Year 622, Silla

Sungwoo watched from his place on the Hwarang training grounds as the princess of Baekje, Jin Sihyung, strolled by with Third Prince Haejoon and her bodyguard, Baek Yoon. She had arrived in Silla the day before and had already settled down into the palace. Today, Haejoon had volunteered to show her around the kingdom, and their first stop was watching the Hwarang.

To be totally honest, Sungwoo was confused as to why she was in Silla in the first place. The current relations between her kingdom and his were not the best; her arrival would bring her more harm than good. Sure, she could’ve been sent here to try and figure out how to improve the situation between the two kingdoms, but why would they send Baekje’s eldest princess instead of Crown Prince Dohyung who would eventually have to deal with those matters when he took over the throne?

Minhyun watched from Sungwoo’s side as the younger Hwarang continued to stare at Sihyung without uttering a single word. He raised the sparring sword in his hand and tapped Sungwoo’s shoulder twice, trying to get him to get back to training.

“Look, I get that the princess is pretty, but you need to worry about not getting pummeled by Byun Hyunmin during the next evaluation,” Minhyun sighed. Sungwoo took his eyes off the princess and swung his sword backwards, hitting Sihyung, who had just so happened to walk past Sungwoo at that moment, in the head. Yoon’s hand flew to the grip of his sword and unsheathed the shiny black blade, and Haejoon immediately pushed her back with his left arm; Minhyun facepalmed as he watched the scene unfold.

Sungwoo knew that he had messed up. Even if it was by accident, he would still get in trouble for hurting the princess. He immediately bowed, waiting for Sihyung to say something. To everyone’s surprise, Sihyung simply turned around and walked away. She soon picked up speed and ran into the forest surrounding the Hwarang grounds.

Yoon sighed and ran out as well, signaling for the others, including Prince Haejoon to stay put. He saw Sihyung’s lotus pin sparkling in the sunlight and walked over to her side cautiously. She was staring straight ahead with her hands clenched and eyes closed.

“Yoon,” she said after a moment of silence. “That Hwarang… the one who hit me with the sword earlier… he looks like Sung.”

Yoon’s eyes widened when she mentioned his cousin; it had been almost four years since Baek Sung had passed away. And even though Yoon hadn’t seen the older Baek in ages, he had to agree with the fact that Sung and Sungwoo looked alike. Hell, they even had similar names.

Baek Sung, like his name suggested, was a man who cared more about the wellbeing of the people of Baekje than his own wellbeing. Even though he had no authority over what the royal family decided for the people of Baekje, he still helped and supported them as much as he possibly could. On days when Sihyung and a few of her half-siblings would leave the palace and interact with the citizens, Sung would be by Sihyung’s side helping the elderly carry things or giving out the hanboks that Sihyung outgrew to the younger children in need of them. If the people of Baekje could choose who they wanted to be their next king, it would be Sung.

Unfortunately, Baek Sung, who was loved by so many people of Baekje, died at the young age of twenty two to a sword in the heart. For the past four years, Sihyung had blamed herself for her former bodyguard’s death because she had been carelessly wandering around in the forest. If it weren’t for Sung who held of the enemy and Yoon who brought Sihyung to safety, the princess would’ve died that day at the hands of the assassins her uncle hired.

“Princess, we should head back to the Hwarang grounds. Prince Haejoon is still waiting for us,” Yoon reminded her. Sihyung got up from her seat on the grass and dusted off her clothes.

"Let's go," she said as she rubbed her eyes.

Sungwoo paced back and forth in his bedroom, wondering if he was off the hook for hitting Princess Sihyung in the head earlier. Jaehwan and Sungwoon were in the middle of a singing competition with Daehwi as their judge, trying to see who could sing—Gwangmin considered it screeching—a higher note. Haejoon let him leave the sparring grounds earlier only because Sihyung and Yoon were taking a while in the forest.

"If something like this happens again, there's no guarantee that you'll be let off this easily," Haejoon said with a sigh. "Princess Sihyung doesn't seem like the type to hold grudges, but you know that my family will somehow punish you if word gets out that you hit her."

Jaehwan threw his pillow at Sungwoo's leg. "Did anyone ever tell you that you walk really loudly? Because you do. So please stop."

