A REGNANT AND A CLAIMANT

"Your Majesty, I'm not as generous and I'm not as benevolent as you are, and neither am I as graceful, I also aren't as smart." Seungman said.

"With me Shilla had a smart Female King." Queen Seondeok said, "But staring at you right now I am more than certain that it isn't a very smart female King that she needs anymore." Queen Seondeok said.

"Which type of King does Shilla need?" Seungman asked.

"Shilla needs a warrior one." Queen Seondeok replied as she turned her eyes and looked at Yushin Rang who was nearby.

"Seungman is my successor and she shall reign over the whole realm as King so you must promise me that you shall look after her like you have looked after me, protect her like you have protected me and fight alongside her like you have fought alongside me." Queen Seondeok said.

"I promise you Your Majesty." Yushin Rang said.

"Seungman, guard for me my Kingdom very well." Queen Seondeok said.

"I shall Your Majesty." Seungman replied.

"Oh how peaceful I must be but for Bidam I am regretful that when I reflect on him it's with mourning." Queen Seondeok said as she closed her eyes and peacefully shed a tear while her hand in Seungman's grip dropped down and herself turning pale immediately with her body so cold the Great Queen Seondeok had breathed her last.

"Your Majesty." Everyone cried out loud while they bore their heads except Seungman who was frozen in one place and her face wore a rather angry Expression.

"In the very end Bidam has killed you in my arms Your Majesty." Seungman said as she stood up from where she was kneeling.

"The Queen is dead, Long Live Your Majesty." Yushin Rang said.

"Silence." She shouted as she turned around and she faced them all angrily.

"Your Highness." They said to her.

"Someone is going to be buried along with Her Majesty and it is going to be Bidam." Seungman swore.

"Your Highness, please give your order." Alcheon Rang said as he bowed his head.

"Yushin Rang." Seungman called.

"Yes Your Highness?" Yushin Rang replied.

"Get a very big kite and tie a scarecrow to it." Seungman said.

"Yes Your Highness." Yushin Rang replied.

"As you do that make sure that you set the small scarecrow ok fire." Seungman said.

"What for Your Highness?" Gopheung Rang asked.

"The seventh star of the Northern Dipper has not fallen but it resides above Wolseong Palace." Seungman replied.

"Yes Your Highness." Yushin Rang replied.

"Alcheon Rang and Haesul." Seungman called.

"Yes Your Highness." They all replied in unison.

"I want no living thing belonging to rebellion of that rafian walking all of them must die." Seungman replied angrily.

"Yes Your Highness." They all replied in unison as they bowed their heads and they walked out of the room.

"Kim Chunchu and Kim Yongsu." Seungman called.

"Yes Your Highness." They replied.

"I want you to release twenty carts with hay that is wet with petroleum and lead them to the gates of Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress dressed as Bidam's troops.

Make sure that as you station then inside they are right next to the other piles of hay within." Seungman said.

"Yes Your Highness." They replied.

"Even if with your lives you must certainly be willing." Seungman ordered.

"Yes Your Highness." They replied as they walked out.

Seungman turned around and she approached Princess Cheonmyeong.

"Your Highness." she said to her.

"What should I do for you?" Princess Cheonmyeong asked.

"I want you to help me deploy the guards on all the secret passages because one way or another if it is to infiltrate the Palace right now, it is without a doubt that they shall come in at full force." Seungman said.

"Yes Your Highness." Princess Cheonmyeong said.

Seungman was walking towards the door with her when Damhyeong was following them both that she halted.

"Where are you going?" She asked him.

"I'm coming with you Your Highness." Damhyeong replied.

"There is no need." Seungman replied. "I want you to watch Her Majesty's body for me because this has become a war that I am going to fight on my own." She added.

"Yes Your Highness." Damhyeong replied hesitantly as he bowed his head while the two walked out of the room.

Bidam and all the other Nobles were advancing towards the main gate of Wolseong Palace right when Alcheon Rang stood at the top of the battlements and there with a group of archers they aimed at the aristocrats and their armies in a distance.

"They won't just fire." Bidam said and at that moment he caught sight of Seungman who appeared at the pavilion that was right in front of them.

