Downpour (1)

Sungho walked the hallway leading to the library of the residence by the escort of his court lady, with Daewon trailing behind their tracks.

He was not content with the answers he received from Chun when he interrogated her again, following their talk last time when the eunuch of the palace who conveyed the message from the king interrupted it.

And it appeared that Chun did not once encounter her master do archery nor dance with a sword in hand.

If these were truly what made Hyeon-Ju occupied in her daily life before she married the king, it would be fun for Sungho to give them a try at least. Although he had never lifted a sword nor handled a bow when hunting since he could directly use a rifle.

In spite of this, Sungho was once engaged in substituting for archery rather than using a rifle but soon vanished when he discovered he could barely shoot an arrow a meter away from his distance. It was disgracing since he was a hunter and he could not even manage to practice archery correctly.

"I believe it's going to drop soon, Your Highness. The rain that is." Chun looked in the skies covered with overcast clouds from the open hallway and notified her instantly.

"It does seem it's going to fall anytime," was his response, catching the clouds exploding from the frightening rumbles, flinching to the streaks of lightning from the thunder. "Let's hurry to the library," Sungho suggested as they hastened their pace to the place they were heading.

And they were lucky enough that the rain did not drop when they reached their destination. The dark clouds continued delivering raucous pounds, showing threats of its downfall any minute to those it provided dim shade under its reign.

"Then I will be waiting outside, Your Highness," Chun instructed but she was immediately rejected by Sungho.

"Wait inside the library by the door. You'll freeze and might get wet outside."

Sungho held her arms and pulled her with him. Chun nodded and slid the door to open an entrance, being dragged by Sungho after she did so.

The library; he had never visited one. Yet perhaps he saw an identical place to this from his past life and it was called a bookstore.

He had only seen it through a glass window as he peeked from curiosity when he was out during his job, books were aligned neatly row after row with their spines facing outward.

However, the books of the library they went to were arranged in a different manner. The books were placed on top of each other yet they share a similarity of distinguishing them by an organized row of a section after the other.

"It smells musky and ink in here." Sungho heard his companion, Daewon, commented, which then followed by finding himself sniffing the air inside the shut area.

"You're right, although it's foul," he responded, "Daewon, you got a good sense of smell. Are you a dog?"

His companion chuckled from his words and simply said, "That's the first time someone insulted me..." Though, Sungho failed to catch what followed the statement.

Ignoring him as he continued to walk further from the door entry with Daewon as his support, he looked for the section where the books about archery were located.

Sungho brought his face near the writings to distinguish the right section but to his disappointment, there was just one book existing in the archery section while he saw two concerning the sword dance.

'They're too few,' Sungho downcastly spoke in his head while he had the books on his hands.

"Why don't we visit the library of the palace? They got a great number of books about these sections you're looking for, Your Highness," suggested Daewon who was walking behind him. "Although the guards require the King's permission for you to enter."

"That is why I don't want to go there," Sungho strongly refused, particularly because it was considered that he needed to see the king. Just by thinking of his picture running in his mind, Sungho began to feel uncomfortable contractions in his stomach.

"Or simply ask someone to deliver you some?"

As Daewon mouthed these words, Sungho immediately looked back at him with his glittering eyes. "You're right, great thinking! Why don't you bring me the books tomorrow, Daewon?"