Beseeching Love; Chapter 5 - Tulips and Roses
“Where is it?” the 10 year old Jun Su asked as he looked left and right hastily.
“The first one that gets it wins!” Soo Jung declared, her little face twinkling with glee as she held her white skirt above her ankle, running around the field searching for the queen bee they both had wanted so much. Jun Su nodded, accepting the challenge valiantly. There’s just no way he’d lose to Soo Jung in this, he’s a man, he should be braver and stronger than she is.
He runs across the tulip field while squinting, his vision altered by the golden sunlight. Looking up, he finds himself carving a long satisfied smile. The sky is cloudless, baby blue, and the golden sunlight about to set off makes it look so surreal, as if he is in a breathtaking painting. The soft wind blew against his skin, tickling him softly. Looking around him, he finds beautiful white tulips swaying softly, dancing gracefully according to the direction of the wind.
“Jun Su! I got it!” the sound of Soo Jung claiming gleefully stunned him. Turning around, his eyes fell on Soo Jung who is smiling victoriously before him, a buzzing bee trapped between her thumb and index finger.
“Woah,” astounded, Jun Su asked, “How did you get it? It didn’t sting you?”
The bee is big. Very very big. It was the size of a medium-sized rock, looking at it alone makes him weak on the knees.
“It did!” Soo Jung retorts, her expression unchanging. Jun Su finds it quite disturbing. “It did? Well, didn’t it hurts?” he asks, his brows furrowed.
“Yeah. It hurts. Just look at me right now,” Soo Jung said, her smile still big, her small eyes sealed from the too big of a smile. Jun Su avoided eye-contact and looked down at the white tulips on the ground, suddenly finding his cousin's antics creepy. He can’t pinpoint what or why, but Soo Jung at that moment just makes him uneasy. Seeing the white tulips turning red in a rather fascinating yet distubing display, Jun Su hold his breath. He trails his eyes up slowly from the red tulips on the ground to Soo Jung's now red skirt, red dress up until he reaches her face. Her bloodied face.
Blood are gushing out of her neck rapidly, and despite that, her face didn’t change one bit. She's still smiling as if there's no tomorrow.
“See what it did to me? The queen bee is bad,” she said, letting the big bee go. Jun Su widened his eyes, taking an involuntary step backwards, his face paling as he suddenly finds his ability to speak gone.
“Jun Su, do you want the bee? Do you want me to get it for you?” she asks, taking a step towards him with every step he took back.
“Jun Su,” she called for him again as she draws closer to him. Every tulips that she passed by turns red from her flowing blood.
The scenery suddenly changes drastically, to Jun Su's horror. The sun is gone, the skies are dark, there are thunderous clouds dancing across the sky as Soo Jung marches towards him. Finally getting his senses back, Jun Su bolts away from her, running back to the place where Jaejoong and Ji Hye sat.
Breathing in and out heavily, he keeps looking behind him while running, just to check whether or not Soo Jung is running after him. There's no one behind. That didn’t stop him from running though. The sight he saw was too gruesome.
When he finally spots Jaejoong and Ji Hye, he runs towards them, happy he finally found his saviors. “Noona! Ji Hye noona!” Jun Su panted once he reaches them, wanting to warn them about Soo Jung. But both Jaejoong and Ji Hye gave no attention to him as they continued doing what they were doing, Jaejoong reading, Jihye plucking flowers.
“Noona! Stop it! Soo Jung’s injured! The queen bee slashed her throat!” he told them desperately, waiting for their reaction. There was none. It was as if he wasn’t talking to them. Heck it was as if he wasn’t even there. “Noona!” he called again.
But Ji Hye is still too busy plucking tulips to bother him. “Need to make a crown. Need to make a crown,” she chanted as if she was hypnotized. Realizing how futile it is talking to his sister, he turns to the reading Jaejoong. “Jaejoong hyung! Did you hear me? Soo Jung’s injured and she wants us to be like her right now,” he repeated, but Jaejoong too did not pay any attention to him.
“A fool despises good counsel, but a wise man takes it to heart,” Jaejoong repeated that sentence.
