“Ha, haa, ha…”

Even though it was summer, the water of the Silk River was very cold. Like ghostly hands, the underwater greenery waved as they tried to pull them down. Only after searching the depths like crazy did Yujo finally find him sinking into the riverbed.

Yujo used all her strength as she grabbed the man and swam up. Above the surface of the water, she could see the shadows of the men searching for them on horseback.

Because the flickering light of the flames was at her back, she couldn’t see the men’s faces, but their murderous spirit was proof enough. The problem was the light. Floating above the black waters of the river, the light illuminated them so clearly.

Did Princess Muyeo escape safely?

Where did Jewol disappear off to?

She heard the men’s shouts. Someone was pointing at them. Yujo paled and hugged the unconscious man as she plunged back into the water. An arrow barely missed her shoulder as it silently shot through the water. She felt as if she were stuck in a nightmare.

How long had it been? She barely managed to crawl to shore. The man remained limp and could barely walk.

“Hey! Get ahold of yourself!”

His whole body was as cold as ice.

Did he die already?

Yujo quickly lifted her finger up against his nostrils. Her finger was also frozen stiff. He was barely breathing. She heard someone whistle. She also heard the neighs of horses coming from far away. The lights of torches flickered as the men searched the riverbank.

They needed to hide. No matter what.

Yujo grabbed the man. He was taller than the average man, and he was a lot bulkier as well. He was also half-unconscious, so he was very heavy. She began to slap his cheek.

“Wake up! If you don’t want to die a dog’s death here! Hurry!”

Dragging his heavy body on her own was impossible. However, it would only be a matter of time before they were caught like this. Yujo frantically shook him.

Thankfully, the man opened his dim eyes.

“Ah, please get up.”

“Alright, I get it, so stop hitting me. I’m gonna die from the pain.”

“If we remain like this, we’ll really die! Hurry, get up.”

Yujo ordered him in a stern voice. With much difficulty, the man got up on his feet. They needed to run now. No matter what!

Yujo grabbed the man’s hand and headed into the field of reeds. The reeds hit the pair of them from all directions, but they couldn’t stop here.

Every time she heard the sound of footsteps, Yujo felt as if she’d have a heart attack. A while later, she found a small cave near the riverbank. They went inside and hid.

She could still see the faint glimmer of the torchlight outside. Thankfully, the cave was dry, but she could smell the faint smell of moss and animal excrement.

Was this a wildcat’s den?

Yujo managed to lower the man and anxiously perked her ears for any sound. The sound of neighing horses, rough shouts… They were all so close. In the black darkness, Yujo grit her teeth.

Please, please go away.

The man’s breaths became rougher. Their hands and feet were beginning to feel numb and cold. If they stayed like this any longer, they’d both die.

“Wait here for a little bit. I’ll be back soon.”

Just as she was about to get up, the man’s hand grabbed her wrist.

“What?”

“…Don’t go.”

The man whispered.

“Don’t tell me… Are you scared?”

“Yeah, I’m scared. Don’t leave me alone in the dark.”

Ha! How was he able to joke around right now?

As she glared at him, the man grinned back at her. She found it fascinating that he was still able to smile in their current situation.

“I need to get them off our scent.”

“If you leave them alone, they’ll go away on their own.”

“But…”

“Don’t go… You’ll get hurt.”

Yujo froze at his words. She looked at him before sitting down next to him. His back was still bleeding. Although they were out of the water, she needed to tend to his wound as soon as possible. However, she was still nervous about their pursuers outside.

“Hey.”

If he was still bleeding and fell unconscious in his current state, there’d be no hope for him. Yujo called out to the man quietly.

“Are you okay? Don’t fall asleep. I don’t think I can carry you.”

The man chuckled at her whisper.

“I guess I am pretty heavy.”

She glared into the darkness. She recalled Jewol’s face again. The Heukra was…

What was going on? What about this man? Did he see the Heukra? Did he see Jewol?

“Did you see it?”

“See what?”

At his question, Yujo didn’t say any more.

“Nevermind.”

A silence settled down between them. They heard the commotion get louder outside.

