"This... This is the one that has helped me," Jung Ho said while holding an old book with a brown cover.

"What is that, My Lord?" Chil Yook asked. Lady Min's eyes squinted, trying to recognize the brown book. After a few seconds, her eyes grew large upon remembering the brown book, which the Prime Minister had read constantly during their trip from Tang, going back to Seorabeol.

Lady Min remembered the moment inside the palanquin when the Prime Minister had scolded her for asking what book he was reading. So that was that book!

Jung Ho replied, distracting Lady Min from her thinking, "The Almanac of Northern Wei. This is the one that I used to predict the eclipse."

"My Lord, I do not understand. What is the other almanac I got from Minister Dae Wong?" Chil Yook asked.

Jung Ho smirked, reminiscing the start of the whole mess. 

[A MONTH AGO - TANG EMPIRE]

The Prime Minister had a conversation with the emperor of the Tang Empire in a pavilion above an artificial lake. As Jung Ho admired the exquisite architecture of the entire palace, the Emperor handed him the old, brown book.

"Your Majesty, what is this?" Jung Ho said after sipping his black tea.

"Prime Minister Jung Ho, that is the ancient almanac of Northern Wei—the most accurate almanac ever existed. It comes with all the calculations of all major heavenly body events: eclipse, solstice, equinox, seasonal changes—everything!" the Tang Emperor said.

Jung Ho's eyes grew large, knowing he was holding a very precious possession.

The Tang emperor smiled. "You can take that. Consider it as a present for Silla has always been Tang's consistent trading partner. Send my regards to your king when you come back.

"If you worry too much, I have ordered my priestesses to create a copy especially you."

Jung Ho took another sip and bowed his head. "Your Majesty, I know that this book is not for free. Why do you want to give this to a weak kingdom like Silla, considering that this almanac is one of a kingdom's most valuable asset?"

The Emperor laughed and shook a finger at Jung Ho. "That is the reason why I really like you. You are frank! You are intelligent! Well, I will go straight to my point. Not only an almanac you can possess, but you can also have all the things that we enjoy... in one condition."

Jung Ho's brows met as his eyes narrowed in curiosity. "What is it, Your Majesty?"

The Emperor sipped his tea and blurted, "Make Silla... our territory!"

He continued, "If you have succeeded, you can have all the privileges that this empire is enjoying. I have heard that you are still not in good conditions with Balhae. Make Silla, Tang's territory, and these disputes will end. I would be more willing to help. I know you would like my offer."

~~•~~

Chil Yook and Lady Min were surprised upon hearing the Prime Minister's story. The two could not believe that their master had played a wager with the Tang's Emperor just for his plan to succeed.

"So it was the Emperor of Tang who had helped you?" Chil Yook asked.

"I have a different feeling for this, Your Excellency. I trust your skills, but I guess you have just had an irrevocable wager with the Tang Emperor, now that you have taken the almanac," Lady Jang worried.

Jung Ho sniggered, "Trust me. I know just how to play with this."

Chil Yook suddenly cut in and asked another question, "How about the almanac that Lady Jang had?"

The Prime Minister smirked, remembering his conspiracy with Lady Jang.

~~•~~

[A DAY BEFORE THE ECLIPSE - MT. TOHAM TEMPLE]

The day when the King convinced Lady Jang to show him all of the things she was using to predict the eclipse, unknown to him, Lady Jang met with the Prime Minister secretly at her sacred room, where she did all of her rituals.

"Lady Jang, it has been two weeks since you have received the almanac that I had delivered to you, and yet you still do not have results. I need the exact time and date of the eclipse." The Prime Minister glowered.

"Forgive me, Your Lordship. I have tried my best already. I have searched all around Silla, asked all abbots I know and none of them know how to read this almanac because it was their first time to encounter these strange languages."

"Not my problem! You said that you will try to prove yourself to me. This is it. So what now? I need results!"

Suddenly, a monk entered the sacred room. "Your Lordship, the King is outside, and he wants to talk to Lady Jang."

"My Lord, the King is outside now. What am I going to do?"

"Let us delay it while I escape through this secret passage. Tell the King that Lady Jang is doing some sacred prayers, that she cannot be disturbed," Jung Ho ordered.

"Yes, My Lord." The monk left the sacred room to inform the King who was waiting outside the temple. The Prime Minister tilted a dragon figure attached against the wall revealing a secret passage to the exit.

~~•~~

After he remembered that day, Jung Ho lifted a brow. "That almanac..." the Prime Minister paused; the two looked eagerly at his sardonic eyes.

"... is fake!"

The Prime Minister grinned. "It was not an almanac about Astrology. That was about natural disasters such as earthquakes and storms. I have purposely given her a fake almanac."

After spilling his big secret, he laughed, leaving the two speechless.

"What? I cannot believe it, My Lord! All this time, we thought that the almanac that we had was the true one. You were very furious when the King had it already. You even imprisoned Lady Jang, and ordered me to follow Minister Dae Wong to Anju," Chil Yook exclaimed in a shaky tone, then he laughed.

"Why did you do it, My Lord? Why did you give Lady Jang that fake almanac?" Lady Min asked.

