Shinju: Three years after the death of Hae Soo

"I can make you head of the Kang clan, even a king." Princess Yeonhwa leaned over, whispering into her lover's ear. The blanket pooled around her thighs as she slid off him.

"Really? I doubt that." Kang Yul grunted as he sat up on the edge of her bed. He stamped his foot down into his boot, then tied his belt around his hanbok. Peering down at the king's consort, he wondered if Gwangjong would care about her taking another man to her bed. She was beautiful, but too ambitious for his taste.

He had heard tales of the Wolf Dog. His uncles had tried to kill him in subtle ways so as to not to be subjected to the wrath of Taejo for murdering a prince. Instead the abuse had birthed a fearsome legend mothers used to frighten their children with when they refused to behave properly. There were tales of hideous deeds the king had committed as a young prince before he returned to Songak. Not just of wolves being slaughtered, but also of men. "It's over. My father has forbidden me to return as a guard to you."

Desperate, Yeonhwa crawled over the messed up bed to Kang Yul, the blanket falling from her nude body. "With your help, the Kang clan can demand the king give me back my son and make me first queen." She demanded, grabbing his shirt. "I am the only woman who has given him a son. Not that bitch who was too weak to survive and not his present queen. She only delivered a girl child. Only me! Only a daughter of Taejo should be first queen."

She pressed her lips against his as he tugged at her hands. She's mad, he thought as he turned from her kiss. A chill ran through him for the first time. When he first met her as a hostage, he had felt sorry for her. She was beautiful, yet Gwangjong had exiled her and Queen Hwangbo to Shinju. Wang Wook, her brother and head of the Hwangbo clan had been imprisoned within his own residence. It was by the king's decree although he had yet to issue a statement as to the extend of his eighth brother's crimes.

Within the first year Princess Yeonhwa had been in Shinju, Gwangjong's first queen had died in childbed and he declared his first wife, Princess Kyunghwa as his second queen. Then he returned to Shinju to take Yeonhwa as his consort. She had delivered a son nine months later. A child she would never see or hold in her arms. The nurses had swaddled the new crown prince up and left Shinju. He remembered hearing her screaming voice, hoarse, demanding, then pleading to see her child. Finally, Lady Jo Seung had the princess consort drugged then cleaned up by the ladies-in-waiting.

Kang Yul had hated Gwangjong for his cruel treatment of her. But now, he was not sure if it had been pity or love he had felt back then. He felt trapped by her dark secrets and insidious nature. He understood the king's reasoning a bit more. Why was he here? He forcefully pushed her away. His father was right, he was weak. Stupid for getting too close into the king's affairs. He knew too much.

"She promised it would look like the child died of a fever." Yeonhwa laughed, then sneered at him. "You sent the maid to me, so you are just as guilty. He will learn. I will take what he loves the most away from him. How dare he treat me like this!" Her bitter laughter followed him as he hurried down the hall.

Men were all alike, she scowled in disgust as she lowered down into the warm water to wash off his seed and scent. Lady Jo Seung had looked the other way when she seduced the nephew of Kang Pyo Min, the younger brother to Consort Kang. She had nothing to loose after her mother was sent back to Hwangju to remain with Wook whom Pyeha had allowed to marry.

A maid placed a towel around Yeonhwa as she stepped out of the bath. She watched as the girl stirred a small herbal mixture into her tea which would induce heavy bleeding. Yeonhwa sipped it with a sigh. Hae Soo. Even dead, that bitch was still in her way.

Hae Soo had changed Wang So, the only man she had ever thought to love as a girl. Now, giving herself to Wang Yo had been practical if he could have kept his promise to divorce his first wife and make her queen. Instead, Wook had betrayed Yo with her assistance. How could she have foreseen him surviving, let alone becoming a king. It was a miscalculation she paid dearly for every since.

But So had been different. No man had ever risked as much for her as he had for Hae Soo. Why? When he could have had more power with her by his side as queen. How could he not see that? She slammed the cup down on the oak table. "Enough! Leave!" She snapped at the maid drying her hair, backhanding the girl away.

"Yeh, princess." The girl bowed before Yeonhwa, then suddenly, the maid gasped and fell to her knees in fear.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I said, get out!" She growled at the girl, raising her hand to strike her with the cup.

"You haven't changed at all, sister." A deep masculine voice calmly spoke from behind her.

A shiver of part fear and desire ran through Yeonhwa as she pasted a sweet smile on her face. "Pyeha." From the shadows he appeared, rivulets of blood dripping from his sword. He did not look like the king, but a ghost from the past. Dressed in black with the left side of his face covered by a leather mask, his long hair tied up in a topknot flowing down his back, stood the Wolf Dog.

Ignoring the blood, she gracefully bowed her head to So. "What brings you to Shinju, Pyeha?" Turning to the maid, she ordered, "Please, let Lady Jo Seung know the king is here so she can see to his comforts."

"There is no need for that, sister." So said coolly, a cold fire behind his eyes. "Leave this room at once and do not return." He commanded. The maid whose paralyzed limbs finally served her, flew out of the room.

So stalked toward his proud sister as she stood her ground. "Wh..?" She gasped out as he grabbed her around her slim neck. Fear entered her eyes and she clawed at his tight grasp as he lifted her up and slammed her against the granite wall of the bath. She struggled against the weight of him, her face purple, then went still as he crushed her windpipe. He let her lifeless body fall to the floor at his feet. He closed his eyes, then left through a long forgotten stairway.

As he exited the building, he gazed up at a red full moon. "I'm sorry, Soo-ya, but I couldn't let her take our daughter from me." Mounting his horse, he rode away from Shinju.