Darkness swallowed the river.
The current dragged them under again and again, spinning bodies like discarded debris.
Ji-ho fought upward, lungs burning, arms clawing wildly through the freezing water.
Bella did not fight.
Her body was limp in his grasp, hair flowing like drowned silk across the surface before the river pulled her under once more.
"No. No, no-" Ji-ho choked beneath the roar. His hands fumbled blindly for her wrist… her sleeve… anything.
His fingers slipped.
The current tore her away.
Ji-ho kicked harder, throat screaming in silence. His sword and armor dragged him down. Water forced its way into his lungs. The world darkened.
And he slowly sank.
—
Bella's body struck against rocks, rolled, then surged forward again until the river finally spit her out onto a muddy bank.
She lay motionless.
Wind whispered through the reeds.
Then—
Hck! gghk!
Water burst from her throat as she convulsed, coughing hard, choking on every breath. Her fingers clawed into the earth, shaking violently as she tried to push herself up.
Pain exploded across her back where the arrow remained lodged deep in her muscle, every attempt to move felt like it tore at her skin and bone.
Her vision swam… then steadied… barely.
"…Ji-ho…?"
The name scraped from her lips, fractured, desperate.
She staggered upright, legs trembling beneath her weight. The forest around her was unfamiliar, the mountain they hunted on was nowhere in sight.
The trees here were older… darker… twisted by time.
"…Yeon…?" her voice broke, "Anybody?"
Silence answered.
Panic clawed slowly up her spine.
She stumbled forward, clutching a tree for support. Each step was a battle and breath ragged, vision flickering. The arrow throbbed with every heartbeat.
Leaves rustled.
Bella froze.
Her hand went to the knife strapped to her thigh, her bow lost to the river, her sword gone.
A shadow shifted between trees.
Then… he emerged.
Ji-ho.
Soaking wet. Scraped and bruised. Barely standing.
His eyes widened, disbelief first… then overwhelming relief.
"Ha-neul?!"
He practically fell into her, arms wrapping around her shoulders, squeezing her like the only real thing left in the world.
She gasped in pain. "A-ah-!"
He pulled back instantly, horror flooding his expression as he saw the arrow.
"You're hurt…we need to-"
"Not now." Bella scanned the trees again, "We're not alone."
They weren't.
A twig snapped. Then another. Low voices murmured.
Ji-ho tensed.
Bella grabbed his wrist, pulling him toward thicker brush. "Come on."
They ran, or rather, she forced her broken body to move while he tried to shield her without slowing her down. Their breaths echoed too loudly in the oppressive silence.
Finally, a cave. Partly hidden behind thorny growth.
"In there," she whispered.
Ji-ho hesitated. "Ha-neul, we must treat…"
"We will die if we stop now."
That was enough.
They slipped inside. Farther back, a split in the cave. A cramped hollow space. Nearly invisible to anyone not looking for it.
She shoved Ji-ho in first, then followed, biting her own sleeve to silence her scream when her back hit the rock wall.
They waited. Listening.
Shadows moved outside the cave entrance.
Bella risked a peek.
Three assassins, the ones from the cliff. Their armor stained with river mud, still hunting.
Her blood ran cold.
She knew their faces.
She turned back to Ji-ho. "I'm going to draw them away."
"No." His grip caught her forearm. "You can barely stand. I-I can't let-"
"If they find us like this," she interrupted quietly, "they will kill you first. And I will watch you die before they kill me."
His breath halted. The fear in his eyes was raw, unguarded.
"The kingdom needs you," she whispered. "You have to live. So… I will keep them away."
She slipped out before he could protest.
—
Bella's steps were silent as a ghost's… despite the pain that threatened to buckle her knees every few seconds. She positioned herself where they would see her silhouette against the faint morning light.
A stone rolled beneath her boot, loud enough.
They turned, all three assassins.
"There!" one barked.
Bella ran.
Branches whipped her skin. Vision blurred from blood loss. Her breathing turned sharp and wet, but she kept running until the assassins were far from the cave… and then.
She stopped.
And waited.
When the first stepped into range, she dropped low and swept his legs, smashing his head into a root. The second swung a blade, but she twisted, pain tearing a cry from her throat. She slammed the hilt of his own dagger into his jaw.
Both hit the ground.
The third ran away at the sight of it all. Believing she was no ordinary human.
When she notices the last assassin running away and the other two not moving, she swayed… and fell to her knees.
Her fingers pressed into the dirt, trying to push up again. But her body refused.
Slowly… very slowly… she crawled back toward the cave.
Ji-ho's voice was the last thing she heard before darkness swallowed her:
"Ha-neul!"
—
Night.
Bella woke to the sound of frustrated breathing and wood snapping.
Ji-ho sat near the cave mouth, shivering, trying again and again to spark a fire with wet sticks.
It was pitiful to watch.
It was heartbreaking.
He had never started a fire himself. He had never needed to.
Bella's voice was hoarse. "…Come here."
He rushed to her side. "Don't move, please-"
She managed a weak smile. "Then you move closer… I'm freezing."
He did, gathering her against him gently, carefully avoiding the arrow still lodged in her shoulder.
She rested her forehead against his chest, breath trembling from pain and cold.
And fear.
Ji-ho's voice cracked into her hair. "I thought I'd lost you."
She closed her eyes. "We're not out of danger yet."
But she let him hold her.
