Sora and Byul were left together as the EXO boys decided to talk about men stuff. Yes, they talked about men stuff. Specifically all of them were trying to advice Baekhyun on the upcoming wedding and told the girls they weren't to listen.

Oh please, what wise words could come out of their mouths, really.

Sora and Byul went for a walk outside for a bit, enjoying the afternoon. Sora felt a kind of sisterly love towards Byul and found it very easy to like the latter, even if she had motives for being there. She didn't like how her purpose was to create confusion and disharmony in this closely knitted group of friends and family.

She didn't have relations like this and she yearned to have something like that. It was a true sin, in her opinion, to destroy such precious relationships like that.

But she had to do what she had to do.

And at this current point, her mission was to encourage disharmony. And she would do it.

"So," Byul looked over at Sora with a friendly smile. "Just between you and me, even though I have to tell you up front that I am not a gossip monger," she grinned. "But I can't deny I'm interested....are you and Chanyeol...?" she wriggled her brows.

Sora's cheeks immediately turned bright red without her meaning to. She cleared and quickly looked away, pressing her lips into a firm line. "No. We're not like that. He's just a nice prince, you know he is." she glanced at Byul quickly.

Byul smiled and nodded, agreeing. Indeed, Chanyeol was a very nice person.

He had encouraged her greatly when she told him about her troubles just a few moments ago. Even though his words weren't enough to lift her spirits completely, they did some good work to her smiles. He had told her specifically, and she remembered the words:

You and Baekhyun hyung belong together even though the two of you are so different. It's like black and white the opposites of each other. But you know what? They match, perfectly.

That's how you and Baekhyun hyung are. There is no one more suitable for him than you and him for you. This love between the two of you is too precious to be sabotaged by anything, Byul. Nothing is worth giving up your love for, absolutely nothing.

Especially a love like Baekhyun hyung and yours.

Byul sighed softly and nodded to herself. Yes, Baekhyun and her love was too precious.

But at the same time, still young.

"Yeah, Chanyeol is a nice person. It'll be good if he finds himself a nice girl as well." Byul said, hinting at Sora. "He deserves someone nice, someone to love and someone to love him. I bet he'll make a very good husband."

Sora looked straight ahead, seemingly unaffected. Byul shrugged as her efforts to gain a reaction backfired and decided to drop the topic altogether. "So how is the job?" Byul changed topics. "Working for the Ddong-ha can be tough huh? Especially when he throws tantrums and things like that. Just bear with it." she smiled.

Sora looked back at Byul. "Jeonha never throws tantrums. He's always very nice to me, and especially considerate. He even gave me this." Sora lifted her wrist to show Byul a braided woven bracelet. "I like it a lot."

"Oh, really?" Byul blinked, slightly surprised. Baekhyun never mentioned anything about giving a bracelet to Sora. Not that Byul minded, but still....

Sora saw Byul's eyes dimmed at her words and inwardly cringed. Baekhyun GAVE her the bracelet? What a joke.

She herself bought the bracelet from a stall in the capital city during her day off and spent a great tael on it. Baekhyun gave it? Meh, if anything, that crown prince would only bother about Byul enough to give her anything. He wouldn't bother about other females besides Byul, even if he tried to.

But Byul wasn't aware of that. She was currently struggling to keep the possessive strike in her when she heard Baekhyun's little act. Why, Baekhyun arranged to buy her hanboks and new drawers and things like that, but in all cases, it was usually the other servants choosing the design and sending it to Byul.

There was only one time when Baekhyun really chose a gift for her, and that was the time when he bought her that hair accessory as an apology gift ages ago.

The fact that he gave Sora a bracelet made Byul a little uneasy at the thought. And she grew even more uneasy at how easily unsettled she was.

"That's a nice bracelet." Byul finally forced out.

-----

Byul sighed as she trudged into the quarters.

A new attendant had joined the whole princess preparation scene and now Byul was currently being coached by Attendant Shim. The woman was easy on the sight and much nicer, but she had high expectations of Byul as well. Because Attendant Shim was such a nice coach made Byul want to impress the former, and because the former had such high expectations, impressing was really a real difficult task.

Byul felt tired after her princess lessons that day and really really could do with a leg massage that Baekhyun always suggested but she turned down.

She was surprised when Baekhyun didn't appear anywhere when she arrived, no Baekhyun charging to her like a little puppy and pouncing on her like he really missed her. Well, usually he did.

Byul stifled a yawn and went to Baekhyun's room, rubbing her eyes. "Ddong-ha? Are you in there? I'm back!" she called.

There was some shuffling coming from inside Baekhyun's room and Byul raised a brow. "You in there? I'll come in alright? Not or anything?" she joked.

"Just come in." Baekhyun's voice was slightly bland and deep. Byul ducked under the curtains and went into the familiar room, immediately diving for the bed and letting a sigh when she laid down. She saw Baekhyun appearing from behind the changing shades and she beamed. "Hey."

Baekhyun, for once, didn't light up like a candle when he saw her. He seemed to hesitate for a few moments before finally going over to sit on the chair by his bed.

