He Lost His Family in the Snow, He Returned to Save Them novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: The Lake Shrine
The red cloak lay in the snow before the shrine, and Min-jun knew it before he reached it.
It was Yul's, with the wolf-fur collar and the torn hem from the stable door.
He had held it in his hands a hundred times in the first life, in the stable and on the stair.
He snatched it up, and the whole lake shore seemed to tilt.
"He's in the Queen's rooms," Ren said. "Don't frighten yourself. I only wanted you to come."
Ren stepped from behind the shrine in his slate-blue robe with his hands bare.
Behind him, three men in northern cloaks came out of the pines.
They were the three who had run from the bridge.
"The note said Seo-jun was hurt."
"Seo-jun is asleep in a warm bed. I watched your maid find him." Ren smiled. "You ran out alone with no sword, in your condition. Ten years ago you'd never have done it."
"What do you want?"
"Jae-won wants the northern heir to vanish through the ice. A tragedy. A foolish prince, a frozen lake." Ren came a step closer. "I told him I'd bring you out alive and let you choose."
"Choose what?"
"Me, Min-jun. Come south with me and let the rest burn."
Min-jun looked at the face he had once loved better than his own life.
It was a handsome face, and there was nothing behind it at all.
"No," he said.
"Pity."
He dropped the cloak in the snow, and the first man swung.
Min-jun ducked under the blade and drove an elbow into his ribs, and a sharp pain went through his stomach.
He staggered, and the second man seized him from behind and clamped an arm across his chest.
"Careful," Ren said sharply. "Not the belly."
It was the one kind thing he said, and it told Min-jun everything.
He threw his head back into the man's nose and heard it crunch.
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