Everything was chaotic. She couldn’t stop thinking about how Jewol had tried to kill Muyeo. What happened? Why? Why did he deceive me?

They had been close for the past seven years. She had trusted him like she trusted Brother Yuha. She trusted him, so she came to YeonSung. Because she trusted him, she married him.

What if all of this was a lie…?

Yujo’s body shook with dread and disappointment.

Suddenly, it was quiet outside. It seemed that their pursuers were going down to the riverbank to continue their search. She was worried about the man’s wounds.

“Turn around. I want to check and see if you’re still bleeding.”

“How will you see in this darkness?”

“Isn’t it better that we’re in the dark?”

Wouldn’t it be more embarrassing to see him without his clothes?

“Take off your clothes. I can’t see you, but I think my eyes have adjusted a little bit to the darkness. I think we should at least check and see if you’re still bleeding.”

The man let out a groan, and Yujo heard him take off his clothes next to her. Yujo continued to worry. She needed something to bind his wound. She hurriedly ripped her inner skirt.

She felt the pursuers go lower towards the river. They were going to bring out the dogs soon. They mustn’t let out any sound until then.

“Are you done?”

“Yeah.”

Yujo cautiously stretched out her hand in the darkness. She felt his sturdy body. It was his back. She could feel his trained muscles twitch underneath her fingers.

“It’s on my right shoulder.”

At his words, Yujo let out an ‘Ah’ as she carefully moved her hand in that direction. She felt the beginning of the wound. The man didn’t flinch.

The wound began on his right shoulder and ran all the way down to his left waist. It must hurt very badly, but the man didn’t flinch.

Thankfully, the river water managed to clean it somewhat, but it was still bleeding. Another wound stretched from his left back to the middle. Thankfully, the wounds weren’t so deep that they drew bone, but they were still bleeding nonstop.

“I think it’ll be okay if they’re bound tight.”

Yujo whispered. She stretched out both her hands and put them around his back as if she were hugging him. Then she began to bind him with with her makeshift bandage. Because she had to bind it around his body multiple times, she had to hug his back multiple times.

Her heart raced like crazy for no reason. She wondered if this was a bad idea. It felt awkward and weird, but Yujo focused on her binding and quickly tightened the cloth around his back and closed the wound.

“Are you okay?”

At her question, the man answered.

“……Yeah.”

His voice sounded raspy.

“Hey.”

He didn’t respond. Instead, she felt him slump forward.

“Hey!”

Yujo shouted.

Them man’s body was too cold and damp. No matter how much she called out to him, she didn’t answer her. Yujo began to feel nervous. She hesitated before she quickly lowered him to his side. She took his clothes and put them under his head as a pillow. Then she turned around and exited the cave.

If she left him like this, he wouldn’t be able to survive the night. Thankfully, she saw some signs of human life in the form of a flickering light close by.

Woof, woof, woof, woof! At the sound of the barking dogs, the villagers became unsettled. Amidst that chaos, Yujo used the strength she didn’t have to look through the village.

She took the hanging laundry that a housewife had forgotten outside and some of the medicine from the house next door.

She ran in the opposite direction of the riverbank in order to avoid the pursuers. Then she jumped down from a bridge and then went up along the river. It would be enough to confuse her pursuers.

By the time she returned to the cave, Yujo was exhausted. Her wet body was shivering, and her legs almost gave out underneath her. However, she couldn’t give up now. If she fell unconscious now, the man would surely die.

In contrast to the chaotic village, the cave was peaceful. Within the black darkness, the reeds outside the cave shivered with the wind.

Yujo quickly erased all traces of her presence and blocked the cave entrance with the reeds. The cuts on her hands were tingling with pain, but she didn’t have any time to take a look at them. The crescent moon in the dark night sky shone down on her.

After entering inside the cave, Yujo carefully looked the man over. The man was in terrible condition. His breaths were rough and he had a fever.

“Hey, wake up.”

She whispered again, but the man didn’t move a muscle.