"Your Highness." They all said as they bowed their heads to her while she picked up a bow and and arrow and put it inside.

"Your Excellency." Yeomjong said as he realized that she was aiming at them.

"What?" Bidam asked as he smiled ghastly.

"They look like they are really going to shoot at us." Yeomjong replied.

"Trust me, they won't." Bidam said and at that moment, Seungman stretching the string of her bow she fired an arrow that shot one of the guards that was standing right in front of Bidam.

The moment that she reacted all the other archers shot at them and the arrows all flying towards the direction of the street rained down on Bidam and his followers while the quick witted ones jumped into the nearby alleys while most of the others were shot down dead.

"Dare come closer to this wall." Seungman shouted, "I'll bury every last single one of you if I had to." She warned as she turned around and she descended the stairs while Bidam and all his other men looked a bit too frightened.

A group of Bidam's warriors were already sneaking into the passage through the secret pathways and having stationed themselves between the alleys that were very close to the walls, the other Royal guards that were standing on the nearby roofs descended down on them and they started to slaughter them one by one the others were afraid they started crawling out at once while their fellows were being butchered seriously.

As Bidam and all his other fellows were still hiding and withdrawing slowly from the vicinity, Yeomjong noticed something and he pointed at the Palace while Bidam's eyes followed.

The rest of the soldiers and almost everyone throughout Seoraebeol looking up at the sky above the Palace they saw what looked like a star shining so brightly above.

"Impossible." Bidam said.

"Such a good trick Your Excellency." Yeomjong remarked while Bidam recalled the words that Grandmaster Sal Su had said to him.

"To the very end Your Excellency, do you think that with just that you shall possess the country?" Grandmaster Sal Su had asked.

"I am backed up by nobles and the most powerful Courtiers are all her enemies from a failed rebellion.

Their children burn with so much anger and hate for their people that she vanquished and had murdered they are all behind me." Bidam had replied to his question confidently.

"But they'll always possess the one thing that you never will." Grandmaster Sal Su cautioned him.

"And what is that?" He'd asked.

"The people that worship the Sacred bone." Grandmaster Sal Su had replied.

"Your Excellency." Another Messenger said while he bowed his head to him.

"What is it?" Bidam asked.

"The soldiers passing through the secret passages were ambushed and they have all been slain only a handful have survived." The messenger replied.

Bidam clenched his fist while he stared angrily at the star( burning scarecrow) that was flying above Wolseong Palace.

"Seungman." He said.

"What should we do Your Excellency?" The messenger replied.

"Retreat back to Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress and regroup there right now." Bidam ordered.

"Yes Your Excellency." Everyone replied while they slowly emerged from the alleys and they retreated while Alcheon Rang and Haesul watched them vanish from their sight.

The sun rose over Seoraebeol and Queen Seondeok's body was laid in a coffin that was placed right in the centre of the living room.

There she was dressed in a white shroud that was made from fine and pure white linen with Floral garlands around her neck and a few more petals placed on top of her.

There in front of her coffin was a plaque and some incense sticks were burnt at that moment.

Haesul Rang walked in while Seungman knelt down in front of the coffin and bending over he whispered into her ear.

"Your Highness, Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress was set on fire." Haesul Rang said and she smiled a little bit.

"The times are much too chaotic, all our lives we could do nothing more than prepare for the worst yet who had expected the calamity of Our Majesty's death to befall us all at such a time." Seungman said while she offered her right hand to Boyeong who helped her up from where she was kneeling and she turned around with a very cold stare on her face as she looked at everyone else who was in the place mourning with them.

"Shilla took what Her Majesty had given to us." Seungman said and today because we have been too merciful we have done nothing but bury our own future along with our Great female King." Seungman added while most of them looked down.

"Order? where is it now?" Seungman asked as she walked closer to the midst of the room.

"As women we have been thought to be too weak and because of that in the end of it all I realise that we have paid the price of our most beloved." Seungman said while she halted and turned at Yushin Rang.

"Queen Seondeok has been benevolent but I won't continue in her mould if it is what you expected, she was kind to the descendants of those awful men that rebelled against her regime and it brought her untimely end you shouldn't expect me to be the very same." She added.

