Orea was unfocused, her mind still on what Myung had told her. She was in a dilemma. Ever since Myung confessed to her, she could not help thinking about it. Her heart was aching badly and she wanted to get away from everything to cool off.
"Orea."
She was still dazed, her mind full of thoughts about Myung. His sad face flashed in front of her. Never had she seen him so dejected and hurt. The guilt was killing her from within…
"Orea!"
Orea jumped in shock and looked around. She was at the training center with Sunye and was supposed to be monitoring the latter's practice. Sunye was looking at her with concern.
"I'm so sorry!" Orea exclaimed. "Are you done with kickboxing the dummy?"
"Yes," Sunye frowned. "But if you're distracted today, I can practice on my own."
"No!" Orea said. "SD made me promise that I'll train you in the practicals."
She raised her hands. "Come at me!" she declared.
Sunye sighed and began to throw kicks at Orea which the girl was deflecting. But Sunye did not stop and continued to kick at her, each movement faster than before. Orea was an expert at kickboxing but Sunye's progress was quite fast. In fact, Orea was soon increasing her speed to match with Sunye's to block the attacks.
"You're getting good!" she complimented, blocking another particularly tricky movement from Sunye.
Instead of replying, Sunye broke through the defense and landed a kick on Orea's stomach. The latter staggered backwards and almost fell but kept her ground. She was nearly hit again but blocked the attack with both her hands. Taking her chance, Sunye landed a kick on Orea's cheek, finally making the girl fall on the ground. Luckily, the floor was made of foam to prevent any injury.
"You okay?" Sunye asked. She was worried that she might have hit Orea too hard but the girl only smiled at her.
"That was excellent!" Orea declared. "I'll give it nine out of ten. I don't give full marks because there's always space for improvement."
"Yeah but are you alright?" Sunye asked again. "I hope you're not bleeding…"
"Don't worry!" Orea assured her. "This is nothing. I'm stronger than I look. It'll take a lot more than a kick to injure me!"
She beamed in pride, happy to have a student of her own for once. When SD gave her the task to train Sunye for the week, she was very excited and to her immense delight, teaching Sunye was not so difficult. Sunye genuinely wanted to learn which made their job even easier. The improvement was marvelous and Orea was sure that the lawyer would be able to hold her ground against a few men until help came along.
"From tomorrow, we'll practice shooting," Orea told her. "You'll need earmuffs and a gun for it."
"Gun?" Sunye echoed. She was dreading this because she never held a gun before. Did she have the guts to shoot someone?
"Sis," Orea began. "Are you afraid of guns?"
"It's not that…"
Sunye sat on the soft floor and crossed her legs. Orea sat next to her, patiently listening.
"I've never used one before, so I'm worried," Sunye admitted. "What if I kill someone with it? I mean...I don't want to kill anyone. Guns make me really nervous."
Orea sighed. "Yeah it's not uncommon to be scared of guns," she said. "But if someone is coming to kill you, then you'll need everything you can find to protect yourself. And also, you'll need to protect the people you love."
"It's not that easy…" Sunye bit her lip. Her father used to tell her that a person's true nature always came out when they were faced with danger.
"If someone you love abandons you when you're in danger," he had said. "Then that person has been masking his cowardice. But when someone is ready to kill in order to protect you from all danger, then that person's love for you is infinite. There's no measure to that kind of love."
"I'm not afraid of the gun," she admitted. "I'm afraid that if it's pointed at me, I'll run away in fright. That my innate nature is that of a coward."
"That's not true," Orea told her. But Sunye shook her head.
"No one can tell that," she stated. "I'll only know what my nature is when my enemy will point a gun at me. Everyone makes claims about wanting to protect their loved ones but in the end, how many of us really stop and help them when they're facing death?"
Orea was silent. Sunye was right. It was impossible to be sure of a person's nature unless they were put in a life or death situation.
"Not all decisions are easy," she murmured. "Sometimes, things are just out of our control."
Sunye raised an eyebrow. "For some reason, I feel that you're referring to something else," she pointed out bluntly.
Orea bit her lip and took a deep breath. "Sis," she began. "Myung confessed his feelings for me and I rejected him."
"Go on," Sunye said, listening intently.
"He thinks that I'm living a bad life and also knows that my records are false," Orea revealed. "I don't know how he found out. The records were with the school and I'm sure that Myung is not adept at hacking nor was he spying on me."
"Wait…"
Sunye was frowning now. Myung found out about Orea's false records? But how?
Jonghyun. The answer automatically came to her. For some reason, she felt that he was responsible for this and was having Orea spied on. But why? They were brothers, right? Why would he have the friends of his younger brother spied upon?
