CHAPTER 9:BOUNDED BY FATE

" If Lee Kwon wants a duel then he will have a duel, we will give him a duel", said the Queen facing the assembly, " the duel will be set to next month, any teacher, master or experienced warriors who dare to train him shall be executed", said the Queen in anger, there was mummuring as everyone looked at each other, suddenly the loud sound of thunder interrupted their discussion, it wasn't suppose to rain today, suddenly bright lightning was struck across the sky, the Queen stood up from her throne, the wind became stronger , it began to rain heavily, gust of wind forcefully pushed open the door, making all the attendees to fall to the floor , the guards rushed in to close the door , but the door broke and a bolt of lightning struck the entrance of the door , the king helped the shocked Queen on her feet, " everyone to the court room", yelled the King, as she held the Queen in his arms , through the stormy cloaked room , the guards struggled to lead the court officials out of throne room, lightning again struck the ground , terrifying the court officials , King and Queen as they hastened their speed to the court room.

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Lee kwons home

It was cold and dark, soft mass if air blew across the hallway making whistling noise unlike outside which made more of howling eerie noises, Lee kwons room ,empty jars of wine were on the table , both Lee Kwon and Eun Chen heads were laid on the table , They both had drank a lot and now they were fast asleep , the noise not bothering them at all, while a sleeping Lee kwons hand had unconsciously laid on Eun Chens hand while the spiral marks on her chest shone brighter than even the brightest star .

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A while ago before the storm

Lee Kwon was looking at the jars of wine on the table , he scoffed then he looked up at Eun Chen with a frown, " you can't be serious", said Lee Kwon unbelievably, but you could tell by her face that she wasn't joking, " you said you only see drinks as something to relieve stress, pain and guilt", said Eun Chen , " so...why are you....", " as a man it is a taboo to show your emotions, it is considered weak", said Eun Chen seriously as she stepped forward, " a man should not show his emotions in battle , whether you are in pain, grieving or you feel guilty, the only thing that could see and hear those emotions ....", she said pointing to the jars of wine , "should be those jars", said Eun Chen , Lee Kwon was surprised at what she said then he tilted his head , " I have never drank in my life, so what does that make me", asked Lee Kwon curiously. " Eun Chen smirked as she sat down opposite him , leaning her head on her palm, " it means you are weak, soft and....useless", she said with no hint of remorse in her voice , Lee Kwon looked at the jar of wine for a while , he twisted his lips , after a while he dragged the wine jar to himself and poured some wine into the wine bowl , he looked at Eun Chen before gulping down the whole bowl of wine , his eyes twitched , being a first tender of alcohol he felt his throat burn, and his chest was tight, his face turned red at the sudden heat he felt all over his body .

He removed his cloak and loosened his robe , but the burning sensation was still there, Eun Chen smiled , " pain , guilt and stress are just like the feeling of you drinking liquor, it first feels like you are burning , then you are suffocating, no matter what you do you can't stop it, you can only get used to it", she said pouring herself a drink, and toasting it to mostly herself, she gulped it down , " kaaaaaaaa...., this one is strong.... ", she looked at Lee Kwon who still seemed uncomfortable, " I like it", she said with a smile as she poured in another for herself, and was about to drink it when...., " after you escape and we meet again, will you want me to wield my sword against you", asked Lee Kwon, there was silence for a while before she spoke , " even if we meet outside later on , u shall not fight against you, by then you will be better because I was once your master", she said dropping the bowl of wine on the table then she leaned in so close, that for some odd reason Lee Kwon felt his heart beating uncontrollably as if he was excited for the next thing she was going to say, " I won't die by anyone sword....", she said leaning closer again making Lee Kwon to place his two hands on the floor to prevent him from falling, " I will due by my sword and...your sword young master", she said , there was silence , everywhere felt still when she said that, truly he will say that she was a complete lunatic, staring at her, her silky black hair falling gracefully on her shoulders, her white pale skin, pale pink lips, and button hloe nose, how can someone so cute and pretty be such a rogue, he wondered .

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Eun Chen was looking at Lee Kwon from across the table, three empty jars of wine were on the table , Lee Kwon who was so drunk kept on sleepy darting his head side to side , Eun Chen heaved , he was completely wasted, he will have a terrible hangover in the morning, she was a little tipsy but she had not drank as much as him, she stood up from the floor, she at least had to clear all this before morning because she will get a huge scolding from Maidservant Park tomorrow, she took the bowls from the table placing it one by one on a tray, she knelt down near Lee Kwon to pick up some bowls when her eyes became fixated on his fate, he was defenceless right now , weak, alone , everywhere was quiet, he was completely wasted . She could kill him now ,he won't even make a noise , she looked at the table seeing a pen knife , she picked it up, looking at it then looking at him, then she looked at his neck, the side of his neck, hitting a viral spot was her specialty, just one move and her victims will immediately be dead, it was a great opportunity.

