Jaein walked with her arm stuck in front of her nose, gripping onto a rectangular lantern. She tore across the palace garden, from the King’s house to where the princess lived. She was greeted by the royal servants, all of them bowed to her even though she’s not the palace resident. “The princess, she’s in her room?” She talked in her lowest voice. Though she’s raised outside the palace, she’s still a princess and acted like a royal when she’s in the palace. The servants bowed and slid the door open for her.

Her name was Dayoung. She’s the princess and possible ruler of Silla if Kibum turned down the throne. Even though the King had a son from a concubine, Dayoung was the pure-blood. She’s the only child of the King and the Queen, so she’s the one who had the right of the throne along with Kibum.

“Your Highness,” Jaein greeted the girl in her magenta robe. “Are you okay? I heard about the attack.” Jaein knelt down in front of her, looking at the face that once looked like hers when they’re younger. Dayoung and Jaein shared the same features like the fairness of their skin and the shape of their nose they inherited from the royal root. But Jaein’s face looked very cold while Dayoung looked a little bit warmer.

Dayoung stood up from her chair to the kneeling girl in front of her. “What’s with you, Jaein? You used to call me by my name. Don’t ever call me that or I’ll kill you. What’s with your sudden formality towards me?” She tried to lift her up, but Jaein forced herself down on the wooden floor. “Jaein, what are you doing? You never kneel like this before.” She forced a laugh before realising the way her cousin knelt. It was not a woman’s kneel; it was a warrior’s kneel. “Jaein, why are you kneeling like that?”

“I, Kim Jaein, from now on will be devoting my life for the safety of The Princess of Silla.” Jaein roared like a lion. Dayoung was not looking carefully, but if she did, she could see Jaein’s hand trembling on top of her knee. Jaein looked up to the princess, now she could see the bandage on her cousin’s neck clearly. “Dayoung, from now on I will be your personal .”

“Jaein, what do you mean?” Dayoung looked carefully to her cousin and realised that she’s not wearing a dress. She’s actually wearing a battle robe, and there was a sword attached on her waist. “Jaein, you can’t it’s too dangerous. Did my father ask you to do this? I’ll just storm at him and— “

“Dayoung it was my own will. If anything, your father was against making me your at the first place. He didn’t want a princess risking her life protecting another princess, but I convinced him that I’m able to guard you, even in your bedroom.” Jaein cut her words. “And don’t you ever storm at your father. He’s the king, respect him, Dayoung. This was a hard choice for him too.”

Dayoung sighed then forcefully made Jaein stand up from kneeling. She’s not as strong to lift her cousin, but Jaein understood her so she obeyed the princess and agreed to sit across her at the tea table. “Jaein, you can’t do this. It’s dangerous, you’re a princess! You’re no different than I am!”

“But unlike you, I will not reign.” Jaein smiled bitterly to the girl just a year older than her. “It’s either you or Kibum who will sit at the throne. Even if it’s Kibum and not you, you will eventually have to marry him like in the tradition. I don’t have anything to do with the throne, what difference it has between me and the Hwarangs?” She reached for Dayoung’s hand. Her hand was cold as corpse when she held it. “Besides, the other kingdoms have no idea about Kibum and me. They only knew that you’re the only heir to the throne. They’d not see it coming. They’ll only aim for you and only you. It would be a neat surprise when they found out that the Princess of Silla is actually guarded by another princess who actually has a brother that has a possibility to be the future Silla King. Think of it as a trap.

Dayoung, I’m not gonna die. Oraboni will be monitoring my moves. Besides, two of Hwarang members will guard us.” Jaein firmly gripped on her delicate hand. “Trust me, we’re gonna be okay.” She squeezed on her hand before excusing herself out from the room.

She sighed, pressing her back against the wooden wall of the palace after she’s out from the Princess’ House. What did she just do? She had agreed to be a meat shield for her cousin, and truth be told, there’s a spark of worry and fear in her head.

What if she failed on the first try?

