Moon Won gazed imploringly at Yeo Wool. “I’m innocent, man! I didn’t touch that child!” He shuddered convincingly. “Why would I? She is but a girl.” He stared intently at the other man. “You believe me, don’t you, Yeo Wool?”
Yeo Wool stood, his sword drawn and pressed up against the man’s throat. “I…trusted you. I befriended you. I taught you how to fence. Gave you my secrets. And you abused the trust of a child!” he gasped. “I can hardly wrap my mind around it.” He gazed upon Moon Won with disgust. “How could you touch an innocent girl in that way?”
A tremor slid across Moon Won’s face. “But I didn’t!” he maintained his innocence.
Yeo Wool raked him with a contemptuous glance. “You are despicable!” he whispered.
His precious Sam Sook’s darling daughter. The girl who so reminded him of the girl who had come to his rescue all those years ago. Yet no one had come to the rescue of this girl, her lovely offspring.
He cringed as he thought of this man’s hands sliding along her skin. Of the terror the young girl must have felt. And a holy blaze began to burn in his gaze.
“She’s a kid! A sweet, innocent, adorable kid. How could you touch her with your dirty hands! How could you look at her with your filthy eyes!”
“I…I didn’t!” The man maintained his earlier testimony.
“Why would she lie?” Yeo Wool narrowed his eyes at the deviant.
“I don’t know,” Moon Won blustered. “I know only that I’m innocent.”
“I don’t believe you,” Yeo Wool informed him coldly.
He had seen how terrified that precious, little kid had been when she’d admitted the truth to her mother. And to him. It had taken a rare kind of courage. In the midst of such dread. And he’d remembered how he’d felt that day that Sam Sook had rescued him from those vicious, older boys. And all the times that he’d had to face them alone thereafter. But this…this was so much worse than anything he had ever suffered at the hands of anyone else.
He’d wanted to wrap that little girl in his arms and whisk her away from all the evil men in the world. Of course, he couldn’t do that. But he did have it in his power to bring this man before the king.
He wryly reflected on that relationship. Back when he’d shared a room with Ji Dwi and eaten lunches in his presence, he had never guessed the man’s true – and royal – identity. But now, because of the bond which they had formed as hwarang, he was free to request an audience with the most powerful man in this country. And today he was thankful for that favor. He could, at least, do something for Sam Sook’s daughter. He could never repay his debt to the woman. But he could protect her daughter from further assault by this predator.
––
Jin Heung sat on his throne as the tips of his fingers bit into its armrests.
“He did what to that innocent child?” he hissed in a cold voice.
That quiet tone was more terrifying to Moon Won than a roar would have been.
“You despicable creature!” Jin Heung spat out. Still in that lethal timbre. “You don’t deserve to live.”
I’m not having the blood of this baby on my hands. Justice will be served.
“Your Highness, I have promised the child and her mother that, at the least, he will rot in prison. Never able to reach them again.”
“At the least,” breathed King Jin Heung. “But that may be too good for him. I’m thinking a cold grave would suit him better.”
Moon Won fell to his knees. “Please, Your Majesty. Spare my life!”
“And you? Did you spare that child? Or did you make her fear for her life? And for that of her mother and baby sister?”
Now Moon Won was the one trembling. As he knelt before an outraged king.
“It’s not true, Your Majesty! The child lies!”
Jin Heung’s eyes blazed with fury. “You just forsook any mercy you would have sought from me. You are a liar. I trust this man’s word. If Kim Yeo Wool declares you guilty, that is enough for me. The testimony of that child stands against you. She has nothing to gain by making up such a story.”
“But, Your Majesty,” Moon Won struggled to his feet and lunged for the king.
But he was instantly stilled by the tip of a sword biting into his neck once more.
“Take him away. Throw him into the prison. I will deal with him in the morning.”
Yeo Wool bowed to his king as he kept his blade pressed up against the predator’s throat. Then he nudged the man into moving towards the outer doors. Outside stood four noble hwarang. Ready to escort the despicable man to the prison.
Yeo Wool had kept his word to Se Ri. Only the king had heard his report. Her secret was yet safe.
After he’d seen the man safely into his cell, Yeo Wool returned to the king.
“I promised the child that none but you would hear the truth from me. But I’m concerned that Moon Won will spread the news far and wide in the prison.”
“That man doesn’t have long to do so. I’m going to execute him in the morning.”
Yeo Wool glanced up sharply at the king. “You are?” he asked breathlessly. He hadn’t expected Jin Heung to be so ruthless.
“Absolutely. His vision of Silla is the antithesis of mine. No man should be allowed to touch a child in that way. If I cannot protect the most helpless, the most innocent, among us, then I am worthless as a ruler.”
“I agree,” Yeo Wool stated boldly.
The two men recognized their instant accord.
“Will you stay and have a drink with me?” Jin Heung queried.
“No, Your Highness. I apologize. But I must return to Sam Sook.”
The corners of the king’s mouth tipped upwards. “When are you going to marry that woman?” he teased his friend.
Yeo Wool’s eyebrows flew up to threaten the royal ceiling. “Your Highness?”
“Oh, stop that! Don’t play the innocent with me. It is quite clear to me that you’re in love with the woman. I’m only surprised that you brought Moon Won before me. I would have expected you to remove his head from his body long before he arrived at the palace.”
“It took every ounce of my self-control, but I restrained myself,” Yeo Wool murmured softly.
“Did you?”
Yeo Wool shrugged. “It’s not my fault if he resisted arrest, and I was forced to bleed him a little.”
Jin Heung scoffed. “Is that why he had blood running down his throat when you arrived?”
“What can I say? He moved whilst the tip of my sword was pressed against his throat. It’s not my fault that the blade cut him.” His eyes turned cold. “Besides, it was so much less than he deserves.”
“Indeed. He will be receiving that gift in the morning. I will mete out justice. And if any word does spread of what he did to that poor child, perhaps the next man will think twice before he touches an innocent.”
“I hope so, my friend. I do hope so.”
