Chapter 13

As the king steps out of the Hwarang quarters he heads towards the royal palace. He sneaks inside the palace and then goes towards his chambers as when he was the Crown Prince which till today remains empty.

The king then goes near the closet in the room and opens it. He finds his clothes in there still aligned properly as if not touched over a decade. He then opens one of the drawers and takes out a key while saying to himself,

"It is still in here. Seems like no one even comes in this chambers, like they are forgetting me as the days pass by."

He smirks and walks to the other side of the room stopping behind his bed near a painting. He then removes the painting from the wall and keeps it on the bed carefully. The removed painting exposes a hidden door. The king opens the door with the key from the drawer.

"And you are too, untouched it seems, my secret passage." He says this and enters the passage closing the door behind him.

The king walks through the passage and at last reaches its end where there seems to be a second door. He opens the door and enters a lavish big room unlike his which has not been used in many years. The room is warm and someone sits their reading a royal scroll.

"How have you been mother? Or should I say the queen-Your Royal Highness?" says the king.

The queen turns around surprised by the kings presence and says,

"How? How did you come in here?"

"Did you really forgot about the passage you and father made for me when I was still a Crown Prince?" replies the king.

"Ah! So you sneaked in here like a rat. Even when I told you not to enter the capital city until I commanded you to come here and you even participate in the Hwarang as the general's nephew. Do you even know what would happen to you in there if people found out who you are?" says the queen angrily.

"Do not worry about me. I am capable of taking care of myself. Perhaps you should worry about your position as I am going to take my place soon. Don't do anything out of the blue, just keep on doing what you are doing now without bothering me. I will take care of the Hwarang and let things run smoothly in there without any difficulties. I will watch each and every Hwarang carefully and see who is trustworthy, so you should not meddle in my business. That is all I wanted to tell you. Now I will take my leave." Says the king and starts leaving but stops when the queen interrupts him by saying,

"Do you think they will be able to trust you after finding out who you really are? After living among them and deceiving them? I don't think so. You are just wasting your time by not listening to me. That is why I am telling you, you should return back to the outskirts immediately and I will command you to return, because I know what's the best for you."

"No mother I will not sit back and let you do what you want. I am among them to train them as I want and I will do so definitely, so you mother should not meddle. It is not a request but a warning." the king says this and leaves the room making the queen even angrier.

The king leaves the palace and goes near the stream behind the Hwarang quarters. As it is too early in the morning he just sits there and thinks to himself-

"Now that I have confronted mother about my motives I shall be more careful as I will have to face some consequences. I shall also inform the general about me meeting the queen today and should also keep an eye out for Yoon Yeong."

The king stops as he sees Yoon Yeong coming towards the stream. She does not notice the king as he is sitting on the other side of the stream and starts murmuring to herself-

"I came here too early today even before His Highness woke up. I should finish my bath and other chores before His Highness wakes up as he will probably be keeping his eyes on me as he said yesterday."

"How does he know I am the king? Did the general tell him? But why would he tell Yoon Yeong about me?" the kings says to himself and starts walking towards Yoon Yeong to confront her.

He stops surprised and averts his eyes as he sees Yoon Yeong undressing herself for the bath and then the king realizes-

"Yoon Yeong is a woman?"