The Hwarang General clanked the two wooden swords he is holding together up on the air— a signal to start the martial arts routine for their training. The Hwarang men raised their swords and stepped out their right foot in position.

Today, they are practicing basic swordsmanship as a warm up for the swordsmanship that Chunhwa will teach them next.

The Hwarang General raised the wooden swords in the air once again and clanked them once. The Hwarang men started to swing their swords to the right, then up, and then downwards. They made a pivot turn from their left, swinging their swords down at the same time and proceeded to strike their wooden swords to the front as they skipped forward and made a jump— landing to a certain position.

The Hwarang General immediately clanked his wooden sword twice as a signal to stop while Chunhwa made her way towards Yeowool, gently tapping his shoulders and the back of his bended knee using the wooden sword she is holding to fix his posture. She held his hands that were gripping his wooden sword next and raised it up slightly, adjusting his arm position to the correct level.

“This is the correct height of your arm in this position. Keep your back and shoulders straight while your feet planted firmly on the ground, that way you can easily sway your sword and turn into another position.” she whispers to him.

Yeowool nods at her, his eyes focused in front of him before she turned around and walked away. The Hwarang General clanked his sword once again and they proceeded to their next strikes and position.

Ahro was peeking through the window outside the training ground and Sunwoo catches her eye. She immediately started to wave with a big smile on her face and he couldn’t stop the smile to make its way up to his lips in return.

The female physician waved enthusiastically together with her head this time and finally stopped, looking around if anyone had seen her. True enough, Chunhwa had actually noticed Sunwoo’s facial expression and had looked at where his eyes were trained at. She looked at Ahro who waved at her brother for the last time before their eyes met— Chunhwa softly and discretely chuckling at the other’s behaviour while the female physician sheepishly smiled at her in return.

‘What does it feel like, to have an older brother as well?’

“I am sure you find me uncomfortable to be with, but deal with it.” said Princess Sookmyung as she slowly made her way to the Chief Instructor’s table, looking around his quarters.

“I am sure; you have no other choice right now anyway.”

Master Wi Hwa slowly pulled his lips into a smile as he watch her from where he was sitting on his table.

“Do you know why the Sacred Bone is the Sacred Bone?” she tells him, making her way to the chair in front of him and sitting down.

“We do not share with others.” she continues, looking at him in the eye. “Because the moment we do, we become weak.”

“You are like your mother.” the Chief Instructor says, trying to compliment her with the same smile on his face. “You do not know how to beat around the bush.”

Princess Sookmyung, however, only looked at him expressionless.

“I do not know what the Queen, or you think about it, but to me, Hwarang is nothing but a tool.”

Master Wi Hwa’s smile faded a little at what she had said but kept his expression pleasant nonetheless.

“An entity that may kill or be killed in order to protect the Royal Family.”

His expression turned amused at that and she looks away, “We must hone their martial arts skills.”

She looked back at him, “They are too weak to be called Silla’s warriors.”

“But, we are teaching them martial arts right now.” he informs her with a smile.

“No, not something boring like that.” she paused, “A training that has them fight to the death.”

“A fight that does not end until one side dies.”

Master Wi Hwa’s pleasant expression completely drops into a small frown at that.

“A type of fight where they stand on opposite sides and the strong opposes the weak. Wasn’t that your intention from the start?” Princess Sookmyung looked suggestively at him and the Chief Instructor looks away, realizing that the words that came out from the princess’ mouth had also came out from his as well not a very long time ago.

“That’s right.” Master Wi Hwa finally looks back at her, nodding with an amused smile.

“The Queen raised you well.”

The princess’s expression however, still remained blank.

“I will give you 10 days.” she then says in finality, “I shall inform Lady Chunhwa as well to train them well until then, so they do not die if possible.”

The Hwarang men had gathered once again in the training grounds the next day but this time, they were all watching the intense sparring that is happening between Chunhwa and Jidwi.

Chunhwa had told them a while ago that their training for the day will be sparring with her in order to test their sparring skills and for her to know how she could strengthen and improve them. She had grouped them by their roommates and had sparred with almost the rest of the Hwarang men until it came to the group of Jidwi.

Banryu had actually gone first but not before two minutes had passed, Chunhwa had already ‘killed’ him— reprimanding him for his lack of focus. Yeowool was the next one to spar with her and it took her almost four minutes to ‘kill’ him as well. Although she praised him for his graceful swordsmanship, she had disapprovingly told him that his posture is still lacking in which he just shrugged at with a mysterious smile.

Sunwoo on the other hand had received an approval towards his improving swordsmanship but was told that he still struggles with his skills and the way he handles his fights.

