FATED FOLLY

Ha-joon's cheeks ignited like he'd just been slapped with some Buldak. My mouth watered, thinking of the sumptuous fire chicken practically able to hear the sizzle. 

"Impertinent woman," he grumbled, the blush creeping up his neck like it had a personal vendetta. 

I leaned in, a little too close for comfort. "Oh, come on now. You're not that irresistible." 

He exhaled like someone who regretted every life decision that had led him to this moment. "That's a small mercy," he deadpanned, sliding exactly one dignified step to the right. 

Naturally, I closed the distance while grinning. "I mean, I can always flirt with you if you insist." 

His face morphed into a combination of twisted belief and barely veiled horror. Someone on the verge of mentally filing a restraining order. 

I laughed loud enough to turn a few heads. "Relax, Ha-joon. I'm just a bystander today."

A hearty slap on his shoulder felt like the appropriate punctuation to end the encounter. His shoulders stiffened, and in that instant, I swear he could have doubled for palace furniture. 

The coarse silk of his garment felt rough and strangely satisfying to wrinkle. "No one expects you to stay in character every second."

Ha-joon shot me a look that could have ignited paper or stripped paint. "Unlike you, I take my role seriously."

I gasped dramatically, fingers fluttering across my mouth. 

"Oh, I can tell. That scowl is practically an heirloom at this point. Do you polish it nightly?" I asked sweetly. 

He crossed his arms, his gaze flickering anywhere but me. "Your interest in making a spectacle is childish."

"Says the guy playing dress up with his friends," I called over my shoulder, already strolling away, savouring his frustration.

I set off in the opposite direction until the synchronized shuffle of feet echoed behind me in a disciplined rhythm of movement. Curiosity piqued, I slowed.

Ha-joon's voice floated toward me, low and wry. "Perhaps you'd like to meet my childish friends. Maybe you can flirt with one of them."

I spun around, ready to fire back - only to find myself face to face with six men in soldier's gear with the collective charm of stone statues.

"You there. Get over here," One barked, looking as though he would tackle me on sight. "How dare you accost the Crown Prince."

Dodachae mwoya? "That peony sniffer was the Crown Prince!?"

Listen, Lunatic larpers or not I'd binged enough historical dramas to know that when a guy in leather orders you over here, it's time to leave. Fast. I did the only sensible thing a girl could do in such a situation. I hoisted my skirts and bolted.

Dodging through the archways and slipping past guards, I found myself in the last place I wanted to be. The palace prison. Hoping to give the guards a slip, I flopped down next to the bloodiest guy I could find and tugged some of his clothes over myself. I held the fabric up and took a curious sniff … eww. Instant regret.

Around me, prisoners groaned. Judging by their varying degrees of torture, several men partook in the most hardcore roleplay I'd ever witnessed. 

I burrowed into the straw, smearing dirt across my face with trembling hands. If they'd whacked these guys, I couldn't imagine what they'd do to me.

Breathing shallowly, I peeked at the man beside me. His breaths were too thin, too weak and shallow—like the last flicker of a dying flame. Oh no.

My fingers darted to his neck, fumbling for the familiar pulse, praying for the reassuring throb that might tell me he was still alive. By the emperor's pointy little beard, was this dude seriously dying? They'd actually beaten him? What kind of twisted larp cult was this? 

A skirmish echoed at the entrance. I froze, barely daring to breathe. The man passing spoke with that distinct formal flair my Korean friends loved to imitate, but thicker, heavier. Definitely not casual.

The men hurried past, seizing the opportunity to free myself, I gripped the prison door. Just as I was about to leave, my gaze fell on the injured man.

No telling how long it might be before someone else checked on him. Grunting, I dragged him to the side, propped him up, and hoisted him onto my back like a particularly inconvenient sack of potatoes.

I covered us with a cloak and slipped out the way I came in, creeping toward the palace's entrance with the man haphazardly flung on my back. His semi-coherent groan, let me know I was doing the right thing. 

If my mother could see me now, she'd howl. This was definitely not how a young woman preserved her dignity. My brother? Oh, he would have an absolute field day. "Only way you'll ever land a husband is by kidnapping him," he'd joke. 

I snorted. Honestly, this whole scene was hilarious, making it all the more important I not be discovered.

Out by the gates, a stocky horse was tied to a makeshift hitching post. With considerable effort and some awkward pulling, I managed to get his near dead weight onto our new transportation. Surely, they would have emergency tents in the shady glen.

"Alright, friend. Let's get you to... wherever they've planted the medical tent. I envisioned a small glade just a few blocks away. 

Guiding the horse into a slow trot, I bounced on the seat like a country bumpkin, peering at every rock and tree, amazed by the attention to detail. I stared at the stream lazily trickling past us, moving quickly enough not to be stagnant yet slow enough to feel believable. The fake stream, and the quaint little trees - this place was insane.

Then he groaned again.

Grabbing the water skin tied to the horse I brought it to his lips. "Drink."

He swatted it away with a desperate hand. The saddle shifted ominously. I squinted at it. 

If I had bothered to inspect it more carefully, I would have seen the leather was worn, and the girth was barely secure.

With each sway, we bounced along like two sacks of rice. We'd only gone a short distance. The horse wasn't impressed I hadn't bothered to try to fit my feet into the stirrups. They too swung erratically, slapping against the horse's underside as I failed to maintain any semblance of grace. 

The guy weakly gestured ahead, toward a copse of trees. I squinted. Medical tent? Hidden treasure? Or.. was he leading me somewhere else entirely?

If I had looked at him again, I would have grasped the true extent of the danger lurking before me.