What if Dayoung died?

She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. She mustn’t. She must be strong in order for everything to go according to plan. She kept telling herself that she’s a warrior. It was what she always wanted, to contribute actively like her brother.

Jaein pressed her arm on her eyes then found Kibum staring at her the moment she removed it. Kibum raised his hand, gesturing for her to come to him. He held his sister close under his armpit, telling her that their father had gone home, and that it’s just two of them now. “Are you scared, Jaein?”

Jaein smiled bitterly. Her eyes gazed on the dark palace garden in front of them. Nothing was seen clearly other than the shadow of twisted bonsai trees. “Is it weird that I feel scared, Oraboni?” She looked up to her brother holding a lantern in front of his nose as they tore the garden straight to the palace gate.

Kibum looked to his sister. It’s unlike her to look so vulnerable and scared. He snickered, telling that it’s nonsense to worry about it. “I was like you at first, but look where I am now.” He looked straight into her eyes, hopefully found a hint of bravery. “You’ll be fine. One word of advice, though. Don’t easily trust anyone.

But you can trust that Jonghyun of yours. I did a brief background check on him. He seemed to be trusted by the King.” He beamed his mischievous grin while they walked down the palace steps to the crowded town street. “You’ll be training with the Hwarang starting tomorrow, right? Go gain some people you can trust and some who can be beneficial for you. Or maybe a future husband. Who knew?”

Jaein laughed at her brother’s words. It’s typical Kibum to say things like that. He never considered anyone to be his friends other than his own sister and the Lee brothers. Unlike Jaein and their father who was more like being careful, Kibum had a trust issue. Those other than his father, sister, mother, king uncle, cousin, and Lee brothers were never considered in his friendly list. When they thought that he’s accepting them, he’s actually just go out with people he found benefits in.

They walked past the crowd of young people waiting to get into the Okta. Their eyes were looking at the siblings as if they just saw a diamond rolling on the street at random. Kibum winked to a group of girls in colourful Tang dynasty dresses that exposed their cleavage and made them squeal. Jaein was stealing a glance to the girls. She wanted to wear the same dresses but their father only allowed her to wear traditional princess’ dresses and robes to veil her beauty and the defined muscles on her body.

“Speaking of future husband, I don’t think you should look that far into the hill of Hwarang House.” Key suddenly said to the petit girl with her magenta robe next to him. His sister looked up at him in confusion. Key pointed with his nose to the direction of the back of a man his height with his sky-blue robe and his flowing long black hair on his back. The shape of his wide shoulders was enough to tell Jaein who it was.

“Seriously, what did he do this time at this hour alone?” Jaein groaned, winding herself to the boy her brother meant. He was scratching the scalp under his hair when Jaein reached his side. “What did you forget this time, Lee Taemin?” She sighed.

Taemin told her that he forgot about a package his brother asked him to get from the market. His barging to the merchant’s house at night would surely give him a negative impact at bargaining to the merchant on his next purchase. The merchant kindly let him search the package he lost at the store, but he couldn’t seem to find it. He told Jaein and her brother how the package looked like only to be shoved by the exact package by Kibum in less than a minute.

“What would you be without us?” Kibum casted a sneer upon his face after he gave him the purple package.

Taemin sheepishly grinned to the siblings he knew since childhood. He looked at them and spotted something rather odd. He originally thought that the siblings were off from the Okta, but Kibum was wearing dark-coloured robe instead of his colourful ones. And Jaein was not dressing pretty like she would have. She looked like she’s ready to battle.

“Where were you guys?” He asked, looking back and forth from the siblings. He looked at them carefully, there’s no jewellery attached to their body. His best bet was that the two just finished their night training with their father. But no drop of sweat or any whiff of the sweaty scent was present. He looked to Jaein and her battle robe then messed her hair up. “What’s with you?”

“Oh you might want to find out tomorrow at the city hall.” Kibum flashed his mischievous smile. “It’s gonna be interesting.”