FIB Ch 17 part 2

PR by neji

Just meeting them face to face was suffocating.

The army of Ju that hadn’t appeared until now was finally here. The SeoMoon army was filled with apprehension. They had basically lost already.

“How are we supposed to fight them?”

As someone asked the question, the heavy atmosphere grew even heavier.

After watching the frontlines of the Ju army, Heon turned his head. The frontline of SeoMoon’s own army stood facing the Ju army. Behind them, there was a row of soldiers who did not have any weapons. 

And behind them, he could see JaeHoon wearing golden armor as he was splayed out on a chair.

“Commander.”

“I will not bow down to an emperor who forces my fidelity by taking family members as hostages.”

“Pardon?”

Heon spoke in a low voice so that only Park Yoon could hear. However, it was sufficient. Heon did not even look at Park Yoon and opened his mouth.

“We will move when the blue flag is raised. Be ready.”

Yoon nodded his head and obeyed.

MoonWon was over there somewhere.

“Waah!”

They could feel the vibrations coming from Ju’s army. Heon watched as they ran over with terrifying speed and unsheathed his sword.

When Heon aimed his sword at Ju, the soldier around him shouted out and began to charge.

Blood sprayed into the air and corpses fell. No one knew who was who as swords flashed inside the tussle. As a soldier fell to Heon’s sword, his sword grazed Heon’s cheek.

“We must stop them!”

Doyoon did not foolishly show any mercy.

Heon merely swung his sword and fell the soldiers in his way. That was all he could do.

“Die!”

Heon had blocked a soldier’s attack and heard a shout from his side. Heon thrust his sword at the soldier and turned in the direction of the voice.

Clang!

The grating sound of clashing swords rang in the air. However, the surprising thing was the armor that the attacking soldier was wearing.

The armor was engraved with the emblem of SeoMoon. He was definitely on their side, but he was attacking Heon.

“Ugh!”

Heon pushed the blade away before it pierced his chest and thrust his sword into the soldier. Meanwhile, another soldier began to swing his sword at Heon. The soldiers who were supposed to be fighting Ju were attacking Heon and his men.

Neither SeoMoon nor Ju mattered anymore.

“Protect yourselves!”

After slaying the soldier at his right, he pierced his sword into the soldier coming from his left. When a blade swept under his armor and pierced him, he bit his lips.

“We must live!”

Heon glared at JaeHoon and swung his sword at the soldiers coming for him.

As corpses fell in heaps, Heon continued forward as he pressed the soldiers back.

* * *

As JaeHoon watched Heon struggle, he held out his hand. A woman sitting next to him placed a cup of liquor in his hand.

For the sake of their families, the soldiers would be fighting Ju with all their might. JaeHoon brought the cup full of liquor up to his lips and glanced to his right.

He had forced MoonWon to sit in a seat that had the best view of the battlefield.

“Wicked girl.”

Despite watching Heon from far away, she did not even flinch. Because of this, JaeHoon felt even angrier. He never planned on witnessing Heon’s last moments. Either way, they needed to get rid of Ju, and he had used this opportunity to wipe out his opponents.

‘Watch and see how your husband dies.’

He had tried to kill her child on their way here, but she must have used some kind of trick because that child was still clinging on.

It didn’t matter how this war ended. What he wanted was Heon’s death and to see MoonWon regret her choice as she collapsed.

Either way, Ju’s soldiers would not be able to make their way here. He decided to use this opportunity to enjoy the show that played out before him.

“Eunuch.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Have you brought what I asked you to prepare?”

The eunuch lowered his head and brought out something large wrapped in gold. Another eunuch standing by unwrapped the bundle and a large bow equipped with an arrow was revealed.

Although he had drunk some strong liquor, he was not drunk. He wasn’t an incredible archer, but JaeHoon was still good with the bow and arrow.

‘Either way, it’ll all end if I kill him.’

If Heon died, MoonWon would let go of the child due to the shock. The person who now held their lives in his hand was JaeHoon.

He pulled the bowstring and aimed the arrow at Heon.

He could never forgive the two of them for bringing him such pain and suffering. He needed to pierce through him at a time when the soldiers he’d ordered and the Ju soldiers had him cornered.