"There is no peace for us to declare but a score of blood we must settle or else the death of Her Majesty is in vain join me as we bury along with her the very people that killed her." Seungman said.

"Yes Your Highness." Alcheon Rang said as he went down onto his knees.

"Yes Your Highness." All the others said in unison as they bowed down their heads and she looked at them all.

"The Female Ruler Jin is nonsense and I declare that from this day onwards once the rebels have been defeated my coronation shall be held but I won't have to wait until then as I have succeeded Her Majesty in front of Her coffin I shall be known in the hearts of people and in the pages of history as QUEEN JINDEOK." Seungman said.

"Yes Your Majesty." They all said as they bowed their heads, "Long Live Your Majesty." They added.

"Your Excellency, most parts of our Fortress have been damaged by the fire that was lit." Yeomjong said.

"How many casualties have we?" Bidam asked.

"We have about one thousand I am afraid that our defenses won't be able to hold for long." Yeomjong replied.

"How many days has it been?" Bidam asked.

"Three Your Excellency." Yeomjong replied.

"Any news from Wolseong Palace?" Bidam asked.

"There is none yet Your Excellency, as it is right now it is only known that the Queen is dead and right now with immediate effect, Lady Seungman has assumed office as the Queen Jindeok of Shilla." Yeomjong replied.

"I see." Bidam said.

"She is much aware of the Prophecy about the Female Ruler Jin but she went ahead to call herself Jindeok?" Yeomjong asked.

"She is no coward and there is nothing for her to be afraid even a Prophecy." Bidam replied.

"With such determination only heaven knows that Hell is going to break loose." Yeomjong said.

"As it is that we can not underestimate her and now that I see everything we worked so hard to build for fifteen years is crumbling if we can not fight right now and devote our all then the seventeen years for which we have prepared ourselves shall have gone to waste and in the end Seungman shall be victorious." Bidam said.

He was still talking when someone barged into the room and hurriedly knelt down before him.

"Your Excellency." He said.

"What is it?" Bidam asked.

"Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress." The mab replied.

"What's wrong with it?" Yeomjong asked.

"We have been Surrounded by Kim Yushin, Alcheon Rang and Her Majesty the Queen." The soldier replied.

"I guess we don't have to attack Wolseong Fortress, they are coming to us." Bidam said.

"What are we going to do Your Excellency?" Yeomjong asked.

"The place is under siege and we can acquire reinforcements no more like it or not, we have been isolated and we are at our weakest right now there isn't surrender." Bidam said.

"Your Excellency, this scene feels familiar." Yeomjong said.

"As Dosal fell and Princess Deokman marched up and crushed Galmunwang Baekban outside the city, History has only repeated itself." Bidam said.

"Your Excellency." Yeomjong said.

"We must resist to the very end." Bidam said as he stood up from his seat and he walked up to the nearby shelf and picked up his sword from it's holder.

He then turned around and he looked at Yeomjong.

"Now we fight and die with them." Bidam said.

The archers of Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress were taken by surprise and at that moment Queen Jindeok commanding her army with Yushin and Alcheon Rang as well as the others they stormed the walls of Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress.

It had already been weakend by the fire that had scorched it a couple of days ago and right behind the army there were people that followed it holding up their tools.

The Royal guards holding a battering ram they clashed with the gates of Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress as the soldiers inside were struggling their best to reinforce it but with no avail.

The Shilla soldiers mounted the ladders that they had placed against the walls and they landed on the battlements of Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress while Queen Jindeok was seated on her chair which was being carried around by a group of Royal guards.

Bidam then appeared on top of the battlements and he looked down at Queen Jindeok who stared up at him fiercely while the war between her people and his own raged.

Queen Jindeok stepped down from her seat and she spread her arms widely while she put herself in the target of Bidam's arrow which he was aiming at her.

"Bidam drew the string and before he would let go another arrow struck him that his target was diverted it flew so far away past Queen Jindeok who offered her left arm and there Damhyeong placed a bow while Haesul Rang put an arrow in her right hand.

Bidam raised his head while he looked at Seungman who placing the arrow in her bow she also aimed at him who had no one around to defend him.

