22 Decapitation [Graphic Description]

*This chapter contains gore description*

Ryunjin was someone who came into Yun Ki's life when he was full of himself.

Not that he wasn't anymore egoistic, vain and conceited at presented, but she was presented before him at a time when his hormones were pulsating through his body at the speed of light.

He'd been newly handed over the reigns to one of the biggest Monarchies in all of East Asia.

He was 25 when he sat on the throne his martyred father had left him.

With the jewels adorning his crown and lines of head bowing in his direction, he was out of control.

He was God, himself.

As reckless as he was, his impulsive decisions had costed The Kingdom of Baekmin quite some loss in terms of the prospects of having a congenial relationship with the surrounding 2 Kingdoms.

When hand written letters of congratulations were brought in on his Coronation from the neighbouring Kingdoms, he made sure the letters were set ablaze in the court for everyone to marvel over.

He had jewelled boxes filled with dead rats sent over to these Kingdoms as a proclamation that Baekmin was and will remain an independent Kingdom for as long as Min Yun Ki was alive.

Stuck in the mindset of an 11 year old who'd been kept imprisoned in exile for 14 years, he believed this disrespectful act would create quite a stir amidst his subjects, allowing them to celebrate a new Crowned King who embodied the spirit of his father's teachings of 'Self-Reliance'.

Moreover, he was under the impression that his people would see him as a man in power who wasn't a puppet to his Ministers and was capable of standing up for himself as well as his Kingdom.

However, this action of his, disrespecting the congenial and sacred ties between Baekmin and the other Lands had caused him to be critiqued intensely.

"The Boy is an impulsive mess!"

"He will leave Baekmin crippled and forgotten."

"His Father must rue the day he was born."

"What lies behind that golden mask? What shame is The Queen trying to hide?"

The People of Baekmin had just recovered from the crippling war with Silkim.

Lands were destroyed, thousands were killed brutally and the economy had crashed.

Women were lamenting over the death of their Husbands.

Young girls and boys wandered the streets as their mother's jumped in the fire post their father's death.

Hundreds had turned orphans.

Hundreds had been widowed.

Thousands were hungry and ailing.

The ones who managed to survive the aftermaths of the war were reduced to vegetables as the medical services were inadequate.

In such ailing times, when the gap between the rich and poor had widened tenfold, Yun Ki's inexperienced hands were handed the sways to Baekmin by his ignorant mother, The Queen.

The Ministers were the kind to kiss their new Master's arse and conveniently concealed the havoc that was splitting Baekmin to pieces.

Chief Hong was the man who sprung up as a messiah to the commoners by bringing the matter to light before The New King, who then decided to move around some money from the rich to the poor, along the gradient.

Yun Ki absolutely despised immigrants from the neighbouring Kingdoms.

He would pounce at every opportunity to kill the people setting foot into his abode and polluting it with intentions he deemed to be suspicious.

So when a herd of a dozen traders set foot into Baekmin under the purpose of trading wool and milk from the finest cattles of Silkim, Yun Ki made sure they were brought into The Palace and presented before him in his Royal Court.

"What purpose must the 12 of you have in Baekmin?" Yun Ki had asked them, having them stood in a line facing him.

The oldest member of the troop, possibly the head spoke up.

"We're here to lend a helping hand to Baekmin, Your Majesty. We bring with us the finest and most luxurious wool reared by the Merino Sheep in Silkim. We have with us our cattles, they can produce gallons of milk for the poor in Baekmin."

Yun Ki was fuming in rage.

He hadn't asked for any helping hands from the Kingdom that had reduced Baekmin to a crippling mess.

"You fool! You are the reason Baekmin is rotting in poverty. You and your ignorant King are the reason for Baekmin's pitiful plight. How dare you set foot into my Kingdom right after you've stolen from us and left us handicapped? Who has sent you to Baekmin?" Yun Ki roared, standing up from his golden throne, screaming into The Head's face.

"Sire, you are the reason for Baekmin's pathetic situation. Your ignorance has—" A loud uproar of shock is reverberated amidst the Ministers as splatters of blood fall upon the majestic carpet, staining it red.

A loud thud is heard following that and a decapitated head is seen rolling down the inclined carpeted floor.

"I will slander each and every one of you rogues. You killed my Brother, you bastards."

Off went his mind, adrenaline pumping past his vessels as the muscles in his biceps contracted with every powerful blow he delivered to the necks of the men pleading and begging before him.

"P-Please spare me, I have a wife and c-child in Silkim, Your Majesty.." One begged.

Yun Ki's eyes grew pitch black.

A smirk adorned his lips, his mouth and golden mask were drenched in blood and yet he was loving every moment of this torture.

With every body that landed on his feet and every head that rolled down the hall, a part of his Brother's death had been avenged.

"Send your woman to my Palace, she'll be entertained." Is all Yun Ki says before he strikes the tip of his gallant sword through the man's neck.

Onlookers and speculators say, the Royal Court was filled with blood.

Yun Ki's hands oozed with blood and he stood in a puddle of rouge amidst the beheaded pulsating bodies with a smirk covering his blood stained lips.

The Carpet had been incinerated and the bodies fed to Yun Ki's pet Boar with the decapitated heads encased in black boxes and delivered to Silkim's Head of State with a letter written in the blood of his people.

'You sent the beheaded skull of My Brother into my Kingdom. I've had 12 of yours sent back with their bodies chewed down by carnivores. Now, we're equal.

Min Yun KI.

Engrave the name in your Kingdom.'

Yun Ki didn't keep favours.

He returned them with twice the zeal.

Enmity with him was full-fledged and love from his end was bountiful.

Those who treated him well and in the highest order, bathed in sandalwood and were celebrated in the finest of pearls.

The ones who stood before him, challenging his prophecy were executed, ruthlessly.

Justice was served in Baekmin.

One head at a time.

With every head Min Yun Ki slandered in his court, the more he found himself drowning in blood and the heavier he felt his soul burden.

His sins would catch up, eventually.

He'd lose what he cherished the most.

After all, this was the eventuality of life, wasn't it?

Justice would be served.

—

Jeremiah 31:30 :

Instead, each will die for his own iniquity. If anyone eats the sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.

Interpretation : All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.