The clock struck at the 24th hour as the time ticked on faster and faster. The guards were now shoving people out of the Palace and checking every inch for any hiders and late stayers. KangYuna sat in her room by the window staring up at the stars. She felt sinful remembering how she kissed a stranger, but it was exciting and the thrill burned inside her. It was like she wanted to experience it again. She lifted up her hand to her lips and a small smile crept up onto her face.

            She let out a deep sigh. "I wonder what he looked like."

            "Who looked like?" KangYuna spun around and saw Jaehyun leaning against the door frame with his hands in his pocket. The mask he wore was gone and revealed his fair complexion against her dimly lit room.

            "Oh, no one," KangYuna looked back up at the sparkling night sky. A midsummer's breeze blew by warming her up. Oh, how she loved the feeling of the warm air flowing through her hair and against her cold skin.

            "Ha-ha, yeah right. Look, I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier," he walked over to KangYuna. "I worry for you, KangYuna and I trust that you can take care of yourself. I hope the same from you as well. I am someone that you can tell everything to.”

            "I don't know about everything," KangYuna laughed. She retold her night with the mysterious Byun Baekhyun, but decided to leave out the kiss because she knew that if she did there would be no more independence for Princess KangYuna and Baekhyun may be hunted down by NCT.

            Jaehyun chuckled. "You crazy girl, just be careful who you hang out with. You don't know what trouble you may get in."

            "Trouble, ha!" KangYuna scoffed, but then she remembered Baekhyun's words to her.

            "I'm always on the move and-" his lips grazed the top her ear. "I'm kind of bad."

******

            "Hey, did you hear that the Princess was actually in the Masquerade ball? She was dressed and masked!"

            "What? No way! Who was she?"

            "No one knows! Some say, she probably wore a gold or black dress to match the decorations."

            "That would be just ridiculous since that makes it too obvious and she would be caught easily and like besides most girls came prancing in the palace with black or gold dresses since the invitation was decorated in those colors."

            "Still though, one of them could've been the Princess! Imagine how much more magnificent her dress would have been than us village girls. Oh yeah, and better yet, I heard a boy stole a kiss from her!"

            "Ayy, stop lying! If no one knew who she was then they wouldn't know if that was her or not."

            "And you, ladies, shouldn't be spreading such gossip about the Princess like that since you wouldn’t know if it was her or not," Baekhyun poked his head in their conversation.

            "Sorry," the girls bowed their head and walked off with their heads hung low.

            Baekhyun laughed, but he too enjoys a little gossip. "Hmm, so Princess KangYuna went a little overboard at the ball last night."

            "Baekhyunnie, what are you saying?" Chanyeol placed his large hand on his close friend's shoulder. "Are you thinking about that girl?"

            "No!" Baekhyun snapped. 'Lies' he told himself.

            He didn't want to admit, but he did miss the girl he met last night. Ever since that kiss, he couldn't get her out of his head. However, that might just be his fate he holds as the person he is. The feeling he holds for this girl was different. It wasn't like gravity was holding him. It was the girl. 'I will never be able to find her again.'

            "Ay, I see what's going on in that little head of yours. Ooh, boy, you’re going to get this girl in some big trouble," Chanyeol flicked Baekhyun's forehead.

            "I am not!" And with that, Baekhyun stormed off. “How can I love someone I just met?”

            'This boy is love sick' Chanyeol huffed out his chest and laughed. "Wait for me!"

            "You'll find her, just use your instincts," Chanyeol tapped Baekhyun's heart.

            "Instincts my , Chan!" Baekhyun scoffed. "I'll never find her! I would have to search the whole Kingdom!"

            "Would you?" Chanyeol wiggled his eyes. Baekhyun stopped and thought for a second.

            'Would I search the whole Kingdom for her? What are my instincts telling me?' Baekhyun looked down at his feet and answered. "If she’s the one then yes, yes I would." The warm feeling swept through his whole body once again.

            "I feel like she might be. You are too soft to be a bad boy and kissing random girls. Now’s the time to find her before it is too late. Oh, I can't wait to tell Suho!" Chanyeol poked Baekhyun's arm and went running off into the forest.

            "What, no!" Baekhyun ran off after him. "I don't really know, Chan. All I’m saying is that she was really mysterious."

            "Of course she’s mysterious, you just met her. And the same probably goes for her."

            "I know, but..."

            "Baek, just get to your point."

            "Well, I was going to kiss her again, but someone stopped us. He kind of looked like a Royal Guard and I didn't like the weird feeling I got from him either," Baekhyun explained. He was nearly recalling the girls’ conversation earlier.

            "Hm, who knows," Chanyeol shrugged him off. "Anyway, you need to stop running towards the end of the forest. Suho said it is off limits after what Sehun and Kai did that one time. Smh, scaring the Princess like that with their little tactics."

"Sorry, I know. It’s just I feel like it's pulling me there as if I need to go there. Plus, there are clear patches to freely run in!"

******

            "Rumors about me? Ha-ha, at least, people are now taking notice of me. Maybe I am the princess that is isolated from society," KangYuna swept back a piece of hair behind her ear as she walked around the palace and as usual, Jaekhyun walked right next to her. "I just wonder who the is."

            "KangYuna, language, you are a princess," Jaehyun sternly spoke, while KangYuna just shrugged her shoulders. "And everyone notices you for all the good you have done."

            "Like what?" KangYuna crossed her arms.

            "You discovered the technology of communication and if it weren't for you we wouldn't have these little microphone things to save lives."

            "I only helped."

            "Yeah, you helped Johnny piece together the wires to make this amazing advancement of technology!"

            "I guess..."

