Rena Moon

With the help of Ara, it didn’t take that long to get to the palace dungeon. Ara said, “If my brother has chosen to imprison anyone, it should be in this dungeon. Let me handle everything from here. I’m sure that Sun is imprisoned there.” As Yuna and Ara approached the dungeon, they noticed a guard dozing off at the entrance. Both of them snuck into the dungeon swiftly without alarming the sleeping guard.

As soon as they entered the dungeon, there was a heavy stench that almost made Yuna vomit. The smell was obviously coming from the rotting corpses and the prisoners that weren’t able to wash for months. The prison cells were never cleaned. As she walked past the prisoners, she couldn’t recognize a single face. She wasn’t shocked to find that the majority of the prisoners were Ezraen. Both the Emperor and Minho shared the same hatred for Ezraens.

Yuna called out, “Sun, are you there?” She made sure not to shout too loudly. She was afraid that being too loud might alarm the guard sleeping outside. As she walked down the line of prison cells, she could not find Sun. The prisoners were unwashed and unkempt from being locked in a prison cell for months to years. Some of them had dried blood on their face and body from torture. The sight reminded Yuna of her days locked up in a prison cell.

She had no one to visit her. No one bothered to feed her any meals. She wasn’t locked in the prison for long. Minho made sure that she was executed quickly to prevent her father from finding out. During the three days that she was locked up, she met all sorts of people in the prison. There was this one Ezraen she couldn’t forget.

His blond hair was long and unkempt. She could hardly see his eyes from how long he had been locked up in the dungeon. His arms and legs were extremely thin and bony. He didn’t have much to eat for a very long time. The food given to prisoners was very little. There was only a little bit of rice and some bland soup. They were only fed once per day.

On the first day of being locked up in the prison, she remained silent and lost in her own thoughts. Yuna had a tiny bit of hope that her father would come to save her. She believed that the world wasn’t unfair and that there was a misunderstanding. She hoped that Minho would realize that this was a misunderstanding. She waited that entire day for Minho to show up. Neither Haemi nor Minho came to visit her that day.

During mealtime the next day, Yuna watched as the servant left the meals in each of the cells. The guard that stood behind the servant suddenly grabbed the bowl of the Ezraen boy in front of my cell. The guard spit in his soup and laughed at the boy. He mocked, “Serves you right for stepping foot into our country. You disgusting worm. I hope that your kind gets what they deserve.” The guard didn’t seem too happy when he didn’t get a response from the boy.

He slapped the boy and mocked, “OY! Can’t you hear me?” He kept slapping him, but the boy remained silent. The guard pulled his long unkempt hair back and glared at him. When she finally got to see his eyes, she noticed that they were a lifeless blue color. His eyes were void of life and she could tell that he had lost all hope in humanity. There was an x marked scar on his left cheek.

The guard spit on his face and laughed, “You’re disgusting. I wonder when they’ll decide to execute you. You’re a waste of space even in this prison cell. You’re not worth my time.” The guard smacked him one last time, causing the boy to fall over to the ground. Once the guard and servant left the cell, the boy got up and began scarfing down the little bit of rice and soup on the platter.

Yuna stared at her own portion of rice and soup. She refused to eat the meal yesterday, thinking that her protest would let Minho know that she was suffering. She hoped that he would come visit her. After watching the boy eat the meal even when there was spit in it, she felt ashamed. There were people suffering in prison for long periods of time and yet she refused to eat the little bit of food given to her.

She ate her meal without any protest that day. After mealtime was over, the boy laid down and stared at the wall behind him. Yuna did the same. She had time to really think about her life. She spent her life doting on Minho and what had she accomplished in life? What has she done to deserve getting locked up like this? Who had such enmity towards her that she would get accused of such crimes? All these questions kept popping up, but she couldn’t figure out the answers.

Thinking back to the past, Yuna wished that she wasn’t so stupid. Those answers were pretty obvious. If only she hadn’t been blinded by her desperate need to gain love and affection. Minho wasn’t going to give that to her. If only she knew that God loved her and that all she needed was to be hopeful of her future. God had a plan for her and the gift/blessing he gave her was everything she needed to accomplish her goals. Now that she had the chance to redo her life, she knew deep in her heart that her goal isn’t to gain love and affection from people. Her goal is to make the world a better place.

While she searched for Sun in the line of prison cells, she came across her old prison cell and the boy that was imprisoned in front of her. This was 3 years prior to her imprisonment. She was surprised to see that the boy was still there. How long had he been imprisoned for? His appearance was not the same as when she met him. His hair was shorter and the x mark on his face wasn’t there. She could see his eyes and they weren’t as lifeless as before. He got close to the prison bars and whispered, “Are you looking for Sun? I can tell you where she went.”

Yuna quickly asked, “Where is she?” The boy tried to strike a deal, “I can tell you, but first you need to get me out of here.” She frowned when she noticed the heavy lock on the prison cell, “but I don’t have a key.” Ara whispered, “Should we go out and steal the keys from the guard?” Yuna was about to agree to Ara’s suggestion, but she suddenly heard Fifi’s voice in her mind.

“Master, why not let me handle this?” Yuna spoke in her mind, “What’s your plan?” Fifi proudly stated, “There’s nothing I can’t handle.” Yuna laughed in her mind, “Of course, our Fifi is amazing. So now tell me what will you do?” Fifi answered cheerfully, “Just watch what I do.” Suddenly, there was a spark on the lock and the lock opened on its own. Luckily both the boy and Ara were distracted. They didn’t notice the lock opening on its own. Yuna quickly pulled out her hairpin and put her hands on the lock, covering it. When her hand touched the lock, she instantly recoiled, “Ouch!” The lock was really hot. Fifi must’ve blown up the circuits inside to unlock it.

Both the boy and Ara stared at her in shock. Ara asked, “How did you get it open without a key?” Yuna grinned sheepishly, “I picked the lock.” Ara grew suspicious of her, “How do you know to pick a lock?” Yuna couldn’t think of a good lie, “Uh… I guess I'm just a genius.” Yuna was surprised when Ara didn’t refute her. Yuna moved the lock carefully without burning her fingers. She then opened the prison cell.

Once the boy got out from the prison cell, he whispered, “We should be careful of waking up the other prisoners. They’ll want to get out too.” Yuna looked around and noticed that the prisoners on either side of the boy’s cell were sleeping soundly. Yuna asked, “So, where’s Sun and how do you know her?” The boy whispered, “She isn't here. Once we leave the prison, I'll let you know. We should hurry and get out of here before the guard wakes up.”

The three of them snuck past the sleeping prisoners. Luckily, it was dark outside and inside the dungeon. None of the prisoners noticed them. They were able to swiftly leave without alarming the prisoners and guard. Once they left the dungeon, they went behind one of the buildings to take cover. This place seemed safe enough. Yuna whispered to the boy, “So, tell me. Where is she? Why isn’t she in prison?”