She raised up the knife to finally kill him, when he suddenly said something that made her stop , " Mom... , mom, it's dark,....I cannot see , I'm scared", he said in a fearful voice , sounding like a little child , what he said drew her back to a memory of her in a closet, it was dark , there were screams and bloodshed, her eyes began to tear up as she slowly dropped the knife on the table ,looking at Lee Kwon, she sighed immediately cleaning her tears, why was she suddenly being so emotional, she needed to get out from here, when she was about to stand up, she felt a hand around her wrist, she slowly turned and saw Lee Kwon wide awake, but you could tell he was still drunk, his eyes were sad, she had been here for some days but she had never seen his eyes this sad , his eyes were usually emotionless not showing whether he was in pain, for the few days she had known him, he had never made the mistake of showing his true emotions, she looked away wanting to leave but he held her hand more firmly, " please stay with me", he said bending his head down as drops of tears fell from his eyes, " I don't want to be alone ", he said, Eun Chen looked away contemplating, like he was her enemy, but why did he have to always seem pitiable, she sighed in defeat as she sat down next to him , " I just pity you that is why, just for tonight, but tomorrow you are so dead ", she said in a menancing way", Lee Kwon smiled softly , " thank you teacher", he said before finally fell asleep, softly laying on her shoulder, Eun Chen felt stiff all of a sudden , she slowly turned her head and saw his head on her shoulder, he looked so peaceful, eventhough he was asleep, he still held her hand firmly, not making any attempt to let go anytime soon.

After sometime her shoulder began to ache , she looked over at him, gently moving his head with her hand, she placed his head gently on the table , looking at him resting peacefully he looked almost beautiful, his hand still firmly holding hers, she rested her head in the table , looking at him face to face , his once tensed breath relaxed as he loosened his grip, but Eun Chen didn't bother standing up as she laid there listening to his relaxed breathing and looking at his peaceful face, she finally drifted up to sleep, his hand still on hers as they both fell asleep, the whole room was quiet as they both slept peacefully, the spiral marks on Eun Chen chest suddenly began to brighten up untill it shone to that if an impeccable white, outside the once moonlight sky was covered with that of dark clouds and a heavy gust of wind blew across the corners of the whole of Gwengochan hinting that a storm was coming.

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There were mummurs going around the village , the storm had destroyed shops , houses and expensive goods, many people were lamenting, some were crying , it was all a mess, back at the kingdom some if the servents were already clearing the throne room, some men had come to repair the door, the King was seated on his throne thinking of something , the whole scene looked so familiar, the storm wasn't an ordinary one , all he could remember was when Lee Kwon was a baby this sort of thing had happened, but it was impossible, he had lost his powers back when he was a baby , it couldn't be possible,, his mind finally came back when Seugh min came in bowing his head , " I have surveyed most part of Gwengochan, and from what I saw most houses were destroyed, stalls, shops, goods were all destroyed", said Seugh min, the King heaved , " did you check in Lee Kwon?", asked the King, " when I went over to his house Maidservant Park told me he was still asleep, his house is very much okay, nothing happened to his house , Maidservant Park told me that they all didn't notice that there was a storm, isn't that quite odd", said Seugh min quizzically, this raised the King's suspicion more.

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" Are you sure nobody came in here last night ", asked the Queen seriously, " yes ...your Majesty, I was in stand by all day yesterday, no one came in ", said the guard, the Queen heaved ," okay, you may leave", she said , the guard bowed down before leaving, the Queen stood there looking at the phoenix stone, was it just in her head ar all of what happened yesterday wasn't just normal, she had experienced that same phenomenon over twenty years ago but it was impossible, it couldn't be that bastard, the phoenix stone was here all along and besides he couldn't use it for he wasn't a full royal, but she still couldn't help shaking that feeling of anxiousness .

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" We have found Eun Chen", said the guard, Han jum smiled , " so she is indeed in the palace ,.....", he looked up at his guard, " don't allow anyone to know that the masked assasin is here especially the Queen", said Han jum with an evil grin, the guard bowed slowly, " but what do you intend to do while she is here", asked the guard( his most trusted man), " you you don't need to know that , just keep a close eye on her", said Han jum, the guard crossed his hand , " but the problem is she is not at the palace", said the guard, " Han jum looked at him confused , " what do you mean, and why didn't you tell me that she was at the palace earlier.....", yelled Han jum, before controlling himself, "I'm sorry my lord ....yo...you were just so excited, I wouldn't dare interrupt you, I'm sorry", he said kneeling down while bowing his head , " please spare thie worthless fool", begged the guard as he trembled , Han jum walked over to the guard and gave him a resounding slap, " now tell me where she is ?", asked Han jum eeriely calm, " she ....she is in the home of....of the bastard son", said the guard looking away, not daring to look up and not daring to calm the heat and pain that had been inflicted on his cheek , Han jum was shocked , looking at the guard confused, " she's in Lee Kwon home .....?", he asked again as if to make sure he was not hearing things , " yes my lord, she is in the home of the bastard son", he said ", he repeated again, Han jum was silent for sometime, "what exactly is she planning, how will she be able to execute my plan if she is with him", he thought.