Strange. If it had been the usual Baekhyun, he would have gone over to the bed and snuggled in with her, craving for skinship. A few seconds later, he would probably have kissed her cheek at least five times and told her how he missed her at least once.

"You're back." Baekhyun murmured in a detached sort of tone.

"Yeah I am." Byul sat up on his bed. She looked at him and blinked a few times. "Am I disturbing you or something? What were you doing before I was back?"

"Writing poems, but it's okay." Baekhyun shook his head. "I lost my inspiration. How were the princess lessons with Attendant Shim?"

"They're alright." Byul murmured.

The two of them lasped into a period of awkward silence, a rare happening for them. Byul shifted on the bed, wondering why the atmosphere was so weird. The fact that Baekhyun gave Sora a bracelet kept popping up in her mind and she tired hard to shove it down. STOP THINKING ABOUT IT.

Baekhyun finally got up from his seat and raked his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated. Frustrated about what? About being with her?

"I'll go call the maids to get the dinner." Baekhyun muttered. "Wash up and prepare for the meal." With that, he left the room. Byul watched him go with a sinking heart, the air suddenly feeling exceptionally heavy all of a sudden.

Byul glanced at the entrance to make sure Baekhyun was away before she crept over to his desk. What poem had he been writing before she arrived? A Haiku, was what it was.

Love is beautiful,
Until one's change of the heart,
Awful, empty pain.

Sora's face immediately floated up in Byul's mind at the words "change of the heart". Was Baekhyun having a change of heart? Was he regretting choosing Byul? Was that it?

Byul slumped, feeling her confidence level take another plunge. She didn't think she would ever feel this scared but now she did. She was afraid of losing Baekhyun.

-----

Sora and Chanyeol were out for a little stroll.

Sora ended her shift and was about to return to the servant's quarters when Chanyeol found her somehow and they ended up like this. Sora couldn't say no to Chanyeol no matter how she tried. The guy was taking up a larger than safe portion in her heart and it was beginning to bug her.

In addtion, all the lies and deception she was so carefully planning and executing with Baekhyun and Byul behind Chanyeol's back made her extremely guilty. She used Chanyeol's past love for Byul to make the scandal more real, more believable.

She felt like a horrid horrid person. Especially when she started to care about her victims.

Chanyeol was talking about this and that and Sora wasn't listening. Her mind was occupied with the plans and lies and guilt that were threatening to positively drown her in them. She sighed softly and shook her head, biting her lip.

Chanyeol heard her sigh and looked down at her. "Hey." he bumped her shoulders. "You alright? Another depressed soul?" he referred to Byul as the first. "If you're down or anything, I don't mind offering my services to accompany you on walks like this." he grinned.

Sora's first reaction was to want to coo at how cute he was when he said that. The way his cheeks slightly fired pink even in the dark was so adorable for a guy as tall as him. That was, until she saw a flash of white in the background.

Sora narrowed her eyes discreetly and furrowed her brows. Who the hell..??

Byul? Sora blinked.

Byul was currently talking a late night walk for her apparently very troubled soul, judging from the degree of frown on her face, and she was heading in Sora and Chanyeol's direction. She would be within earshot in no time. No time to lose.

Sora shot her gaze up to Chanyeol before the latter could see her attention wavering. "It's not a good idea to go on walks with you, Chanyeol-gun. No offense." she murmured.

Chanyeol looked absolutely perplexed. "Why? You don't like me around?"

"No it's not that," Sora glanced at Byul and saw that the princess had already seen Sora and Chanyeol. Byul quickly ducked behind the bushes to peek at them. Too bad Sora already saw her first.

"A girl and guy together outside in the middle of the night causes rumors to spread, Chanyeol-gun. I don't want such rumors to start." Sora quickly said. "It's not good for your reputation."

"I don't care about reputation." Chanyeol shrugged, meaning it. "I lost all mine the day I stepped into jail. I really mean it, if you want to, you can call me out for walks any time. I'm up for it." he smiled at her, promising her something more than just mere walks. He was promising company when she was down, a shoulder when she needed to cry, a person when she wanted to depend on someone.

He wanted to be that special someone that she would turn to when she needed help.

"Then you can say I'm selfish then, Chanyeol-gun." Sora amended. "I don't want rumors to start spreading because I don't want a certain someone to hear about it."

Chanyeol looked confused for a moment before it finally settled in. He stared at Sora for a few and frowned. "Who?"

"Jeonha." Sora murmured, staring back at Chanyeol while using her whole life's effort to keep the regret from showing in her eyes. She couldn't cry. Not now. "I don't want Jeonha to hear about us when there's no us, Chanyeol-gun."

Chanyeol laughed hesitantly and his gaze darted around. "Why is Baekhyun hyung dragged into this?" he shivered slightly. "Why should you bother about what Baekhyun hyung knows?"

He already knew her answer before she said it.

"Because I like Jeonha, Chanyeol-gun." Sora whispered, swallowing the lump in .

Chanyeol failed to meet her eyes at her words and Sora closed hers, feeling regret strike her hard like a tsunami. She opened her eyes and glanced at the bush, noticing how Byul had already snuck away at some point.

Sora was sure Byul was feeling terrible if she heard what Sora had said.

And she felt terrible herself too.