“What do you mean he has rebelled?!” Jennie screeched.

Namjoon and Daesung regarded her with the same calm, stoic expressions – allowing her to vent her frustration.

“One of our archers saw him riding towards Mingyu’s southern camp at the break of dawn. And as he left no letter or note indicating his reason for doing so, I think it is a fair assumption that he has joined the other side,” Daesung responded in a level-headed manner that only further exacerbated Jennie’s anger.

She refused to believe Taeyong would so easily betray them. Not after the sweet words and meaningful kiss he shared with her the previous night. There was an unmistakable sincerity in his eyes. Something one could not just feign for the sole purpose of deception. It simply did not make sense.

Another part of her – the guardful part that had always questioned his intentions and urged her to keep her distance from him – feared the truth. Given his long history of brutality, there was no doubt that he was capable of betrayal.

But he had changed. Time and time again, he had convinced her of this fact. She had trusted him and because of her, the others gave him the benefit of the doubt. A pang of anxiety flashed through her when she wondered how her friends would react to this news.

She did not have to wait long to find out. Because only a few tense moments later, Yoongi, Jimin, and Taehyung barged through their camp, all of them appearing enraged in their own ways. Yoongi’s anger was silent but deadly, he did not speak a word when he arrived, but his eyes spoke volumes. Jimin was a loud angry, demanding an explanation as soon as they entered. And Taehyung fell somewhere in between – his jaw clenched to its full sharp glory and his hands balled into angry fists like he was ready to knock out the first person who dared to utter Taeyong’s traitorous name.

The sight of these three men enraged at the same time may have been enough to unnerve any other woman, but years of friendship had luckily granted Jennie immunity to their intimidation.

“Settle down boys,” she put her hands up in front of her as if attempting to tame 3 wild animals as they all approached her at once, “let us discuss this in a civil manner.”

“Civil manner?” Jimin repeated in astonishment, “there is a war still raging outside this tent, Jen. There is no time for civility!”

“Tell us what happened,” Taehyung urged with more softness than she had anticipated.

Jennie sighed, “honestly, I am just as clueless as the rest of you. He was here last night, helping me back to the tent and… wishing me goodnight, and then when I woke up this morning, he was gone.”

“Did anything happen yesterday that may have caused him to switch sides?” Yoongi asked, his anger relatively controlled for once.

Taehyung scoffed, “all he probably needed to see was the power of Mingyu’s army to convince him to join the winning side.”

“This is probably the worst-case scenario, from a strategic perspective,” Namjoon stated matter-of-factly, “not only does Taeyong know all our secret strategies and formations, but he also knows Mingyu’s army like the back of his hand. If he has truly rebelled, all our strategies become useless. We will not stand a chance.”

“Well, perhaps he has not joined them,” Jennie suggested, though her voice sounded unconvincing even to her own ears, “all of you may mistrust him and think he is the scum of the earth, but I for one am not so quick to judge others. He has rightfully earned my trust and he will, therefore, need to earn my mistrust as well. I will not believe his betrayal until I see it with my own eyes.”

“Don’t be stupid, Jen,” Yoongi replied, his gentle tone softening the harshness of his words.

She did not even have time to respond to his comment before Jimin grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the tent exit.

“Okay, let’s go then,” Jimin sighed, “let’s go witness Taeyong’s betrayal with our own eyes.”

Yoongi, Taehyung, Daesung, Namjoon, and the rest of their reinforcements followed closely after them as they once again marched towards the battlefield. The scorching summer heat caused trickles of sweat to run in slow, tiny streams down Jennie’s heavily armoured body. Beams of sunlight illuminated the gory battlefield, expediating the decaying of dead bodies and exacerbating the stench of blood and sweat.

Once again, she mentally prepared herself for combat. Clutching the reins of her warhorse, she ignored the handful of blue-clad corpses and focused straight ahead. What she saw was enough to knock the wind right out of her. Because, standing a few feet in front of her was a healthy and well Taeyong, mercilessly slicing through soldier after soldier. And he was wearing the bright-red uniform of the enemy.

There was no more denying it now. He had proven everyone right and joined the other side – the side he belonged to. The side that would win. Last night had not been a hopeful promise of the future, but a guilty goodbye. He had betrayed them and broken her heart all at once.

Jennie jumped off her horse and began slicing through the crowd of red-clad soldiers with a fero