyes.

He stays silent and just looks away, "Sian is way too powerful....more powerful than I expected and I understood that in the dual..."

"I know...that's why I asked you all to stay away from him..." I sigh.

"Just like you can't go back with us...we can't stay away from him. How can we stay away from him leaving you alone with that psychopath?" He frowns.

"I understand...We'll get through this together," I caress his cheeks, "Please don't be mad anymore...please smile" I kiss his chest to make him calm down.

"What was that?" He raises a brow.

"Love?!" I tilt my head and say.

He grins, "Let me show you how it is done properly." He picks me up so that I am at his height and kisses me.

My eyes widen as he does that but I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back.

He puts me down and smiles, "Did you like that?"

"You are full of surprises, aren't you?" I blush and nod, "I like it" I hug him, "I like you like this...when you're smiling."

"I'll try to smile more for you, my love..." He strokes my hair and hugs me back, making me feel safe in his arms.

Meanwhile,

In the minister's room,

"How could she push us out like that?" Taehyun frowns.

"She might have a good reason, trust me....let's not jump to conclusions!" Jimin says.

"That's right...otherwise she wouldn't be screaming like that suddenly..." Yunki says.

"Hmm...but where did Hosung hyung go?" Taehyun raises a brow.

"He was right behind us..." Jimin looks around.

"What what about Jeongguk? I haven't seen him today at all..." Yunki says.

.

.

.

On the other hand, Jeongguk sneaks into Sian's room to look for evidence to find out what agreement he had with Soyoung. He searches for a while but gets nothing before noticing a black smoke around a drawer, "Hmm? What is that?" He pulls out the drawer and finds a scroll. He takes it out and tries to open it but it doesn't open. Jeongguk tries to look into it through its edges and only understands a few words "colleagues", "no relationship", "never touch", "secret pact". He also sees the royal seals of the queen and the king on it.

He puts the scroll back, "I just can't understand anything but this is surely the secret pact between them and it has a curse upon it. Sian is really so powerful."

Suddenly Jeongguk hears some footsteps, "Oh no..." He opens the window and flees from there.

Eunsang opens the door for Sian and he enters the room.

"My king, is your wound better now?" Eunsang asks and Sian nods and goes towards the window.

Sian looks at the shield and sees some fresh mud on it that might have stuck there from Jeongguk's shoes, "Hmm...someone sneaked into my room..." He looks around and notices that his drawer is not closed properly, "And it's one of the knights..." He smirks and opens the drawer to check if the scroll was still there. "They are getting on my nerves now... I should end this as soon as possible..."

"My king, the secret search for the spiritual stone is going well...and he said that he'll find it in no time..." Eunsang says.

"Good for him...and I need him for one more thing...." Sian smirks, "A two-tailed cat can be killed by a dagger made of mermaid scales. So I need one...I should kill her after getting the stone..."

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

At Cha mansion,

"Huh! Look who it is...my eldest son!" Lord Cha looks at Jin, "And what made you remember your house's address today? And what about those unruly brothers of yours? where are those brats?" Lord Cha asked while putting his hands on his hips.

"My lord, stop it...let the poor boy first enter the mansion..." Lady Cha goes to hug Jin but Lord Cha grabs her hand and doesn't let her go.

"I am here to do some long-awaited justice..." Jin says.

"First, so justice with yourself...that gold-digging courtesan wife of yours went to the king when she got the opportunity-"

"MY LORD! STOP IT!" Lady Cha frowns.

"Father, I am not here to talk about all these...I want you to meet someone!" As soon as Jin says that, Jeongguk's mother comes out from behind Jin.

"YOU-" Lord Cha was shocked as if he saw a ghost.

Lady Cha broke the grip of her husband and ran towards her and hugged her tightly while sobbing, "My dear sister, you are back..."

She hugs her back, "Yes, unnie...thank you for saving me that day..."

"YOU SAVED HER FROM HER DEATH PENALTY? HOW DARE YOU?!" Lord Cha grabs his whip ready to hit Lady Cha but Jeongguk's mother takes out a shuriken and aims at his wrist so that he is disarmed but Lady Cha flinches in fear while still hugging her and this makes her lose her balance and she throws the shuriken at his heart.

"AHHH..." He drops the whip and falls to the ground. Jin's eyes widen but he doesn't go to help him. Lady Cha turns around and sees her husband on the ground lying in a pool of blood, she goes towards him and kneels. Jeonnguk's mother goes towards him as well but just stands there and looks at him.

"W-W-WHAT D-DI Y-YOU DO-DO..." He coughs blood and gasps for breath before closing his eyes forever.

"This, my lord, was probably what the heavens wanted...otherwise, I never lose my target that easily...I hope you rest in peace..." Jeongguk's mother says.

Lady Cha stares at his lifeless body and sighs, "I thought I would be sad but I don't feel anything...be at peace..."

"You both should have done this 15 years ago..." Jin stares at his father's body, "None of us would have suffered so much if you both did it sooner..."

"You shouldn't say such things about your father, my son...yes he was cruel but he still was your father..." Jeongguk's mother rubs Jin's back.

"But....what about the royal investigation after this? How would we avoid the trials?" Lady Cha gulps.

"Don't worry...I'll make it look like he fell from the stairs and died..." Jin assures.

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