-Chungah’s POV-

I left Joonhwi quickly, making my way to Doyoung’s side. A group of girls came up to me.

“Where’d you get that dress? It’s beautiful,” one of them gasped.

“It’s custom made actually,” I said and she nodded with the rest.

“I should get that done next time.”

“I think the prince really liked you,” another girl said. “He was looking at you the entire time and I could see his eyes through his mask, they were in love.”

“Which kingdom are you from?” another girl asked. Before I could reply, Minwoo came over. The girls scattered and Minwoo grinned.

“Doyoung right?” and sighed when Doyoung nodded. “Just making sure. And Chungah? Wow.”

He looked me up and down and I felt myself blushing under his gaze.

“Care for a dance?” Minwoo offered me his hand and I took it. He led me onto the dance floor, where I could see Joonhwi dancing with another girl. Although she was talking to him, he didn’t seem to reply or only gave short answers. I finished the dance with Minwoo and began mingling with guests. Doyoung sometimes cut in whenever I was asked a question I couldn’t answer. As the night passed by, I felt myself getting grabbed by someone else and led away. I looked up to see Joonhwi’s back leading me to the gardens outside. He stopped walking and so did I.

“Joonhwi? Is something--”

He had put a finger to my lips and was looking at me intensely through his mask. I froze when he leaned closer to my face and our lips met. It felt like forever until someone broke the silence with a scream. I jumped away from him and looked over, where we saw people dressed in all black and wearing masks that covered their faces, jumping over the wall of the castle from outside. He pulled me behind him and drew his sword as they surrounded us. I saw Doyoung and Minwoo, masks off, running over with their own swords. Guards were busy left and right with their own masked people. I turned back to the group in front of me. Doyoung and Minwoo had managed to make their way through and were protecting me. I could see drops of blood on their swords but were relieved they were okay. I covered my eyes as I could hear the metal clanging of swords against each other. We were eventually cornered and I could see the boys breathing heavily. What are we going to do? To my horror, Joonhwi’s sword was flung out of his hand. Instinct kicked in and I stepped in front of him, squeezing my eyes shut as the sword came down on us. Moments passed. I never felt it. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw the tip of the sword hovering above my head. Carefully, I reached up and moved the sword away from us. The sword dropped onto the ground and to our surprise, they immediately scattered off, jumping over the wall and into the darkness. I turned to the boys, checking over them.

“Are you hurt?” I asked worriedly. They chuckled in reply.

“You risked your life again to save Joonhwi,” Minwoo said as I checked for any injuries.

“How are you not shaken by something like this?” Joonhwi let me inspect his face.

“She’s a brave one, isn’t she,” Doyoung said as I finished looking over them.

“But why did they run? They didn’t do that until I stepped in,” I said as we walked back inside, finding everyone safe and sound.

“Are you all alright?” the queen asked us. We nodded in reply and she sighed in relief.

“This was certainly an unexpected surprise,” the king said. “We should call it a night everyone.”

The guests began to leave and I went back to my room. I changed out of the dress and went to bed, tired from today’s events.

The next day, I was busy with laundry when Doyoung snuck up behind me.

“You sure are a busy bee,” he commented. “I almost couldn’t find you.”

“After yesterday’s day off, I’m behind in work,” I said, folding up a bed sheet. A guard came up to Doyoung, whispering something into his ear. He frowned but nodded.

“I’ll leave you to it then. I’ll be back soon,” he said, walking off with the guard.

-Doyoung’s POV-

I entered the library, where the meeting was being held. I greeted the royal family and seated myself next to Joonhwi.

“As we all know, last night was not a full disaster, since they immediately scrambled away when they recognized someone they knew,” the king said. Someone they knew? Chungah? I kept listening in. “Now, the Seo gang hasn’t been active until now, where they demanded to know where their daughter was, knowing she is in the castle somewhere. And I’m sure that you all know the servant’s names.”

He looked at me, Joonhwi, and Minwoo in the eye. We exchanged glances, knowing we were thinking of the same girl.

“Did they say the name of their daughter?” Joonhwi asked carefully.

“Seo Chungah. If she is in the castle, she must be gotten rid of immediately.”

I felt my heart sinking and I could feel the boys next to me tensing up.

“Don’t we have a servant named Seo Chungah here?” the queen asked. I jumped in.

“Well, there’s a Song Chungha, but not a Seo Chungah,” I said. The princes sent me a look but the king and queen seemed to believe me.

