Chapter-21

After an eventful day and a restless night, I woke up to the sound of royal sirens. "Unnie, come fast!", Mi So yelled in my face. She grabbed my hand pulled me with her to the door. "What is happening now?", I asked trying to cover my ears. "The king of the Gyeonggi province has declared a war.", she said. A war! I could feel my heart beating fast. This is the change Fate made for us. Because I don't remember reading about any such war in my history class. We reached the door and there Kang was standing holding a royal order in her hand. "What is it?", I asked. "Reinstatement order.", she replied in a low tone. "Reinstatement! Of whom?", I asked. The sirens were getting louder and louder. "Yours.", she said barely audible. I took the royal command from her hand and she looked at me with tears in her eyes. "This is for me. They are giving me my post back?", I said smiling. Kang sat on the floor and started crying. Mi So who was happy after listening to my news was now confused. "You can't go!", Kang said. "But why Unnie? Isn't it good that we are again the family of a royal official?", Mi So asked. "No! It's not good. This never is good! She needs to go with the royal army in the warzone. How can it be good?", Kang yelled with tears flowing down her cheek. I crouched down and hugged her tight. "I will be fine. I promise. You can't stop me from doing my duty to my land unnie. I will come back home safe.", I said trying to calm her down. Mi So was also crying now. I pulled her and hugged her tight too. "What about amma?", Kang asked. We all knew she won't allow this. "We won't tell her then.", I said. They both looked at me. "We won't tell her right now. You can tell her once I am gone.", I replied to their confused expressions. Kang nodded knowing this is the only way to handle our mom. I could hear the royal sirens getting low. The message was conveyed. We could see our village getting into chaos.

Mi So helped me pack my bags and Kang went to prepare all the essential eatables for the journey. Amma knew the royal sirens were bad news but we were successful in making her believe that it was just a drill for the soldiers. We were all busy with our chores when someone knocked at the door. "I will go and see who it is.", Mi So said and ran to the door. "Your highness!", I heard her say. I ran to the door followed by Kang. Even though I was acting all tough in front of my family but honestly, I was petrified. I reached the door eager to meet Ethan but disappointment hit me hard when I saw Aiden standing there. "What are you doing here?", the moment these words left my mouth I received a hard slap on my head. "Unnie!", I cried. "I am so sorry your highness. She meant we are so lucky that you came here.", Kang said glaring at me. She glared at me one time and I bowed my head. "Please come inside your majesty," I said. I could feel his smirk. "I would like to talk to you alone.", he said and pulled me out and closed the door behind us.

"Why would you pull me out like that. It gives the wrong message to everyone.", I whisper yelled at him. "The problem in hand is a lot bigger than the wrong message.", he said. He took me to the cherry blossom tree. "Why is there a war suddenly?", I asked not able to handle my curiosity anymore. "The princess of Gyeonggi wants to increase her empire.", he replied. "Princess? The war is announced by the princess?", I asked shocked at the sudden revelation of this new piece of information. He nodded. "Why isn't the king stopping her?", I said. "She has taken over the throne. The king is locked in the prison.", he replied. I sat under the tree all confused now. How can things go this wrong in just one night? We both were sitting there thinking about how to get out of this mess when we heard the royal announcement being made. It was the announcement of the royal prince leaving his chamber. We both ignored it and went back to doing our favourite work these days- planning a rescue mission. After a few minutes, we heard footsteps. I looked back trying to see who was coming. "It's Ethan.", Aiden said with a straight face. I was about to ask him how he is so sure when I heard a voice. "You all go back now. I want to be alone for a while.", it was Ethan.

"What are we supposed to do?", I heard Ethan cry for the fourth time in these few minutes. "We are supposed to fight.", Aiden said. "The war strategies are different here.", Ethan pointed out. "And you guys cannot use magic also.", I added. "We are trained to fight without magic too.", Aiden said. "You are!", Ethan corrected him. "I am trained in technology, not martial arts.", I could hear the desperation in Ethan's voice. "Don't worry your majesty, we will protect you.", I said bowing down. "You will.", I heard Aiden say. "Why only I will?", I asked confused. "Because someone needs to actually fight there to win and save our people.", he had a point. So the final strategy was that I will protect Ethan and Aiden will be the one to come up with all the war strategy. But Aiden and I were scared of one more thing- the head of the army. Ethan was oblivious of the head's attitude and the problems he will create for us for sure, and seeing his condition we felt it was better if no one tells him about it. "You should go and get ready. The meeting of the officials is in like 30 minutes.", Ethan said to me. "Omo! I shall go now.", I exclaimed and ran back home.

Mi So and Kang were waiting for me. I came back home, freshened up, changed my clothes and left for the palace. When I entered the courtroom, everyone was already there. They were all conversant faces. Some smiled at me and some gave me the same old look of annoyance and disgust. The royal doors were opened and Aiden and Ethan entered the room. The room went silent. Everyone bowed to them. Once the two of them took their seats everyone else also got seated. But one seat was empty. It was the head's seat. He was not here yet. Everyone noticed it and soon the room was full of whispers. "Where is the army head?", Ethan's voice boomed in the room. He was in the character. Suddenly the doors opened and the head entered with a smirk. He looked around and everyone rose again to show respect. He walked into the room bowed to the king and then he looked up. What he said next was enough to know that fate was not stopping messing with us anytime soon. The army head looked at Ethan and with shock, in his voice, he said, "Who are you? You are not our throned prince!".