Yuehwa was not the sort to ever regret anything she did, but this time she had the slightest twinge of regret the minute she placed her lips on his. It wasn't that she was having second thoughts about her decision—she would stand by her choice no matter what—it was more the fear of the repercussions of what she had done.

The immediate thought that flew into her mind was that he was going to push her away yet again, like he always did. What would happen then? It would become incredibly awkward between them, perhaps so much so that he would choose to vanish into thin air within the blink of the eye, like he always did. She wouldn't blame him, because she had known what he was like right from the very beginning—he was exactly like her, a moonbeam that you couldn't hold in your hand.

Her first instinct was to pull away to save herself from further embarrassment, but a strong arm around her waist and a hand around the back of her head stopped her from moving a single inch. Yuehwa thought her heart was about to stop beating as time seemed to freeze in an instant.

"You might regret this one day," Shoya said softly, pulling away from her ever so slightly such that the tips of their noses were still touching, "and when you do, promise me you'll just walk away."

"I never regret anything," she replied.

"There's always a first time for everything."

The sound of footsteps and voices echoing along the corridors interrupted the silence between them, and seconds later the owners of those voices appeared in front of the cell. Standing at the front was a shadow with a heavy cloak the shade of midnight and a large hood that covered half their face. She slid the hood back, revealing the pale countenance of a middle-aged lady with rouge that painted her lips crimson. Even though she was getting on in years, there was still an understated beauty about her that hadn't diminished with time. She regarded them both of them with quiet condescension.

"Which one?" she asked the guard standing behind her.

"The one on the left, Your Majesty."

Your Majesty? Yuehwa was surprised. The lady had to be the queen of Feng herself. But why was she here?

The queen turned back to Shoya, frowning a little as she considered him once more. "So you are the White Scorpion, the one who murdered all the royal librarians," she said in a mellow yet melodic voice.

"I am the White Scorpion, but I think you know better than I do that I'm not the one who's responsible for that crime," Shoya replied calmly. Unlike Yuehwa, he didn't seem the least bit surprised that the queen of the kingdom had suddenly showed up in the prison, so shortly after they had been thrown in. In fact, she even spotted that half-smile toying across his lips as he looked up at the queen, the one that always appeared on his face whenever he already had everything figured out.

It was annoying.

The queen's frown deepened slightly and she waved her hand to dismiss most of her guards, leaving behind only the one that she had spoken to earlier.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice hardening.

"I might ask you the same question... Aunt."

The queen didn't appear the least bit perturbed by his peculiar address. Her red lips curled upwards in a sardonic smile. "I'd suggest you don't go around claiming to be someone that you're not," she said. "I don't know who sent you here and what exactly you hope to achieve, but the game ends here I'm afraid."

"If you don't believe that I am who I claim to be, then why are you so eager to be rid of me?" Shoya asked, standing up and walking over towards her. Although the door to the cell was still firmly locked and there remained a row of solid wooden bars that separated him from the queen, the sight of him approaching made her take two steps back. Her guard instinctively drew his sword. Shoya laughed. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't die twenty-five years ago like I should have."

The blood was beginning to slowly drain from the queen's face, although Yuehwa was impressed by how she was still keeping her cool despite Shoya's provocations.

"That's what you're here for isn't it?" Shoya continued. "You want to verify that I am who you think I am, but whether or not I am that person, you'll have to repeat what you tried to do twenty-five years ago because it's better to be safe than sorry. By the way, that cousin of mine—your son—is an absolute scum. If you wanted to do away with me so that he could inherit the throne, then the least you could do was bring him up to be a decent human being, but I suppose it's too late for that. I helped you to teach him a lesson back in Dahai, I trust you might have already heard about it."

The queen was clenching her fists so tightly that the bluish veins were beginning to show up against her fair skin, yet her voice still maintained a degree of calm. "You can say whatever you want now," she said, "because you won't be able to say any of it tomorrow. I'm sorry to tell you that I'm not the one who wants you dead, although I can't say that I wouldn't be happy with you gone. Even if you are him, there's no way you will ever sit on the throne."

"My mother was your sister. How could you do this to her?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the queen replied, avoiding his steely gaze. "Her health had always been poor, there was nothing anyone could do about it."

"Is that so? Or did it only become poor after you tried to send her firstborn to the gallows? How would you feel if someone had taken your son from you and sentenced him to death because of some broken prophecy? Your Majesty, even if you weren't the one who gave the order, you are still an accomplice. She was your sister, but you stood by and watched while they took her son away from her. While she withered away, you became the queen of this kingdom and your son became next in line for the throne." Shoya paused for a moment, letting his words slowly sink into her consciousness. The cracks began to appear in her façade. "Why is my father not here to speak to me? If he intends to sentence his son to death for the second time, surely he should have the guts to give me an explanation. Or is he such a coward that he's still sending a woman to do his dirty work for him?"