Then came Jidwi’s turn to spar with Chunhwa.

At first, it had looked like he was being easy on her as he was being concerned about her stamina since she had been sparring with each one of them for almost two hours now. However, when she told him to stop going easy on her— that was when the intense sparring between them ignited and made almost every Hwarang men’s jaw drop.

Jidwi and Chunhwa clashed their wooden swords as if they are dancing in the middle of the war. It was as if the way they clashed swords was actually a dance sequence as they move in sync— refusing to get down in defeat as they dodged and strike each other continuously.

Chunhwa on the other hand had been in a deep state of confusion and curiosity despite her full concentration as she clashed swords with him— she had felt that Jidwi’s swordsmanship style seems to be familiar the moment their swords had met.

Had she met this man before?

Or rather, have they sparred a long time ago?

She was not sure, but her train of thought was cut short when he made another strike she did not almost see and so she made a strike as well. However, the result of their almost ten minutes of sparring ended up with Jidwi ‘killing’ her.

The Hwarang pointed his wooden sword near and Chunhwa couldn’t help but smile at him, very impressed.

“I must say, your sword fighting skills are very advanced. I’m very impressed with your agility and endurance as well, however...”

Chunhwa suddenly slid down and gave his right leg a hard kick, resulting for him to fall down the ground. She then pointed her own sword towards him with a smirk on her lips.

“Your striking positions seem to leave some holes for your opponent to attack even if you have already given your final strike. You should mind those holes because your opponent can still kill you before they take their last breath.”

Almost all the Hwarang men had their mouths agape in shock— being impressed on what she just did was an understatement. Sooho was gaping in astonishment, Banryu and Sunwoo on the other hand remained expressionless but impressed while Yeowool was smirking.

Chunhwa held her arm out towards Jidwi who was still lying on the ground. Jidwi took a grab of her arm and he stood up, dusting his clothes after. The female teacher gave him a smile and a nod before gesturing for him to return to his group, the Hwarang giving her a smile as well before walking away.

“Next!” she calls and Sooho immediately stood up, making his way towards her.

“Are you the last one?” she asks and he nods.

The two of them wasted no time and got into their positions, “Alright, let’s get this done with.”

“Attack!” she half-cries and Sooho started to strike his sword towards her.

Chunhwa effortlessly dodges and swung back her sword— the Hwarang doing the same as well. They clashed swords for a few more seconds before she told him to stop.

“Are you going easy on me as well?” she cannot help but ask incredulously.

Sooho on the other hand answered her without a beat, “Yes, you’ve been sparring each one of us for two hours now. I know you are already tired so I try not to exert much effort on my strikes.”

“Bulle.” she scoffs, which surprised him especially with her choice of language.

“Even if your opponent is already tired you should still exert some effort in order to defeat him. I heard you are the best swordsman here, well then prove to me that you are indeed the best swordsman in the capital.”

“Again!” she says and started to attack right away that Sooho almost got hit by her sword if only he did not dodged it with his fast reflexes.

 The two of them exchanged blows once again, the Hwarang more serious this time.

They went on for almost five minutes when Chunhwa— whose body was finally taking a toll for continuously sparring for the last two hours with the Hwarang men, suddenly bucked forward as her legs gave up on her. Fortunately, before she met the ground or either got hit by Sooho’s sword on the head— the Hwarang had seen what had happened beforehand so he was able to catch her by the shoulders.

Jidwi on the other hand almost ran towards them, he was also worried as he had observed Chunhwa a while ago when they were sparring together. She is starting to overwork herself and that was not a good thing to him knowing how truly fragile she is.

“Miss Chunhwa.” he says with concern, looking down at her as he gently gripped her shoulders so she won’t completely fall.

She held his arms, using it as leverage and immediately stood up straight— not wanting to look weak in front of the other men and pretend that nothing had happened.

“You did a good job as well.” she sniffs nonchalantly, stepping away from Sooho who had let go of his hold on her.

She turned towards the Hwarang men.

“I will let you go now since it’s almost your lunch. Some of you did a good job while some needs improvement but worry not, we’ll improve your skills altogether in the next days to come. You’re dismissed!”

With that, the Hwarangs started to scatter one by one— some on the way to their dorms to take a rest while some to loiter around the Hwarang House grounds.

Chunhwa turned towards Sooho who was still standing beside her, clearly waiting for her to notice him.

“Although it was embarrassing to be clumsy like that in front of everyone, I thank you for not letting me embarrass myself further.” she tells him, and he smiles a little at that.

