When you slowly blinked your eyes open again, you frowned at the sight of the inside of one chamber of the castle. Quickly remembering what had happened, you jumped to your feet, the arm that wrapped around your waist was the only thing that kept you from collapsing back onto the sofa behind you. You turned your head and felt yourself frown slightly seeing the face of Sir Wonshik.

“Oh thank goodness you’re awake!” The sound of the prince’s voice from behind you surprised you. “I thought you had been hurt. Are you okay? Princess?” Prince Jaehwan came into view and you were shocked to see the worry and concern on his face. Although when he pulled you into his arms, holding you against his chest, you felt your face flush before remembering the last thing you had seen before you apparently had fainted.

The image of your father with an arrow through his neck flashed through your mind again and you couldn’t stop the sob that burst forth. You felt Jaehwan tighten his arms around you as you sobbed against his chest, not caring about any possible improprieties in the action. Your father had been killed and if you were right in thinking, you were now locked away in one of the inner chambers of the castle while your father’s guards and advisors sought out the assassin and secured the castle against any possible attack or such.

You weren’t sure how long you stood in the prince’s arms crying for your father before slowly calming down. You kept your face hidden against the prince’s chest for a moment, feeling strangely safe in his embrace, before pulling back with a blush after realizing what you had been doing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

“Nonsense. Are you okay, princess? You’re not hurt or anything, are you?” Jaehwan moved his hand to gently cup your cheek, worry still on his face. It was a bit of a surprise, having only seen him as the joking tease that he had been before. But seeing his worry for you seemed almost out of character.

You glanced around the room, realizing you were alone with the prince. “Where is everyone else? Hakyeon and your knight? And the new one pledged to me, Sanghyuk, too?” You felt a bubble of fear rising in your throat again and you hoped nothing had happened to anyone else. Although you remembered that Sir Wonshik had been here when you first awoke again.

“Your young knight insisted he help in the search for the assassin after being reassured that I would watch over you, and that advisor of yours had pulled a bow from somewhere and ran off into the crowds before I could figure out what was happening. I sent Sir Wonshik to find out the news for us and to help the others.”

You nodded before frowning with confusion again, moving to sit on the sofa. “But what exactly happened? Why would someone-” You couldn’t finish the sentence, not wanting to think of your father having been shot with an arrow.

The prince sighed before sitting on the sofa beside you. “I’m not sure. There has been some stirs of unrest from the southern kingdoms, my cousin couldn’t make it here for the tournament because he was busy in negotiations with one of the other kingdoms. From his last letter and what I gathered from his knight, there is a small alliance forming to try and settle the attempted uprisings and he’s looking into things to see what is going on. My older brother is spending the upcoming holiday with my cousin’s family to see how matters are progressing there as well. After our marriage, they were hoping your kingdom would openly join the alliance, as your army is one of the best trained in all the seven kingdoms. That’s part of why my father was as approving of the match as he was when I asked him, aside from his friendship with your father. Apparently one of the rebellion heard of the plans and decided to send an assassin to the tournament.” He took a breath, pausing for a moment before reaching to gently take your hand. “I’m not entirely sure if that arrow was meant for your father or you. While your father had been secretly aiding our alliance through his friendship with my father, he still claimed to be completely outside of it. But with our marriage, that would bring your kingdom into our alliance regardless of what your father could claim.”

The news was a lot to process and you felt yourself in a bit of shock. Your father had been aiding in an alliance to thwart an uprising. Your soon to be husband was a member of that alliance, and apparently important enough to know what exactly was going on and planned. The arrow that had no doubt killed your father might have been intended for you. You felt yourself start to grow faint again and closed your eyes, trying to block everything out. Surely this was just a bad dream and you would wake up and it would all be right again.

There was a commotion at the door to the chamber and Jaehwan jumped up, pulling his sword and standing between the door and you before it opened and Sir Wonshik stumbled in, helping to support a bloodied Hakyeon as he limped into the chamber. You jumped up and rushed around the prince, worry causing your heart to race again.

“Hakyeon! What happened?!” You helped to support him as he walked to the sofa you had just been sitting on. You tried to see what had happened to your friend, pushing past his attempts to stop your hands from pulling back the torn layers of his clothes. You gasped at the sight of several cuts, although the worst was a large gash on his right leg that was steadily losing blood. You hastily tore at the hem of your dress, pulling strips of fabric apart before starting to wrap around his leg.

“Princess! Stop, please, I’m fine.” Hakyeon tried to push your hands away, only to cause you to hurry and tie off the makeshift bandage before moving to fuss over another of his injuries. “Princess! _____!” The use of your name seemed to snap you from your slight haze and glanced up to see Hakyeon frowning at you before he reached and wiped your cheeks, unaware that you had been crying again. “I promise, I’m fine, princess. Don’t fret over me.” His voice was softer and you took a shaky breath, trying to calm yourself again before throwing your arms around him in a tight embrace.

“WHAT?!”

You jumped slightly at the sound of the prince’s shout before pulling away from Hakyeon and turning back to the prince and his knight. Sir Wonshik looked almost scared, but the prince looked more angry than you had seen anyone in quite some time and you were almost frightened as well. You felt Hakyeon take your hand, his fingers twining with yours in a familiar and comforting way.