“Die.”

Just as he was about to release the arrow, something whistled in the air.

“Mm?”

He had not yet let go of the bowstring, but the sound caused his brow to flinch. The soldier holding onto MoonWon fell to the ground.

“Your Majesty, you must esca—”

Before the soldier could finish speaking, a sword burst out of his chest and he fell to the ground.

“What’s going on?”

Ju’s soldiers had surrounded JaeHoon’s camp from the rear and the right. JaeHoon looked down at the battlefield. Just a moment ago, his soldiers had been blocking Ju’s army.

So what was the meaning of this?!

“How?”

“Ju is counter-attacking! Your Majesty! You must escape!”

In JaeHoon’s plans, there was no possible way Ju could execute a surprise attack.

“Your Majesty!”

At a loss for words, JaeHoon took a ragged breath. As his eyes rolled in its sockets, a sudden thought caused him to turn around.

The moment he realized where the Ju soldiers were heading, a fire blazed in his eyes.

“Stop them!”

The men’s target wasn’t JaeHoon.

They were heading for the hostages. A few unarmored men were surrounding MoonWon. When she saw them, some color returned to MoonWon’s pale face.

He couldn’t let her go!

“If you let MoonWon escape, I’ll kill all of you!”

At JaeHoon’s roar, the soldiers began to race towards MoonWon. In the chaotic scuffle, the men who were trying to take MoonWon away quickly unsheathed their swords.

It didn’t matter how many died or what happened.

The one who would make her collapse and lose her mind was him and only him.

“I said stop them!”

“Y-Your Majesty! I-In front of us!”

JaeHoon stopped shouting, and his eyes widened. The moment his eyes met Heon’s, he staggered. Heon was drenched in blood.

As if they’d been waiting for this, the soldiers who had been blocking Ju’s advance suddenly turned towards JaeHoon.

“Why…”

Why was the man who was supposed to die a wretched death in the battlefield approaching him now?!

Lee Heon was supposed to be fighting Ju, and he was supposed to die in fear as he tried to escape with his life. So why had his plans become so twisted once again?

This couldn’t be happening.

“Why?!”

JaeHoon screamed, but before his shout could ring in the air, Ju’s soldiers began to surround them.

* * *

“Do you plan on killing your own side?!”

Yoon roared, but Heon was busy blocking the soldiers’ attacks with his sword. Had this been the plan from the very beginning? Were they planning on killing them all here?

However, Yoon did not plan on obediently dying as JaeHoon wished.

“We must persevere!”

It no longer mattered who was the enemy or who was an ally. The blue flag which Heon spoke of was not raised.

Rather than the original enemy soldiers of Ju, the SeoMoon soldiers were beginning to put Yoon and his men in peril.

As he avoided a blade that was aimed at his throat, Yoon thrust his sword at the soldier.

If he was to die a dog’s death, then it would be better to focus on killing JaeHoon, the ultimate culprit. Just as he was about to say this, Yoon’s eyes widened in shock.

“The blue flag…”

“Park Yoon!”

Dazedly staring at the blue flag, Yoon returned to his senses and turned his head when he heard Heon’s shout.

Just as Heon said, the blue flag fluttered in the wind as it signaled to them. However, the problem lied in the fact that it was not fluttering from SeoMoon’s side but from Ju’s.

The signal Heon spoke of was coming from Ju.

There wasn’t any time to ask about the meaning behind it. No, he wouldn’t have asked even if there was.

The moment the Ju troops stopped attacking them, Heon aimed his sword at JaeHoon.

“I will not bow down to an emperor who forces my fidelity by taking family members as hostages.”

Heon’s voice was different now than when he had said the same words to Yoon. His voice spread throughout the battlefield, and the soldiers stopped moving.

The soldiers who barely endured against the attacks from both Ju and SeoMoon quickly perked up. A gleam of lunacy flashed in their eyes.

“If I must abandon my country in order to save my family, then I will pay that price!”

“Chief Commander! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“I will not lower my head to SeoMoon any longer.”

A silence settled in the battlefield as Heon declared that he was switching sides to Ju. However, during that short-lived silence, the atmosphere of Heon’s soldiers and the soldiers of Ju began to change.

