Leena's POV
Jun walked at her side, a statue given life, yet silent as the grave. He was a man in his early thirties, a head taller than her, with a face that seemed permanently carved from granite and set in a scowl. His dark hair was a wild, untamed thing—a rebellion against the strict order of the palace. A single, stubborn strand always fell across his brow, making his fierce expression somehow even more unapproachable. It was a detail she'd noticed during their frantic escape from the palace, a strangely human flaw on a man who otherwise seemed forged from pure duty.
The only sounds were the crunch of their feet on the forest path and the distant call of unseen birds. The air was cool and carried the scent of pine and damp earth, a stark contrast to the perfumed halls they'd fled.
Then, his voice cut the quiet, rough and low, as if the words were being dragged from him.
"Sorry… about what I said earlier. I was mad."
Leena blinked, thrown by the sudden apology. The great Jun, the Seventh Prince's most loyal shadow, was apologizing to her? "It's okay," she said, her voice softer than she intended. "We're all worried for the prince. I get it."
Jun shook his head, his eyes fixed on the path ahead. "It's not about that." A pause, heavy with unspoken meaning. "I know the prince will survive anyway. He's survived worse."
Her brows knitted together. "Then why are you on edge?"
He hesitated, his jaw working. She could see the internal war in the tight line of his shoulders. "…After all the Seventh Prince did for you, you—"
"I what?" she pressed, a spark of her old defiance igniting. She was tired, scared, and in no mood for his cryptic loyalty.
"Forget it." He dismissed her with a sharp gesture. "You wouldn't understand."
"No. Speak up." Her tone sharpened, losing its softness. The frustration of the last few weeks—the fear, the confusion, the heartache—bubbled to the surface.
"Actually, I don't understand your mind at all. I saved his life, but he used me as some exotic distraction, a curious pet to show off at court. He threw me out of the palace the moment I was no longer entertaining, and then, just days later, he was parading through the banquet with another lady on his arm as if I never existed!"
As if our moments meant nothing. The thought was a sharp, private pain in her chest.
Jun's jaw tightened so fiercely she thought she heard his teeth grind. He was a man built on control, but a crack was forming. "That's it," he bit out, the words laced with a fury he could no longer contain. "I can't let you defame the prince anymore."
He stopped walking so abruptly she took two more steps before halting, turning to face him with a frown of pure confusion. "What?"
"The prince sent you back to Merchant Bao's estate for your own safety," Jun snapped, his dark eyes finally blazing into hers. "The palace was a nest of vipers closing in on you. Every whisper, every glance was a potential dagger. You were never safe there!"
"I can take care of myself!" she retorted, the familiar lie tasting bitter on her tongue. Hadn't she just proven otherwise?
"No, you can't!" His voice rose, raw and unguarded for the first time since she'd met him. "That's the whole point! That's why he agreed to be seen with that lady—to draw the court's venomous attention away from you, to make them stop seeing you as a threat, as his weakness! He was building a shield for you, and all you saw was the glitter of the parade!"
Leena stared at him, her words stolen, her breath caught in her throat. The forest seemed to fall utterly silent around them.
So… all of it… the coldness, the banishment, the sight of him with another woman… it was to protect me?
The realization didn't just dawn; it crashed over her, a tidal wave of conflicting emotions. A dizzying relief that he hadn't simply discarded her. A sharp, gnawing guilt for her anger and her harsh words. And beneath it all, a treacherous, warm flutter—a feeling she desperately tried to shove down, a feeling that felt dangerously like hope.
She forced her eyes away from his intense gaze, her cheeks flushing. She needed to look at anything else. The trees, the path, the—
"Oh—I recognize this place. We passed through here with the carriage."
Jun took a deep, steadying breath, the storm in his eyes receding as his professional mask slid back into place. He glanced at the familiar cluster of trees ahead. "Good. That means we're close. Move."
They quickened their pace, the unspoken confession hanging thick in the air between them. Leena's mind was reeling, trying to rearrange the entire history of the last few weeks based on this new, shocking truth.
Then—
A deafening CRACK split the air, a sound like the sky itself breaking.
Before her mind could even process it, an enormous pine tree, thick as a palace pillar, groaned and crashed down directly in front of them, its branches splintering, its trunk slamming into the earth with a force that shook the ground beneath their feet. Dirt and debris sprayed through the air, and the path was completely blocked.
Leena stumbled back with a gasp, her heart leaping into her throat. "Oh my god! What just—?!"
Jun was already moving, stepping forward to examine the splintered trunk. His expression, which had just begun to soften, turned to ice. "This was cut," he said, his voice a low, dangerous growl. "On purpose. A trap."
He barely had time to turn before shadows erupted from the undergrowth on all sides. Five, six—no, seven men. Their clothes were rough, their faces smeared with dirt, but their eyes held a chilling gleam of organized malice, not the desperation of common bandits. Their laughter was low and cruel, the sound of predators who had cornered their prey.
Jun moved instantly, a fluid motion of pure instinct, stepping in front of her and drawing his sword in one seamless, deadly arc. "Run."
Leena shook her head, her own fear momentarily overshadowed by a surge of loyalty. "I'm not—"
"If you stay, you'll just get in my way!" His tone was brutal, final, leaving absolutely no room for argument. It was the voice of a soldier on a battlefield, and she was a liability. "Go!"
Her stomach knotted with a sickening dread, but her body obeyed before her mind could protest. She spun on her heel and bolted back down the path they had come.
The moment she moved, several of the men lunged to chase her—only for Jun to cut them off, his blade a silver blur in the dappled light, a whirlwind of controlled violence that held the entire group at bay.
All but one.
One man, lean and fast, slipped through the chaos of the fight and sprinted after her.
Now he was on her trail.
The forest became a green and brown blur around her. The drum of her own heartbeat was a frantic war drum in her ears, drowning out the clashing steel and angry shouts behind her. Her lungs burned with each ragged gasp, her legs screamed in protest, but she didn't dare slow down.
A low-hanging branch snagged her veil, tearing the delicate fabric away with a sharp rip. Her hair, thick and heavy from the forest's damp air, tumbled free, tangling wildly around her shoulders and face.
The sound of pursuit grew louder. Closer. She could hear his heavy footfalls, his panting breath.
I can't. I can't outrun him.
Despair began to claw at her. Then she saw it—a dark, narrow gap in a wall of moss-covered rocks ahead, barely visible behind a curtain of ferns. A cave.
Without a second thought, she dove inside, scraping her shoulder on the rough entrance. She pressed herself against the cool, damp stone wall of the shallow cave, forcing her breaths to become quiet, shallow pants. Her whole body trembled. She strained her ears, listening. Had he passed by? Was he still out there, searching?
Her eyes, adjusting to the dim light, darted around until they landed on a heavy, jagged rock near her feet. It was sharp, uneven. A weapon. She snatched it up, her grip so tight her knuckles turned white and a dull ache spread through her fingers.
Tears of sheer exhaustion and terror welled in her eyes. She was so tired. So utterly terrified.
A rustle.
Just outside the cave entrance. The faint crunch of a careful footstep on dry leaves.
She turned, her heart hammering against her ribs—
The bandit burst from the shadows of the entrance and slammed into her, his full weight driving the air from her lungs and pinning her hard against the unyielding stone.
⋆˚✿˖° 𐙚 ₊ ⊹ ♡ To be continued... ⋆˚✿˖° 𐙚 ₊ ⊹ ♡