003. Do-ryeon-nim(Young Master), Run!

Okeon did not bother to take the guards to the house because she knew that Minsoo's father would be at the guild where he runs his business.

As for his mother, she could be either with her husband right now or at home. Since she couldn't be sure of her whereabouts at the moment, she chose the parent with whom she was certain of where they were right now.

"Naeri (Sir/my lord), I brought with me some officers who are here to see you concerning aggashi, please." Okeon said to her boss as soon as she opened the door to his office.

She ushered the officers in right after informing her master.

Minsoo's father's heart rate increased rapidly as soon as he saw Okeon and the officers without his daughter.

He stopped everything he was doing and moved from his desk to the sitting area where the officers were standing instead of sitting down.

This made him more worried than he was earlier. One officer gave a hand signal to Okeon, who, in turn, went to her master and narrated everything that had happened. Including Minseo's accusations against her dongsaeng (younger brother).

"What?! Are you serious?" Minsoo's dad exclaimed. 

He was very shocked by what his daughter had done. This could put him and his family, including the whole Lee clan, in trouble. 

Forget about the internal strife that awaits them with Minseo having a hand in her cousin's death: their whole generation could be annihilated because of this. He must act fast. Real fast.

"You and your wife are to go with us to the palace. Oh, and also that son that your daughter keeps insisting about. If he really does exist, then have him come with us right now. For the King awaits your presence this very instant." 

One of the guards informed him as two of them went and tied his hands together in front of him. 

While the guards' focus was on her master, Okeon skilfully left the guild and ran all the way to the house. 

Upon reaching the house, she went straight into Minsoo's room and spoke really fast and incoherently. "Do-ryeon-nim, you need to...run. Right now!" 

Her shouts scared the poor Minsoo, who has never seen her speak like this. His sister and parents are the ones who make him scared whenever they speak loudly and harshly.

Seeing Okeon like this makes him think that she is also going to hit him like his family does whenever they speak in the same manner.

He fell on the floor out of fear that Okeon was coming to beat him as mercilessly as his family usually does. 

Instead of getting up from the floor, he instinctively covered his eyes and ears while lying on his side in a foetal position. This, he does, as a form of reflex.

The ringing in his ears from his last beatings hasn't died down yet, and the wounds his mother inflicted on him the previous day are hurting worse than they were yesterday.

So the fall made the pain worse, but he couldn't dare to cry out because that would mean more beatings.

"Do-ryeon-nim! Now is not the time to lie on the floor; please get up and run before your father and the guards get here." Okeon cried as she tried to pull the young boy off the floor.

But Minsoo kept curling back to the floor in the foetal position, with his eyes closed, because subconsciously, he feared that if he exposed his ears and eyes, he wouldn't be able to bear the pain in addition to what had been inflicted on his body yesterday by his mom, and just this morning, his dad also added more.

Minsoo stifled his cries even though he was in severe pain, because he feared being beaten more if he did. And Okeon's manners, which triggered his daily trauma, didn't help at all. 

The trauma made it such that he still hasn't realised that the girl hadn't even landed any hits on him, nor did he even hear anything of what the girl has been telling him since she entered his room.

Minsoo's mother then entered the room a few minutes after the servant. Unbeknownst to Okeon, the guards had already arrived with her master. 

Minsoo's mother, who was then in her own room, was called outside and was informed of their daughter's case. 

She had told the guards to wait and allow her to bring her son to them. The truth is, she wanted to make sure that her son wore clothes that would cover his scars before stepping out to meet the guards. 

So the guards stayed outside while she went in to bring the son that their daughter was talking about. 

The only reason that the guards are being this patient and flexible is because the King has a close-knit relationship with the Prime Minister, and so they cannot act rashly towards him or his family.

"You stupid girl, what are you trying to do?" Minsoo's mom rushed into the room as soon as she noticed what her servant was up to.

Slap. Slap. Hit. Hit. Hit.

"Do you want to see my family destroyed? Is that it? Is that why you're telling the fool to run? Huh?"

Slaps, hits, and insults were rained on Okeon by the madame of the house, Minsoo's mother. 

"This cursed, useless fool has been nothing but a burden unto our family. Now that there's some use of his existence, you're trying to do what? Have him run away? Are you going to take his place then? Hmm?"

Okeon too fell on the floor, beside Minsoo. Even amidst the beatings, she felt very guilty and sorry towards the young master that she couldn't do much to help him.

She had only come to tell him to run away before the guards got there, but she has failed miserably. Now, there is nothing she can do to help the younger boy out anymore.

"Quick. Find some decent clothes and have him change into them." Minsoo's mom hits her servant some more before leaving. All the beatings and frustrations that she would've released unto her son, she now laid on the annoying servant.

It took quite a while before Okeon was able to collect herself and calm Minsoo down before getting him off the floor and having him change into a more presentable robe. 

All the while, she kept on shedding tears and muttering things that got the already confused Minsoo rather scared. "Do-ryeon-nim, joe-song-ha-da (I'm sorry). Please, do not forgive me for what I'm about to do to you, even in our next lives. Please, do-ryeon-nim, stay strong."

"Do you need us to come in there for the boy ourselves?" The guard in charge shouted from outside the compound.

"Just a moment, please." Minsoo's mother replied and went back into her son's room. She yanked the 13-year-old out of the servant's hand and dragged Minsu out of there into the compound.

The brightness of the sunlight rendered Minsoo's vision blurry once outside of the room. It took quite a long while for his eyes to adjust to the sunlight once outside.

The royal guards forgot to breathe as soon as their eyes fell on the beautiful, pale, and frail girl with her long, silky white hair.

They have never seen anyone with such delicate looks before.

It took a moment for them to come to their senses.

Cough. Cough.

The officer-in-command cleared his throat as he tried to regain composure before asking Minsoo's mother a question.

"Where is the boy that you were going to hand us over to? We have given you more than enough time."

He then turned to his men and instructed. "We're going inside to search for him ourselves. Bring out anyone you find in there."

"Yes, sir." His men responded and made to move inside when Minsoo's mother shouted.

"This is him! He is the boy that you're looking for."

The guards had their mouths opened in surprise as they stopped in their tracks and turned to look at the beautiful teenager again. Scanning him for any feature that resembles a male but found none, except for his clothing style.

"Who? Do you mean this teen here?" The chief-in-command asked.

It didn't help that Okeon had dressed Minsoo up in a flailing light white robe just like his hair, all against his pale skin, which hardly received any sunburn, making him look less of a human and more of an ethereal being instead.

"Uh!? She's a boy?" A police officer asked among his colleagues, but they were all equally speechless.

One would have to be such an enthusiastic conspiracy theorist to even imagine that this teen before them was a boy, because such an idea would be seen as absurd if only based on Minsoo's looks and features.

"Yes, he is. He is our only son, Lee Minsoo. The 'dongsaeng' that our daughter told you about." Minsoo's father trembled as he explained.

He knows that he would be in a lot of trouble for not adding Minsoo's name in the family registry. But more so, he and his family are in a much more serious trouble right now, to be concerned about his son's identity problems right now.