Jennie was innocent. She had not intended to lose Taeyong among the tavern crowd that night. It was an honest mistake. A momentary lapse in judgement, if you will.

Under normal circumstances, she would have remained as focused as a hawk and never allowed him out of her sight. But there was nothing normal about their situation – saving princesses and restoring national unity and all.

And perhaps the weeks she had spent hauling around the cruel but emotionally confused young man had sparked a bizarre bond between the two. An understanding. A weakness. Being stuck together on so many occasions had forced them to engage in real conversations, and she had soon found herself not opposed to babysitting the hostage. Looking after him had become both a responsibility and a hobby. Maybe that had caused her to develop an unconscious trust for him that reassured her he would not escape.

Only now, as she stormed through Donggyeong’s narrow roads on horseback in search of him, did she realize how wrong she was. He had entered her world at a time where she was most vulnerable and used every interaction, every sarcastic comment as a tool to break down her walls little by little. And he had succeeded. She had foolishly let her guard down for a mere moment and he had already vanished.

It would not have posed as much of a threat if she had lost any other person in the world. But, the fact that Taeyong was a corrupt serial killer, hell-bent on killing the only heir to the throne (who also happened to be the woman Taehyung loved) provided them with just a little bit of a problem.

Jennie was not sure what she was expecting to find as she roamed through the town. Pools of blood and a path of dead bodies automatically came to mind when she pictured a normal hostage on the loose – but a part of her held onto the little shred of hope remaining in her for Taeyong’s humanity.

She was surprised to finally find him in the town centre, casually sitting on the executioner’s block where Mingyu’s officers had almost murdered a child earlier that day. Somehow, he had rid himself of his restraints and was now distractedly playing with the noose of rope that was meant to kill the boy.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief and running a hand through her sweat-dampened dark hair, Jennie hopped off her horse and slowly approached him. A normal person may have been frightened to face a freshly released murderer, but Jennie had never been scared of Taeyong. Much to his dismay.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find you here,” she noted sarcastically, causing him to glance up at her, “as a killer, an executioner’s block is like your natural habitat, after all.”

She expected him to challenge her sarcasm with a remark of his own, or at the very least to run away, but was surprised to see his jaw clench and his focus to shift back to the rope laying in his hands.

“I have not killed as many people as you may think,” he muttered, his eyes unfocused and distant, “…and never a child.”

Deeming it safe to do so, she took a seat beside him on the ledge of the wooden post. If she didn’t know better, she would think Taeyong was feeling remorse for the day’s events.

She turned towards him with an amused glint in her eyes which she attempted to hide to the best of her abilities, “what is this? Is Lee Taeyong finally feeling an… an… an emotion?”

She said it in such a dramatic way, clutching a hand to her heart and nudging his shoulder, that he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You wish,” he tried to mask the humour in his eyes, but not before she had noticed it.

“Then why are you still here? Why are you not trying to hunt down the princess? Don’t you have a mission to complete? What kind of an assassin are you?”

He scoffed, not fazed in the least by her bombardment of questions, “what kind of a hostage supervisor are you? Escaping from you was easier than stealing candy from Seokjin.”

The significance of the fact that Taeyong remembered Seokjin’s name and knew him well enough to make such a comment was momentarily obscured by Jennie’s ego.

“Shut up,” she exclaimed, offended and frustrated, “I looked away for one second.”

“And that was your first mistake,” he noted, a smug smile forming on his face that Jennie tried to convince herself was not handsome and not in the least bit attractive.

“Well, aren’t you going to run away or try to kill me or something? You’re not making this even remotely thrilling or suspenseful.”

He raised a brow at her, “are you trying to make this harder than it needs to be? Are you that bored?”

She laughed because she too wasn’t sure why she was provoking him, “I guess I’m just confused.”

A few weeks ago, no one in their right mind could imagine speaking more than 3 words to the bitter and cruel Taeyong, and now here they were – conversing on an executioner’s stage as if everything was normal and they weren’t from two opposite sides of an eminent war. Jennie knew time healed all wounds, but she never would have expected it to heal his.

“Or maybe a secret part of you wants me to kill the princess so you can have your childhood sweetheart all to yourself.”

He had said it as a partial joke, but it had caused a momentarily silence to fill the air.

Jennie considered his comment for a moment and then sighed heavily and shook her head. As much as she had initially despised the too kind, too cheerful, and much too tall princess, she no longer wished to harm her. Hurting her would only hurt Taehyung and she could never imagine of doing such a thing. Despite everything, he was still her childhood friend and took up a large portion of her heart.

Chaeyoung’s recent heroic actions also helped to diffuse Jennie’s unwarranted animosity. To hate someone who had willingly walked through a burning building to save a child seemed like pure evil.

“Nah,” she finally responded, “if you kill her, who else is going to rescue Goryeo’s at-risk youth?”

He actually managed a laugh at that comment, much to her surprise.

“She has been that way since childhood,” he shook his head, “I had always thought her kindness was a weakness, but there is the slight, slim, rare chance that I may have possibly, by some miracle, been wrong.”

Jennie gasped, positively shocked at such a revelation considering Taeyong’s history of hostility towards the princess and his thirst for her blood. It seemed, she wasn’t the only one affected by her heroic actions.

“Are you finally seeing the light of goodness?” she gasped again, “are you finally coming over to the good side? Are you converting to Chaeyoungism?”

“Shut up,” he groaned, and it was clear that he was already regretting his decision to confide in her his deepest, most secretive thoughts, “Mingyu is my oldest friend and the only thing I know is how to be loyal to him. But let’s just say I believe what they were about to do to that child was not right and I will not be a part of it. Can we leave it at that for now?”

She stifled a laugh and put up both hands in front of her in defeat, “fine.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and finally seemed to relax beside her, his jaw finally unclenched and the muscles in his shoulder slowly loosening.

But, the mischievous part of her could not allow him to relax for long.

“You know, it’s completely normal to have an identity crisis. It happens to the best of us. Choosing between good and evil is an internal dilemma we face on a daily basis – if you ever need advice or another lecture on philosophy from Namjoon, just let me know and I will make it happen.”

He groaned again and laid down on the platform, completely drained, “I don’t know why the I tell you things in the first place. You’re honestly the worst.”

She laughed lightly and was even more amused to see the slight shadow of a grin on his face as well.

They sat there and continued to reveal their inner demons to each other throughout the night, neither of them feeling the need to rest when there was so much of each other they had yet to discuss. Unknowingly, they had found solace in each other’s loneliness and built an internal fort of secrets that strengthened their understanding of one another with every passing moment.

Jennie made a note to be careful though, because her heart may begin to believe they were becoming friends and clear a space for him within it.

~{❀}~

Lisa squeezed her eyes shut and screamed at the top of her lungs, fully believing that she was on the verge of death.

“Relax, Lisa,” Jimin chuckled lowly from a few feet below where she was seated, “the horse hasn’t even begun to move yet.”

She opened one eye and peered in front of her, surprised to see nothing but an empty field, a calm horse underneath her and a very amused Jimin standing beside it. Clearing and shrugging the embarrassment off coolly, she straightened her shoulders and sat up tall.

“I know,” she lied, knowing Jimin would not be convinced anyways, “I was just practicing my cry of help, just in case something happens.”

He smiled and ran a hand through his prince-like smooth hair, as was his habit, “well, you have that down pat, so let’s move on to the real issue.”

He pointed his well-defined chin towards the horse meaningfully and Lisa gulped. She had never ridden a hors