In the Province of Manno, in the far northwest of Seorabeol, two yellow group nangdos journeyed to a noble man's house for a special mission, coming from the King. The house was a wide bungalow with a garden outside, filled with colorful flowers. It was surrounded by tall, brick walls and was guarded by purple group hwarangs.

"We have a letter for the royal matron. This is from the King. Is she inside?"

One of the hwarang guards went inside and informed the royal matron, who was sewing a pink cloak in the porch.

"My Lady, a palace hwarang is outside. They said they have a letter for you."

The old royal matron, just as the age of Lady Min curiously went out and talked to the palace hwarangs, "Yes? You said that you have a letter from the King?"

Upon giving the letter from the King, the two yellow group nangdos bowed and left. Curious, the old royal matron went inside the house and read the letter. Her face brightened, and she almost jumped in joy.

"Young Lord, good news! It is a letter from the King. He is asking you to go back to the palace and report to his chambers. This is it!"

A ten-year old boy wearing a green robe while reading at the table was surprised, "Lady Seo, is that true? Can I come back?"

"Yes, Lord Jung Min, you can come back to the palace."

Jung Min bowed his head, stood, and walked away, "What for? My own father abandoned me here. He is busy doing his job as the Prime Minister. He does not want to see me. In fact, he thinks I am bad luck for him. He even said that he lost my mother because of me."

Lady Seo consoled her master, embracing him from the back, "Young Lord, wait! Please do not say that. I am sure your father did not mean to say that to you."

"Look at me, Young Lord. You are a special kid. I have seen your talents and your strengths at a young age. But above them all, I have seen your good heart. I believe in you."

She placed her right palm in Jung Min's chest; the boy felt the warmth of love he was longing for years from his father.

Smiling, Lady Seo asked Jung Min, "Shall we get ready, Young Lord?"

Jung Min bit his thin, red lips, "Yes, let us go. I want to meet my uncle, the King. He is more concerned for me more than my father."

~~•~~

Back in the palace, as the Prime Minister saunter down the palace grounds, he paused and raised his right arm. Seeing the Prime Minister twitch his fingers, Lady Min knew that it was a signal for her to go near her master.

Lady Min bowed, "What is that, My Lord?"

The Prime Minister twitched his index finger, signaling Lady Min to come closer. The elderly matron leaned her cheek closer to the Prime Minister's face.

"I will go to the prison. I want to talk to Lady Jang," he whispered.

"Yes, My Lord." Lady Min bowed her head.

Jung Ho went outside the palace riding his small, crimson, one-man palanquin. With just a few servants and two hwarangdos, he went to the forest at the eastern portion of the kingdom, few miles away from the capital. At first, the forest was revitalizing. The vibrant colors of the towering living skyscrapers spellbound everyone passing through. Resonant orchestra of the chirping birds perked the tired souls of the servants carrying the palanquin. However, as they moved to the deeper portions of the forest, unknown to most people, the elements changed. Archaic trees with bulging roots over-arched the ground, as lichens and dead foliage had enveloped. The tangled, gnarling thorny vines from one oak-brown tree to another blocked the supernal gleam of light coming from the high sun. A miasmatic hood of putrescent organic matters overthrew the once sweet scents of the spring asters.

"Halt!" a hwarangdo ordered, and the servants dropped the palanquin on the floor gently.

The Prime Minister stepped out from his palanquin. He walked shortly through tall, withering shrubs, passed through a couple of ancient-brown bushes, cleared the witch-brown tangled vines, revealing a small house. The house looked abandoned with some fallen branches of trees on its roof. On the inside, it looked like storage of kimchi with big jars covered with a loincloth. Lady Min removed a pile of dead leaves and branches from the floor, exposing a wooden door. She opened it with a silver key, and it led to an underground. The Prime Minister went down the stairs leading to a dark, poorly ventilated subterranean dungeon where people were illegally detained. Torches provided the sheath of light needed, casting away the cloak of total darkness. There were ten, small prison cells, five on the left, and five on the right, having holes on the walls for air to come in.

Faint whimpers and groans were heard inside. Unfortunately, for others who were detained for months or worse years, crouching on the side, saving their last breaths and energy perhaps, while waiting for their inevitable demise was the ideal thing to do. However, those who were relatively new had the energy to stick out their arms out of their cells, pleading for a small glimpse of mercy from the Prime Minister. One of them was Lady Jang, who wore a plain, white robe, stripped shortly from her title.

Lady Min walked to the detained Head Priestess' cell. "Our Lord is here to talk to you." her voice was cold and shattering as a glacier.

"My Lord," Lady Jang uttered softly, her throat was dry as a desert. She stuck her arm outside the cell while kneeling on the wooden floor.

The Prime Minister stood in front of Lady Jang, looking down to the poor woman. "You will be released today to help the King in the ceremony. By the way, I have already read your mail. You were saying that the Queen would have twins. It seems like Chil Yook was right with his reports. After the ceremony, we need to do something with the twins."

The elderly matron opened the cell, and the poor, weak woman kissed the Prime Minister's feet repeatedly.

~~•~~

At the Queen's chamber, everyone seemed to be busy, not with the preparation for the solar eclipse, but for something more important: the delivery of the Queen. According to Dong Hee, the Queen was set to deliver her babies later at night.

The Queen felt excruciating pain in her tummy, then eventually to her hips, until it spread completely in her body. She could not describe how painful the feeling was. Maybe the word painful itself would be an understatement. The contractions never stopped, not just in her baby bump but all over her body. Even so, the Queen still managed to remind Dong Hee about their agreement.

