Geonu led me underground, through doors made thick and heavy with steel. If it weren't for the way my body guard swiftly opened it, I would have assumed that the doors were nearly impossible to open. Or perhaps they were. It didn't matter to me. I had more dire things in mind. 

"Trust me."

Jungwon's words rang in my head. That fucking idiot. Of course, I didn't doubt his abilities. However, how could I trust that even someone capable as Jungwon would be able to make it out of a literal massacre alive?

My hands wouldn't stop shaking, no matter how hard I willed them to. In complete honesty, my body was still going through shock at what I had just witnessed. We had gone from an intense yet harmless power war at dinner to absolute chaos in a matter of minutes. Splatters of the King's blood was still drying on my cheek and finger. 

I heard the others before I saw them, their panicked voices bouncing off the metal walls as they spoke. We were in an underground cellar, no doubt a safe space made for the vampires underneath the palace grounds. They probably didn't even expect to have to use it. 

I recognized the Queen first. She was rambling, arms flailing around as she paced back and forth through the cellar. As Geonu and I quickly padded into the safe area, there was a hushed, frightened whisper as everyone tried to predict what was going on above.

"Is Jungwon the only one up there?" I managed to bring myself to whisper to Geonu, tugging at his arm. His lips were set in a firm line, eyebrows furrowed and seemingly worried himself. He even looked shaken. 

"No." He breathed out. "There is a team of sentinels with him."

I let out a breath of relief, though it only settled a few of my worries for him. However, at this point, there was nothing I could do. Even if I tried to help Jungwon, there was no way I would be able to get past Geonu. 

"Your majesty, please calm down." One of the masked guards said. "We're getting everything under control."

I looked up. The Queen abruptly stopped, turning to the guard with a furious face. Even though there was a very noticeable hight difference, the guard cowered under her infuriated face. 

"Everything is under control?" She scoffed, before pointing at the ceiling, yelling "Are you trying to tell me that is under control? My husband- your King, dare I add- was just murdered! And you're trying to tell me that everything is under control?"

The masked guard only blinked at her. "Well-"

"I want their heads. I want every single person that participated in this attack on their knees at my feet, begging for forgiveness." She fumed. "Bring them right this-"

Suddenly, a static noise cut her off. Our heads turned to notice a t.v. on every corner of the ceiling, lighting up and buzzing. Just looking at the flashing lights made my eyes hurt. It felt like we were waiting for hours before the static stopped and a video appeared on the tvs. Confused murmurs drifted through the air when the video cleared up. 

My hand flew to my mouth, holding in a strangled scream. Alarmed at my close outburst, Geonu touched my arm with wide eyes. "What's wrong, my lady?"

I couldn't answer him. My eyes were glued to the screen, my mind trying to process whether what I was seeing was real or not. No, there was no way this was real. There was no way that this was happening. There was no way this person on the screen could be alive.

However, the second the person started talking, there was no doubt about it. I would recognize her voice anywhere.

Yun Seo.

I could only watch with frightened eyes as my best friend, who was supposed to be dead, held up a flag. I soon realized that the flag looked the same as the one that had been attached to the arrow that killed the King.

"Vampires of the Yang Kingdom. This is a warning to you." She said, her voice clear as day and as determined as ever. And very much alive. "You've kept us hostage and murdered us like animals for the past thousands of years. This ends now. Release the farm captives back to the human world, or you will see the wrath of a revolutionary."

Angered voices cut the rest of her words off, so the only thing I could see now were her moving lips. There was a gleam in her eyes, one that told me that she was firm on her words. It almost scared me. 

So she was the one who planned all of this. But- how could this be? How could one mere human kill the King? There was no way this was possible. She had to have an entire group of accomplices. The question of when this started was the main question.

No, the biggest question was how she was alive. 

I know I saw her right before she died. There's no way.

"That's... that's my best friend." I whispered, horrified. 

Geonu took a small step back. "What?"

"What the fuck did you just say?" A familiar voice asked next to me. 

I glanced to the side to see Lady Clora of all people, with a hand held up to her mouth, her eyes wide as she stared at me in disgust. "Did you just say that murderer is your best friend?" She asked, louder this time.

I knew where this was going.

A series of angered disbelief waved across the room as all eyes turned to me. The Queen just stood there, unbelieving and silent.

"Don't even start, Lady Clora." I growled.

"Don't even talk to me like that." She spat back. "You probably planned all of this with her. After all, you're her best friend." 

Okay, we get it. She's my best friend.

"Yeah, it'd make a lot of sense if the mistress was that devil's accomplice."

"This all makes sense now."

"I mean, the mistress is a human, so there's no telling what she's been plotting this entire time."

Geonu stood in front of me with a dark, glazed look in his eyes as he glared at each noble giving me snarky looks. "You guys..." 

"The next person to dare say a word against my mistress will have their tongue chopped off immediately." A cold, regal voice boomed, followed by sharp clicks of shoes on the concrete. All heads turned to the entrance, where Jungwon walked in, a group of guards following behind him. 

He had a distant look in his eyes, something only someone close to him would be able to tell. The rest of his eyes was filled with rage. Burning rage. 

There was blood and grime on Jungwon's clothes, his face set into a hard, stoic expression and jaw stiff. He stepped into the room, stopping next to me as his eyes scanned the many nobles who had previously accused me now with terrified expressions. 

"Now," Jungwon said, voice dangerously calm and contrasting his scary expression. "Would anyone care to inform me why you guys are blaming Yumin?"

Silence.

Cowards.

I could only watch as the nobles uncomfortably shuffled with nervousness, no one saying a word in fear for facing the wrath of the deadly prince. In short, I was even a little frightened by this new side of my prince. However, I couldn't help but feel just a small tiny piece of happiness, as he was siding with me. 

"Your highness." Lady Clora said, fluttering her eyelashes and stepping forward. "Forgive me, but the mistress herself just admitted that the dirty rat who plotted the King's murder was her best friend. Is it truly unfair to assume that your human mistress helped her best friend, since she already had access to the palace?" 

Jungwon scoffed. "Yumin would do no such thing." 

"Neither do I have a reason to." I added with disgust. 

"Don't play that game with me." Lady Clora sneered. "You and your little rat friend came from the same, dirty farm anyways." 

Jungwon clenched his jaw and spoke to Geonu without looking at him. "Her tongue." was all he said. 

Without hesitation, Geonu unsheathed his sword, stepping forward toward Lady Clora with hatred on his face. I gasped, but Jungwon was unwavering. At the sight of the weapon, Lady Clora let out a small yelp and backed away, tripping and falling back. The nobles behind her quickly moved out of the way, meaning she fell down. Just as Geonu's hand reached for her chin, we were once again interrupted by that sweet voice. 

"Jungwon, dear." The Queen said, stepping forward. "Cut this blasphemy out. What of your father?" 

At her words, Geonu was forced to sheath his sword, leaving Lady Clora clutching her throat on the ground in fear. Jungwon gritted his teeth, glaring at his step mother. 

"He's dead."