CHAPTER 17: RUN TO YOU Pt 1

Han jum was pondering on his desk remembering what the old woman had said.

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The old woman poured some salt on the table , she lifted her head up , she rang her bell once , then she said something in an old language then she began to ring the bell fiercely, using her hand to hit the table continuously untill something was formed from the salt , it was spiral marks, Han jum looked closely at it , it was indeed the spiral marks of the Phoenix stone, the old woman used her hand to trace the outlines of the in drawn spiral marks on the salt, " the spiral marks is with one of dark fate , both are destined together", Han jum tilted his head, " the spiral marks is on one of pure heart but unclean blood ", said the old woman as she began to ring her bell , then all of a sudden she stopped , " those of unclean heart and unclean blood shall not interfere with their fate,....you of bad heart , depart from here, you shall not interfere with fate if not your doom is inevitable", she said Han jum smirked, " I have gotten everything you said so...", his voice changing to a more evil and darker version of itself , " so I don't need anymore.......", saying that , he swiftly took out his sword and with one powerful strike , the sound of flesh tearing swiftly at his swords command , she was ultimately beheaded, blood splashed on his face as he looked at the woman's decapitated body , and then he spat on it wiping the blood from his face , one of Han jums men came in looking at the decapitated body, " dispose of it", he said coldly, the man bowed his head while Han jum left the scene.

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He needed to start putting his plans in action, in order to obtain the palace they needed to get rid of the cowardic King, once he is gone he can focus on getting rid of the rest of the royal family with Eun Chen being his weapon against Lee Kwon without her knowing it.

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Filling up some buckets of water, Eun Chen made sure the water was filled to the brim before she embarked in carrying it , when she used to live on the mountains they usually carried two buckets of water that was bigger than this, they carried it continuously from the top to the base and the base to the top, but why was she staggering trying to carry one bucket that was smaller than the ones she carried on the mountains, indeed she had lost her strength, she gave a half smile it was funny because her life felt normal, she was living a normal life , all of a sudden she felt someone take the bucket from her , it was Lee Kwon, spilling some droplets of water on the floor , " just consider it a helping hand ", said Lee Kwon as he began walking as Eun Chen followed him, " aren't you supposed to do your morning training with Min yu?", asked Eun Chen quizzically, " he had an important meeting at the palace , eventhough he wasn't having that meeting I won't have trained today", said Lee Kwon , Eun Chen stopped right at her tracks causing Lee Kwon to also stop, " you aren't training today?", said Lee Kwon quizzically, " I am meeting with someone today....", said Lee Kwon, " who?...", asked Eun Chen , " someone that you don't know ", said Lee Kwon with a playful smirk, Eun Chen sighed , " you really are something", she said as Lee Kwon smiled , both of them walking side by side , and water spilling from the bucket , the atmosphere was clear and peaceful, it was quiet, too quiet.

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"Your Highness, your Majesty, I greet you in the honour of our family name ", said Lee yeon bowing down, the King and Queen both smiled at her approach, Lee yeons court lady bowed her head presenting a wrapped gift , "before your astounding presence I present these gifts ", the court lady handed Lee Yeon the wrapped gifts , one of the guards stepped forward and collected the gift from her hand , " thank you so much lady Lee Yeon, I'm so happy you came back safe from your travels , please send my regards to your father ", said the King, Lee Yeon bowed , " I will make sure your message reaches him ", said Lee yeon, raising her head up , " I heard about the masked assasin , I am so glad you are safe", said Lee yeon, " it was dangerous for you to come here , if you are going back I will send some of our guards and Min yu with you to ensure your safety ", said the Queen, " thank you for your concern your Majesty", said Lee yeon then she finally looked up, "I came back because of Lee Kwon, I want to marry him,....., I know our engagement last time didn't end on a good note , I want is to try again", said Lee yeon pressing her lips hard against each other, there was silence before the Queen spoke , " you can't marry him, someone as distinguished as you shouldn't be associated with someone like him", said the Queen, Lee Yeon raised her head up almost in shock, "but your Majesty, I truly love him , I don't care of his background, I like h......", " your father didn't agree to your relationship and I heard that Lee Kwon never agreed to your engagement in the first place , he must have thought of you as an easy way to get out from his situation, you shouldn't be with someone as pathetic as him", said the Queen, " your Majesty,...", " Lee Kwon never felt the same way ,...infact he is in love with someone else", said the Queen, the king looked at her in disbelief, Lee Yeon looked up at the Queen in shock , " should I introduce her to you?", asked the Queen with a wicked grin on her face.

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" The crimson pears are ripe now ", said one of the court ladies to Eun Chen , Eun Chen looked up, they were indeed ripe and looking at how big it was , it must contain a lot of juice in it, " young master will like this", said Eun Chen, " we can get some for him, but the tree is too high, we will let it fall on its own ", said the court lady, not long after someone called the court lady over leaving Eun Chen on her own as she looked at the tree, it was likely it will fall next season and next season she will not be here, " it will take too long if I let it fall on its own ", she said pursing her lips tightly , she looked up at the tree, she didn't have much strength to climb the tree, " looks like I am not the only one waiting for the crimson pears", said Min yu, Eun Chen was startled , how come she always running into him, she was about to bow down and greet but Min yu stopped her, " you are closer to my brother , there is no need for you to greet me anymore , let's not be formal with each other", said Min yu , " it won't be alright if I stopped greeting you, there are rumors already going on about me and young master, I don't want them to think that there is something going on between both of us, they will think I am two timer or something", said Eun Chen looking away.