Seungman let her arrow go and and shot Bidam in his right shoulder and pinned him to the wooden pole that was behind.

As she had concluded the doors of Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress were flung open and the Royal guards and soldiers rushed in as they slew Bidam with his men.

Another group of Queen Jindeok's men hurriedly rushed on the battlements and with chains they rounded off Bidam and they tied him he was unable to break free while he looked at the Queen his eyes burning with so much rage while he recalled the very words that Grandmaster Sal Su had told him.

"To the very end Your Excellency, do you think that with just that you shall possess the country?" Grandmaster Sal Su had asked.

"I am backed up by nobles and the most powerful Courtiers are all her enemies from a failed rebellion.

Their children burn with so much anger and hate for their people that she vanquished and had murdered they are all behind me." Bidam had replied to his question confidently.

"But they'll always possess the one thing that you never will." Grandmaster Sal Su cautioned him.

"And what is that?" He'd asked.

"The people that worship the Sacred bone." Grandmaster Sal Su had replied.

Bidam smiled ghastly and in a matter of time, Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress had already fallen to the hands of the Queen.

Bidam and thirty of his followers all tied in chains were paraded to the centre of the Fortress and there Queen Jindeok was seated on her throne while they were brought to a halt right in front of her and forced onto their knees with their families.

They were forced to look up to her while all the other common people bowed their heads to her.

"Long Live Your Majesty." They said and Seungman immediately stood up from where she was seated as she unsheathed a sword from Haesul Rang's scabbard and she descended the stairs from the platform while she walked up to the stage where her enemies were.

"Her Majesty the Great Queen that preceded me awarded you her benevolence when you didn't deserve it, she gave you freedom when you should have been slaves, positions all that she granted to you undeserving and ungrateful barbarians and in the end for her vast mercies yiu rewarded her with rebellion and disrupted the peace of her people." Queen Jindeok said as she stopped.

The people were all watching her but at a distance.

"Where have I seen people as heartless bad you are you are all undeserving of the gift of the which you have been given and because of that your very fatal mistake I shall bring justice to the dead in her name and in mine with the blood of you and your people you'll understand that in this chaotic world people like you who take for granted the lives of the common ones are undeserving to be Kings." Queen Jindeok said while the people shouted and they started throwing rocks at Bidam and his people.

"Halt." Queen Jindeok said and the people seemed to listen to her that they lowered their hands.

"Today heaven has delivered you into our hands." Queen Jindeok said while she walked up to Bidam and leaned a bit over to his right ear.

"Your Excellency." She said while the noise that was coming from the people covered her words.

"Against me you could never win because even the edict that was intercepted from the Queen's Chambers having been handed over to Gopheung Rang was created by me." Queen Jindeok said as she stood upright while Bidam where he was kneeling he started shedding tears constantly while he recalled the words that the Late Queen had said to him.

"The reasons that I had might not be too important but to me when the world judged you and they made you feel too awful to be loved when I looked at you Bidam I was more than willing to give you a chance not because you had the best talents but because to me you deserved to know the truth much better than anyone else." She'd praised.

"You were only there for me when I needed you, showed no discontentment when I felt like you didn't get enough." She'd remarked.

"Because I trust you more than all of them Bidam." Those words lingered at the back of his mind while he opened his eyes and looked at Queen Jindeok who was standing right there in front of him.

"I'd given you a chance to go away from Seoraebeol at least hoping that if you loved Her Majesty so much you would refrain but in the end you were like all other people that you could I ever trust you only proved to want to use her all your life to reach greater things and become the King of this country yet Sadly you failed because regardless of the effort that you put in, I was only smarter than you scheming I succeeded while you could at no time be above the Hallowed bone." Queen Jindeok said.

"All my life I thought myself to be smart." Bidam said.

"You only messed with the wrong women." Queen Jindeok said, "You killed my sister and I can not rest that case without justice along with the heads of your people to me she must be avenged." She added.

"Your Majesty is too good at scheming and you are much wiser than I imagined, as I thought that even I myself could change fate but in the very end whether unwillingly or not I have been forced to succumb to it." Bidam said.