After finishing his speech, Heon quietly looked at Yoon. Yoon looked back at Heon as a smile slowly spread on his face.

Heon had made a decision, and he would obey it.

“Follow the Chief Commander!”

Heon believed that if it was Yoon, he would understand his meaning and accept his decision.

Although it wasn’t an easy life, it wasn’t a wrong one.

“Rescue your families from the Crown Prince’s clutches!”

It wasn’t an order to kill the Crown Prince or to betray SeoMoon.

When they heard the order to rescue their families, the hesitating soldiers began to move.

Heon slit the throat of the Chief General who was blocking his way and guided his horse towards JaeHoon. While JaeHoon was bewildered by Ju’s counter-attack, Heon used all his strength to draw closer to him.

No longer having the hostages for protection, JaeHoon’s camp was helpless against the attack.

As Ju’s forces began to help the hostages escape, Heon led his troops in front of JaeHoon.

“Your Majesty! You must escape!”

“Are you saying that SeoMoon’s army cannot stop such a small group of soldiers?! Attack them!”

Rather than a fear of losing, JaeHoon felt pained by his sense of inferiority. Although they had already lost the war to Ju, he could not back away like this.

He still hadn’t killed Heon, and he still hadn’t seen MoonWon collapse.

“Kill the hostages! Kill the hostages to lower their morale!”

JaeHoon’s eyes trembled as he watched the blood-drenched Heon approach him. Did he have to collapse like this again? He couldn’t let that happen.

“Your Majesty!”

He couldn’t run away like this.

Even if he had to escape later, he needed to make Heon suffer just as he had made him suffer. He turned his arrow pointing at Heon towards MoonWon. Although she was currently being protected by Ju’s soldiers, it was still enough to kill her.

He couldn’t let himself be the only one who suffered.

‘Feel what it’s like to lose something, too.’

If he killed MoonWon, Heon would collapse. It was too painful to suffer alone, so he’d rather drag Heon down with him.

JaeHoon pulled the bowstring until it was taut as his eyes flashed with insanity.

Just as MoonWon’s eyes widened at the discovery of JaeHoon’s arrow pointing at her, JaeHoon let go.

The arrow flew with precision towards MoonWon. The soldiers discovered the arrow too late and tried to protect her, but JaeHoon’s arrow was much faster than their movements.

‘Husband!’

MoonWon gasped as she watched the arrow fly towards her. She couldn’t avoid JaeHoon’s arrow. She reflexively covered the child in her stomach.

She wanted to live.

Even though she knew it was a selfish thought, she wanted to live and see Heon.

As she gazed at the arrow drawing closer, MoonWon closed her eyes. However, instead of the arrow piercing her flesh, she saw a shadow and heard a sound.

MoonWon slightly opened her eyes to peek at what had happened. The moment she saw who was standing in front of her, she screamed.

“Husband!”

Because his back was to her, she couldn’t see him properly. However, she could see JaeHoon’s arrow past his shoulder. The arrow was embedded in his shoulder, and blood began to drip onto the ground.

The shock of falling from his horse and getting hit in the shoulder with an arrow did not completely register in Heon’s mind.

Evading the sword attack coming from his side, Heon snatched the sword from the soldier and swung it. The soldier’s blood drenched his face, but the only one Heon could see was JaeHoon.

“Stop him!”

Five soldiers blocked Heon’s way at JaeHoon’s cry. As Heon blocked their swords, another soldier thrust his sword at Heon’s side. Ignoring the wound, Heon pushed back the swords coming from his front and cut down the soldier who attacked his side.

“Eeeek!”

When JaeHoon met Heon’s eyes, he took a step back.

“Are you going to let him get away like this?!”

He could no longer watch JaeHoon run away. Instead of aiming for JaeHoon’s guards, Heon tried to force his way through. However, as if the soldiers had read his mind, they raised their swords.

“Move!”

With the help of a eunuch, JaeHoon didn’t look back and began to run away.

The moment he turned his attention to the guards, he heard something whistle in the air.

“Ugh!”

An arrow struck the heads of both the soldiers on his left and right. The soldier in front of him grasped his chest as an arrow protruded out of it. 