Finally sensing something off with the two, Jun Su stumbles back softly, grimacing. What is wrong with everyone? Suddenly he feels this eerie presence behind him, significant enough to raise the hair at the back of his neck.
"Jun Su, do you want the bee? I can give it to you,” Soo Jung’s sweet voice reaches his hearing. Realizing the fact that he won’t be receiving any help from Jaejoong nor Ji Hye, he fearfully turns around, shivering while doing so.
He gasps when he saw the bloodied Soo Jung about 10 metres away from him. “Jun Su,” she smiled, suddenly shifting closer to him. “I can give it to you if you want,” and closer.
“Jun Su-“ she’s right in front him. “-save them”
Jun Su wakes up from the disturbing sleep, his forehead wet with sweats and his chest heaving up and down rapidly. “Soo Jung?” he timidly mumbles.
‘That was a dream?’ heaving a sigh of relief, Jun Su laid back on his mattress, his expression undefined.
Stressfully massaging his temples, he closed his eyes, trying to shoo away the vision that haunted him in his sleep. What was that? That looked so real, too real that he almost mistook it as reality.
Curling on his bed pathetically, he remembered the savannah in his dream. It was Tulip Plain, a popular tulip field located in the north of Jamsil. Their family visited the place a lot since it was owned by their great great grandfather. Every middle of the year, the two families will gather there, basking themselves in the warmth of the sun before winter arrives and freezes everything.
Jun Su smiled softly, remembering the fun he had in Tulip Plain. Making tulip crown for his sister, trying to make tulip wine, catching beetle while shoving it to his frightened sister, there’s no other time he’d feel any superior than his sister to tell the truth.
That smile immediately fades away once he recall the dream he has. That has never happened before, why would he dreamed about that? To say the least, he despised Soo Jung and Jaejoong, there’s just no way he’d catch bees with her. Everytime they stayed at the Tulip Plain Villa, he and his sister will ignore Soo Jung and Jaejoong, doing everything with only the two of them. But then, in his dreams, he appears to be on friendly terms with the two. And the last word Soo Jung said was rather weird too. “Save them?” Jun Su frowned. Save who?
Putting on his invisible thinking hat, Jun Su proceeds to attempt to decode his dream. Something doesn’t feel right. That dream was a little odd. And the situation is odd either. He had been feeling bad for a few days already, and now this? Sighing, he couldn’t help but think that something bad had happened to the three in Joseon.
The loud sound of someone shouting outside shocked him. He shot up from his bed, heart beating rapidly as he braved himself to put on his robe and shoes and head towards the door. Goodness, what is going on in his life? Has he finally lost his sanity?
Opening the door of his room slowly, he bobbed his head outside, trying to track the origin of the loud sound. Hearing more shouts, Jun Su stiffens on his spot. What is going on here?
Steeling himself, he runs towards the sound and finds himself stopping in the entrance of his family's residence. The whole Kim Household except for him are there by the time he arrived, they probably move to the source of the sound faster than him since his quarters are located at the back of the lawn. Looking past his family’s guards and his father, he saw his uncle and the Prime Minister, both bringing so many guards behind them. The torches they’re holding enlighten their face, showing just how angry they currently are. Behind his uncle is his aunt, Soo Jung’s mother, crying her hearts out while being consoled by the prime minister’s wife.
“You were my brother, how could you?” he can hear his uncle yelling. “I didn’t do anything! Why are you two putting the blame on me?” his father countered.
“Who should we blame then? My Ji Ae is dead! Soo Jung’s dead too! And now Joseon's treasury sent you 10 bags of golds, who else would be suspected if not you? You and your manipulative Ji Hye!” this time, the prime minister spoke out.
Jun Su felt as though his world stopped spinning when he heard that. Soo Jung’s dead?
“Save them,” she said, her bloodied neck tainting the ground red.
He can see his father and the two males fighting with their people behind them. He can no longer hear what they say. Soo Jung’s words kept on repeating on his head.
Then, he watches silently as his father is manhandled and carried away by the people of the ministers.
