Trumpets were heard on the early hours of the morning, the large and wide barren ground were filled with spectators all seated, the Queen was seated on the high throne , the King nowhere to be seen for he said he was feeling sick , it was obvious he didn't want to watch his son duel , at the high castle he stood at the slightly covered window , his heart was in distress , he was suddenly back to reality when someone knocked on his room door , " come in", he said, Han jum opened the door slightly with a smile as he bowed down , the king nodded as he sat down on the chair, " I didn't know this day will come , it is still so unbelievable...," , said Han jum also sitting across from the King, " he is stubborn, he feels like dying with dignity will serve as a legacy", said the King in frustration, Han jum leaned closer a little , " but ....., he doesn't matter if he dies right, a bastard will always be a bastard", said Han jum with a sinister smile , " hold your tongue,..., you speak I'll of my son in front of me , how dare you ", said the King curiously , Han jum half smiled bowing his head a little , " forgive my vile tongue your Highness, it wasn't in my place to speak of him that way after all,..., he is your son", said Han jum at that moment somebody came in with a tray of tea in his hand , " it is a rare breed of chamoline tea, they said it had an unusual way of calming people ", said Han jum as he nodded over and the tray was set on the table , the aroma was enticing , " we are all tensed for the result of the duel but the least we can do for Lee Kwon is to be calm, shouldn't we ", said Han jum with a slight smile as he poured in the tea into a cup for the King shifting it to the King's side then he also poured himself a cup of tea , " Lee Kwon is so brave, this isn't something he should be doing , yet he is doing it", said the King carrying the cup of tea and pursing it to his lips , Han jum tilted his head with a sinister smile tracing the edges of the gold plated ceramic bowl, "he is brave indeed ,...even keeping an assasin to train him.....", said Han jum stopping midway , " WHAT...!!", yelled the King as he stood up, " what arrant nonsense are you spewing now , guards , guards....", but none came , it was gravely silent, suddenly the King felt a pang in his chest, he twisted his face in pain as he fell to the floor clutching his chest and breathing heavily , Han jum smirked wickedly as he stood up , the King gasping for breath, " w..., what did,....", he couldn't finish his sentence as he was in silent agony unable to speak anymore , Han jum brought out a small bottle with a small substance in it, " within a few minutes,....you will be dead...", he said wicked as he walked over to the King, he bent down as he softly carresed the King on his face , " go rest now my King, I will take care of your precious family", he said with an evil smile.
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Lee Kwon was in his room, he was fully dressed, standing in front of the mirror , this was it, the day he redefines his destiny , still looking at himself in the mirror he heard someone softly knock on the door , the door opened and Maidservant park came in, Lee Kwon looked at her , while Maidservant Park did the same, " it is ready", said Maidservant Park, Lee Kwon nodded, " it's time", he said.
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There were chants echoing from the crowd , the crowd that was a witness to the duel of destiny, Lee Kwon was wearing a mask covering half of his face, he sighed , his heart was pounding, he clenched his fist, this was it , the day he had been waiting for , the metal gated drew open as he emerged out . He looked up and saw the Queen sitting there, a stoic face staring blankly at the ring , her expression was sinister , what did she have up her sleeve?, the Queen stood up, her head held high, " Lee Kwon , accept defeat now or face your opponent now and be disgraced ", there was silence in the crowd , Lee Kwon took one step forward then bowed his head low, " let's begin the duel", he said lifting his head up , Seugh min was there , Seugh min nodded gently with a soft smile like some kind of encouragement, the Queen smiled, " very well then,....let the duel begin , the first to fall loses", said the Queen as drums began to play violently in a disorganized yet rythmical manner , at that moment a second gate opened opposite his , Lee Kwon stood firm as another individual emerged from the opposing gate, a man with his hands chained together , he had messy brown hair and a rogued face , his face was thread bare , it was clear that this was one of the prisoners from the palace , Lee Kwon looked up at the Queen who smiled evily , something was definitely going on , through his bushy bangs the prisoner raised his head up looking at Lee Kwon dead in the eye , you could tell how emotionless he was with those empty eyes , and then he smirked looking up at the Queen who also smiled and nodded at him, Lee Kwon felt nervous all of a sudden , what were they up to , the guards came in and unlocked the chain of the prisoners hand, the man soothed his wrist as the chain was tight and had left marks on his wrist then another set of guards came in , one went to Lee Kwon and the other to the prisoner , carrying something like a pillow with a sword laid on it , Lee Kwon looked at the sword , the royal seal on the handle, this was it , the day he had so anxiously been waiting for , but looking at the sword now he felt his hands tremble , this wasn't the time for him to get scared, he had gotten this far , he could not lose today , he finally took the sword , it's cold base on his hand and the shiny metallic surface, the clean sharpened edges , soon another trumpet was blown an indication that the duel should begin.
