"You had no idea how long the fight went on about." Baekhyun nagged when they got back to his quarters. "Half an hour. You two fought for half an hour! Can you imagine sitting at the edge of your seat for half an hour? I nearly died!"

Byul let out a hearty laugh and shook her head.

"I haven't had such a worthy opponent since Chanyeol-gun." She confessed. "He had been the one with best swordplay but after he was gone, every fight seemed too easy. This girl is something else!" She beamed, clearly in approval.

"Glad that you're enjoying yourself when I thought you were going to get yourself killed any second." Baekhyun murmured under his breath. "So you sure? She's going to be my bodyguard? Not any of the guys but this girl?"

"She's a good fighter." Byul patted Baekhyun's head. "And besides, so what if she's a girl? I'm a girl too and I protected you just fine."

Baekhyun pouted at her and pulled her on his lap. "From now on I'm going to do the protecting alright?" He muttered. "I'm not worried about the girl's capabilities, if that's what you're wondering about."

Byul blinked at him in surprise. "Then what?"

Baekhyun let out an annoyed sigh and sulked, kissing her jaw. "Eunbyul..." He whined. "Why are you not at all worried putting a girl next to me, one that will follow me around twenty four seven?"

"Worried?" Byul raised her brows as if that idea hadn't occurred to her n

"Yes worried! Jealous to be specific!" Baekhyun nodded vigorously as he played with the ends of her hair. "Other girls would be appalled to have another girl sticking by their man every time of the day. You're not. I'm hurt, Eunbyul."

"Should I be worried?" Byul laughed at Baekhyun's childishness and wrapped her hands behind his neck as he pulled the ribbon from her hair, releasing her hair from its ponytail.

"No." Baekhyun pouted. "Of course not. There's no one else I would even bother looking at besides you. You know that."

"Exactly. I know that." Byul laughed and nodded. "I trust you, Ddong-ha. Putting a girl next to you the entire time isn't anything to be afraid of when there are pretty gisaengs and maids around but you chose me, right?"

"Confident, aren't we?" Baekhyun's hands went up to tangle themselves in her hair as he brought her face down. He liked it when she said things like that. She trusted him.

Boy, that sounded good.

"But you have a good reason to be." Baekhyun whispered, his gaze dipping to her lips. "Because there's really no one else I'll fall in love with besides you." He leaned forward to claim her lips.

And then she forgot what they were talking about before that. Flying jellyfishes? A blue deer's pimple?

"Everyone, I've chosen the bodyguard so there will be no election today." Byul announce to the boys.

They blinked at her in surprise. "Is it one of the five candidates you sparred with at the end?" Sehun asked. "Please don't let it be Kim Jong Kook! He looks scary!"

"It's not. It's someone else that arrived late and Han Eunbyul decided to give her a chance." Baekhyun shrugged.

"Her?" Everyone chorused as if they hadn't heard him properly.

"Yes her." Byul grinned at their shock. "Everyone, meet Im Sora, Ddong-ha's new bodyguard." She waved the second girl in.

All eyes focused on the girl dressed in bodyguard uniform, shuffling into the room shyly and hesitantly. "Your highnesses." She bowed.

Sora was taller than Byul by around five centimeters, which meant she was really pretty tall. Byul was the sort of girl that only turned red under sun but not darker, hence she was still rather fair. Sora was darker than her, perhaps slightly lighter than olive coloured skin.

But Sora's face made up for her height. Her eyes were large and alert, her features defined and characteristic.

Byul's features were the sort that made heads turn. She looked beautiful without trying and no one expected the tiny girl to be so independent and such a fighter.

Sora on the other hand, wouldn't strike you as extremely attractive on the first glance. She looked pretty, yes, but perhaps only above average.

When Sora smiled and talked, it was then that you realized you couldn't take your eyes off her and she had a sort of magnetic field to her that appealed for unknown reasons.

"This is Im Sora everyone," Byul introduced. "Say hi."

"Hi~" Sehun obediently waved. He eyed the new bodyguard up and down and puffed his cheeks. "Are you my noona or dongsaeng?"

"Sora is a year older than me, so she's still your noona." Byul clarified.

Sehun nodded and beamed at Sora. "Noona number two, you're pretty too!"

"Flirt." Kai muttered under his breath.

"Thanks." Sora cleared , embarrassed with the attention. D.O. stood up to stand beside her and quickly ducked down on his seat. "Wow, you're tall. Only a few centimeters shorter than I am." He murmured.

"How did you think of hiring Sora sshi, then?" Suho asked Byul. "There were so many male candidates which none of them you thought could make the mark yesterday."