Once his father is escorted away, his uncle, Kim Eung Soo lifted one of the black bags in the lawn. What is that? This is Jun Su's first time seeing those, it wasn’t there this morning.
It’s made of silk and there was this dragon knitted on the surface of it. Shaking his head, looking so ever disappointed, his uncle places the bag back, one gold shilling fell as he does that.
“He won,” he can hear Soo Jung speaking in his head, causing him to go to a complete freeze. Who won?
~~~~~~~~
Jaejoong winces in his sleep as he felt the throbbing pain on his head. Struggling to find a more comfortable position, he turned to his right side, and stayed there when he found the position just right. The smooth feeling of the satin sheet running against him didn’t even register his mind. So does the soft comfortable mattress. Tiredom consumed the most of his brain right now, and there’s no other thing he’d want more than to sleep.
“He’s so beautiful,” he can vaguely hear someone says.
“Sire-” another voice speaks up.
“He’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” the baritone spoke again. Jaejoong feels something that feels like a finger tracing his lips.
“Once he wakes up, prepare him. Then present him to me,” the baritone continued. The touch on his lips disappears as he hears footsteps walking away from him. Jaejoong couldn’t bother any less and continued sleeping.
When he wake up the next morning, he finds himself waking in a nice smelling room. His sheet smells like roses, the air smells just as sweet. Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was a red-blood valance draping from the ceiling down to the floor. That is enough to sober him up and push the sleepiness aside. He shot up, looking left and right to see where exactly he is right now.
“You’re awoken, your highness. Good morning,” a female voice greets him.
Jaejoong immediately turns to the source of the voice and finds 5 girls standing in the corner of the room, all staring at the floor. Their attire appears to be the same with some of the ladies he saw following Lady Ara around.
He looks at them blankly, a little annoyed and paranoid seeing people dressed as such. It reminds him of Lady Ara. He squints his eyes, his vision altered by the valance separating them. Is this a dream? Because everything feels so surreal at the moment.
“Your highness, would you like to have your breakfast?” one of the ladies asked dutifully. From her pose, she looked like the leader out of the five. Jaejoong didn't know why, but he dislike her already.
“Where am I?” Jaejoong’s cold voice inquires. He saw her bowing before she answered, “You’re in the Jang Mi (Rose) Palace, your highness. Would you like your breakfast now?”
“Why am I here? How did I end up over here?” he asked again, ignoring her repeated inquiry about his breakfast. She, followed by her four people bow to the ground, “Pardon us, your highness. We are not allowed to say anything. Please punish us, we deserve all you’re about to give us,” she said, sounded very similar to a well-trained puppy.
“No. It’s okay,” Jaejoong said, his voice steady but deep inside he is far from that. Why can’t they tell him anything? Are they planning to do something to him? Where is he? Who took him here? And most important of all, why is he here? Remembering the incident last night, Jaejoong concluded that the mysterious man inside the palanquin is the one who brought him here. But, why? Why would he do that? And how can he do that? This is the Forbidden City, he cannot merely place anyone he wants in any palace he choose. No, he can’t do that. Unless he’s the emperor of course.
It took him over 2 seconds to finally register everything.
Widening his eyes at his ignorance, Jaejoong can almost bang his head on the lavish wall in frustration. That man, was he the emperor? Black grand palanquin, white dragon embroidery, clothes made of golden thread, his pompous gestures, Jaejoong couldn’t be anymore blinder for not seeing that point blank.
But then again, if he indeed was the emperor, why would he bring him here? Jaejoong is a nobody, and to top it all, he was wandering around the forbidden area, he ought to be slaughtered. Are they placing him here to be killed?
His eyes wander around the room before he shakes his head softly. Why would he be treated this well if he's going to be killed?
Taken aback by the sudden revelation, Jaejoong finds his heart constrict painfully, unable to comprehend the situation he’s facing right now. He met the emperor. The emperor everyone had been boasting about. The same emperor Soo Jung has a crush on. And the same man who had conquered half the continents and are on his way to conquer more. Despite the grievance he’s having over losing Soo Jung, Jaejoong is flattered that he can see the man that she liked at least once before he died. Even if it was only for mere seconds.
