Hi, everyone! I'd really like to apologise for not updating for such a long time, this year has been quite busy for me but hopefully I'll be able to update my story more often now, I'll definitely try to. Enjoy :)

,,We will rest here,” Byung-yeon declared after more than three hours of their ride across the night. Bora was actually quite relieved that he finally decided to stop, because she was beginning to feel really tired from the hours spent on horseback. Her thighs didn’t feel strong enough to support her anymore and she thought she was going to fall more than once during the last hour, yet somehow she still managed not to. She had only hoped that Byung-yeon didn’t notice. She, of course, could tell him if she wanted to rest but she was stubbornly refusing this alternative. She didn’t want him to see her as someone weak, her pride would never allow that.

Byung-yeon did notice her struggle though. He was thinking about stopping earlier, when his arms already prevented her from falling twice, yet he didn’t, because he had to admit that he was quite curious about when will the Princess finally be willing to admit that she can’t continue. Yet as the time was passing, to Byung-yeon’s surprise Lee Bora would rather struggle not to fall than to tell him that she needed to rest. She was without a doubt too stubborn and too proud, yet he had to admit, that he was quite fascinated by it and maybe also admired her determination a little. She definitely wasn’t used to such long rides, yet she wouldn’t want him to see it. So after an hour he decided to make her suffering end, since she apparently wouldn’t do it herself.

As Byung-yeon stopped his horse and got off, a thought suddenly popped into Bora’s mind.

,,Won’t you help me get off?” she asked, since he didn’t look like he was planning to do so.

It was simply polite for a man to help a lady in such a situation, it was a basic etiquette and it wasn’t like she couldn’t do it herself, she simply wanted to a little, maybe just to see whether she could make him embarrassed, which would mean that he’d actually show some emotion.

,,Aren’t you able to do it yourself?” he asked simply, not sounding embarrassed at all.

,,Are you serious?” she asked, pretending to be indignant.

,,Very much so,” he answered, already knowing what intentions the Princess had. 

,,Well, it looks like they haven’t taught you anything about some basic etiquette while you were in the palace. Don’t you know you should always help a lady to get off her horse? And what’s more, I’m not just any lady,” she continued teasing him, reminding him that she was a Princess after all and making sure her voice sounded very serious. 

,,I have to admit that. Not every lady would be able to ride the horse for three hours straight,” he said while already starting to collect wood for the fire.

She didn’t know how to reply to this comment, unsure whether it could actually be a compliment.

Suddenly though he returned to the horse and put his hands on her waist. It was so unexpected that she jerked away but realized immediately, that he was actually doing what she had told him to do.

Embarrassed she quickly threw her leg over the horse, put her hands on his shoulder and let him hold her close to him for a brief moment until her legs touched the ground. She could again feel sensation of his touch lingering in the parts of her body that touched his and wasn’t sure whether she should be angry, confused or simply pleased by the feeling.

When she pulled her hands away from his shoulders though, her eyes widened in shock. Her right hand was dripping with blood. 

,,You are wounded!” she exclaimed in shock.

She didn’t even notice when it had happened and couldn’t understand why. 

,,Yes,” Byung-yeon answered simply. The man was loosing blood and yet still sounded as if he’d been observing the weather.

He got his wound on the left shoulder while trying to get inside the prison, where Lee Bora was held. Since the guards, of course, wouldn’t just let him in for no reason, he had to solve the situation more violently. He attacked when they expected nothing and managed to kill all four of them in a short amount of time, yet he didn’t manage to do so unharmed. The wound on his shoulder luckily wasn’t very deep, so he could continue in his plan but it still hurt him with every single movement he made. Still, he was a fighter and a soldier from a young age, so being wounded wasn’t something unfamiliar to him, so Lee Bora was in fact maybe feeling more uncomfortable and worried about his wound then he himself.

,,Will you be alright?” Bora asked, actually sounding more concerned than she had intended to.

,,It’s nothing, it will heal soon,” Byung-yeon answered without letting her see that he was quite surprised by her question.

,,Alright then,” she said trying to sound more indifferent this time.

She turned around and looked up to the sky, gazing at the constellaions dreamily for a while. It was truly different seeing it here tha