Eun Chen panted , finally reaching the relics room, she had dumped the linen mask and her black cloak on a far off trail, so that it won't be led back to her, she heaved, after a long night battle she was finally at Gwengochans relics room, it was legendary for the dangerous and spell ridden artifacts that were inside there,it was that of a stone wall, their symbol was a dragon, a red fire dragon. Eun Chen unwrapped the white cloth she had tied around her arm revealing the injury she had previously gotten at the palace, just like she had planned, no guards were there, they all went after the masked assasin that is how dangerous she was.
She stepped forward to the stone wall, the outlines of the dragon began glowing red, she smirked as the door began to open, but suddenly the deep bloodied red of the dragon immediately turned off and the wall was shut with a wave of air which knocked her off her feet, she looked at the stone door, she stood up and walked over to the door again, but this time nothing happened, no red light and no creak from the wall, " you won't be able to open that door", she heard a voice behind her and turned swiftly, and saw Lee Kwon leaning on the wall, with a snotty smile on his face, a smile that said " this was in my favour", her eyes were full of rage, pointing towards Lee Kwon, "what happened, why can't the door open, your blood is inside me", said Eun Chen in anger, after all she had been through just to get here, this could not possibly be happening.
Lee Kwon chuckled softly as he walked up to Eun Chen, softly dropping her hand which was still pointed at him, " it is bad to point at people, and I thought you were smart but I guess you only have beauty and skills" ", said Lee Kwon, Eun Chen clenched her first, " you bas........", " I am the royal bastard to the King, which means I have no privilege to the palace, my birth right and to be called the King's son, so all the facade was just a waste of your time,..., but at least you didn't get killed", said Lee Kwon with a smirk on his face, there was silence for a moment, Eun Chen fists were clenched, she knew she had lots of blood on her hands, they should have given her any other punishment, but why did she have to know and meet such an incompetent fool, a smile brokeout from her lips. " So you are telling me that after I lures the guards out of here, fought till I almost died, climbed through trees, my palmes being bruised and blistered, almost died, and now you are telling me that.... , it was all part of some game", said Eun Chen with gritted teeth and in disbelief. Lee Kwon folded his hands while biting his lips, "well...you can say that", said Lee Kwon, Eun Chen in sheer anger, " what about my belt...",said Lee Kwon, Eun Chen looked at her cloak that is when she realized she was not with the belt, " what kind of assasin is this clumsy....", " shut up" she said in a fierce voice, " the guards will be here any second, my belt was found with Eun Chen, that means Eun Chen was at the palace, and what am I doing in the palace?", he said walking closer to Eun Chen, then he smiled, " I am here to hand her over", he said.
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Lee Kwon was kneeling down in the palace hall, he heaved, the elders, his brothers, the king, the Queen, and Eun Chen were all watching, " you broke the law that forbade you from ever stepping into the palace without the request if the king or queen or permission to be given to you", said the Queen, Lee Kwon sighed, " it wasn't my intention to disrespect you your Majesty,..., but I really wanted to see the legendary assasin sword, so ra was trying to stop me from going but I didn't listen to her, we were already near the premises when we heard that they were chasing down Eun Chen, so we had to hide there", said Lee Kwon looking over at Eun Chen, isn't that right so ra?", all eyes fell on Eun Chen who stepped forward, not maintaining eye contact, she bowed her head and knelt down to the Queen, " yes you Highness, your Majesty, forgive me for not being able to stop him, ", then her voice began to crack as tears fell from her eyes, Lee Kwon was surprised at the sudden tears.
This was sure not part of the plan, then she bowed her hair to the floor, "I'm just new here your Majesty, I don't know the rules and ethics of the palace, please spare me your Majesty and spare my young master", the Queen heaved, the king stood up walking to the Queen, "let's not cause a ruckus here, this was his first time trespassing ", said the King, " tsk..... trespassing?", scoffed Lee Kwon, the Queen turned to Lee Kwon, the whole assembly was shocked, " what did you ju.......", "I am the son of the king, I have every right to enter the palace, just like your sons min yu and Seugh min ", Lee Kwon in a slightly raised and commanding voice, the whole assembly was shocked, mummurs began spreading, " who does he think he is disrespecting the Queen like that", the whispers became more intense, the Queen clenched her first looking at Lee Kwon, " how dare a bastard like you disrespect me....,JUN GYEONG!!!!!!!!!", yelled the Queen, a hefty guard came into the presence of the Queen.