Lee Kwon narrowed his eyes , he took a stance and clenched the handle of his sword tightly , the opponent smirked evily, his eyes completely darkened , Lee Kwon tilted his head slightly and there it began and with a flash his opponent darted towards him right before his eyes and aggressively swung his sword at him, Lee Kwon narrowly dodged this attack , he heaved , the opponent raised his sword to strike again but Lee Kwon immediately blocked it , beads of sweat on his forehead, he didn't want to be nervous , deep down he was terrified trying to keep himself from trembling , he forcefully darted the prisoner sword away from his and there it began , the aggressive clanking of swords , the metallic sharp edge scraped against each other forth bringing some sparks all thought the prisoner just grinned , Lee Kwon didn't have time to think about whatever this prisoner was planning to do , right now his aim was to win this and in one of his thoughts he felt something sharp run through his back , the once bustling arena was quickly silenced as Thay all watched for the early demise of the bastard son, who did some impulsive thinking and set himself on the dance of death,Lee Kwon won't fall , he looked up at the Queen who smiled back, eventhough he won or lost , her aim was just to get rid of him , that was how much she hated him and the same hatred she gave him was double for him towards her, he clenched his sword , his teeth clenched against each other , there he swiftly turned and mercilessly struck the man that had struck him at the back , the blood of the man splashed on him , the man who had struck him on the neck , fresh blood pumped out of the open wound on his neck as he fell loosely to the floor , the Queen stood up , the whole arena was shocked , Seugh min was wide eyed , Lee Kwon killing someone , Lee Kwon just killed someone
" Halt,.....stop....what are you doing, you are not suppose to kill anyone , that is not the rule", yelled the Queen, lee Kwon struck his sword aggressively on the floor holding the base , and then he smirked loosely tilted his his head and his eyes had no emotion, then he swiftly turned over to his other opponent and their battling exchange began , not minding the Queens words , their swords clashed at a point , both refusing to let go , the edges of the sword grazed against each other making an irritating screeching noise , the prisoner forcefully threw kwons sword off him and with a swift move he sliced Lee Kwon on his arm cutting him deeply , there was a gasp in the crowd , the Queen who was so tensed before smiled in satisfaction as she say down back on her chair , Lee Kwon grimaced in pain but he didn't have time to do that , the prisoner launched towards him again, Lee Kwon on immediate instinct kicked him hard on his knee making him kneel to the floor and with that moment to spare he swung his sword violently, knocking the sword off the hand of the prisoner , finishing it with a classical and elegant kick straight on the face, immediately the prisoner fell to his loss, there was pin drop silence , the Queen not believing her eyes stood up adamantly and walked out to the arena , she couldn't accept it, she wouldn't accept it , Lee Kwon plummeted to the floor backing away from the Queen as the mummurs echoed in the midst of the crowd , she tilted her head quizzically as she came closer to him , she figured he looked different, his appearance from his back wasn't Lee Kwon. , her eyes widened, " you aren't Lee Kwon, are you?, Lee Kwon has not enhanced to the level of killing someone and his opponent won't have easily been defeated, who are you....", she said trembling knowing in her heart who it was , the man slowly turned and faced the Queen, as he slowly removed his mask, his eyes were puffy, he was oozing out so much blood , but through the midst of his agonizing and obvious pain he still managed to break into a smile as he softly said, " mother....., you can stop now", said Min yu and with that he lost consciousness , the Queen who had been standing there all wide eyed in shock as she trembled ,her staff fell to the floor looking at the pale Min yu on the ground she quickly rushed to him, there were visible mummurs in the crowd , the Queen placed her hand on his wound trying to stop the bleeding as she cried , " call the doctor,..., CALL THE DOCTOR NOW .....", she yelled, the audience were violently escorted by the guards , pushing them hastingly, Seugh min had already gone inside in a hurry to call the doctor when he saw some guards rushing towards him in a panic , their eyes looked like they had been crying and fear had washed upon them seeing Seugh min.
They all knelt down and began crying , " what is that matter, get up,...., I'm in a hurry, I don't have time for this", said Seugh min impatiently as he attempted to drag his feet away from the grasping guards , " it...,it's the King,...my Prince,....the King is dead".