"It was probably Jonghyun who did this," Sunye said thoughtfully. "I'm not fully sure but he might have sent his men to investigate you. What are you going to do now?"
"I told Myung to stay away from me," Orea said in a sad tone. "Sis, you should have seen the look on his face. He was so hurt. It was as if I crushed his heart really badly. I mean... I know I'm working against his dad but I didn't want to hurt Myung! I really didn't expect him to fall for me like that."
"Do you like him?" Sunye asked.
Orea bit her lip, unable to reply. She had feelings for him but she could not work on them at all. They were on the opposing sides and one day, might even work against each other. How could she develop feelings for him?
"I do," she admitted. "But you know the situation! We can't be together at all!"
To Sunye's surprise, Orea leaned over and lay on her lap, feeling helpless. The girl was seeking a warm touch and Sunye was the closest thing she had to a sister. SD might have raised her but there were some things Orea could only share with a woman.
Sunye pitied the girl. She was so young and yet, was fighting a war which had no end. What is your story, Orea? She wondered.
She patted Orea's head, trying to soothe her.
"You shouldn't be fighting this war," Sunye said out loud. "This...this is madness. I get that SD has his own agenda. But you're so young! There's so much you haven't seen about the world. Teenagers should be in school, learning and educating themselves. Not become vigilantes.
"You don't understand, sis," Orea murmured. "I can't escape this war. I have to fight. My parents gave up their lives for this. They protected me with all their might and I have to finish their work. Otherwise, it'll all be a waste."
"What do you mean?" Sunye frowned. Orea did not respond, her thoughts drifting to the words her mother had told her right before she was killed off.
"Only you can stop this war, Orea…" Her mother, Areum, had told her. "Don't let them defeat you!"
Sunye waited for Orea to speak but the girl only shifted a little on her lap.
"Sis, why are you fighting with SD?" she asked. "The Prime Minister...he's supposed to be a supporter of your friend, the Crown Prince Kim San, right? Then shouldn't you be fighting for him on his side? SD is fighting against them and would probably not let Kim San ascend the throne-"
"San never wanted to ascend the throne," Sunye revealed. "It's the last thing he wanted. If the PM thinks that he's helping San by reinstating the monarchy in his name, then the old man is a fool."
Her words were completely true. The San she loved never wanted to be the Emperor. The path of bloodshed he would be forced to walk on was something he wanted to change. If he had his way, San would have ended the bloody dynasty.
Orea sat up and stared at Sunye in surprise. "Is that why you're supporting us?" she gasped. "You knew he wouldn't let the monarchy survive?"
"The empire built upon the blood of countless innocent people can never survive," Sunye prophesied. "We might have been children then but we knew of the blood the Emperor had to shed to ascend the throne. Brothers living as each other's shadows, sharing the same name and identity until one day, one of them would kill the other to claim the throne. Meanwhile, the dead brother's existence would cease. He would be buried in an unmarked grave behind the palace, nameless and lonely."
Orea was listening in disgust, sickened by the tradition which had been prevalent in the monarchy for hundreds of years.
"You mean to say that the two brothers would live the same life until they are pitted against each other in a match of death?" she whispered. Orea had heard about this tradition from SD but he did not go into details like Sunye did so she was curious to know more.
Sunye nodded. "It was all done in secret," she stated. "To the point that even most of the servants didn't know about it. The 'heir' was actually two princes with similar looks, mannerisms and even names. If one died early for any reason, the other became the permanent heir. If both survived to adulthood, they would fight a dirty game of politics behind the scenes until one was killed off. The survivor becomes the Emperor and continues the tradition. There's no end to it."
"So, what happened to Kim San?" Orea asked, hoping to know Sunye's side of the story.
"Which one?" Sunye asked in a bitter tone. "The one who survived and is probably hidden away in safety? Or my friend San who was left behind in the coup to die?"
.....
AUTHOR'S TRIVIA:
This part is actually a creative twist on the practices of the Ottomans. In the Ottoman era, the sons of all the Sultans (Emperor) had to fight to death and the survivor took the throne. This was because all the sons were 'crown princes' meaning there was no designation for them. All of them got the equal chances to show their capabilities and once the Sultan died, the sons had to fight it out amongst themselves. Even the baby boys of the previous Sultan were killed by the new Sultan to secure his throne. And once the new Sultan had sons, those sons would also fight to death for the throne.
Pretty gruesome eh?
I simply took the concept from them and added the twist of the princes sharing similar identities and looks to deceive the public until one of them killed the other and takes the throne. Hope it was informative!
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