The streets leading to the palace's walls were so familiar it hurt. Kai-Se's fingers brushed the earring dangling from one of his lobes, relishing in the comfort of the spirits' essences somewhere inside him. If he willed it, maybe he could learn how to borrow their power from time to time. Because what he was doing now wasn't short on being dangerous. Because it's not just him whose life was on the line.

Nao-Zai had reverted back to his soldier mode, his eyes never straying from the road beyond them and the ones they came from. Forever watching. Never missing a thing. Kai-Se pulled the triangular hat over his face, hiding whatever was bound to get him recognized in these streets. Their only saving grace? Without the elaborate clothes, most of the townsfolk wouldn't be able to pick out royals (or has-beens) from the crowd.

Everything has been the same since the last time Kai-Se had been in town, donning another identity. Back then, he came here to tell his stories. Then, he realized they weren't his at all. Rather, he's recounting memories not his own. They were tales from another time. From another realm.

Now, he was here as another person. A nobody. With no horo or soksen to his name, he might as well be the struggling members of the masses. They even had it better than him. At least they've got roofs over their heads. All Kai-Se had was a tent.

Not that he's complaining. Scratch that. He was complaining. Back in Shin-Ki's temple, Kai-Se was brave. He was high from the ordeal he had lived through in Shaoryeong, in facing Amatesu, the self-ordained Empress of the Spirit Realm. He'd done the impossible as the only mortal to have walked to the spirit world and back. He could do anything. Walking endlessly inside a thick forest, chasing away the comforts of civilization, enduring the cold nights and the warm afternoons—it was supposed to be nothing after everything he had been through.

But after a few days of getting back on his feet, he began to feel it—the weight. Because being mortal meant taking everything on one's shoulders and carrying it for miles without an end on sight. Being mortal? It sucked.

Would he really wanted the rest of his family be subjected to this hard life? Were they going to be better off if they join the ascension war and retake the throne?

A sharp sting distracted him from his thoughts. He looked down to find a trail of blood dripping down the back of his hand. The nails from his other hand had faint traces of skin, their beds slick with red. Oh.

Nao-Zai must have noticed his gaze. Instead of reprimanding him upon acting on his impulses, the soldier simply reached over from his back and drew a spare roll of bandage. It was the only one left from Shin-Ki's supplies.

Kai-Se let himself be pulled into the side of the road, away from the bustling carts drawn by rugged horses and even more rugged people. Nobody watched them as they settled on the front steps of the nearest house they found. Nao-Zai carefully wound the bandage around Kai-Se's hand. He had lost count of how many times they found themselves in the same situation over the course of a few weeks.

"When we get to the wall, you distract the guards and keep them engaged," Nao-Zai was saying as he finished tying the bandage. The tight bundle of cloth against his fingers was a welcome distraction from the thoughts and fear raging in his mind. Why did he even urge Nao-Zai to undergo this operation in the first place? Oh, right. They're rescuing his clan, before other ruling clans take turns snatching them up like ravens. "I'll get them out on the other gate and meet you back here. Don't be lost."

Kai-Se swallowed, the lump in his throat not planning to dislodge any time soon. "I'll be alright," he said. "Or we could just go together. I don't get why that hasn't been an option."

Nao-Zai frowned. "Because one of us needs to live on."

He didn't finish. Didn't need to. Kai-Se knew exactly what was implied without hearing the end. One of them needed to survive should the other got captured, or worse, killed. The Fai Clan wasn't known to be lenient. And with them controlling most of the Piljissan Region, it's going to be harder to get to Saengje without taking a number of risks.

"I'll distract the guards and then what?" Kai-Se said. His eyes landed on the shards of a broken clay pot lying in the middle of the road. Hooves and boots trampled it underfoot as if they couldn't bear to witness it. He craned his neck up. This house appeared to be abandoned, and now that he's really looking, the rest in this street seemed so too. What happened here?

Nao-Zai followed the direction of his gaze and, from the dark cloud passing across the soldier's face, he noticed it too. This street and the village it belonged to—it has seen war. Ruthless, brutal, and inhuman war. Maybe it was the uprising led by Pyeongjeon Jang-Ho—one that Kai-Se had spent most of the duration of stuck in Shaoryeong—or the recent attempts of the other ruling clans to show off and coerce the townsfolk to support them.

Either way, it ended up with peoples' lives being uprooted and disturbed. Kai-Se would have wanted to put a stop to it, but was he really willing to put more lives at risk by attempting to get the Minzareong dynasty back? How unfair was that? Whatever he did, someone's life was at stake and bound to get tangled into this madness.

He didn't realize Nao-Zai had gone silent beside him until he jerked his hand still in the soldier's grip. Nao-Zai flinched, hazy gaze flicking back to Kai-Se's face once more. "Is my job just to distract the guards?" He repeated. Maybe the soldier was lost in his own worries too. "How long do you need?"

Nao-Zai pursed his lips. "Chi-Sae had most of them primed since yesterday. We should be good for half an hour," he said. "I'll come back and get you once I'm through. She's going to lead them to Hankuure and we'll just catch up."

Kai-Se nodded. Unlike what his father told him, his mother and sister had never left for the farthest province of Xuijae as scheduled. Before they could reach past Chaebeon, according to the correspondence brought by Chi-Sae, Pyeongjeon's army caught up. The Queen had been crafty enough to fool them into thinking she and Hana-e had made it through, but in reality, they trekked back to Dangrao.

As much as he questioned his mother's logic, there's no time to play the blaming game. She must have thought they have a better chance of surviving inside the palace than outside it. Besides, it's not like she could be at peace knowing she left the rest of her and her husband's clans inside. Most of them held regional offices in other provinces and all of their wives and children, and their children's children were all housed in the palace.

Kai-Se had hoped his father had a plan on moving them out of harm's way during the siege but now that the Emperor had vanished (according to Chi-Sae's reports), there's no one to mind their safety. Or maybe they were missing some important information in this whole business and everything was fine in the Palace after all these months?

Looking at the silence and the apparent hush and rush of the villagers passing them by, Kai-Se couldn't deny something not right was going on. Something he might not be able to curb on his own. That's why he agreed to Chi-Sae's proposal to help bust the remaining clan out of Dangrao, head through Chaebeon and Torake, and reach Hankuure as planned. From there, they would have a choice either to cross to Mutsu and be in Shecai or restart their lives within the borders of Xuijae.

Then again, they still have to get out of Dangrao first before they could think of reaching Shencai. One step at a time.

"Do you only need the djang-di up front?" Kai-Se asked.

"If you get to draw more, better," Nao-Zai said. "I can handle the others inside. I just need to get in. Don't force yourself."

Kai-Se pursed his lips. He wasn't planning to. Not when he had an inkling Nao-Zai could feel every strain he put into his magic—one of the results of the ritual they underwent together in Trahn-gwok-tan. He stood up and squared his shoulders. "Let's do this," he said. It was more to himself rather than Nao-Zai.