He turned around and saw MoonWon shooting arrows from her bow at the surrounding soldiers. With every arrow that left her fingertips, the soldiers who approached Heon fell down. 

When this strongheaded, evasive woman stretched out her hand to him, she created a new path for him. 

That was why he needed to cut off this persistent string of fate between them and JaeHoon.

“Make way!”

He could not let JaeHoon leave so comfortably.

The moment Heon saw JaeHoon get up on a horse with assistance from a eunuch, he threw his sword. The sword pierced through the horse’s neck with precision.

“Your Majesty!”

As the horse fell, JaeHoon rolled onto the ground. He no longer wore his golden armor, nor did he look as confident as he did before. With rage and a sense of inferiority, JaeHoon glared at Heon.

“Give it to me.”

JaeHoon grabbed the sword of a nearby soldier and swung it at Heon. Heon evaded JaeHoon’s shaky sword and punched a soldier who approached him.

He grabbed the sword that the soldier dropped and blocked JaeHoon’s attack.

Clang!

“You bastard! All because of you!”

Heon didn’t want to hear JaeHoon blame other people. After blocking JaeHoon’s sword, he changed direction and cut through JaeHoon’s arm.

“Agh!”

Heon’s eyes were cold as he watched JaeHoon suffer a mere arm wound. The cause of everything. He no longer had any intention of going easy on the man who was an obstacle to fulfilling the simple wish he shared with MoonWon.

JaeHoon tried to hold his ground, but Heon pushed his shoulder. JaeHoon staggered under his strength. Heon raised his sword once again.

“Ugh!”

The guards who were protecting JaeHoon tried to stop Heon, but there was no one who could stop Heon’s determined attack. The soldiers who followed Heon blocked the guards while Heon dealt with JaeHoon.

“Because of you!”

JaeHoon aimed his sword at Heon’s heart. However, before it could even make it halfway, Heon blocked it with his sword. JaeHoon managed to then block Heon’s attack aimed for his neck, but he staggered under the force.

When JaeHoon lost his balance and stumbled, Heon plunged his sword into his legs.

“Aagh!”

Heon cut JaeHoon’s arms and legs. Heon tried to cut through his neck as well, but whenever he felt this urge, it was as if JaeHoon’s body was branded with a warning.

Heon wanted to kill him.

If he killed JaeHoon right here, right now, everything would be over.

But…

‘I also have a condition for you.’

As if to soothe Heon’s urge to kill, Doyoon’s voice rang in his head. Heon froze for a moment. At that moment, JaeHoon grabbed his sword and charged at Heon.

This might be his one and only chance. He no longer cared about the future of his position as Crown Prince. The main culprit who ruined his life was Heon, and he could not let him live.

“Please just die already!”

Heon managed to move away just in time to avoid getting pierced through the heart, but the sword pierced through his armor and thrust into his stomach instead. When JaeHoon saw the blood flowing out of Heon’s stomach, he smiled.

As JaeHoon moved to pull out his sword from Heon’s stomach, Heon grabbed it with his bare hands. Although his hands began to bleed, he didn’t stop.

“Ah?”

When he saw that his sword wasn’t coming out, JaeHoon hesitated. Meanwhile, Heon thrust his own sword into JaeHoon’s shoulder.

“Aaaagh!”

JaeHoon writhed as he tried to escape, but Heon grabbed him. After pulling out his sword, Heon plunged it back into JaeHoon’s other shoulder. It didn’t matter if he was the Crown Prince. The pain spread throughout his body as he rolled on the ground.

“Your Majesty!”

“S-Stop. Aagh!”

“……”

“Stop him! I said stop him!”

Without thinking to remove the sword from his shoulder, JaeHoon writhed on the ground. However, with the way the war had turned out, there was no one around to help him.

After pulling out the sword from his abdomen, Heon began to walk towards JaeHoon.

“Eeek.”

When the bloody Heon drew closer, JaeHoon struggled as he tried to escape. However, he only served to splash muddy water onto his golden clothes.

“N-No!”

There was no sign of an emperor’s honor or the dignity of a crown prince.

As he watched JaeHoon’s disgraceful behavior, Heon raised the sword above his head.

Realizing what Heon was about to do, JaeHoon screamed.

“S-Sa-Save me!”

