Dokja looked around, but the only thing he saw was a white, stuck in an empty but infinite space of nothing.Wondering if there would be something waiting for him if he walked far enough, or if there was even a way out,Dokja started traversing the plane. But with each set he took, a scene started to paint itself into life from his footsteps, expanding and growing more detailed with every second that passed.
It started with a few blades of grass gently swaying together. Then it meandered all over the ground, a patch of brown soil beneath his feet filled with crawling insects and pebbles that eventually expanding to larger boulders and cliffs in the distance. From there, towering trees emerged to make an expansive forest, animals lying dormant within their crevices and thin branches swaying in the breeze. Eventually, the surroundings were completed as the night sky had replaced the blank white ceiling about, countless stars twinkling down him, glowing fireflies flying around as if trying to replicate them.
Taking in the serene atmosphere, Dokja continued walking until he stumbled upon a magnificent waterfall, it's rushing tides blending into gentle ripples as it entered the calm lake below. There, he caught sight of a man splashing around in the lake's edge, the water only coming up to his calves. He may have been dancing about, but his uncoordinated movement was more akin to childish playing. The man's laughter rang out through the night, deafening the persistent chirp of the cicadas.
As Dokja contemplated whether to approach him, he noticed a taller man emerging from the trees and walking towards the figure in the lake. That latter caught sight of the approaching man and smiled warmly at him, the two staring at each other in a trance. Without hesitation, they went to warmly embrace each other, only breaking apart for a moment to share a kiss.
Dokja quickly averted his gaze, not wanting to intrude on such a private moment between two strangers. But with nowhere else to go and the two men seemingly the only people in the area, Dokja eventually glanced back at the two men. They were still doting on one another, the taller man especially showing his affection towards the other.
However, before he could observe any further, the scene quickly faded away, returning to the white background. The last thing Dokja caught sight of was the taller man's eyes, glowing with a golden light.
Dokja's eyes opened, and he found himself staring at the ceiling of his bedroom.
"…What was that all about?" he wondered out loud.
Dokja kept lying on his bed, lost in thought, and staring at nothing. He was brought back to reality by a knock on the door. His butler's voice called out, "Young master, are you already awake?"
Startled, Dokja quickly composed himself sat up, "Yes, I am, go ahead and enter" The butler opened the door and approached Dokja with a respectful bow. "Young master, a letter has arrived," he announced. Dokja nodded and took the offered letter, though confusion sparked within him as he recognized the sender of the letter. It was from Yoo Sangah, the saintess. Curiosity mixed with a hint of apprehension as he carefully opened the letter to read its contents.
--
Dear Sir Dokja
While I know we've only met a handful of times, I'd like to ask you a favor. A special occasion is coming up, so I'd like to buy a gift for lady Sooyoung but have no clue as to what. With you being her closest friend, I wanted to ask you if you would be free to accompany me in search of a gift.
Kind regards,
Yoo Sangah
--
Even though her explanation was understandable enough, Dokja still found himself shocked that she'd bother to ask him for assistance. In the novel, Yoo Sangah had always seemed too perfect to be real; graceful, refined, and knowledgeable about the empire's affairs to a degree that rivalled Lee Seolhwa. The main difference between the two was the air they gave off. Lee Seolhwa was subtle and quiet, not noticed until she wanted to be noticed. But Yoo Sangah's commanded everyone's respect by necessity, being the center of the church and the idol of the religious sect of the empire. While Lee Seolhwa was inherently connected to Kim Dokja, Yoo Sangah always seemed so out of reach from him.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Dokja grabbed a pen and paper from his nightstand a wrote a quick message to the Saintess, agreeing to her request and telling her to meet in a few hours and then handed it off to the butler to get ready for the day. Traces of his strange dream lingered in the back of his mind, but he decided not to dwell on it too much, with everything going on it wouldn't be best to pile on more unnecessary worries onto himself. It was nothing a refreshing shower couldn't get rid of.