Min yu scoffed in amusement, " you have nothing going on between me or Lee Kwon right?",he asked ,Eun Chen thought back at the kiss they had shared at his study, that was nothing but she could still feel the emotions she had felt then, everytime she looked at him her heart and mind went parallel, those fickle feelings grew intense at each passing time , each passing moment she spent with him, " do you?", asked Min yu again bringing her back to reality, " no, of course not, that will be very vile of me , a common maid like me should not have a relationship with her young master", said Eun Chen bending her head with a small smile on her face , Min yu smiled looking up at the tree, " I can get them for you .....", said Min yu looking at Eun Chen, Eun Chen eyes widened , " there will be no need for that , I can get it myself", said Eun Chen, she was alarmed at herself, she was really getting attached to this maid faze even to her enemy. "C'mon let me do it, it perfectly ripe, before Eun Chen could protest Min yu had taken off his robe as he already began climbing the tree, " young master, ...get down from there, you may fall.....", said Eun Chen anxiously , " it's okay I have done this a lot of times , I won't fall ,....., they are really ripe bring the basket and hold it tight , I will be throwing it to the basket ", said Min yu plucking a fruit , Eun Chen took hold of her basket , Eun Chen smiled looking up at Min yu, " throw more , I will catch it gracefully ", she said , Min yu smiled throwing another fruit into the basket which she caught again.

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" If you aren't going to buy anything from me then why did you drag me here", asked Kyung frustrated , " you are popular with the ladies , you know what women like ", said Lee Kwon glancing at every item that were being displayed by the sellers , Kyung paused looking at Kwon in surprise , " you have a woman!", said Kyung, Lee Kwon looked at his friend then he nodded like it was not a big deal , Kyung mimicked his nodding in a sarcastic move , then he looked at Kwon in a twisted face , " is that it....., since when, how come I was not aware?", said Kyung shocked, Lee Kwon like he was thinking before putting his head down , "you never asked", said Kwon, " wowwwww,....., so that is how little you think of our friendship, you are really something, first a duel , now a woman, are you going to die or what ...?", said Kyung, Lee Kwon looked at Kyung with a questionable gaze , " die....?", he said, Kyung leaned closer to Kwon, " I heard that when people are about to die they do things that they have never done before....", Kwon pushed him away, " if you keep saying nonsense, I won't buy you anything", said Kwon seriously, " okay , I will shut up my mouth,....", said Kyung slapping his mouth making Lee Kwon to smile in satisfaction and amusement, as he continued looking around for anything he could buy, "what type of woman is she?", asked Kyung, Kwon looked at Kyung quizzically, " what I mean is if you want to buy the perfect gift for a woman, the gift have to mainly reflect about her, something that shows who she is , her gift has to define her personality, so how is she ?", asked Kyung.

Lee Kwon tilted his head quizzically, then he gave a brief smile, " she's ..., the sarcastic type, she hates respecting people, she loves putting people down and she is quick tempered.....", Kyung looked at Kwon quizzically , he was crazy, really crazy, he had found a woman crazier than him, " but she is warm hearted , she likes acting tough, but....., she is a really emotional person , she doesn't see it in herself but,...I do", said Lee Kwon facing kyung , " tsk.....,you really are odd, you describe her in a bad way, then in a good way, contrasting elements with a shade of bad and good , darkness and light,.....", said Kyung, his eyes catching on to something in the stall then he smiled , " found it", he said , Lee Kwon looked at what Kyung was looking at , and he also smiled , " perfect", he said.

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Eun Chen and Min yu were walking along side each other, Eun Chen basket was filled with crimson pears , dry leaves crunched under their feet, " thank you for plucking the fruit, I didn't want to wait till next season before it falls, I'm sorry for troubling you", she said bowing her head , Min yu gave a brief smile , " it's okay , call me anytime if you need someone to help you pluck some fruits I will be more than happy to do that", said Min yu , Eun Chen nodded taking two crimson pear from her basket , she stretched out offering it to him, " it's out of gratitude, please take it", she said , Min yu looked at her for a brief second giving her a smile he took it, " go on your way now , Maidservant Park will be looking for me by now", she said bowing her head then she turned around and left, Min yu stood there for sometime watching her go , he raised the fruit on his hand then he scoffed , smiled and turned the other way and left.

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Eun Chen was heading to Lee Kwons home she saw Maidservant park, she heaved was she going to get scolded, her face drained of it's colour when two guards began walking towards her and all of a sudden they grabbed her forcefully , her basket of crimson pear fell on the floor, she was shocked as she struggled to get out of their tight grip, " hey,...., let me go , what do you want ", she said yelling , she looked at Maidservant Park, " Maidservant Park, what's going on, where,.....", " you are coming with us to the palace ", one of the guards said gripping her tightly on her hand, by now a small gathering of court ladies had gathered , some looking at her with pity, being called to the palace wasn't pleasant at all, " go with them so ra , I will inform young master when he comes back ,huh,....hold on okay", said Maidservant Park who was truly worried , Eun Chen bit her lower lip, why were they suddenly asking for her, did they know who she really was.