As the sword swung down, blood began to burst from JaeHoon’s neck. However, unlike the wounds on his shoulders, the wound on his neck was not as deep.

Unable to scream, JaeHoon trembled in fear as he gazed up at Heon. Watching the blood flow out of JaeHoon’s neck, Heon crouched down until they were eye-to-eye.

“Don’t even look at me or MoonWon ever again.”

“S-Save me.”

Heon grabbed JaeHoon’s nape and brought him even closer.

“Next time, it won’t just end with a scar on your neck. I’ll slit your throat.”

“Ugh, ugh.”

When he met Heon’s eyes, JaeHoon lost consciousness.

Heon wanted to kill him.

He didn’t want to leave any traces of JaeHoon in this world.

However, it wasn’t Heon’s call. Soldiers from Ju arrived and tied up the unconscious JaeHoon. 

The blood coming from JaeHoon’s wounds drenched the ground red.

Although he wasn’t dead, he would never be able to hold a sword again. He wouldn’t be able to use his arms at all.

“Huu.”

Letting out a tired sigh, Heon looked around.

With the capture of SeoMoon’s Crown Prince, all morale had disappeared. Soldiers threw down their swords and surrendered as Ju’s soldiers surrounded them.

A criminal who had betrayed SeoMoon and gone over to Ju. Although he’d be branded as a traitor for the rest of his life, Heon didn’t regret his decision.

“It’s over.”

Because of all the blood, he only saw red. But when he lifted his face to the sky, it looked incredibly clear.

Even though some sand was mixed in with the wind, it didn’t matter.

Basking in the cool breeze, Heon closed his eyes.

* * *

“Becoming the emperor would be an easy feat for you, don’t you think?”

After Heon declared that he was going to become a criminal, Doyoon got straight to the point. Although the other politicians of Ju would have cried out in dismay, Doyoon felt that Heon becoming the emperor of SeoMoon would be an entertaining result.

If the talented Heon replaced the incompetent Crown Prince, everything would get a little better. He was also excited to have a battle of the minds with someone who could be his match.

“Not that long ago, MoonWon told me this. In the past, she wished to become a wife of a normal man and live a quiet life. As an emperor, I’d constantly have to protect my authority, and that is something neither of us want.”

The reason why Heon had amassed power as a commander was to protect the bamboo grove his father had left behind. Because that was all he had in his life, he had become obsessed with preserving it.

However, now, even if he didn’t have the bamboo grove, he had MoonWon by his side.

“Are you telling me that you are going to deny an opportunity handed to you by the heavens just because of a maiden’s wish?”

“To a person who desires power, it may be an opportunity from the heavens, but that is not the case with me.”

In a world where everyone desired more power, he did not want to become an emperor.

He just wanted to be grateful for every day that passed by as he spent the rest of his life with MoonWon. He was not qualified to become the emperor.

“And what if I decide not to take you in?”

“Then the Crown Prince, MoonWon, a few others, and I will die.”

“So you’re saying you’re going to disappear off the face of the earth like that?”

It wouldn’t be a difficult task to disappear within a battlefield full of corpses. 

Even though it wasn’t an easy choice, Heon had no regrets. Despite having the skills, he did not have the desire.

It was just like Heon to think this way.

“If you become the emperor, then you won’t suffer like this anymore.”

“As someone who is already sitting on the throne, is your life peaceful, Your Majesty?”

The unexpected question caused Doyoon’s eyes to tremble.

Because he had believed that it belonged to him, he had accepted his position. However, Doyoon’s life was far from peaceful. Heon wasn’t saying this to look down on Doyoon’s situation at all.

“The life that MoonWon and I want is not power. It’s peace. I will never sit on the throne of SeoMoon. If it sounds pleasing to you, I will lower my head to Ju and live as a citizen of Ju.”

“I may command you to hold your sword in the future.”

“If that is the price I must pay for a new life, then I must. Even though I don’t want to…”

A person’s heart could be so cunning.

Doyoon had everything in his grasp and held a lot of power, but at this moment, he was envious of Heon.

Even though Heon was currently choosing to give up on everything he had worked so hard to obtain, he looked so peaceful. Even if he died and came back to life, Doyoon could never do what Heon was doing.