"Please, do not forget the..."

Dong Hee gave a calming tonic to the Queen. She wished not to hear more words from her. It would just make her more restless and anxious for days, "Your Grace, please do not talk too much. Here, drink this tonic to ease your pain."

Gulping the tonic, the Queen felt a little bit groggy until she fell asleep.

~~•~~

Waiting outside the palanquin, the Prime Minister crossed his arms, stomping a foot. When Lady Min and Lady Jang came out from the bushes, he scanned Lady Jang from her braided hair in a silver pin down to her long white robe, with a touch of black motives at the ends of the sleeves. He was convinced that she was all dressed up, ready for the ceremony.

Striding towards Lady Jang, the Prime Minister cast a glowering eye, which made her flinch in fear, "Know this. I released you because of the ceremony. The whole kingdom needs your presence. But after this, pray to the Heavens numerous times because we still have a lot of things to settle."

He gripped her cheeks, before continuing, "Do you understand?"

"Ye... Yes, My Lord," Lady Jang whispered faintly.

Letting go, the letter about the twins struck the Prime Minister's curiosity for the second time. He did not have an idea on who among the twins would be the good fated or the ill-fated. He thought that maybe there would be a birthmark or any signs that could help them tell.

"I want to know something. Tell me; among the twins, who would bring good luck? the bad luck?" Jung Ho asked.

Shaking her head, Lady Jang answered his question. She seemed to be confident about her premonition. She may fail in the technical aspects like calculations, but she was sure that her premonitions were always accurate.

"I do not know any signs, My Lord. Out of nowhere, I saw a premonition about two kings, sitting on two thrones. After that, I saw the palace at its highest glory. Foreign cities are praising our kingdom, technologies have been more advanced, and all the people are festive. Then suddenly, I also saw famine, disasters, and a serious pandemic. Other empires were fighting just to conquer our kingdom and make our people their slaves."

Undeniably, Lady Jang's premonition made the Prime Minister worry a bit. With an arched eyebrow, he turned his head slowly, pursing his lips into a thin line. The once proud face became faint pale in a while. After all, he was a bit afraid of the Heavens. However, to what extent was questionable.

"That was interesting... Wait, did you say two kings on two thrones? What could that be? Never in history that our kingdom had two reigning kings at the same time. That is against the law. It must mean something else."

Lady Jang sucked her teeth, contemplating about what the Prime Minister said. He had a point. Two reigning kings were against the law.

Diving to her mystical pool of thoughts, the Head Priestess realized that she had a gift from her ancestors that no one could completely comprehend. Other people might think that it was preposterous, but she firmly believed the prophecy shall happen, whether the Prime Minister believed it or not.

"Go inside. We shall wait for Chil Yook. He might be here any moment from now," Jung Ho ordered.

When the Prime Minister entered his palanquin, the ladies followed. After a few hours, Chil Yook came. This time, he was alone. It was supposed to be high noon, but the sun's light was blocked by the tangled, old vines, near the canopy, leaving the entire forest dim and spooky.

"Where is the Prime Minister?" Chil Yook descended from his horse and asked one of the hwarangdos guarding the place.

The Prime Minister stepped out of the palanquin, hearing Chil Yook's voice.

"Chil Yook, you came just in time. Why are you alone? Where are your two nangdos?" Jung Ho asked.

"It was a long story, My Lord. They were killed by one of Dae Wong's nangdo.

"What about Dae Wong? Where is he?"

"One of his men followed as I chase the minister. He planned on shooting an arrow to me, but it missed. It did scrape my skin, but it totally impaled the minister. The nangdo took his life immediately, and I had buried his body already. Worry not, My Lord. I attended to his wounds. Minister Dae Wong is fine now..."

Chil Yook chortled, "... enjoying the view of Anju forest, while tied around a tree."

Grinning, the Prime Minister commended his henchman's work, "All right, well, the main thing... Hand it over to me now."

Chil Yook gave the almanac to the Prime Minister. As Jung Ho touched the black book, his lips went skywards, up to his earlobes. Feeling extremely satisfied and contented, his heart flutter in an extreme euphoric feeling. Finally, the King would not be able to discover the truth regarding the eclipse.

"Congratulations, My Lord."

"Thank you but not yet. Stealing the throne is not my utmost priority as of now. I should weaken his post until stepping down would be too luxurious for him."

When the two ladies got off the palanquin to see Chil Yook, Lady Jang smiled in relief, "Oh, thank Heavens! You are back."

Returning with a weak smile, Chil Yook shot a quick glance to the ladies.

Lady Min butted in, amused, "Impressive! You got that back successfully! I guess it is a good thing that even though no one among us could read that one, the King would still remain clueless about when the eclipse will happen."

"Definitely. He claimed himself as the so-called father of the nation, so it is him who should answer to the people," Jung Ho agreed, engraving a sardonic grin on his lips.

Curiosity suddenly struck Lady Jang. She asked about the hypothetical possibility of the eclipse non-occurrence, "But what if the eclipse did not really happen? What would be the sense of this whole almanac fiasco?"

The Prime Minister vehemently censured her question, "I doubt it! I really do not believe with that stupid idea that the planets' and stars' alignments have something to do with the solar eclipse, but hypothetically speaking, if the eclipse did not happen, I guess I have to implement my next plan already."

__________

NOTES:

Kimchi (김치) - a traditional Korean side-dish made from fermented vegetables, usually cabbage.