9

(chapter 9 war!)

When Jina and the other princesses return to their room, they find Queen Sato asleep on her bed. Their guards are sitting outside the room and waiting for them. Once they see them, they rush over and surround them.

Queen Sato opens her eyes at once and stares at her daughters. The girls exchange worried glances with one another and take a step closer to each other. Sato sighs and sits up.

Sato: How many times must I tell you girls not to come running to me whenever things go wrong with Prince Kyeongmin! You shouldn't be risking your lives for him.

Jina looks down, refusing to make eye contact with her mother. Sato raises her head in anger and shouts "How dare you!? Who do you think you are to be scolding us like this?! Your father wouldn't want it! Neither would he be proud of you!"

"Enough!" snaps Jina, interrupting her mother before Queen Sato gets any further. She walks over to Jina, putting her hands on her shoulders. "We know you're worried about us, but please don't act like this. We love your father very much and we never wanted to cause him trouble or put you in danger. Please calm down and understand that we had a hard time deciding what to do. And now that you know why we have been gone for so long, you will understand why I'm angry. And I'm sorry if my words hurt you."

Queen Sato: I understand why you were afraid to come back, but this is not acceptable. From now on you are staying in our room until you learn how to control your emotions.

Jina: But, mother

Before Jina could finish speaking, Queen Sato cuts her off.

Queen Sato: This is final! Do not disobey me.

With those words being said, Queen Sato and her guards walk away from the room.

Jina turns around and runs out of the door after yelling at her mother to wait a few minutes before she comes out. Her three sisters soon follow her and catch up to her.

Princess Hyemi: Jina, listen to me. It's okay, just relax a bit and everything will work itself out. It's okay, everything will be fine. Just calm down. Calm down. Just calm down. Just calm down...

She chants this phrase as the sisters continue to follow Jina. Jina keeps repeating the phrase repeatedly. In the middle of the courtyard she runs directly into Prince Kyeongmin. The princes and princesses stop in their tracks and watch the whole scene unfold in front of them. Both princes stare at her surprised as she keeps repeating the same phrase over and over again.

Prince Kyeongmin: Uhmm, hey guys. What are you doing here?

Everyone starts talking over each other as the three princesses try to calm Jina down. They tell her to sit down and stop shouting. Everyone tries to talk to Jina, trying to reason with her. They try to get her to calm down so she can finally listen to their advice and decide what they should do next.

But none of these efforts were successful. Prince Kyeongmin and the others just stand back and watch Jina getting worked up even more than before. Suddenly, a loud thunderous noise fills the sky and rain falls on the three princesses' heads. The three of them scream in pain and try to cover their ears from the sound of thunder.

Prince Kyeongmin: Guys, please stop. I don't think Jina wants to listen to any ideas we have.

Kyeongmin takes out his staff and begins chanting something. Soon a light blue cloud rises into the sky above the four princesses' heads, shielding the princesses. When the clouds disappear completely, Kyeongmin stops the chant.

Prince Kyeongmin: I've decided that I won't let Jina go.

He turns around and walks away. His friends just look at each other confused. They don't really know what to think anymore.

Tao: Woah, that was awesome! What sorcery is that? Can he do it? I've never seen anything like it before!

Nayeon: Let him. I think it's actually pretty good.

Minhyuk: Yeah, I think it works. What sorcery could he possibly use?

Taejun: Maybe he's practicing some kind of magic

Daehyun: Ohhh, now he's definitely going to be able to fight against those guys now. I'm so happy for him.

Himchan: That means he'll be fighting even harder.

Taejun: But why would he fight against us? Shouldn't we just let him go? He won't be able to escape anyway since we have chains around his arms and legs.

Himchan: Well, he probably wants to save himself so that he can bring back all the prisoners that are being kept in the dungeons

Taejun: Are you crazy?! He'd better let Joonie and I go first! It makes more sense to rescue everyone, not just the ones that are already taken! We've been through a lot together. He deserves a break.

Daehyun: What about me? Aren' you guys kidnapping me too?

All the girls gasp quietly at Daehyun's words.

Junghyun: Daehyun, we are not kidnapping you. Besides, the only way you're getting freed is if we give you back your body when we leave this place. Otherwise, you'll just turn back into a wolf and eat us when we least expect it.

Junghyun: And that's totally not gonna happen, by the way. Don't worry, your body is safe in our room.

Daehyun: If you say so... But I swear, if anything happens to Jina or Momo...

Daehyun points at the two dead bodies in front of her.

Hyelin: Don't worry. Our bodies won't be harmed at all.

Afterwards, all of the princesses begin talking about what might have happened between Kyeongmin and his wife. They all agree that they must be somewhere close by. They just have to find them. The group splits up, searching for them separately. All of them start walking slowly towards different parts of the castle.

After an hour of searching, most of the soldiers have returned to their barracks with new orders and the rest remain scattered around the courtyard, looking for any clues or signs that could lead them to the castle.