            "And remember, you found the cure and vaccine for the black blood virus," Jaehyun pointed out.

            "That was all Doctor Kang Seulgi not me," KangYuna pressed her finger against Jaehyun's forehead.

            "But you read the books and you found the root and the recipe to make the antidote and you released it. And if it was never released, then the people of the Kingdom or, more say, the whole Kingdoms of Daehan Mingook would have died off," Jaehyun wrapped an arm around KangYuna's shoulder.

            KangYuna shrugged off his arm. "All credit goes to her because she deserves it. For all I have done was a simple task of what a Princess has to do when her parents are never around to make the decisions themselves."

            "Just know they leave a lot for your sake, okay?"

            "Ha! For me? I'm still a young, immature, and spoiled brat." Jaehyun placed a hand in front of KangYuna to make her stop walking. She crossed her arms and glared at the older boy.

            "You are a beautiful, young woman who has still a lot to learn. They leave so you can learn independence to run your kingdom and so that one day, I can call you my Queen," he grabbed KangYuna's hands and kissed it. KangYuna let a small smile creep onto her face.

KangYuna giggled. “You’re such a kiss up.”

            As night fell, the Kingdom grew quieter and quieter until a single pin dropping to the tile floors could be heard. KangYuna spent her last hours before bed in the Palace library. It was a grand place to be for some peace and quiet, not that palace was already quiet enough. Her and her parents weren't much of readers unlike her grandparents and ancestors who travelled the world in search of different books but she loves the atmosphere of being in the library. Romance, bibles, horror, mystery, and many more lined the shelves of the bookshelves that tower above her. She walked along the glass windows sliding her hand across the smooth stone ledges. The moonlight shone through the windows illuminating KangYuna's face. However, something else caught her attention; a light.

            The light flickered like a lamp, but it was no ordinary fire lamp; it was a white light. The wind seemed to shake the whole forest below as well. It was as if it was call, a call for her to come out. The light source was actually close by the palace walls and it didn't necessarily upset her; she was more curious. KangYuna walked out the library and down the stairs from the third floor down to the grand hall and out to the West Entrance. She knew she shouldn’t be going out due to the last two incidents of strange disturbances, but she had a gut feeling that this was okay.

"Who goes there?" She called out.

            ‘That voice...' His ears perked up. He hid behind a tree at a far off distance so whoever spoke couldn't see him and he couldn't see them.

            "I know you’re there. You can't hide forever," KangYuna spoke like a Queen with dominance and power.

            ‘Should I step out a bit and see-‘

            "Princess KangYuna!" KangYuna whipped her head around to see Jaehyun running out to her and grabbing on her arm. "What the hell are you doing out here by yourself?"

            "Technically, I'm still being watched by the other guards" she pointed to the guards behind the doors to the West Entrance. "They saw me exit."

            "I know and that's why I'm here. I’m the only one who can you out," he let out a big huff of air. "And they are ordered to only see who exits and enters. There is no looking back out of that door. It's late and you don't know the dangers are out there in the dark forest."

            As the two conversed, the young man still stood behind the tree listening on to their conversation.

            "I just saw something and wanted to see it for myself," KangYuna backed down from her sassy attitude.

            "If you saw something, just call me. I, Palace Guard Jung Jaehyun, must protect you at all times and mustn’t let you go outside the palace by yourself," KangYuna laughed at his cheesy words.

            "I'm sorry," KangYuna hugged Jaehyun. She did feel bad since he’s so hardworking and he really is being protective because the last two incidents.

            "It's okay," he softly rubbed her back. "I also must protect you from kissing any more boys in mysterious masks."

            "Yah, I said we didn’t kiss! It still hurts to know I will never find him!" KangYuna punched Jaehyun's chest, which caused him to chuckle. "His mask was the only black and silver at the ball and his deep black hair styled up, and his black suit, ugh, he was so perfect with the silver beads lining his amazing, broad shoulders an-"

            "Okay love-sick puppy that was all yesterday's news. Let's go inside now. It is quite windy out here just like the astronomer predicted," they re-entered the palace in giggles and prepared themselves for the night.

            ‘KangYuna? Guards? Palace? KangYuna... Kang... Yuna... Ah! Princess KangYuna just stood before me! Ugh, I didn't even get to see her beautiful face!’ He shook his head, regretfully. 'Wait a minute; she kissed someone under- or over a mask…? Oh yeah, the masquerade ball so the rumors are true. Hold up! And she didn't even know who he was. Wait another minute, deep black, a black and silver mask and a suit with silver beads detailing his broad shoulders...’

            "Yah! What are you doing here? And you can’t call me to go home when you’re out here playing hide and seek near the palace. Suho said we can’t come here and now I know why because we’re on palace grounds,” his friend came walking out of nowhere, but he was too busy concentrating that he didn't even acknowledge or remember why he was outside in the first place.

            "Deep black hair, he was the only one with a black and silver mask, silver beads were encrusted into his black suit, and a mysterious kiss... Rumor of Princess getting a kiss stolen... Oh my God…" he whipped his head at his friend. "Baekhyun..." he trotted over to his friend.

            "What are you blabbering on about? Did you see spot another pretty flower?" Baekhyun laughed and rubbed the top of Sehun's head.

            "I think rumors are true… you… I think you kissed Princess KangYuna."

            Baekhyun face dropped, all the blood from his face swept deep into his body leaving it milky white. “You’re joking, right? There’s no way.”

Sehun continued to stare at him "No." He took a step back from his friend and with that ran off into the night; his light trembling in the darkness.

========

Hello~ Hello~ the amount I've been writing these days is pretty amazing and I am proud of myself!! Yeah~