"The king won't see you. There are more important things that he needs to do. Since you already seem to know what's going on, then there's no need for me to beat around the bush. You shouldn't have come back here. There's no longer a place for you here and there never will be. If you had just stayed away and lived your own life, then things wouldn't have come to this. As for the debt that I owe your mother, I'll repay it in the next life."

The queen took a moment to regain her composure, then she turned to leave, but before she could turn the corner, Shoya called out to her.

"Is that so? In that case, I suppose you have nothing to fear."

"If I was afraid, I wouldn't have come this far," the queen replied, turning round to give him one final cursory glance before she disappeared from view.

Yuehwa had been silently witnessing the exchange from the beginning, her mind trying to fit together all the different puzzle pieces that were being thrown her way. She had seen many different sorts of people throughout her travels, but the queen of Feng was possibly one of the most interesting personalities that she had encountered. Power was a frightening thing, to be able to drive a person to betray blood relations and family ties in exchange for it. Yuehwa wondered what it had been like twenty-five years ago when both the sisters had been in their prime and the foolish decision of a cowardly king led to the irrevocable damage to that relationship, eventually resulting in the tragedy that was Shoya's entire life.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, the tension in his muscles palpable beneath her fingers.

"Twenty-five years," he said with a wry smile, "and still nothing has changed. I don't know what I was hoping for—that it was actually someone else? Or that they would get down on their knees and apologise for their mistakes? At least the queen bothered to come down here, if only to help herself sleep easier at night."

"Do you think they knew who you were all along?" Yuehwa asked.

Shoya shook his head. "If they were certain then she wouldn't have come down. They must have gotten wind of a rumour and decided that it was better to take the necessary precautions. If I wasn't who they thought I was, then it would have been much ado about nothing and a whole lot of wasted effort, but if I was, then they would be removing a thorn from their sides."

"This is ridiculous!" Yuehwa huffed. "They sacrificed so many lives just to chase down a rumour?" She recalled the conversation that had taken place and a look of alarm appeared across her face. "But by confronting her like that, wouldn't that just put you out in the open? If you continued being only the White Scorpion then perhaps the queen might have believed that the rumour was not true after all."

"Remember when I asked you whether or not you would support my decision no matter what that should be?" Shoya said, looking straight into Yuehwa's eyes. "And then I said that you might regret it one day." Yuehwa held her breath, feeling as if time had suddenly slowed down in that moment. "If by chance it had been someone else who had come down here, if the chief astrologer had been lying and I had been wrong about everything, then perhaps I would have been able to walk away and continue living my life as the White Scorpion as if none of this had ever happened. But from the moment the queen showed up in front of us, that option was no longer viable."

He took the sword out from its sheath, holding it up to the small window so the light from outside struck the crystal hilt, refracting in all directions. "Before I became the White Scorpion, I was Hwang Minjun, firstborn son of the king and rightful heir to the throne," he said quietly, "and that is my destiny."

"We write our own destinies," Yuehwa replied, taking hold of his hand. Although he appeared calm, she could sense the pain that was radiating from within. "But if this is the path that you must take, then I will walk this path with you."

Wordlessly, Shoya pulled her into his arms, letting everything between them go unsaid. As he buried his head against her shoulder, he mouthed just two words:

"I'm sorry."

#

Later that night, the sounds of hooves pounding the dirt could be heard throughout the capital city of Feng as the guards embarked on a city-wide search for two missing convicts who had escaped from the prison—but it was too late. The two escapees were already miles away from the capital, sitting in a small isolated inn within the borders of Gi.

Yuehwa was still dressed like a man, although she had swapped her dirty clothes for a fresh set that she bought off the innkeeper. She stared at a table full of delicious food that she couldn't wait to stuff into her own stomach. Having an adventure in prison was all well and good, but there was nothing there besides stale bread that was practically inedible. She took a deep breath to inhale the heavenly aromas of all the dishes, sighing in happiness.

She picked up her chopsticks and began tucking in, hands moving so quickly from dish to dish that Ember was getting a little cross-eyed just watching her. She had tried every single dish on the table before she realised that Shoya hadn't touched a single thing, and was merely sitting across the table watching her with a slight twinkle in his eye.

"Aren't you hungry? This is really good." She pointed at the plate of roast chicken. "And this too." The braised mushrooms and spinach.

Shaking his head, Shoya said, "Go ahead. I'll have whatever's left."

Nothing will be left, my friend, Ember thought sadly. Clearly Shoya still didn't know Yuehwa well enough.

Not long after the queen had left the prison, Shoya and Yuehwa swiftly picked the locks to the cell door and made their escape. Along the way they encountered a handful of guards, all of whom were easily dispatched with some darts that were laced with enough sleeping draught to knock a cow out for at least three days. Although the security around the prison had been increased to prevent a situation like this, it still wasn't enough to pose a challenge to the two seasoned assassins.