"Well, I just thought the King might come to a point where he needs to blatantly ask Lady Jang to give him everything that she used for the eclipse. I also thought that he might be suspicious about her because of what I did when we were young. I was the one who had helped her to be in her position. The King might have thought that she is working for me. That was the reason why I needed to trick her, you, and everyone."

He continued, "That is my only way to win this. I should trick my allies, to trick my enemy. He was very convinced that the almanac that he had taken from Lady Jang will help him," the Prime Minister said.

"I have no words. No one in this lifetime could ever deceive you, My Lord. No one can oppose you!" Lady Min claimed.

~~•~~

Dae Wong finally reached the palace. He was too agitated, knowing that he was too late. He saw the King at the center of the palace courtyard, gloomy and crying.

"Sire, my apologies for not coming on time. I can explain." Dae Wong quickly jumped down from the horse and ran to the King.

Jae Joong sobbed. "It is fine. It is my fault. I am the one to blame."

"No, Your Majesty. Please do not say that. If you do not mind, please let us go to your chamber. We do not want you to get sick. You need to change your robe, Sire." Dae Wong assisted the King, wrapping an arm around his neck.

"One more thing, Sire. I have something to tell you. I know that this might not be the right time, but this is very important."

When the King went back to his chamber, he was assisted by royal maids in changing his robe. His face was blank and his eyes were swollen. Later on, he sat at the table, gathering all his strength to talk to Dae Wong.

"What is it that you want to say?" the King asked, his voice was nearly inaudible.

"Regarding the almanac, Sire."

"What about it?"

The minister reminisced the time when the monk read the almanac.

~~•~~

"What? Are you sure about that? I mean... How could it be?"

"Yes, you got that right, Minister. I am just reading what was in this almanac."

"So are you telling me that the eclipse cannot be predicted using this one?"

"Exactly. This is an almanac about reading the storms and other natural disasters like earthquakes."

"B-Bu-But the Head Priestess said that the eclipse will not happen because of the changes in the movements of the planets and the stars."

"The stars and the planets have nothing to do with the occurrence of the eclipse. It is just the Sun, Moon, and the Earth. That Priestess was lying to you, Minister."

Dae Wong gasped. "This is bad! We really need to go back!"

~~•~~

The King's hands slipped on the chair trying to absorb what the minister just said.

"Sire! Are you all right?" Dae Wong quickly helped the King. Jae Joong breathed heavily, sweating at the same time. He clenched his fits and tried to console himself.

"W-Wh-What? Fake?" the King stammered.

"My apologies, Sire. We were tricked by your brother."

"How could this happen?" Jae Joong put his head down on the table and clutched it with both of his hands.

"Bring Lady Jang to me right now!"

~~•~~

As the whole palace had encountered chaos, leaving people with mixed emotion. Lady Jang, on the other hand, felt an extreme sense of guilt and fear. When she escaped, she thought of escaping from Silla to a place where no one could recognize her. First, she needed to go to Mount Toham temple to get her important things. When she was on her way, walking down the trail in a deciduous forest, she kept on thinking about the whole ceremony fiasco.

"The eclipse. It happened! It is going to be my end now," Lady Jang repeatedly said, looking down the forest grounds. Suddenly, she felt a strong gust of wind blowing towards her direction going up to the mountains. She just ignored it and kept walking but deep inside she had a hint that something or someone was with her in the forest. Turning around and looking at nothing but tall trees, she continued walking, but this time it was a bit faster. As her steps got heavier and faster, her heart pounded, feeling like it was coming out from her chest.

Jang Ju Yeon, focus! You are just paranoid. It is nothing.

She tried to calm herself down. A few moments later, someone grabbed on her two arms and placed it backward. She did not had the time to scream because she was gagged by a piece of cloth, and she felt groggy. It was a man in black with his face covered that carried her like she was a sack of rice. She was half-awake and half-asleep. Her vision started to blur. She tried her best not to fall asleep, but there were deep voices coming from three men which served as a lullaby to her.

Finally, she lost her consciousness.

"Where are we going to put her?" asked by an unknown man in black with his nose and mouth covered by a black cloth.

"Where is the sack?" another man asked, who seemed to be their leader. The other one picked a sack from the horse, and he assisted the two other men in putting Lady Jang inside.

"All right, let us go!" The three mounted on their horses and moved away.

~~•~~

Lady Jang woke up in a dark, underground room. She was seated in a wooden chair in the center—her hands and legs were tied. Her vision was still blurry as she started to look around. She squinted her eyes because of the annoying light coming from torch posts on the corners.

Oh no! Am I back in that cell?

Looking around, she saw big prison cells, with detainees inside, either solo, pair, or a group. The rancid odor of combined blood, urine, and probably some patches of human waste fraught her senses, helping her to stay awake. She raised her head and looked above, seeing dim-red lamps. She finally confirmed that it was not where she was illegally detained. As she started to remember how she ended up in that room, she heard a voice of a man coming down from the stairs on her right. She tried to figure out who that was, but she could not recognize the voice very well. The man approached and stood in front of her. She scanned him from his boots and up to his face.

She gasped. "Oh no!"

__________

NOTES:

Northern Wei (北魏) - a small dynasty located south of China.