Yujo quickly grabbed her stolen lamp and lit it. The faint light illuminated the man. She wanted to start a small fire, but it was too dangerous. The moment she made a campfire, the whole world would know where they were.

She took a closer look at the unconscious man. His back was wrapped up, and he was laying on his front as his whole body trembled. Sweat trickled down his damp forehead, and his whole body felt like a lump of ice.

He had lost too much blood.

“Oh my god.”

Yujo quickly covered him with the stolen clothes. She chewed on the medicinal herbs meant to stop the bleeding and pushed them between his lips. As expected, he didn’t swallow.

What could she do? She couldn’t start a fire…

She bit her lips as she extinguished the flickering lamp light. She didn’t know what to do, but she couldn’t let him die like this.

She went out and grabbed some dry straw to lay on the floor. Then she took off the clothes she had put on top of him and carefully rolled him onto the spot she had made.

Then she quickly took off her own wet clothes. She should be able to raise his body temperature with hers. After covering both their bodies with the stolen clothes, she hugged him tightly to her. Both of their bodies were so cold that it made her teeth chatter.

Yujo pushed her legs between his and put his head on top of her arm. She pulled him into her arms. His head was now laying against her chest.

While this did look scandalous, Yujo couldn’t think of anything else since his body was basically a lump of ice. She softly tightened her arms around him and carefully patted him.

“If Brother finds out, you and I are both dead.”

Yujo whispered and pulled him closer against her. Her heart was thumping against her chest at a rapid pace.

Gradually, the places where their skin touched grew warmer.

Yujo was surprised by her own actions. Even if someone’s life was on the line, how could she be doing something like this? No, why didn’t she feel repulsed? She was hugging an unconscious man in the nude, and she didn’t feel strange about it at all.

He smelled like the pleasant scent he always gave off mixed with the scent of the river water. His wet hair brushed against her chin. Although he had a large build, it was almost as if he were a docile child as he leaned against her body.

“Whew.”

Yujo let out a sigh. She felt as if she’d lived a year in the span of a day. It was a relief that he had come at the last moment. If it wasn’t for him, Princess Muyeo and Duke HyoEun would have died today.

And Jewol…

Yujo bit her lips at the surge of anger. However, she couldn’t suppress the anger flowing through her body.

The image of Jewol’s face as the veiled hat fell off of the Heukra’s head constantly replayed in her mind.

How…

How could he do this to me?

If Jewol was truly the Heukra, then the crystal bottle in his study definitely held the icy-fire stone.

He had killed people using it, and he shamelessly told her to find the Heukra. By using the information she gave him, he tried to kill someone else.

What was he doing?

However, one thing was certain. Jewol had lied. He had lied to her and her brother.

“What do I do?”

Yujo grit her teeth as she whispered.

“Seriously, what should I do now, Brother?”

She missed Brother Yuha. What should she do about this situation? If she returned to Yeha now, was the deal over? What was Jewol thinking when he gave her this assignment? Why did he do this?

“……Don’t worry.”

Suddenly, Yujo heard a soft voice.

Yujo lifted her eyes and saw that the the man was looking at her. His face was flushed from the fever, but he raised his hand and tried to sooth her.

“It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

“Haha, what do you know…?”

What did he know? How could he say something like this?”

It looked that he was seeing someone else as he spoke to her. But how could this be? Even as he was saying these ridiculous words, Yujo’s heart was shaking with relief.

“Don’t worry…….”

Then he closed his eyes once again.

Yujo smiled in disbelief. But hearing him tell her not to worry made her feel better.

Yujo closed her eyes. Her body was tired and in pain. With their bodies pressed together, she felt warm. However, the portions of skin that were exposed to the air were so cold. Yujo dragged some of the straw and covered the two of them. It was a bit warmer now.

At first, he was the one who needed the warmth. But now, she realized that she needed it too.

Yujo sighed. It had been a long and difficult day. She recalled how she had almost lost him in the cold waters of the river and shivered. Thankfully, she felt his body heat return. Yujo found comfort in his warmth and rested her chin on his shoulder.

She was getting drowsy. Sleep gently settled over her eyelids.