“Oh, it’s a very close match but she must not be it. We must have the other female servants interrogated.”

As the meeting was dismissed, I joined the princes in their afternoon tea under the gazebo. Chungah was serving tea to us today. I kept my mouth shut, knowing I shouldn’t speak of such matters around her but she seemed to be in her own world too. As she passed a cup of tea to Joonhwi, an arrow suddenly flew, hitting the cup right out of her hand and smashing it. She jumped back, startled, as we stood up. Minwoo walked over, snatching the arrow out of the pillar it was lodged in.

“There’s a note. ‘Hand over Seo Chungah and no one gets hurt.’ Huh.”

We all looked over at Chungah, who was staring at the note.

-Chungah’s POV-

“Me? But why?” I was scared for my life. “That Seo gang wants me?”

“Chungah listen to me,” Doyoung walked over and tried to hold me but I backed away, shaking my head.

“I shouldn’t be here then. If it’ll put the rest of you in danger,” I suddenly understood. “I couldn’t possibly be their daughter could I? It must be. My parents, they must’ve found out where I was and want me back.”

“But do you?” Joonhwi asked me. “Do you want to go back?”

I stopped. He walked over to me. “Chungah, you can’t leave us here like this.”

Another arrow shot right between us, forcing us to separate. I shook my head.

“I need to leave,” I began running off.

“Chungah, wait!”

I didn’t stop and ran off until I was out of the castle. I went to where I thought the arrows were coming from and carefully made my way around.

“Lady Chungah?” a voice came from behind me. I jumped and turned to see a boy around my age walking towards me.

“W-who are you?” I began backing away. He stopped walking and I felt myself hit the back of a tree. “Why did you call me ‘lady’?”

“Well, you are the daughter of a huge gang,” he crossed his arms. “I’m just here to you back.”

I thought about it. If my parents were alive, why didn’t they let me live with them? I felt like I was walking into a huge trap. I shook my head and just when he began walking towards me again, a sword was drawn from right next to me. Turning, I saw Doyoung standing there, looking at the guy. He grabbed my hand as the boy also drew his own sword.

“And where do you plan on taking her?”

“Away from you of course,” Doyoung replied smartly, pulling me behind him. They engaged in a fierce sword fight. I hid my eyes, hiding myself behind the tree. A minute later, I heard a sword being inserted into flesh, a groan, and then a thud. I froze, keeping myself hidden in case Doyoung was gone. I felt hands on mine and they gently dragged them away from my eyes. Opening them, I saw Doyoung standing in front of me. I sighed in relief and hugged him.

“Let’s run away Chungah. You’re not safe here. I’ll do everything in my power to help you find your family again.”

“What about Minwoo? And Joonhwi? I just can’t leave them,” I said.

“Well actually...”

-Doyoung’s POV, after Chungah left-

“She’s walking into a trap,” Minwoo said worriedly.

“We must catch her at all costs,” Joonhwi said. “And turn her in.”

“What?” Minwoo and I said at the same time.

“She’s putting us all in danger. Don’t you treasure your life?” he said.

“I treasure her more than anything else in the world,” I replied.

“I thought you loved her Joon,” Minwoo said, stepping back. “I’m going to go find her.”

He ran off, leaving me with Joonhwi.

“And what are you gonna do? Choose love over friendship?”

“Joon. You don’t know her pain. You’ve had your parents around all your life. She’s lived without her parents. You didn’t have to work for your food. She did. When she was stressed, she had no one to talk to until I came along. And do you know what she was stressed about? About you. Worried that you weren’t sleeping well enough, you were cold to her, and you ignored her feelings. How can a man be like that? Throwing away the one he loves to save himself?”

With that, I turned away as well and found Chungah.

-Chungah’s POV-

“He… he was going to turn me in?” I looked up at Doyoung, who turned his head away but nodded. I felt myself crashing down inside but held myself up outside. “Let’s go then. I… I will sacrifice him to save myself. But what about you?”

“I’ll just say I’m going on a vacation somewhere. They won’t bother asking anything else. Let’s go.”

And from there, we really ran away. I packed everything in my room and met up with him in a secret passageway. We stopped by his home, where he packed a few belongings and food for us to survive on until we reached our destination.

A few years later, we were happily married. Even though my heart had lingering feelings for Joonhwi, I knew he would never consider me as a partner. I shook my head of my thoughts and looked up at Doyoung, who was smiling like he usually was.

“Get some sleep,” he whispered. I snuggled up next to him and we both fell asleep, drifting off to dreamland.