Secret Couple

“Dasom? What are you doing here?”

Dasom was one of the Sacred Guards of Garuda Squad. She came to the bar quite frequently, especially during the weekends.

The two of them were standing in the middle of the dance floor, with people dancing around them.

“No, what are you doing here, dressing like that?”

Dasom demanded an explanation. She looked and sounded mad. She was having negative thoughts about seeing Xiaohui at the bar by himself.

After explaining what was going on, Dasom exclaimed loudly.

“Those two!? Are you mad!?”

People turned their heads hearing Dasom’s shout. Because of the loud music from the speaker, the people around them didn't hear their conversation.

“W–well, they forced me to––” Xiaohui said, starting to get uneasy. He felt threatened.

“Where are they?” Dasom started panicking.

“In the VIP corner.”

“That means....”

Dasom felt like her heart was about to stop. She let Xiaohui go and immediately went to the VIP room to check on them.

Upon her arrival at the VIP corner upstairs, Dasom was welcomed by some people there.

“Dasom, here! Come and join us!”

Yara and Meixia called her out in unison, waving their hands at her.

Dasom’s nightmare had come true.

After returning from the toilet, Dasom waited for Xiaohui in front of the door of the VIP corner. She didn’t want them to be seen by others.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going here, tonight? Out of all days and places?” Dasom was irritated.

“It was just a spur of the moment. The Premier was having a hard day and the Prince and I were just trying to cheer him up.”

The two of them argued in front of the door, not seen by the others.

“Why are you here too, anyway? Did you come here alone?” Xiaohui asked her back, getting mad for being blamed all of a sudden.

“Of course not! I came with the girls from my squad. We planned this since last week, since we have a day off tomorrow,” Dasom explained, frustrated by the situation.

The two of them were thinking. They didn’t expect to bump into each other this way.

Xiaohui and Dasom were secretly dating. They had been dating for nearly a year. They were keeping this out from anyone from the Temple because if words get out, one–– or both–– of them were gonna get transferred, or worse, fired. Because the “Holy Oath” that they took prioritises duty over love; the Sacred Guards, the Holy Monastic, and the Premier were prohibited from getting married and having children. Thus, any form of romantic relationship between the Sacred Guards were strictly forbidden.

After giving it a lot of thought, they decided to keep this away from them. They then pretended like they know each other, but not close to each other.

The couple then entered the room, joining the others from the table.

“Oh, you’re back, Xiaohui! Come!”

Yujin just ordered some more drinks and snacks for the girls who had just arrived. The six of them then had a drink together.

While Yujin was talking to Yara and Dasom was talking to Xiaohui, Meixia tried to get the Premier to speak about the incident at the Lantern Festival. She wanted to make sure that she got her facts correct, making her investigation more credible. She was taking full advantage of the state Haneul was currently in, drunk and keeping no secrets.

“Pardon me for asking, Your Divinity. During the attack on the day of the Lantern Festival, did you notice anything weird or....?”

“Oh, yeah. I did.”

Meixia immediately opened her notebook and started writing down Haneul’s testimony.

“Yumi wasn’t there,” Haneul answered.

“Yumi? You mean the Princess....?”

Meixia was perplexed. She didn’t understand Yumi's relevance in the conversation.

“Don’t mind him. He just misses her,” Yujin interrupted while chuckling, giving Meixia some context to what Haneul said.

“Shut up,” Haneul said, telling him to stop spilling his secrets.

“Ah, that’s right. They know each other,” Meixa thought to herself.

Yumi who happened to be Meixia’s and Haru’s best friend from academy, was also a Princess of Horahua Royal Family. Meaning, as the younger sister of Yujin, it made sense that the Premier knew her personally.

Since this didn’t really answer her question, Meixia asked him one more time.

“I mean, regarding the enemies? Or the Sacred Guards? Or the Military Police, perhaps?”

After thinking for a while, Haneul finaly came up with something.

“Oh, yeah. I just remembered. I feel like someone didn’t fight with all their might. Like.....they didn’t want to win, or something.”

“!?”

Meixia just got some really good intel. She wrote it down on her note.

“’Them’? Is it just one person? Or more? Is this before or after the arrival of––”

“Hey, stop working and let’s have some fun. Leave that matter to the Military Police. You promised you will take a break from work, didn’t you?”

Dasom interrupted their conversation and asked Meixia to stop asking the Premier more questions. She asked her to be more focused on the party.

“Right, sorry.”

Yara then raised a glass, asking for a toast from everyone.

“Cheers!”

While gulping her drink, Meixia was thinking about what Haneul said earlier.

If what he told her was true, that meant someone–– or some people–– was not fighting seriously on purpose. That person might be the mole that she’d been looking for. If she crosschecked with what happened during the attack, that meant the suspects were: Zum, Yara, Arudo, the Lord Commander, and Saaya. The Lord Commander and Arudo were excluded since they were also investigating this together with her. That meant the ones who were fighting were Zum, Yara, and Saaya. Meixia was about to exclude Yara since she wasn’t doing anything significant to be suspected, but after what Haneul said, she put her back on the suspects list. Meixia also thought that Saaya was unlikely, since she was the Chief and the most trusted person in Garuda Squad by the Premier. Her clues pointed out to Zum, but she couldn’t be certain yet and need to find more proof.

While the rest of the group were having fun, Meixia was lost in her thoughts.

"Who could it be?"' she thought to herself.

After the guys passed out from drinking too much, the girls helped them return to the palace. The girls were annoyed that they were the ones who had to take care of them instead of the other way around, but since it was their job to do so, they had no choice but to do it anyway.

After having been caught sneaking out at night, the three of them were punished by the Lord Commander to be prohibited from getting out of the Temple for two weeks. They were given harsher training by the Lord Commander, forcing them to reflect on their actions.