Yuehwa had asked Shoya what he intended to do next, but she only received a vague reply. He had reverted to his usual stoic self, not speaking unless spoken to, though she could sense that there were a million things running through his mind during the silence.

Shoya was the rightful heir to the throne of Feng, yet it was much harder for that to become a reality than it was for them to escape from prison. The king had an entire army behind him and guards that watched over him night and day. Even with Shoya and Yuehwa's abilities it would be impossible to get within ten feet of the man without someone noticing. Now that the royal family had been alerted to his presence, they would no doubt tighten security around the royal palace even further, making it doubly hard to slip in. In the unlikely situation that they did manage to dethrone the king, there was still the problem of gaining the support of the royal court and the army. All in all, it was an uphill battle in order for Shoya to regain his rightful position, a task that could well be beyond the both of them.

Yuehwa chose to ignore these problems for the time being and focus on dinner. At the back of her mind, she was also aware that time was ticking and the longer she dallied the more dangerous things would become for Princess Naying. The golden chrysanthemum was safely packed together with her other belongings, and she could only pray that the flower was as miraculous as Shoya claimed it was.

"Did you hear the news? Gi has declared war against the kingdom of Jin and the troops are already en route to the Jin border. My cousin saw the army march by a couple of days ago," one of the customers seated at the next table was saying loudly to his companions. The table of them were dressed like travelling merchants, which was not surprising given that the inn was located on one of the main trading routes between Feng and Gi.

"Really? But why?" another man asked, frowning at the news.

"I heard that there was an attempted assassination on the crown prince and his new crown princess when they were returning to Gi from Dahai and that Jin was responsible for it."

"Someone tried to assassinate Prince Baixun?" someone else exclaimed. "They must have been out of their minds!"

"Must have been, else they wouldn't have done such a foolhardy thing. Pity about the princess though. Anyhow, no one wins when there's a war, hopefully it ends quickly. Come on, we should be on our way else we won't reach the capital by morning." The men at the table stood up and headed for the exit.

Yuehwa frowned, thinking about everything that had taken place before she left Gi in search of a cure for Naying. She had been so distracted by Shoya and his situation that she had forgotten entirely about Baixun and what he intended to do. Back then, when they had discovered the pendant on the dead assassin, it had been obvious to both her and Baixun that this was a set-up, but Baixun's answer had been certain—if someone was creating a reason for him to launch an attack on Jin, then he wasn't about to give up the opportunity. If he wanted to consolidate the five kingdoms, then he would need to start from somewhere.

"He's made his move after all," she murmured, slightly disappointed at Baixun's decision. It was not one that she could fault him for, but still, a war on Jin would undoubtedly mean countless casualties in the process.

"Baixun was born to be a king," Shoya remarked simply, "and unfortunately the path to becoming one often involves sacrifice."

Yuehwa looked across at him, trying to figure out what was going through his mind. Although he seemed to be speaking about Baixun, every word he said could just as well be applied to himself. Like Baixun, Shoya had been born to become king, yet while the former had been fortunate enough to have had everything served to him on a silver platter, it still remained to be seen whether Shoya would one day be able to achieve the same.

"If Baixun continues on this path, then one day that same army will be inevitably headed towards Feng," she said.

"What will come will come," Shoya replied calmly. He reached for the teapot that was sitting on the table and proceeded to refill her empty cup. "All you need to focus on is returning to Gi to save your friend. Although we have the golden chrysanthemum, no one knows what it can actually do. I've written down the suggested prescription that came from an old text given to me by a hermit in one of the Jin valleys and I've left it together with your other belongings. If that doesn't work then I'm not sure what else will, so let's just hope that Princess Naying's time isn't quite up yet. Give the prescription to the imperial physicians along with some petals from the flower, don't give them all of it just in case."

Yuehwa took a sip of her tea, thinking that what Shoya was saying sounded a little odd. "Why does it sound like you're not coming with me?" she asked with a frown.

"Yuehwa, you're just going to have to trust me," he said, reaching across the table to take hold of her hand. "There are some things that I need to do, but I can't take you with me because you have other responsibilities and I've already delayed you long enough. When I'm done I'll come find you, I promise."

"You're lying!" Yuehwa exclaimed, alarmed by what he was saying. "You're just going to disappear again, aren't you? I've already told you that I won't regret my decision. We can go back to Gi together and help Naying, it won't take long, then after that I can come with you to do whatever it is that you need to do in order to, in order to—" Her head felt immensely heavy and her vision was slowly starting to blur. "What's happening? What did you... Shoya, don't..." She tried to hold onto his hand, but it didn't stop the surroundings from spinning in circles until finally her vision was eclipsed entirely by darkness.