"The whip...", said the Queen in sheer anger, Min yu and Seugh min stepped forward ," please mother, he didn't mean any of the words he said, please spare him", the Queen looked at both of them, " stay out of this", she said in a fierce voice," the punishment for disrespecting the Queen is fifty whips, punishment for trespassing is hundred whips, all together I thereby order that Lee Kwon should be whipped one hundred and fifty times", said Go young, Eun Chen raised her head to look at Lee Kwon who didn't look at her, his eyes were empty, Eun Chen looked at the Queen then she bowed her head, at least as his maid she should be a little convincing, " please reconsider your Majesty, you Highness please reconsider", she said, then she looked up, but she saw the king backing away, Min yu knelt down, " please mother reconsider, he is a first time offender, the punishment does not have to be this harsh", said Min yu, " I SAID STAY OUT OF THIS", yelled the Queen, the whole assembly fell silent. " It's okay Min yu ...", said Lee Kwon after a long moment, his eyes unsurprising and emotionless, " I will take the punishment as it has been given to me besides , this isn't my first time being punished like this", his voice didn't have cracks and it didn't show any sign of emotion, it was just cold, there was silence in the assembly, th Queen smirked, Eun Chen looked over at the king, but he just sat down back on his throne avoiding eye contact from Lee Kwon, Lee Kwon wasn't even looking at his father which meant he had never hoped for his father to defend him in the first place . "The King is a coward", Eun Chen thought
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Before the meeting at the palace
" The guards will be here any second, my belt was found with Eun Chen , that means Eun Chen was at the palace, and what am I doing at the palace ...?", he said walking close to Eun Chen then he smirked, " I am here to hand her over", he said, Eun Chen bowed her head then lifted it, coming near Lee Kwon, " you want something from me, because you would not be here waiting for me, you wouldn't have given me your blood knowing that it won't work and I won't be able to escape this night,.....you planned all this", she said in realization then scoffed turning around as she ruffled her hair , them she chuckled, "fine....., we will both die then, I for being an assasin and you for helping an assasin", said Eun Chen, but to her surprise Lee Kwon chuckled, " I guess you still don't get what is happening, I have nothing to loose here", said Lee Kwon almost in a non challant home, " do you think I have anything to loose , we will both die since we both have no one waiting for us", she said with a sinister smile.
There was a long pause if silence before Lee Kwon spoke again, " we both have nothing to loose, but at the same time we both have something to gain, let's settle this so we can both live', " now you want to settle,....how immature", said a sassy Eun Chen, " you want to get out of here in one piece with your sword and that mark off your chest", said Lee Kwon, Eun Chen looked at him, was he getting on to something. " I am the only one who can help you...", " help me?, better still deceive me, you can't even open the relics room, how are you going to get me out of here in one piece", said Eun Chen quizzically and disbelief, " for me to get you out of here I have to earn my right into the palace and the relics room", said Lee Kwon folding his arms," what are you getting at", asked Eun Chen confused." You coming here was the right opportunity for all this, all my life all I had was that of psychological knowledge, all masters were banned from teaching me martial arts, and there you are, a beautiful, unsuspecting maid who begged to be saved from her cruel master, a really smooth alibi", said Lee Kwon with a brief smile then it fell , " having a duel over my birth right is the only way you can be saved", said Lee Kwon.
There was another round of silence before Eun Chen scoffed, " so ....., since all masters and teachers has rejected you, you want me, a high profile assasin to teach you martial arts so that you can duel over your birth right,..., is this how far you are planning to take this game because it is no longer funny", said Eun Chen with a serious expression, " still thinking of this as a game , this ain't a game anymore, if not both of our lives won't be at stake right now , I have thrown all my coins to the bucket, so throw yours and call it even", said Lee Kwon, Eun Chen stared at him for a while , a half smile appeared on her lips, " abandoned by his mother, rejected by society and condemned by the country, how will I be calling it even with someone of this reputation", said Eun Chen, Lee Kwon also smirked and stepped closer to her, this time so near, no space between them, tension filled the air, but Eun Chen stood her ground, "your reputation isn't also great,....you need someone who can open the door for you, what do you say", said Lee Kwon, her biggest regret right now was that she had not killed this bastard yet. From an assasin to a teacher, he had breached the line but he sure wasn't going to be in control, at that moment som guards came in with Seugh min, " Lee Kwon !", Seugh min called out in shock, Eun Chen and Lee Kwon turned and saw Seugh min, immediately Eun Chen pushed him away from her, " young Master wanted to take a look at Eun Chens sword, but then we heard the commotion and we hid here", said Eun Chen with a smile, Lee Kwon stared at her quizzically, " oh..., sorry for my rudeness you Highness, my name is so ra, I am a new maid, I will be serving master Lee Kwon from now on", said Eun Chen, " oh..., you are new, I was wondering why a face like you skipped my eyes", said Seugh min with a cute smile, you could tell he was bubbly in nature, after a while min yu came in surprised to see Eun Chen and Lee Kwon, " Kwon...?", he said his eyes darted off to Eun Chen who quickly looked down bowing her head. Min yu looked at her suspiciously for sometime, those moments Eun Chen was holding her breath, before Lee Kwon finally cut the tension, " Min yu..., you are bleeding", said Lee Kwon pointing to Min yu arm, Seugh min eyes went wide looking at his arm, " gosh you are bleeding, we need to take you to the royal infirmary", said Seugh min concernely, it's fine, it's just a scratch, besides we have matters to attend to", said Min yu looking at Lee Kwon, min yu raised a golden , blemished leather belt towards Lee Kwon, " it was found at the forest..", said Min yu, Lee Kwon heaved, the way Min yu spoke, you could tell he was demanding for an explanation, Lee Kwon looked at Eun Chen who didn't look at him, he nodded, "I will answer the Queens call in advance", said Lee Kwon adamantly. Yes, that was right, she risked her life, so that means he also had to risk his life to call it even.