CHAPTER 2The bandit"s eyes went from a death glare to a frightened expression, shaken from the defense of the man that saved Suyin right in front of her eyes.
Suyin took a long stare at the man"s back in front of her. Although she could only see the back of his shoulders, she could smell his fragrance and his body physique. The smell of orange blossoms danced around her. The sweet, floral smell helped her calm down from death just a couple of minutes ago. This person really just saved her. She would"ve been dead if he didn"t come right on time to help her. She was only able to see his face seconds before he turned around to the bandit as if he was hiding his ident.i.ty so she wouldn"t see him.
"M-My lady!" Areum yelled aloud, running towards Suyin with a worried expression.
"I"m okay," Suyin commented, eyeing back to the bandit with a glare.
"What the h.e.l.l is this? Do you not know who you are messing with?!" The bandit yelled to the man who didn"t falter at his comment. The man didn"t hesitate to move, sliding his sword back in the scabbard. The bandit waited for the man to put his guard down, looking at him from the corner of his eyes. Right when he saw that the person placed his sword back into the scabbard, he decided it was time to strike, sliding out his sword.
"UGH!!" the bandit groaned in pain. Right before his eyes, the tall, handsome man took out his sword and swung it across the bandit"s body before he could even strike back. Areum and Suyin covered their mouth with their hand, shocked at what had just happened.
"This man killed someone right before my eyes! Yes, he"s my savior but I can"t believe that he killed that bandit off so quick!" Suyin said in her mind, startled because this was the first time she"s ever seen anyone kill another person.
Working in the medical field, Suyin was either saving someone or looking after patients, but in this world, it was a whole different story.
The man knelt down to take a look of the corpse of the bandit"s body. His eyes were still wide open, which disturbed both Areum and Suyin, but they didn"t dare to make another move or say anything.
"He killed our master! After him!" The other bandits cried aloud, swinging their swords in the air. The other bandits rushed towards the man and Suyin, startling her because of the sudden attack. She tried to move back but tripped on a tree log, falling down on her b.u.t.t. Stunned, she watched the mysterious savior fly his sword across the other bandits, barely seeing him within an eye"s movement.
"What was that?!" Suyin whispered as Areum shook her head, sitting next to Suyin in fear.
By the time Suyin blinked a couple of times, all of the bandits suddenly fell, their body lifeless. The man turned his back to Suyin and Areum, trying to not turn around for them to see. Seeing that all of the bandits were dead, Suyin was not scared anymore. It was a dog eat dog world in the past and it was either Suyin and Areum dead or the bandits.
"So much for bringing them back alive so we can investigate them." The man commented, making Suyin turned to him as she smiled at his back. Although he sounded like he didn"t want to interact with them, it sounded as if he had to make an excuse in order for him to help the two. Suyin stood up, cleaning her silk dress as she walked around the man, seeing his face again.
"Thank you for saving us, savior! If you need any help in the future, I will be glad to help" She carelessly said, cupping her hands together into a fist as she bowed her head towards the man. She grinned, looking at the man as his eyes were fierce as if he was angry. She flinched but she didn"t let it bother her. If he wasn"t there to help her, she would"ve died and it wasn"t a big deal to thank their hero, but why did he look so mad? Suyin gazed at his face, seeing it better in the front than the back. She was correct when she saw him from a quick glance, he was a handsome, beautiful man. His skin was fairly white and beautiful and she only reached to his chest when Suyin stood next to him. His shoulders were broad, sensing that there were muscles behind this guy. Suyin knew that she shouldn"t mess with a person like him.
"Let me ask you before I kill you." His voice was cold, like icicles shooting towards her. "Do you know who I am?" He questioned her in a serious tone, his eyes looking down on Suyin.
"Huh?!" Suyin responded in surprise. He just saved her and now he wanted to kill her?! What kind of good samaritan was he?! The clothes that he wore weren"t something plain like Areum and he wasn"t wearing any armor as a general would. So who was this person who decided to save her and be like this now? Was he actually an a.s.sa.s.sin sent out from someone? If he was an a.s.sa.s.sin, it was a pity that someone this beautiful has to live their life doing dirty work for someone else.
"No! I have no idea who you are. Heck. I don"t even know why I ended up here. I blame my father"s horse that ran off over here." Suyin muttered, crossing her arms to her chest as she disregarded his serious demeanor and aura. "So much for a handsome man", She uttered beneath her breath, rolling her eyes.
"Suyin!! Young miss!"
Suyin turned her head around to hear an echo of her name.
