"Shine across the universe. Pray to the stars."

•••
 

Goeun makes her return to the Guleum palace early the next morning. She feels pleased after what she and Dosie did the previous night, refreshed and ready to take on the day. Not only that, she was able to sneak around successfully, despite the huge risks she took. She is proud of herself. 

It was all worth it in the end. Despite how much her legs and feet hurt, and how tired she is, the wonderful and thrilling feelings she experienced last night make it worth it. She just wishes it could have lasted longer.

Goeun returns to her own bedroom before realizing that she is hungry. She did a lot of traveling by foot in one night and she needs to refuel her energy. She steps foot out of her bedroom to get a maid's attention until she quickly notices her brother heading in her direction.

Judging by the look on his face, Goeun starts believing she has been caught. She freezes up, glancing over at him nervously as she waves. Though, although she had picked up on his obvious distress, something else is bothering him.

"Hey, Goeun," he greets her, going to approach her. "How are you? Did you sleep alright?" He asks.

"Yes, I did," Goeun lies. She only got around 2 hours worth of sleep last night. Looking back on it, she probably spent most of the night walking and the rest of it staying up with Dosie. She shivers at the thought of how much trouble she would be in if her parents learned that she spent the night having with an Ilmol princess.

"Good, cause this news is going to be hard on you," her brother speaks with a sense of urgency, letting out a deep, shaky sigh. "There was a dispute at the border this morning. Some Ilmol soldiers crossed the border to pick a fight with a border patrol. Dad is sending troops out to battle and... I want to be on the front lines," he reveals.

It is not unusual for heirs to the throne to join battles, especially important ones. Heirs are trained to be excellent in combat. They usually aid in commanding troops.

This isn't the first time he has done this, but this time feels so different to Goeun. Maybe it is due to her falling in love with a certain Ilmol heir, but she starts to get a sick feeling in her stomach. The previous hunger that she had is now gone and is now replaced with a nauseous feeling. Something is not right.

"Goeun... are you okay?" Her brother then asks. He normally doesn't act like this. The two of them like to tease and mess with each other a lot... but this is the most serious Goeun has ever seen him.

"Yeah.. I'm fine," Goeun answers. "I'm just worried about you, that's all. I don't want you to get hurt."

Goeun doesn't want Dosie to get hurt either. As expected of Dosie, she shows up to almost every battle. When she first heard about the Ilmol princess's role in every battle, she was oddly impressed, but also felt threatened. Little did she know that she would later fall in love with said princess.

"I'll be careful, I promise," her brother assures her. "I'm going to go head off. We need to get going before Ilmol forces move in farther. See you later!" He says before quickly hurrying off.

Goeun watches him leave, her sick feeling remaining. Maybe it might be best to skip on breakfast this morning. Instead, she should go check on the battle scene just in case something goes wrong. She needs to see what is happening instead of staying hone and worrying the whole time.

Her parents would be pissed if they hear she went to observe a battle. As their youngest, they are always trying to protect her. Mostly just so she can be a "backup" if anything were so happen to her brother. She has hated being seen like a backup or second best, even as a kid. All because she was the second to be born.

While her brother got battle training lessons, she received self-defense lessons. Goeun wonders if part of it was rooted in misogyny too, due to the fact that she is a girl. But even then, birth order is probably the most important factor.

Goeun kept her sword on her and made her way to the battlefield, the horrible feeling in her gut remaining.

When she arrived, the battle was already going full-out. She nervously hurries to watch the scene. She knows she is unable to jump into battle, or she'll for sure be grounded. So, she hides behind a small bush in the grassland and watches from a distance.

It does not take long for her to spot her older brother, only to no