"Your superstitions are nonsense and even if the the Female Ruler Jin exists I assure you that whether you are watching from heaven or hell it is not me." Queen Jindeok Said.

"How brave you must be Your Highness at last even I have lost much more than I could gain, I killed the woman that I loved because I was weak and to me death isn't absolution even with the pain in these wounds only my last relief." Bidam said.

"Any last words." Queen Jindeok said as her eyes got teary while she thought about Queen Seondeok.

"IN ITS TWENTIETH GENERATION A UNIFIED SHILLA SHALL FALL AT THE HANDS OF A FEMALE RULER JIN." Bidam said while the Queen raised her sword and at once she cut off Bidam's head his blood poured on the soil of Shilla and the people themselves heralded her while following her example, all the others were executed on the spot as well.

Seungman raised her head up to the sky while she slowly turned around and looked at Alcheon Rang her hands entirely covered in blood.

Slowly step by step she walked away with the bodies of her enemies gracing the feet beneath her as she shed tears.

"Your Majesty." She thought inwardly, "I have avenged you." She added as she continued further and further away.

Grandmaster Sal Su who was inside the dungeons they were opened and he walked out to a new world seeing the sun shining above his head he wasn't that old but he had a very long beard and surprisingly he was in his kid fifties at the time.

He stood at a distance and there he watched the young Queen walking towards her Palanquin she halted in a distance and she also feeling the presence of someone else turned around to see who it really was.

There their eyes met as Grandmaster Sal Su smiled at her while he bowed his head he recalled the words that he had told Galmunwang Baekban all those years ago.

"CHILD OF MY FATHER THE BLOOD OF MY OWN, HEAVEN'S CALLING IS TO MOULD ON HIS SIDE FOR ME THE LAST CARRIER OF THE HALLOWED BONE, IN ALL GRACE SHE SHALL SEAL THIS AMBITIOUS BANE OF MINE, BRINGING GLORY TO THIS NATION NATION A NEW LIGHT SHALL GRACE THIS OUR SACRED LAND." He'd announced the words so clearly to him at the time.

"Impossible, what are you saying?" Galmunwang Baekban asked.

"You can never rule this country Your Highness, no matter how hard you tried, because just as it is in the annals of the History the future generations shall write women shall take your place on the throne of this our Heavenly Kingdom of Shilla and you shall come no where near to curb their might." Grandmaster Sal Su had said.

"Boryun, my teacher, even if I must kill this child I will certainly see to it that I do that." Galmunwang Baekban had said.

"You have a sword at hand and a spear in the other." Grandmaster Sal Su said, "That child shall possess one thing that you yourself never will." He'd added.

"And what is that, an army or my ambition?" Galmunwang Baekban asked.

"The people that worship the Sacred bone." Grandmaster Sal Su replied, "Along with every last one of them that child shall seal your name." He'd added and coming back into the present the old man smiled all the more as he bowed his head.

Queen Jindeok bowed hers to him with the most sincere smile that she could conjure before she climbed into her Palanquin as it was carried away.

The old man gazed at it for a while as it slowly vanished from his sight while going through the gates of Myeonghwalsanseong Fortress.

Grandmaster Sal Su raised his head and looked up at the sun in the sky as he turned around and he slowly walked away.

Queen Jindeok sat at the top of the balcony that overlooked Seoraebeol and there she admired the scene while she recalled the times that she once stood there with Queen Seondeok.

Alcheon Rang walked up to her.

"Your Majesty." He said as he bowed his head.

"Before my eyes this country seems so vast, I have possesed the throne and yet it is now more than ever that I find myself to seem so lonely." Queen Jindeok said.

"Your Majesty, where have you to turn right now?" Alcheon Rang asked.

"Even I wish to know." Queen Jindeok replied while she stood up from where she was seated

"There is me Your Majesty above all people, not because I am the most reliable but because with you I am much more willing to go further and further than I ever have." Alcheon Rang replied.

"I love your sincerity and it moves me to the marrow." Queen Jindeok said as she sighed while she looked at Seoraebeol in a distance.

"It's quite funny how seventeen years ago I thought Seoraebeol to be the most lively city in the world, how I dreamt so much to behold that gold with my own eyes until now that I realised I had long possesed it by my side." Queen Jindeok said.