"My lady, I think master brought someone to find you!" Areum said, running to Suyin as she tugged her sleeves. She took a quick glance at the man and looked away, afraid that he was really going to kill them.
"I know! I"ll shout out for help because this man is crazy enough himself." Suyin whispered as she waved her hands in the air, jumping. "I"m over here!!!" She yelled aloud, "Come help me! There"s someone who wants to kill me!" She turned back to mock the man, only to see no one but Areum.
"What?" Areum spun herself around, not believing her eyes as she examined the area. It was completely clean! There were little traces of blood from the corpses, but the man and the corpses were both gone! "How did he disappear!" Suyin frowned with an unsatisfied face. Great. Now that guy is gone, her accusations are going to sound like she"s crazy.
"Young miss!" A male servant hustled towards the two as he looked around. "You said there was someone who wanted to kill you." He didn"t have a sword or anything on him, but he was willing to risk his life in order to save Suyin. If she died, he would"ve been the next one in line to die anyway from his master.
"No, it"s nothing. Forget it." Suyin brushed the problem aside as if it wasn"t a big deal. She was more agitated about the man just disappeared after threatening her. "What a coward!" Suyin directed to where the man once stood in front of her. The male servant seized a chance to take a peek at what Suyin was staring at but he saw nothing but endless rows of trees circling them.
"Well.." Suyin tugged Areum"s sleeves, dragging her. "Let"s go back home."
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"Areum!! What did I tell you to not take the young lady out of the outskirts!" Suyin"s father shouted to the maid as she promptly kneeled down, sniffling. She didn"t want to make any eye contact with Suyin"s father because she knew that she was supposed to keep an eye on Suyin.
"Father!" Suyin ran towards Areum and her father to prevent him from punishing her. "Stop it. It was my fault that I ran out. It wasn"t Areum"s responsibility for me!" Suyin opened her arms, protecting Areum before he dad could whip her with a thin bamboo stick.
"Y-You… dare to defy me and talk against me?!" His wrinkles were apparent the more he frowned, aiming at the bamboo stick at Suyin.
"I"m just telling you that it was my fault and Areum shouldn"t be the one taking responsibility for my own actions!" Suyin answered her father. What he was doing was irrational and it wasn"t right that Areum took the fault instead.
WHACK!
Suyin winced at the stinging pain at her hip. Her father just whipped Suyin with the bamboo stick!
"My lady! Stop it, you didn"t do anything wrong. It was Areum"s fault that she didn"t stop the young lady." Areum cried, rubbing her back from all of the ache.
"You stop it or else I"m going to punish you myself, my way." Suyin turned to Areum, ma.s.saging her hips.
"You dare to talk to your father like this! You go write me a 20-page letter on the emperor"s pearls of wisdom and proverbs right now! (Note: *This would be the Emperor and the previous emperor"s historical success in their lives such as winning a war, donating charity, etc with the year, time, and date).
Suyin held Areum"s hand, dragging her to Suyin"s Snowdrop lotus courtyard.
"My lady. Why did you do that?" Areum followed, still holding Areum"s hands. Suyin turned her head and beamed.
"Because what my father did was wrong. It was my fault for leaving, not yours." Suyin pushed the doors, revealing her room. On the left side had a mirror and a dresser for all of her clothes. On the right side laid a folding screen panel divider with printings of snowdrop lotus flowers on the screen. Ahead of the folding screen, there is a small square table that can seat four people around it. Straight ahead was her bed covered in layers of pink drapes covering around it.
Suyin called out to another servant, demanding for medicine as they rushed off to grab it to her. She took the medicine and sat down on her bed.
"Areum." Areum promptly attended to Suyin, startled that she summoned her while she was patiently waiting, folding her hands. "Close the door, come here, and turn around." Not comprehending what Suyin was going to do, she followed Suyin"s instructions, facing her back to Suyin, who remained on the bed, sitting up as Areum kneeled on the ground.
"Now take off your clothes."
"What?!" Areum turned to Suyin.
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Side note:
I would like to note that Areum"s name means "Beauty" in Korean. Suyin named her this because she wanted Areum to sound different and unique from everyone so Areum would understand that she is someone who is important like everyone else.
A side note to how Suyin named her Areum is because when they both were young and Suyin was thinking of a name for her, Areum would always agree to anything that Suyin says with a "eum!" This caused Suyin to say, "Ah" aloud and created the two name together since "eum" would sound too awkward as her name. She wanted to find a unique name for Areum. Young Suyin didn"t want a typical name for Areum.
"Ah" "Eum!" = "Areum"
[This would make more sense in the next chapter when we learn a little bit about Areum"s past with Suyin.]