The prince turned back to look at you and his frown deepened. “I’m sorry. It seems I was right. The arrow was intended for you. Sir Taekwoon managed to capture the assassin and get the answer out of him before he was killed by your young knight. The problem now is that before he died, the assassin said there was another here within the court. The assassin is likely going to target you again in hopes of succeeding in their initial goals. The murder of your father seemed to be an accident.”

You felt the strength give out of your legs and you fell backwards against the sofa, your mind a haze. This was all because of your upcoming marriage and the plot to thwart a rebellion. Your father had been killed, your best friend hurt, who knows how many others were wounded in the attack. All because of you. You closed your eyes, trying to will everything back into normalcy.

“There’s one other matter.” Hakyeon’s voice was soft from beside you, and you didn’t want to know what caused his voice to sound like it did. “We need to crown you before the week’s end. And to keep from potentially gaining more enemies, we’ll need to marry the two of you as well.”

You spun around to look at Hakyeon in disbelief. “I can’t Hakyeon! This is all too fast! How do we know that Jaehwan isn’t connected to these assassins?! My father is dead and now I’m being rushed into marrying him? No, I can’t.” You felt yourself on the verge of hysterics, unable to breathe.

“How could you even think that, princess?! Do you know what those people have done to my prince?!” Sir Wonshik’s voice was louder than you had heard it as he took a few steps towards you, before being stopped by the prince placing a hand on the knight’s arm.

“Wonshik, it’s fine. She doesn’t know, and she’s likely still in shock from it all. With everything happening, it’s good for her to be suspicious. She’ll survive that way.” Jaehwan’s voice was softer than you had heard it, almost hurt. “I swear to you, _____, I am not in any way connected to those monsters. If you want proof, I’ll share my reasons why I want them all to be punished. But I would request that you not ask it of me.” He stared at your face for a moment before turning away, pacing slightly.

“Princess! Open the door, it’s Sanghyuk! Sir Taekwoon is with me too!” There was a shout from the other side of the door before a loud knock. The prince had his sword drawn again, moving to stand in front of you while Sir Wonshik cautiously went to open the door, his own sword held in his hand as well.

When the door opened wide enough, the other two knights shuffled in before the door was closed again. Sanghyuk rushed over to kneel in front of you, a look of almost worry on his face. “Are you hurt princess? The prince said he would watch over you, or I would have never left your side. I swore to protect you and I won’t let anything happen to you. The assassin is dead. I made sure of it myself. And it was not swift or painless, as dishonorable as it may be. I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it.” He looked down at the floor, his voice lowered. “Punish me if you wish, princess. I’ll pay the price for my temper.”

A scoff sounded from the corner of the room and you turned to see Sir Taekwoon giving Sanghyuk a frown. “He barely left anything to distinguish the body had been a human.” His voice was the soft flat tone you had come to expect with him, so you weren’t sure what his opinion on Sanghyuk’s actions were. Although from the sound of things it was something truly serious and violent, and you shuddered slightly at the thought.

“The castle watch and knight’s guard have stopped the small attack and secured the main castle, so you can go back to your own chambers if you would like? Or meet with the other lords? Speak with the priest about arrangements for your father?” Sanghyuk sounded unsure and you took a shaky breath at the mention of arrangements for your father.

You nodded before forcing yourself to stand. “Of course. I’ll meet with the priest and settle the arrangements for my father and discuss what will need to be done for the wedding and coronation.” You sighed softly, looking at the floor for a moment before squaring your shoulders with the best impression of your mother you could muster at the moment before turning to the prince. “We’ll marry as soon as the priest can perform the ceremony and then I will destroy these rebels who have disrupted my kingdom and murdered my father. My army is the best trained in all the seven kingdoms, as you have said, and I will not stop until they have all been hunted down and wiped out. You can choose to join me or simply leave for your home again.”

The prince’s face broke out into a slow smile, softer and more genuine. “Princess, I don’t think I’ve ever admired you more. I will gladly help you. You have my word.”

You nodded before turning back to where Hakyeon was still sitting. The expression on his face was unreadable and you were a little worried before he gave the slightest hint of a nod, relief coursing through you at his approval. “I’m sure one of the others will help you to your chambers, Hakyeon. They’ll fetch the surgeon for you as well. I don’t want you to even think of moving until you’ve been properly bandaged. I’ll have Sanghyuk with me while I speak with the priest, then I’m going to my own chambers. I’ll come see you after I’ve had a rest.”

“Princess, take Wonshik with you as well. It’s not that I don’t trust your young knight, he’s proven to be a loyal servant to you, but it will ease my mind to know that you’ll be safer with him.” The prince’s voice interrupted you and you turned to frown slightly at him. “Sir Taekwoon and I can manage your advisor. I might not appear it, but I am quite capable with a sword myself.”

You turned back to Hakyeon with a fond smile. “If that will be okay with you?” You managed to keep from laughing at the hint of a teasing smile on his face before shrugging. “You’re welcome to put an arrow in either of them if they try anything.” The prince laughed loudly and you turned to give him a blank stare. His laughter slowly faded and you turned back to the two knights who were to accompany you. “Let’s go.”