----
Joonghyuk sat at his desk, engrossed in signing paperwork without acknowledging the presence of the red-haired woman seated in front of him. It seemed as if he was completely oblivious to her existence, focusing solely on his task at hand. Only when he completed looking through a whole stack of papers did he briefly shift his attention towards the woman, causing her to flinch nervously. With an air of authority, he commanded her to speak. However, his eyes quickly returned to his paperwork, seeing it as a waste of time to give her all of his attention when he could continue working.
"umm....Sir Dokja hasn't done anything too taxing on his body, he can mainly be seen reading novels, sometimes his children also join him with their own books." Asuka Ren informed him, too scared to look at her master in the eye.
When she finished speaking, silence filled the air, making her increasingly nervous. However, to her surprise, Joonghyuk spoke up once more.
"… How is Kim Dokja's health? Does he eat his meals like he's supposed to or does he skip them? The fool also had a tendency to read his novels instead of sleeping, how many hours a day does he sleep. Tch, that's why he's too thin,he's not taking care of himself nearly as much as he should. If I wrapped my hands around his hips, my fingers would touch"
Asuka stood there, perplexed and bewildered, Joonghyuk continued to ask a series of questions, expressing his concern for Sir Dokja's overall well-being. The information he'd told her to gather about Kim Dokja had slowly started to get stranger and stranger. If she had to pinpoint a time when it started happening, she'd say it was around the time the Underworld Ducal announced their son's engagement to Min Jiwon.
After the whole ordeal of the prince and Kim Dokja's disappearance, the prince had for some reason commanded her to never show herself to Kim Dokja, only allowing her to observe him from a distance and oversee the other agents he's spent to spy on the heir. With the increasingly specific information that she'd been requested to gather, It made Asuka's job just a bit harder.
"W-Well sir, his family, especially the duchess, make sure that he eats all the meals he's served every day, and from what the other agents report, the meals themselves are well balanced in nutritional value. As for his sleeping habits…neither I nor the others have gotten the chance to properly document it…"
Asuka's perplexed expression remained as she glanced at Hyunsung and Jihye, who appeared equally puzzled and shrugged in response. Joonghyuk instructed her to report to him in the future regarding Sir Dokja's sleeping habits, before dismissing her. Without further acknowledgment, he returned his focus to the paperwork, resuming his writing. Asuka, feeling a mix of relief and lingering confusion, quietly left the room, leaving Joonghyuk engrossed in his work.
Hyunsung and Jihye exchanged glances, getting into a wordless argument with each other. Jihye then gathered her courage to approach Joonghyuk and respectfully asked if she could pose a question to him.
"What is it?" he asked, not taking his eyes off his papers.
"Master, are you....are you in love with that ahjussi?" Jihye asked, a hesitant tilt to her voice. Joonghyuk paused his writing and shifted his attention towards her. "Oh, err, I guess it's better to ask if you're still in love with him…" He looked at her blankly, his mind momentarily stopped working because of her question. After a brief moment of contemplation, Joonghyuk let out a small sigh before responding.
"No, I'm not...we're just companions, nothing more." Joonghyuk's response left Jihye and Hyunsung baffled, their master obviously had to feel something for Kim Dokja.
The only people whose wellbeing he looked out for this much were Yoo Mia and Lee Seolhwa, and even then he never got to the level of sending several agents to spy on their every move. No, their had to be something more to their relationship… Joonghyuk wouldn't let a simple 'companion' sit in his lap in front of all the nobles at a royal banquet. However, the knights chose not to press the matter further. At best the prince would just deny having any relationship with him, and at worst he'd lash out at the two for talking about useless things.
Joonghyuk let out an exasperated sigh at the two, " Listen, I don't know what bothersome thoughts are going through your mind, but I mean what I said. Don't bother overthinking i—"
Right as he was about to finish his sentence, a sense of uneasiness seemed to settle upon him. Something was amiss, he felt it, but he couldn't pick out exactly what it was. It was like an itch he couldn't quite reach. His eyebrows furrowed as he processed the sensation, his usually strong mental fortitude cracked by it as anxiety bubbled up in his body.
