The night quickly passed and as the sun just began to rise again from its sleep, so did the supreme general’s natural body alarm. After realizing that both royalties had yet to wake up from their sleep due to the abnormality of the hour in which the soldier was awaken, the supreme general decided to take a stroll near the tent and harvest edible fruits for the royalties to eat in the morning, in addition to the rabbit meat from yesterday’s hunt. Apparently, the areas near the tent were packed with a wide array of fruit to select, such as bananas, apples, oranges, and mangoes. After thinking that she had collected enough foods for the three of them, the general went back with a bowl full of fruits back to the tent area. Surprisingly, she discovered that the royal princess had woken from her sleep, which was very unusual considering the usual waking up time of the said royalty.

“Good morning, Your Highness,” the supreme general greeted cheerfully as soon as her eyes laid upon the royal princess, before bowing at the younger royalty curtly.

“Good morning to you too, Seul unnie,” the royal princess welcomed back before realizing the bowl that the general carried, prompting her to continue, “What have you got there?”

“Ah, it is just a bowl of fruits for breakfast, Your Highness. Here, please have some," General Kang offered, before politely requesting, "By the way, I am going to go to the nearest stream to grab fresh water for us to drink. Can you please help me by trying to collect some branches or twigs for us to ignite the fire, Your Highness?”

The royal princess was extremely eager and happy to accept the job, hence the two headed towards different directions as they carried out their own tasks. Carrying two huge bowls with her, the supreme general began travelling by foot for about 2 miles before reaching the nearest stream from their camping site. She, then, scooped up both bowls until they were fully filled before walking back to the camping grounds in a rather slow and careful pace. Nevertheless, she took the time to also appreciate the nature around her whilst also intently observing her surroundings. Halfway from the stream, the general began hearing shuffling sounds from behind the bushes, causing her to instantly become extremely cautious and suspicious. Knowing that the perpetrators might run away if she called upon them, the supreme general slowly, but surely, put down the bowls filled with water and scurried to the area where she thought the voice originated. However, her attempt went to no avail when she discovered that there was nothing but a rabbit hiding behind the said bush. Brushing off her presumptuous feelings, the general decided to walk in a faster, yet still careful, pace.

A few minutes later, General Kang had arrived back to their camping site and was immediately welcomed by the sight of a newly awoken crown princess sitting near the campfire whilst eating a banana with a blank expression.

The general, who tried to hide her chuckles, approached the said royalty, bowed before the latter, and uttered, “Good morning, Your Royal Highness.”

The crown princess, still with the same blank expression, turned her face towards the nearing general and muffled back, “Good morning to you too, Seulgi-ah,” whilst still having filled with banana.

“Hey, sis, finish the foods in your mouth first before saying something,” the royal princess commented in annoyance as she just returned back to the site with a new batch of branches.

The supreme general just shook her head in disapproval at the crown princess, who seemingly did not care for her younger sister’s words at all. Realizing that the crown princess was still probably not fully awaken, General Kang offered the royalty a cup of water and asked her to drink up.

After a few more cups of fresh water, the crown princess seemed to have her ‘soul’ back, causing her to finally say in a normal tone, “Thanks, Seul-ah.”

The general, then, helped the royal princess to finish rearranging the stacks of branches and twigs and instantly apologized to the latter, whilst bowing deeply, after hearing the series of short breaths let out by the royalty, “I am truly sorry for overworking you, Your Highness.”

“Hey, it’s alright, Seul unnie. Besides, now I know that my body needs more training because it seems like I’m becoming weaker and weaker these days. I think the effect of drinking too much started kicking it on me,” Royal Princess Bae joked as she tried to remove the guilt from the general’s mind, in which she succeeded when she saw the smile on the soldier’s face.

The three, then, continued to feed themselves with the fresh fruits and roasted rabbit meat until their stomachs were wholly filled.

“By the way, have we told anyone in the castle where we’re going away from the castle for the night and this morning?” the royal princess curiously questioned, causing the two older people to just stare at her back blankly.

After a moment to collect their thoughts and trying to remember the events occurring the previous night, the supreme general concluded, “Not that I remember of. Did Your Highnesses notify anyone about this excursion of ours?”

“Not at all,” the two royal siblings said simultaneously, causing a horrified expression to be painted on all of their faces.

“Guess we should pack up now and head back towards the castle, then. What a bummer,” the royal princess stated before standing up from her position near the campfire and headed towards her tent.

The two others followed suit as they headed towards their own tent and began packing up the stuff that they brought out to the mountains. The three, then, hand-in-hand, placed their luggage on the sides of their horses and quickly hopped on the horses, with the royal princess alone and the crown princess and supreme general riding together. They began their travel back to the castle grounds as fast as possible, pushing their horses to the limits of their endurance and speed.

Meanwhile back at the Night Mountain, two pairs of eyes were apparently watching the three’s movement intently and closely whilst still maintaining distance to prevent the three from discovering about their presence.

The first person spoke, “Whew, that was a very close call. I could’ve died if a stunt like that is ever