Sungwoon crawled onto the edge of his bed and picked up the pillow, tossing it back to Jaehwan, who slapped it onto his bed in midair. Gwangmin and Daehwi watched from their seats on the floor as Sungwoo continued to walk back and forth on the wooden boards.

“Ong Sungwoo! I swear if you don’t stop I’ll tell Oh Hyunjoon that Sihyung ran off because you hit her with your sparring sword!”

That got Sungwoo to stop. He turned around to face Jaehwan and furrowed his eyebrows.

“I thought you were at the dining hall earlier? How come you know about that accident?” Sungwoo asked.

“Everyone knows about it by now,” a voice from the door piped up. Park Jihoon had just returned from archery practice with twenty other Hwarang and dumped his quiver on the ground before dropping onto his bed across from Gwangmin.

“Taewoong and Jisung saw what happened earlier and told people who were curious about it what happened.” Jihoon propped himself onto his right arm before continuing. “I think that even the guards out in the front heard about how she ran off into the forest. It’s only a matter of time until the people in the palace hear about it.”

At that moment, Sungwoo knew that he would be in trouble soon.

...

On top of the roof of the highest building in the main road, Kim Sungri and Kim Yongguk kept their eyes on Sihyung as she wandered through the numerous shops and food stands. The two of them were sent by Sihyung’s older half-brother, Jin Dohyung, to watch over the princess and her bodyguard. Dohyung trusted Yoon, but only having one bodyguard he trusted while Sihyung was in a foreign land full of people who didn't like the people of Baekje worried him. The day Yoon and Sihyung left for Silla, Dohyung asked both Sungri and Yongguk to follow them to Silla just in case something happened; Dohyung even gave each of them jade seals with the official symbol of Baekje engraved in the center along with other travel documents that would let them pass through the borders of Silla easily. 

When the arrived at Silla the day after Sihyung and Yoon did, they spent the day following Sihyung around and making sure there was no attempt to kill her. To their shock, Yoon was nowhere to be seen. In the past few hours of tailing Sihyung around, they hadn’t seen the older man once. Instead, she was with a man wearing a blue and white uniform they had never seen before. In his hands were all the things Sihyung had bought thoughtout the whole day: clothes, shoes, perfumes, and accessories.

"I know that Dohyung told us not to reveal ourselves until we talked to Yoon first, but I'm not comfortable with Princess Sihyung walking around with someone incapable of protecting her,” Yongguk admitted, getting ready to jump off the roof and land in front of Sihyung and the mysterious man. Sungri stuck his arm out in front of Yongguk and shook his head at the younger bodyguard.

“This isn’t Baekje. There are rules that we have to follow,” he reminded Yongguk, who backed down after a few seconds. Sungri let out a small sigh of relief and jumped onto the next roof to catch up with Sihyung, Yongguk following close behind. When Sihyung and Sungwoo stopped to rest at a small snack shop on the corner of the road, Sungri and Yongguk took this chance to rest as well and both sat down on the tiled roof above. This gave Sungri the opportunity to ask Yongguk the question that had been on his mind for the past few hours.

“Did you insist on coming in place of Jinwoo because you wanted to see Princess Sihyung?” He asked as he leaned back on his arms. Yongguk’s eyes widened ever so slightly, but he nodded his head, slightly ashamed that he had developed feelings for the princess.

“You’re not the only one, trust me,” Sungri laughed. “I’ve been a part of the Lotus Guards for as long as Yoon has. So many people have been kicked out because Master Taehoon found out about their feelings for Princess Sihyung. The only original members left are me, Yoon, and Jinwoo.”

“What about you, Sungri-hyung?” Yongguk asked after a brief silence. “Have you ever felt that way towards Sihyung?”

Sungri glanced over at Yongguk before letting out a short chuckle.

“I did, actually. A very long time ago. The first time the six of us were introduced to Princess Sihyung, I thought to myself, ‘Ah, this is what love at first sight must be like~’,” Sungri answered. “But after seeing how many other people I had to compete with to win her attention, I've given up all hope in trying to win it all for myself. At least right now, I can stay by her side and watch over her quietly and not be banished to the countryside like Yoojin was."

...

Shiin's Corner

writer's block is such a pain in the arse. on the bright side, i saw monsta x in person last week and they are so perfect someone pls help me i can't breathe.