"What is greatness for us?" Alcheon Rang asked himself.

"Perhaps in how long history recalls us, for a woman it is most fulfilling for a man it is the order of the day, while statues can only be looked up on but they can never be symbols of reliance." Queen Jindeok said.

"Within this head I'd boast the possesion of the most grandiose dreams for this country and within this very heart of mine I would say I am most compassionate when it comes to this country.

Whether the throne was offered to me or not it wasn't a matter of myself acquiescing because I too was a sacred bone but because if I wished that there be a reason for others to oppose my ascension then it shouldn't be those plain words that because I am a woman." Queen Jindeok said.

"Your Majesty is in deed very great and regardless of what others say it isn't in your position to care or to show the slightest bit of concern because they could have opinions of their own but what matters is Your Majesty following Your heart." Alcheon Rang said.

"Up until now of all men that I have seen your pursuit is not ambition but only sincerity, yours is a heart so pure with generosity to blend with mine at one point most turbulent and another calm as long as I can strike any extreme.

You are medium at which I can regulate it all and while for me others could scramble for titles all the is for you to scramble for is this heart of mine." Queen Jindeok said.

"To me Your Majesty it is one thing that is worth living for." Alcheon Rang said.

"Aren't you worried that you might age, the principles that Confucius teaches and the peace of your own mind from a world that is corrupted, that is the best offer that anyone could ever have." Queen Jindeok Said.

"Your Majesty, for me a place that is by your side, whether a guard or a mentor as long as for you I can make all things easy then I am convinced above all things that there is peace in my heart." Alcheon Rang said.

"Tomorrow is my coronation, I want you to watch me." Queen Jindeok said as she turned and walked away.

"With immediate effect, as Sovereign I have appointed you Sangdaedeung of this our Heavenly Kingdom of Shilla." Queen Jindeok said as she continued with a smile on her face.

"Thank you so much Your Majesty." Alcheon Rang said as he bowed his head.

Queen Jindeok was being dressed in the Royal scarlet robes with the Phoenix decorations that were made with gold and silver thread.

Outside in the Courtyard of Wolseong Palace there were lively celebrations to mark her ascension and these halted when Kim Yongchun stepped up on a podium in front of the public eye.

"WITH THE BLESSINGS OF HEAVEN, THE ROYAL DYNASTY SHALL RESUME UNDER HER MAJESTY, THE STATE SHALL HENCEFORTH BE BLESSED, WE HEREBY SEEK BLESSINGS FROM HEAVEN AND EARTH AND HEREBY WORSHIP QUEEN JINDEOK, THE GREAT FEMALE KING OF SHILLA AND MAY HER LIGHT SHINE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OF OUR HEAVENLY KINGDOM FOR GENERATIONS TO COME." Kim Yongchun announced.

The doors of the courtyard were flung open and at once Queen Jindeok appeared in all her Majesty with a fifteen feet long train made of gold with the Phoenix embroidered on it

She wore the crown with the tree motif which her predeccessor bore not so long ago and there she marched down the red carpet as she arrived at the foot of the staircase that led to the golden throne.

Ceasing her dress while she caught sight of Alcheon Rang who was standing by it's side she mounted the stairs one by one until she eventually moved around the throne and then positioned herself right in front of everyone.

She raised her hands up to the sky and everyone wherever they were except for Alcheon Rang went down onto their knees with the Royal guards as they bowed their heads.

"Long Live Your Majesty, Long Live Our Great King." They said in unison while Queen Jindeok looked up at the sky.

"My life has been full of many foes at last they have fallen and here is my Kingdom I am on the search for more." Queen Jindeok said.

"Whose features make the world grasp in admiration?" Queen Jindeok asked.

"Yours Your Majesty." Sangdaedeung Alcheon replied.

"Who is gone from the mortal world?" Queen Jindeok asked.

"Your Your Majesty." Sangdaedeung Alcheon replied.

"Where is Shilla's hope?" Queen Jindeok asked.

"In you Your Majesty." Sangdaedeung Alcheon replied.

Queen Jindeok still looking at heaven she closed her eyes and shed a tear.