In the midst of this uncertainty, Joonghyuk found himself nervously awaiting what would unfold next, wanting this feeling to leave his body already.
The doors to his study swung open, loudly banging against the wall as visibly sweating royal guard rushed into the room, causing Joonghyuk, Jihye, and Hyunsung to go on edge. "I'm very sorry to interrupt your work, Your Highness, but there's been an urgent message from the Underworld Dukedom. They say that their heir, Sir Kim Dokja, has been injured in a targeted attack and request your presence to aide in finding the culprit."
Upon hearing this, Joonghyuk's head immediately filled with distress, overriding anything else. Without hesitation, he sprinted towards the door, ignoring the calls from Hyunsung and Jihye to wait. His sole focus was on reaching Sir Dokja as quickly as possible, nothing else mattered. Hyunsung and Jihye exchanged concerned glances before following suit, hoping for the sake of the prince that Kim Dokja was okay.
-----
Flashback...
"Thank you so much for accompanying me today, Sir Dokja! I know my request was a bit last minute, but I've been stuck for a long time about what to get for her and no one knows her as well as you!" Lady Sangah bowed to him once more, her voice filled with gratitude with a bit of bashfulness.
The two had walked for a few hours through the capital's streets from one miscellaneous shop to another, sifting through dresses, books, jewelry, desserts, flowers, and other items for the perfect gift for the writer. Knight Heewon followed them at a distance, and stood guard outside the shops they entered, not wanting to intrude on their time together
Sir Dokja smiled at her, having genuinely enjoyed his time out with her. "You're welcome, Lady Sangah, it was my
pleasure to accompany you. I hope Sooyoung will like the necklace we picked out for her."
Sangah nodded, her eyes shining with anticipation. "I'm sure she will. You have a good eye for gifts, Sir Dokja." With the necklace in hand, they continued their walk, excited to present their chosen gift to Sooyoung. Getting the chance to ask her about it, Sangah shyly told him that the anniversary of her first meeting with Han Sooyoung was coming up, and the two women always made sure to celebrate it in some way, whether they got gifts for each other or simply set aside some time to spend with one another.
Lady Sangah was wondering out loud what Han Sooyoung would do for her this year, her head stuck in a lovestruck daze, Dokja amusedly noted. He was about to joke that maybe Sooyoung would write a heartfelt poem for her when the two of them heard a shout from Jung Heewon, along with the sound of heavy clomps pounding against the stone path, the steps rapidly approaching them. The two of them whipped their head to the side to see a horse wildly charging towards Sangah from the right, the harnesses attached to its face and body flailing about behind it. The carriage had been attached to the horse careened into a nearby shop as the coachman jumped of his seat to escape being injured.
With only a split second to act, Dokja body moved purely out of instinct as he tackled Lady Sangah out of the horse's
path, wrapping his arms protectively around her. However, in his hastiness to protect her, Dokja hadn't bothered bracing himself for when he hit the ground . An explosion of pain spread through the side of his skull as it impacted the stone street. Dokja curled in on himself, dazed and numb from the adrenaline running through his body.
The last thing he registered was Sangah's panicked expression and Heewon's distant cries of his name before his eyes closed.
Knight Heewon and Sangah, now left with an unconscious Sir Dokja, panicked as blood started flowing out of his head. Heewon took Dokja's handkerchief and used it to put pressure on the wound, then snapped at Lady Sangah to try to find someone who could help him. Lady Sangah, who had gone into a daze as she looked at Dokja's body, was
brought back to reality and nodded at the knight, standing up and gathering her bearings.
Looking around at the crowd that had formed from the commotion the wild carriage had made, Sangah called out for help, hoping someone nearby would be able to help them. As she anxiously searched for aid to arrive, her gaze always went back to Sir Dokja, her heart filled with concern for his well-being.