Because for this moment, warmth was worth the risk.
—
Morning came softly, and wrong.
Ji-ho woke to silence too heavy for dawn.
The cave no longer smelled of smoke and damp stone, but of heat. An unnatural heat.
Bella lay beside him, curled slightly toward his chest, her lashes resting against flushed cheeks. For a moment, relief flooded him, until he touched her.
She was burning.
"Ha-neul…?" His palm hovered, then pressed to her forehead.
Too hot.
Her skin felt like it had been pulled straight from fire, yet her breathing was shallow, slow, uneven, as though each breath cost her something. Her lips parted faintly, a soundless exhale escaping, and her fingers twitched once before going still again.
Fear seized him by the throat.
"No… no, no-" His voice shook as he cupped her face, searching desperately for her eyes. "Look at me. Please."
She didn't stir.
The arrow was still there.
Anger flared, at himself, at the forest, at the river, at the gods who had dragged them here and left her like this. He scrambled upright, heart pounding, scanning the trees beyond the cave mouth.
Someone had to help her.
Anyone.
But there was no one in sight.
He felt helpless…but was not ready to admit defeat…not yet.
He left her wrapped in the remaining cloth they had salvaged, his steps frantic as he pushed through the forest, calling out hoarsely. His royal robes were gone, burned the night before, just as she had insisted. No silk. No crest. Nothing that would mark him as prey again.
Only a soaked tunic, mud-stained trousers, and fear.
He found no one.
The forest answered him with birdsong and indifference.
When he returned and saw her still unmoving, something inside him cracked.
"I won't let you die," he whispered fiercely, crouching beside her. "You hear me? You don't get to leave me here."
The words trembled as they left his mouth.
He had said something like this before.
A long time ago, small hands clutching at silk sleeves soaked in blood, his mother's face pale against embroidered pillows, the room filled with incense and helpless adults speaking in hushed voices. He had begged then too. Had promised. Had cried until his throat burned.
And she had still gone.
He remembered standing there afterward, feeling too small, too useless, watching the world continue without her, knowing there had been nothing he could do.
Not again.
His fingers dug into the dirt now, knuckles white as he leaned closer to Bella's burning form, as if sheer will could anchor her to him.
"I couldn't save her," he whispered, voice breaking, meant only for himself. "But I will save you."
He pressed his forehead to hers, breathing uneven, terrified of the stillness.
"I won't be alone again."
He knelt, slipped an arm beneath her knees, another around her back, biting back a grunt as her weight settled against him. She was heavier than him, heavier than he expected, but he didn't loosen his hold.
Not once.
Her head lolled against his shoulder as he staggered forward, step after step, branches tearing at his arms, sweat and panic blurring his vision. Every breath burned. His legs trembled.
But he kept walking.
He saw the man near midday.
An old woodcutter, bent with age, firewood stacked high on his back, straw sandals worn thin from years of mountain paths.
"Please!" Ji-ho called, voice breaking as he approached. "Help us…please."
The man turned, startled. His eyes dropped to Bella, and widened.
"A… a foreigner?" the old man murmured, instinctively stepping back.
Ji-ho swallowed. "Yes. She… she came from afar. Bandits attacked us. They tried to rob us." His lie tumbled out raw and uneven. "She was struck by an arrow. She's burning with fever."
The old man hesitated only a second longer before sighing. "The mountains don't care where one is from," he said quietly. "Come."
He led them to a small hut tucked between pine and stone, smoke curling faintly from its chimney. Inside, it smelled of herbs and dried roots.
The old man worked quickly.
Ji-ho turned away when the arrow was removed, her scream tearing through the hut, then dissolving into unconsciousness in his arms. Blood soaked cloth. Sweat drenched her hair.
"She will sleep," the man said grimly. "If she wakes, she may live."
"How long?" Ji-ho asked, voice barely there.
"Three days, perhaps more."
Ji-ho didn't leave her side.
He cleaned the wound with shaking hands, changed the bandages when told, fed her water drop by drop when she could swallow. He slept sitting upright, her fingers clutched weakly in his sleeve.
On the second night, when she still had not opened her eyes, he finally asked , "Where are we?"
The old man glanced at him. "This is Sohwa-hyeon. Beyond Cheonghae Valley."
Ji-ho froze.
"Sohwa…?" His blood ran cold. "That's-"
"Two towns past Hanyang," the man finished.
Ji-ho looked down at Bella, chest tightening painfully.
So far from the palace.
So far from safety.
So far from everything he knew.
And yet…
He brushed damp hair from her face, thumb trembling as he traced her cheek.
"If you wake up," he whispered, voice breaking in the quiet hut, "I don't care where we are."
"Just… wake up."
And for three long days…
She slept.
—
Far away, palace walls shook with chaos.
Ministers stormed through chambers. Servants whispered prayers. The king's roar echoed through the halls:
"Find my son! Bring him back or your lives are forfeit!"
Yeon bowed, fists pressed to the floor. His voice broke.
"Punish me. But allow me to bring him home, Majesty. I beg you."
The king's trembling hands clenched.
"Go. And do not fail again."
—
In a private chamber, the queen spoke quietly to the Prime Minister, her father.
"He is not confirmed dead," she warned.
The Prime Minister's smile was thin. "Then he will be soon."
"And the girl?"
The smirk widened.
"She dies first."
Their cups clinked softly.
A toast to treason.