"Yeah but none of them could last in a fight with me for half an hour." Byul laughed as she looked at Sora.

"Half an hour?" Everyone chorused in surprise. "That long?" D.O. asked in wonder. "Even that Kim Jong Kook didn't last more than five minutes."

"That's right." Baekhyun nodded. "The two of them kept going at it, fighting and dodging and flipping through the air and things like that...not even a winner after so much time that I had to go in there to stop them from fighting." he shook his head at the memory. "Air pollution I tell you, the amount of sand they kicked into the sky."

"That's so cool." Sehun gushed and beamed at Sora. "Maybe you can spar with Chanyeol hyung when he's released. He and Byul noona were on par as well, only sometimes Byul noona winning and sometimes Chanyeol hyung."

Sora nodded but she looked a little confused. "Who is Chanyeol?"

"He's my cousin." Baekhyun just explained briefly without too much explanation. He didn't want to go into how Chanyeol had tried to kill them all and that he had been in love with Byul in the past. He didn't want to tell any of that to anyone who didn't know about it, because he wanted everyone to see Chanyeol in his best.

"He'll be coming back quite soon, I should think." Baekhyun met Byul's eyes and smiled. "I miss him."

"Don't we all?" Suho blew on his bangs. "The EXO-M princes have been asking about him in all their recent letters. Together with mentions of Chen and his rabbit Suho." he scowled at the memory. "That guy's dead."

"Do you have a boyfriend, Sora noona?" Sehun asked in interest, leaning closer. "You're pretty. The other guards would be definitely chasing after you if you hadn't a boyfriend."

Kai frowned at his dongsaeng. "Yah yah yah, why are you so nosy? Please don't tell me that you're interested in Sora." he warned and wagged his finger in front of Sehun's face. "You're not allowed to have a girlfriend till you're thirty, Oh Sehun."

"Hyung!" Sehun whined. "I was just curious alright? And why can't I have a girlfriend when you have one too?" he pointed at Minhee. "You double standard!"

"Look at his mental capacity and maturity." Kai pointed. "Do you really think he can handle a girl right now at this age?" he looked at the other boys.

Byul shook her head and laughed while Baekhyun completely agreed with Kai. "Sorry maknae, but maybe not till thirty, that's too harsh." Suho offered. "How about waiting a few years?"

"Hm alright." Sehun pouted. "Wasn't looking for one anyway." He looked back at Sora and grinned. "So noona? Do you have a boyfriend?"

Sora just shook her head, amused at the little one. Were the princes all this cute? She eyed Kai. Maybe not that one. "I don't have a lover, if that's what you're asking." Sora shrugged. "Never found time for one."

"I know right!" Byul immediately agreed. "Having one just takes up all your time!"

Baekhyun frowned and pulled Byul's arm. "Yah yah yah, am I just something that consumes your time now? Han Eunbyul..." he scowled. Byul laughed and patted his cheeks. "Hey I'm giving up my time willingly so that says something."

"Hm it better." Baekhyun murmured.

The boys ignored the Baekbyul moments with much practice and continued with their attention on Sora. "You know what I think? I think Chanyeol would suit you very much." D.O. pointed out. "I mean for starters, both of you are good at martial arts and kungfu. And then both of you are tall."

"Height isn't a basis for love, you toot." Kai rolled his eyes. Minhee smiled at him and he grinned back.

"Fine, you needn't act like the love expert just because you've got a girl and I haven't! I'm going to get myself one soon alright!" D.O. pouted. "Stupid Kai."

The princes continued with their banter and Sora watched them with a small smile. Were the princes always so noisy? How different from how she thought the royals would be, really.

Sora felt someone looking at her and saw Byul smiling. "If you run into any troubles, just tell me okay?" she murmured warmly. "Living in the palace away from your family isn't easy but you'll get used to it. From now, we'll be your family okay? Unnie?"

Sora was surprised that this girl, this girl that was to be Crown Princess some time in the near future, this girl that was going to be the Queen of the Nation, she had called a mere commoner as herself "unnie" so easily. Was she always so trusting? And not to mention, nice?

"Thanks." Sora nodded gratefully. "I really appreciate it."

Byul beamed. "And," she said loudly, turning to face Baekhyun slowly for words obviously meant for him to hear. "If Ddong-ha dares prank you, be mean to you, run away from you or anything vaguely out of line, tell me. I'll beat him up."

"Han Eunbyul!" Baekhyun whined. "I'm going to be your husband!"

"But you're not, yet!" Byul retorted back wittily.

The two kept going back and forth and Sora observed them quietly. She had one conclusion from this one meeting with all the royals.

They were good people. Definitely.