Chapter 9

Hwayoung stared at Baekhyun in shock.

He was breathing hard, hands clutched around the bloody dagger, white hair shining in the last rays of sunlight. His eyes remained trained on the soldier he’d just killed for a very long time, before they finally flickered towards her. Finally, he extended a hand towards her. “Are you okay?”

She took a deep breath in and told herself to breathe in. There was no point in getting too shocked over the fact that Baekhyun was there – besides, Kyungsoo had been occupied the last time she saw him — what had happened to the archer he was fighting?

Baekhyun’s grip was firm when he hauled her up and handed back the dagger he had in hand. In the near distance, Kyungsoo was straightening, expression set grimly. The leader of the group was nowhere to be seen, and Hwayoung assumed that Kyungsoo had killed him.

Wincing, she hobbled forward to retrieve her other dagger. It was almost frighteningly close to the dead soldier, and Hwayoung went as quick as her injured ankle would allow her. She wanted to get away from the plains as soon as possible — she absolutely hated the feeling of being out in the open.

Kyungsoo approached the both of them. He’d probably already gotten over his initial shock over seeing Baekhyun there, though his eyes narrowed at the other boy. “What are you doing here? I thought you went back.”

Hwayoung turned to look at Baekhyun also, though she couldn’t bring anything accusatory into her tone like Kyungsoo. He had just saved her life. A moment slower, she would be dead.

“What are you doing back here?” she asked, though it was out of genuine curiosity. “I’m not… not complaining. You just saved my life. But Kyungsoo’s right — weren’t you going to go back to the city?”

Baekhyun glanced around them, eyes flitting nervously. He looked jittery. “I know the forest relatively well,” was all he said. “I don’t think it’ll be a good idea to stay out here for long, so it’s best that we go into the forest first. If you follow the stream, you’ll be able to get out on the other side after a couple of days walk — around a week — but I don’t think you’re going to be able to walk for a full day until you rest up your ankle properly. We can set camp somewhere in the forest if you want, though the further we are from the city, the better. It shouldn’t be that bad, though. I know the king’s men rarely venture far into the forest.”

Kyungsoo was leaning against his sword. He drew it up and slid it back into the scabbard. “Why?”

“They tell of tales of savages living in the woods.” Baekhyun’s lips quirked upwards a bit. “While that’s pretty off from the actual truth, they steer clear of the woods anyways. We should be fine, though.”

She’d been through the woods once, and that journey had been made with Sehun. They hadn’t encountered much along the way, though that had been years ago and Hwayoung didn’t remember much. Both of them had been scared, alone, hurt and struggling with grief. It felt odd that she was making a journey back through again, this time with the bastard prince who had also turned out to be Marked (if Sehun knew that, he probably would’ve had a heart attack) and a white haired boy who could manipulate light. She’d killed god-knew-how many soldiers from the crown prince. Would he even recognize her as the same person if he saw her?

“Are there actually people living inside the forest, then?” Kyungsoo scanned the line of trees in front of them, but he was beginning to move forward. Hwayoung limped after him. “I’ve never… been out here.”

Baekhyun shrugged. “I don’t think the forest would be completely uninhabited, but I don’t necessarily think there are so called savages living there. Even if there were, it’s not going to prove as much of a problem as crashing into more of the crown prince’s soldiers. It’s probably best if we get going now.”

Kyungsoo glanced around them. Hwayoung couldn’t quite read what he was thinking, though his gaze lingered in the direction of one of the fallen soldiers. If she didn’t know better, she would’ve said he looked somewhat sad.

Finally, he raised his head. “Let’s go,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to stay in this area.”

He offered to carry her bag, and before Hwayoung could protest, he’d taken it from her back. “You’re still injured,” he pointed out, though it was definitely more than that. He looked a bit too eager to leave, and he’d barely questioned Baekhyun’s presence with them. “It’ll be easier for you to walk without carrying a lot of weight.”

He headed off by himself in the direction of the forest, leaving her and Baekhyun no choice but to follow after him.

***
 

Kyungsoo was uncharacteristically silent for at least another half hour, and it seemed that neither she nor Baekhyun knew what to do. Hwayoung debatedly inwardly whether or not it was worth asking him what was wrong, though she already had a vague guess — it was obviously the group of four soldiers that they’d killed. But why, exactly? Did he know them? He was still a prince, after all.

“Do Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun called quietly. The scenery had faded from yellowed grass and clear skies to green canopies, and on top of that, the sun had set behind the horizon and they were blanketed in darkness. The only source of light was from Baekhyun’s power. The path was a lot easier to walk than the one in the plains (the grass was annoying prickly and tall there) — this one was slightly worn from other people. “I’m pretty sure all of us need rest because none of us slept much the past night either. We’re far enough from the plains to be safe from the crown prince’s soldiers, and Hwayoung’s obviously injured.”

Kyungsoo only turned around there. He looked tired too, almost as much as Hwayoung felt. “Are we far enough?” he asked Baekhyun.

“Probably more than enough,” Baekhyun replied drily. “I don’t think Hwayoung’s going to be able to heal if you continue walking like that. We can set camp a little ways off of the stream.”

“Are you sure it’s safe to sleep in the open like that?”

Baekhyun gave a slight shrug. “We can always take turns keeping watch.”

Kyungsoo didn’t seem completely satisfied with that and he looked as if there was something else he wanted to say but finally decided on not saying it. They found a small clearing in the forest where the ground was relatively flatter, and not after long, Hwayoung had unpacked all of her belongings from her bag and spread her cloak onto the ground. She had another thin blanket that she’d brought along and it didn’t look nearly warm enough (the weather had dropped from unbearably hot in the day to chilly at night). They’d refilled the flasks at the stream, but she felt neither hungry nor thirsty, just tired. Her ankle throbbed with more intensity. She probably worsened it.

“Well,” she said, turning to Baekhyun. “Are you going to tell us why you’re here?”

Kyungsoo directed an equally curious expression towards Baekhyun.

Baekhyun looked a bit uncomfortable under their gazes. He’d been strangely confident in what they had been doing before, but all of a sudden, he seemed lost now that he was the center of attention yet again. He twisted his fingers, biting his lip, and then finally said, “I thought a bit of what you said to me. I actually made it back to where I could see the city, and I just… couldn’t go back for some reason. I guess you’re right.” He turned to Kyungsoo and gave a small laugh. “I couldn’t really let go of it for some reason, because as much as I hated it, I knew what I was doing and there weren’t really any uncertainties. I was used to hiding my hair and my power and putting everything into the past because I figured that was the only thing I could do for myself. I guess both of you just… reminded me.”

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