A/N: I'm so sorry, but I have to say this. RIP Jonghyun, and please don't let this harm your daily lives. Jonghyun would have wanted us to live well even without him there as motivation. Stay stong, Shawol!

The Newcomer

"You cannot be serious, my lady," Shinhwa looked absolutely horrified at the idea itself. "This is absolutely wrong, I can tolerate you riding, I can allow you to do chores, but you will not fight, much less learn."

"Shinhwa, listen to me," Jungkook gripped her shoulders, trying his best to look strong and not weak in his dress. "I need to learn how to protect myself. I cannot hold a bow in the house all day, and the dagger is my only protection. Please, Shinhwa, let me do this."

"No," Shinhwa's voice was hard and unyielding. "You will not learn to fight, I forbid it. It is against every rule we have built up over the years, and I will not allow this to happen under my nose." Shinhwa shrugged off Jungkook's hands, her beautiful face stony. "You will not do this."

"Shinhwa, what if one day I lose my life because the guards cannot get there on time?" Jungkook shouted, Shinhwa freezing in place. "What if someone attacks unexpectedly?" Especially when that someone is Kim Taehyung.

"That will not happen, lady, not with the servants on beck and call," Shinhwa replied coldly. "Women do not learn to fight, and that is a rule."

"Times are changing, Shinhwa," Jungkook couldn't believe Shinhwa was being this stubborn. "I need to learn self-defence." Shinhwa sighed, her shoulders slumping and her head bowed. Jungkook walked over to stand in front of her, pleading. 

"Once, there was a woman who could fight, a woman who served the Queen with her abilities," Shinhwa said, rubbing her temple tiredly. The sun shone in from the window, and Jungkook helped Shinhwa sit on a cushion on the floor, settling himself to listen to her story. "She was smart, strong, quick to anger, and she was exactly like you."

"What happened?" Jungkook probed. Shinhwa closed her eyes and pressed her hand to her heart, like the words pained her to say it. "They killed her for it. The jealousy of the court, the poisonous vipers in there... They killed her for being what she was not supposed to be."

Jungkook watched her as she looked at Jungkook sadly. "She was my mother."

"Why? Did they ever tell you?" Shinhwa shook her head. "It was not the royal family, I am certain of it. The King is a kind man, he would not kill without reason. The only possibility is that it was another lady in the court, someone close enough to poison her. I was the only child she birthed, and she died three weeks after my full moon. My father swore revenge, but he, too, died before avenging my mother. It is now my turn, but I will not kill as vengeance."

Shinhwa took Jungkook's hand and squeezed it, meeting Jungkook's eyes with big teary ones. "I will not allow another of my companions to follow her path, and that includes you, my lady."

"What position did she hold?" Shinhwa pursed her lips, looking away like it was an old injury. "Was there anyone else killed with her?"

"She was a part of a small, tightly-knit group of female warriors," Shinhwa whispered. "She was the first to go, and they all followed." Jungkook barely managed to contain his shock. Someone was bitter enough to murder women, much less a group?

"There is no one I can go to, my father is dead, and I am the only one left," Shinhwa swallowed thickly. "The Wonhwa killed my mother, and I will not see another walk up her path and regret it far too late."

Wonhwa. It all made sense now. Jungkook pulled back, still reling from the discovery. Wonhwa.

Wonhwa were female warriors who served the royal family, and they were predecessors of a later group of men called Hwarang. Wonhwa was the first unit of females to be able to fight, and apparently the last, it seemed. So Shinhwa's mother was a Wonhwa.

"My mother was a friend of your mother's, and she was the one who gifted your title of Black Rose," Shinhwa said, standing up and brushing off her skirts. "I should go now, I have work uncompleted." Jungkook watched her go, still too stunned to get his mind around the information Shinhwa had supplied him with. If a Wonhwa had given this persona this title, then it must have some sort of meaning. Wonhwa were smart, strong women, and they didn't do anything brashly.

Jungkook came to request something, and yet Shinhwa had just given him a bigger puzzle to solve.

"You really want to learn?" The weapons master looked surprised and mildly annoyed at the request. "But you did say sanggung diasgreed?"

"Yes, but can you teach me without anyone knowing?" The man frowned at him, studying Jungkook's face and judging whether if he was truly genuine or just a facade to trick them all. The stable boy that had helped Jungkook get his now earlier stood beside Jungkook now, looking at the weapons master with earnest eyes. Jungkook patted his head gently, smiling at the weapons master to assure him that he was truly interested.

"I guess I could," the man gave in after a few moments of contemplation, Jungkook sighing in relief. The stable boy hopped up and down in excitement, shouting, "Can I learn too? Can I?"

"Shh, you'll get me caught!" Jungkook shushed him, looking around wildly to see if Shinhwa had showed up or there were any other servants around that reported to the sanggung. There was none, and he trusted the young stable boy to keep his silence. The weapons master looked at the both of them with amusement, a young lady wanting to learn combat and an untested stable boy with a penchant for trouble, teaming up to avoid the scary sanggung. It was an unlikely alliance.

"Are you sure you can take it, Lady Jiyeon?" The weapons master asked, his tone lighter now. Jungkook looked at him, searching for any signs of teasing, but there was none. Jungkook nodded firmly.

"I know what this means, and I understand the risks," the man was putting his job in Jungkook's hands, and trusting that Jungkook would shield them both if Shinhwa caught them. "But I must do this." The weapons master nodded knowingly, his eyes flicking to the belt at Jungkook's waist, and the small, jeweled dagger that hung there. Jungkook was in riding leathers, and the blade somehow didn't seem out of place on a female.

The man squinted, and reached out, touching the jade bracelet on Jungkook's wrist, his brows furrowing. "Who gave this to you, lady?"

"The prince," the man raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Prince Mingyu," Jungkook clarified. The stable boy, his curiosity piped, peeked from Jungkook's other side to look at the bracelet. It was something cheap, a simple gift, but the man seemed to treat it as something precious, something if actual worth. Jungkook was just wearing it because he had forgotten to take it off the previous night.

I'm never admitting it makes me feel nice. Jungkook frowned when the man sighed in defeat, pulling his hand away. "What is it?"

"A gift, often from a man to a woman, means the man wants a claim on the female, or a mark of courtship," the weapons master explained, gesturing to the bracelet. "Prince Mingyu has his sights set on you, and he has set a claim on you with a gift. I do not know whether he is doing this to protect you, or to just sate his own desires and ends, but this is no small matter. The royal family will know of this, and the queen will certainly be unhappy."

"Why would the queen be unhappy?" Jungkook