“The guy who seems to be the most unselfish man in the world is actually quite greedy.”

Hearing Doyoon’s response, Heon quietly lowered his head.

As an emperor, where would he ever find such a friend as him? Everyone around Doyoon approached him with a motive in mind, but Heon and MoonWon honestly revealed their true hearts to him.

“Do not kill the Crown Prince of SeoMoon.”

Heon’s brow furrowed at Doyoon’s proposal. Heon’s peaceful face transformed into one of murderous intent. Seeing this, Doyoon smiled.

He understood why Heon would want to kill JaeHoon after everything he’d done to them.

However, a person’s anger wouldn’t subside with a quick death.

“You will not become a criminal, and you will not have to give up on your bamboo grove.”

Heon narrowed his eyes in confusion. Doyoon poured himself some water from the liquor bottle and grinned. The grace of the heavens had not yet abandoned him.

“I’ll take care of the rest.”

* * *

After cleaning off the blood and changing into some clean clothes, Heon realized he couldn’t hide all the wounds covering his body.

Should he go and see MoonWon in this state? He pondered this for a moment, but those thoughts disappeared when Yoon urged him to go and see MoonWon. Heon had a strange feeling that Yoon knew something he didn’t when he saw Yoon’s grin, but Yoon didn’t say anything else. He found Yusun pacing nervously in front of MoonWon’s room as he began to walk down the stairs.

“You’ve arrived?”

“What about the Mistress?”

“Husband!”

Before Yusun could answer Heon, MoonWon burst out of the room. Heon could see the bruises and wounds on MoonWon that he hadn’t been able to see in the haze of battle. Only a few months had passed since he had sent MoonWon away to JaeHoon, but why had she lost so much weight?

Before Heon could stretch out his hand, MoonWon charged into his embrace.

“Mm?”

Her warmth and fragrance were still the same, but something felt a bit different.

Her physique was definitely different than before. More specifically, when she hugged him, he could feel that her abdomen was a bit swollen.

The way Yoon had urged him to go to her, the way Yusun seemed nervous as she waited for Heon, and finally the way MoonWon’s emotions had been all over the place before she’d left. All of the pieces clicked together.

“You…”

Only one thought filled his head. He thought back to the timeline of events and realized it had happened before she had left to go to JaeHoon.

If she was with child, she should have told him. Why had she hidden it from him?

The sense of relief at being reunited with MoonWon only lasted a moment. When he realized that MoonWon had hidden the fact that she was pregnant and still went to JaeHoon made him overwhelmed with rage.

“Why would you hide…”

As MoonWon buried her face against Heon’s chest, he could hear her sobs. Her cries that had begun as a trickle turned into a full torrent as she burst into tears.

Seeing MoonWon cry like a little child, the rage within Heon instantly went away.

She was the type of person to endure even when things were hard and painful. Even when her body was covered in wounds and bruises, she would have tried to console herself by telling herself she was okay.

“Sorry.”

All he could do was apologize as she wept in his arms.

As he dragged her closer against his chest, he began to stroke her back. If JaeHoon had done something to their child, if MoonWon hadn’t been able to endure, if something had happened to her, Heon would have met his demise.

“It’s all over now.”

This might truly be a new beginning for them, but he didn’t want to burden MoonWon anymore. 

MoonWon continued to cry without replying to Heon, and Heon quietly embraced her.

If he didn’t have MoonWon, he might have turned out like JaeHoon. Unable to fill the gaping hole in his heart, Heon would have become broken as well.

“It’s okay.”

The words that MoonWon always said were coming out of Heon’s mouth.

He wanted to live.

Even if it was a selfish decision, Heon wanted to live his life now.

If it was with MoonWon, if it was a world he could create with her, he had the confidence to live.

“Let’s stay together.”

MoonWon looked up at Heon with teary eyes.

It wasn’t a forced smile or a strained one. It was the most comfortable smile he’d seen on her face, and Heon wrapped his hand around her cheek.

“Just let me stay by your side.”

Consoled by his whisper, her heart raced at his promise.

She wanted to tell him she agreed, but the tears burst out once again. MoonWon bit her lips to hold back her cries and buried her face against Heon’s chest.