“It’s not a problem, but it’s good that I’m always here to catch you whenever you fall.” he tells her and she could not help but raise an eyebrow at him.

“Is that another pick-up line of yours?”

The Hwarang chuckles at that while lightly shaking his head.

“It may sound like one but no, I’m just being sincere.”

With that, he turned around and left— Chunhwa looking weirdly at him because of what he had said. Damyi made her way towards the female teacher and she smiled when she noticed her maid beside her.

“My Lady, are you alright? You seem to be getting a little pale.” the maid asks worriedly.

She shook her head.

“Nothing to worry about, I think I just need to take some short nap. Let’s go.”

Ahro was cleaning the table in the doctor’s room when the door opened. She immediately looked up, eyes widening in shock when Princess Sookmyung stood before her.

“Y-Your Highness.” she stuttered before bowing in respect.

The female physician carefully felt the princess’ pulse, slightly tapping the nerves on her wrist in observation to find her pulse before finally looking up at the princess who has already been looking at her the whole time.

Ahro softly sighs.

“I am not a great physician, so I cannot know all your ailments, but your energy is weak and there is coldness in your lungs. You must have suffered for quite some time.”

Princess Sookmyung looks away, finding the physician’s words true.

“I am fine now.” she says, “I became stronger as I learned martial arts too.”

Ahro placed her wrist back to her lap. “I shall prepare some medicine to protect your body.”

“Before that,” the princess tells her and the physician looks up to her once again, curious.

“I heard from Lady Chunhwa that you have been a great help to her during the time she experienced her stomach pains. That’s why I wish you would become my exclusive physician.”

The physician furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “But, I am the physician in the Hwarang House.”

“That way, the Queen would be more comfortable about my being here.” the princess adds, pretending not to hear her hesitation.

Ahro’s eyes widened with sudden fear, as she remembered that night when the Queen had tried to kill her because she had found out that Jidwi is the faceless King. She looked down, her slightly shaking hands gripping her skirt tightly— the princess on the other hand only observed her fear as she does so.

“I do not expect much,” Princess Sookmyung continues and the physician snapped her head to look at her once more.

“Just come to me whenever I call.”

The physician did not know how she should answer her as twitched mostly in fear, the princess smirks at her.

“Well then, I will assume you accept my offer.”

With that, the princess stood up and left the room— leaving Ahro looking worried and scared at the same time.

The Hwarangs are gathered in their lecture room the next day. Chunhwa together with the Hwarang General stood by the podium while the Hwarang men stood in six lines, patiently yet impatiently waiting for someone to arrive.

The door opens and the Assistant Chief Instructor of Hwarang enters together with Princess Sookmyung taking the lead. The Hwarang men turned around to look at them pass in the middle of the space that they had unconsciously provided. Chunhwa and the Hwarag General gave the princess a bow of respect as she made her way up to the podium of the lecture room, the Assistant Chief Instructor at her tail.

“What’s going on?” Sooho asks Sunwoo who was standing on his left.

“It cannot be anything good.” he replies, looking up in front.

“Ten days from now, the Hwarangs will be sparring each other.” Master Bujae announces, getting the complete attention of the Hwarangs.

“The Princess will supervise this herself, so only the Hwarang who wins will receive a pass.”

Each Hwarang men had a look of confusion on their face about the sudden announcement.

“Sparring?” Sooho says in curiosity.

“The princess is doing what?” Banryu, who is on his right, says in disbelief.

Jidwi on the other hand softly snorts in amusement, “She has not changed.”

“This is different from any assignment before.” the Assistant Chief Instructor continues, “You may lose your life during the sparring.”

Every Hwarang had looked completely taken aback as they look at each other, aghast. Chunhwa, who was behind Princess Sookmyung furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she looked at her back that was turned to her.

Yes, the princess had consulted her the day before about training the sparring skills of the Hwarang men since she had observed that the men still lacked the skills— but she did not expect that the reason as to why the princess had told her to train them well was because of a sparring competition that might be the reason for them to lose their life.

“Fight with your life.” Master Bujae continues, ignoring the looks on their faces.

“A commander who fears death cannot protect the lives of his men. Keep that in mind.”

Author's Note:

It seems that I updated a day late. Ooops.
I was a little busy going here and there so apologize.

Nonetheless, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter ;u;
This is the longest now with almost 3k words that is
why it kinda took me a little longer to update hihi.

'Till my next update! : )

- flyingjunmyeons [20170525]

PS. Happy 9th Anniversary SHINee and congratulations to my BTS babies for
winning the Top Social Media Artist Award in Billboard Music Awards 2017!