Soo Jung never met him before, not that he knows of, of course. Lets just consider this as him meeting the emperor on her behalf. It wasn’t something everyone can boast about. There aren’t many people who had the privilege to see the emperor, the son of the Heaven. But he, despite all the odds, did.
“Thank you for your generosity your highness,” the lady-in-wait replies, still bowing on the ground while unknowingly snapping him out of his muse. He nodded half-heartedly to her, a little annoyed by her non-stop urge to talk. Ignoring the kneeling girls, Jaejoong turns back to his pensive mode, questions filling his mind once again. Why are they calling him ‘your highness’. Isn’t that specified for only the blue bloods? Did they mistook him as a royal? Goodness no. He’d be killed if he were accused of impersonating a royal, and he cannot bear to die.
At least not yet. Not until he avenge Soo Jung.
“Your highness, would you like to have your breakfast now?” she repeated her question. Jaejoong sigh.
~~~~~~~~~
This place is indeed large, Jaejoong concluded as he walk across the rose garden while being tailed by 5 obedient girls. The one that annoyed him from first glance is apparently named Soo Kyung, and she’s the vice of JangMi palace. The head of the palace alongside the previous concubine had apparently been executed by the emperor, causing the residential palace to be unoccupied as of now. That’s what he got when he asked them that. And when he asked as of why he was brought there, nobody says anything and kneels down again.
Sighing, Jaejoong tries to find a reason for his placing there. What do they want to do to him? It doesn’t appear to be something of bad intention. He looks at the silk he’s wearing right now. It is so grand and smooth Jaejoong just knew it’d cost him a fortune.
He’d never even dreamed of seeing such high quality clothing in Jamsil, not even on their previous king. And yet, here he is right now, wearing clothes fit for a king. So they won’t do anything bad to the one they treated so ever lavishly, right? Then again, why are they treating him this way? He’s just a nobody, a total stranger. Too much questions are burdening his head, he’s this close to a mental breakdown.
Sniffing the air, the essence of roses entered his sensory organ, giving him the calming effect he’s seeking. Everything just smelled like roses here, they must’ve liked roses a lot. Earlier on, when he was bathing, they bathed him in rose water. That tells a lot.
Jaejoong turned his attention to an old lady running towards them.
Kneeling on the ground, “Your highness, the messenger told us that the time has arrived,” the old lady bowed. Jaejoong keeps on his placid look, though inside, he truly is wondering about what she had just said. He turns to Soo Kyung, expecting her to at least say something. She bows, “Your highness, please follow us back,” she pleaded respectfully.
Nodding solemnly, Jaejoong walk back to the palace, not realizing the danger waiting for him inside.
~~~~~~
Soo Kyung and the girls has been really really- unsettled. Jaejoong looks ahead of him, trying to push the alarming thoughts aside. He only noticed that the girls had already stopped following him after he had entered his room. The doors are tightly closed now.
Jaejoong raises a brow in bewilderment before he turns around. His eyes fell to the silhouette of a man standing in front of the window, looking at the garden outside. The light from the sun are illuminating his body, giving his back a rather ominous vibe.
“Bow,” the man commanded, his voice cold.
Jaejoong gulped, knowing who he was. Bowing as what had been requested of him, Jaejoong glued his eyes on the floor, trying to maintain his control despite the amount of shock rushing through his body right now. He’s meeting him again. People can be considered lucky for even seeing him once, while him, he gets to see him twice.
“You are a very calm man,” the emperor remarked before turning around to look at him. His voice sounded amused, but Jaejoong didn’t really know since he doesn’t have the urge to even lift his face up from the floor. "Most people would get flustered , others even fainted," the emperor adds. Jaejoong couldn't find it in him to reply to that statement, so he merely kept quiet.
“Look at me,” the emperor suddenly commanded, his voice firm. Compelled, Jaejoong couldn’t do anything other but to do as he had been told to. He can kill the previous JangMi concubine without second thoughts, what makes him think he’ll be able to escape death once he enrages the emperor?
Anchoring his brown orbs on the emperor’s, he can see the superior getting a little taken aback upon seeing him. “So beautiful,” he heard him mutter appreciatively. Jaejoong bit his tongue when he heard that. He always hate it when people called him beautiful. He is a man, not a lady. And beautiful does not equates to a man. But considering the position of the man saying it this time, he decided to keep quiet.
"I was watching you when you were at the garden . You had looked so ethereal from afar." The look the emperor is giving him is intense, piercing. Jaejoong just had to look away to prevent himself from burning in shame.
“I said look at me,” the emperor repeated demandingly.
Gulping, Jaejoong looks at him again, shuddering when he recognizes the look he’s giving him. It was hunger. Desire. Lust. He had seen that in countless men and women before. But the difference is, he had the power to reject the other men. The one in front of him however, is exempted from that. And the thought of it sent shivers down his spine.
The emperor walks closer to him, his face looking as though he was bewitched by the kneeling man.
“S-sire, I-“ Jaejoong couldn’t continue his words when the emperor jumped on him, savouring his plump lips as if it were his drugs. His opium.
Their position is awkward. Jaejoong is kneeling on the floor while the emperor is bending down at him, but that didn’t stop him from ravishing Jaejoong's lips.
Jaejoong is gasping, suffocating, but the emperor didn’t budge. He forces him to stand up instead before pushing him against the wall domineeringly.
Jaejoong shivered in fear when the emperor closes in on him.
A loud excruciating scream that belongs to Jaejoong echoes through the palace moments later. The people who hears it acted as if nothing happened at all, all continue doing their chores obediently.
~~~~~~~~
His eyes are burning, so painfully throbbing, but he wouldn’t give a damn about that. Tears keep on cascading from his beautiful eyes as he laid helplessly on his stomach.
The emperor had spent the rest of the night on his chamber, leaving only when the morning has arrived to his morning assembly.
Jaejoong continues crying silently. He hadn’t even gotten over the death of Soo Jung and now he has one more thing to grieve for. His innocence. His now tainted body.
The people in the Forbidden City, they’re messed up, so damn messed up there’s just no way they can be fixed back. Lady Ara, those eunuchs, those guards, even the emperor.
Thinking of the emperor causes him shiver from anger. He should be their shield. The shield of the people, the one to protect them from any sorts of harm and at the same time guide them along the right pathway. How could he lead them to the right direction when the direction he chose himself is wrong? Why? Are there not enough ladies in the Forbidden City? Are Lady Ara and the other nameless consorts no longer capable of pleasuring him? Why must he do this to him?
Jaejoong looked at his bloodied body. Most of the blood came from the multiple bite marks on his neck. The rest came from his behind. His lips tremble upon remembering what the emperor had done to him. How the pleasure the other seeks inflicted pain in him.
Feeling tattered, tainted and worthless, Jaejoong stood from the messy bed, his wobbly leg unable to support him fully. Walking towards the table nearby, he took out the phoenix hairpin he saw earlier, one of the belongings of the previous JangMi concubine. Noting how sharp it was, Jaejoong could bet that one stab is enough to take his life.
God, he really want to die right now. He’s so disgusted in himself, he’s tainted, he’s marred. He’s now one of the ladies the emperor had toyed with, except he’s not exactly a lady, and the emperor didn’t exactly toyed with him. He destroyed him.
His hand shakes in anticipation as the sharp end of the hairpin reaches him. But then, as if something ominous decided to intervene, Ji Hye's face suddenly flash across his mind. Yes, Kim Ji Hye, their cousin who is now suffering in the dungeon for a thing she didn’t even have a fault in.
“Ji Hye,” he mutters her name softly, his resolve to end his life weaken right away. He can’t leave Ji Hye like this, not when he’s the cause of her suffering. And he can’t leave without avenging Soo Jung too. Lady Ara need to be taught, she needs to know that killing others for no particular reason is wrong and that karma ought to bite her back in the future.
Jaejoong slumps down on the floor as his eyes slowly hardens.
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AN: People, behold, the longest chapter ever is here. *sigh*
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