The door to the princess’s room was flanked by guards who looked at Seungwan with suspicion as she approached it. It was understandable, given that she hadn’t visited Joohyun since their argument and suddenly she showed up twice in one day.

She waited nervously as her presence was announced, dropping her eyes to the ground as soon as Joohyun appeared at the door. At least she had agreed to see her.

“Lady Son. You again. Will you not be returning my protector?”, Joohyun asked with biting sarcasm. “If something befalls me while Lady Kim is away it’ll surely be on your head”

“I apologize, Your Highness. I left Lady Kim with Seul – Captain Kang”, she corrected quickly, cursing herself for her slip. After hours talking without formalities, it was difficult to go back to fairy-tale speech. One of the guards chuckled quietly, probably thinking that he’d stumbled upon some juicy palace gossip. She glanced up at Joohyun and what she saw was not at all encouraging. “I’m sure she will return to your side soon, Your Highness”, she added in a weak voice.

“Yes, as am I. I am never without my guards for long, these days. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, if not for that reason?”, Joohyun requested coldly, not sounding all that pleased.

“I’ve thought over your request, Your Highness. I have decided to accept it” She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it wasn’t this. Joohyun didn’t seem happy at all. She just stared her down, lips pressed tightly together as an uncomfortable silence spread between them.

“You may leave us”, she suddenly announced to the interior of her room. There were a few words of protest at the thought of leaving the princess alone, but she silenced them easily. “There are guards right outside the door and Lady Son will surely call for help if it is required. You may leave us”, she repeated in an imperious tone.

Once everyone had filed out, Seungwan entered the empty room and stood nervously by the wall, waiting for Joohyun to approach. Instead, the princess remained at a distance, carefully studying every brick in the fireplace. Seungwan wasn’t sure what her reaction could mean. Did she not want to go with her anymore?

“Well then? Did Seulgi put you up to this?”, the princess finally asked, dragging out the captain’s name with an accusing lilt.

“Up to what?” Seungwan was genuinely confused, unsure whether she should explain herself as quickly as possible or take some time to reassure Joohyun that there was no reason to feel jealous of Seulgi. The princess would probably just claim that she didn’t care anyway, even if it was obviously untrue.

Joohyun sighed. “I’m not stupid, Seungwan. You just had a chat with the captain of the guards and my personal bodyguard and now you change your unwavering opinion and decide to come with me?”, she questioned bitterly. “I won’t be led into a trap. Not even by you”

Joohyun didn’t believe her. It hurt that she could ever think Seungwan would sell her out, even if she knew that it was her own fault for the way she’d acted. “Joohyun, it’s not a trap, I swear. We can leave tonight, they won’t stop us”

The princess finished inspecting the final brick and straightened up, glancing at Seungwan for a moment. Pain flitted through her eyes. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you quite so easily”, she said tightly. She made no move to approach her, so Seungwan took the initiative, advancing a few steps before the look in Joohyun’s eyes warned her that she should go no further.

“What can I do to convince you, then?”, she requested desperately. Part of her rebelled at all this effort to go with Joohyun, whispering that maybe she could just let things go on as planned, give in and stay here with her. It felt cruel to fight so hard just so she could give her up.

“Kiss me”, Joohyun replied without hesitation. “If you kiss me, I’ll know you won’t betray me. Even you wouldn’t do something so despicable”

It was the one thing she couldn’t do. She knew that if she kissed Joohyun, she’d never be able to let her go. She’d give away her life, her memories, she’d live this fairy tale again and again, she’d allow countless people to get trapped inside it just like her. All so she could be with Joohyun, so she could stay by her side and make her happy. If she kissed her, it would all be over. Even if she wanted it, it wasn’t just about her. She had a bigger responsibility. She couldn’t do it.

She saw the understanding flash in Joohyun’s eyes, quickly replaced by hurt. Her arm rose towards the door, surely to show Seungwan out, and she knew she had to do something. She rushed forward, closing the distance between them and seizing Joohyun’s hands despite her protests.

“Joohyun, listen to me. Seulgi does know, okay? And she’s going to help us. If we leave tonight, she’ll make sure the guards are distracted with something else”, she blurted out, finally resorting to the truth since it was clear that nothing else would work.

“Why?”, Joohyun asked with suspicion, but she didn’t let go of Seungwan.

“Because she’s my friend, and she wants me to be happy, and she knows I’ll only be happy with you” It was all true and it was all too painful to dwell on. She squeezed Joohyun’s hands a little tighter, hoping that her anguish at the fate that she knew awaited them could come across as sheer desperation, eagerness for the princess to trust her.

Something grew inside Joohyun until it finally spilled over the façade of cold distance, breaking it like a delicate sheet of glass. Her arms flew around Seungwan as she enveloped her in a tight embrace. “If you betray me, I’ll never forgive you, Seungwan”, she whispered in a shaky voice.

“I won’t”, she replied with all the conviction she could muster. And so what if it was a lie? Wasn’t it the least she could do for the princess? To keep her happy until the end? Once it was done, she wouldn’t remember Seungwan or any of this. Only her own fairy tale. “I would never betray you”

She stayed with Joohyun while they waited for Yerim to return, as the princess was still shaken by what had just happened and unwilling to put up a front for any of her ladies in waiting. Seungwan had told her that Yerim was in on the plan as well. It would be easier for Yerim if she didn’t have to lie to the princess.

Just before Seungwan left Joohyun in her capable hands, the young girl drew her close to whisper in her ear. “I talked about this with the others. Once we’re back in the real world, let’s meet at the store in front of the library, the one with the fudge. Be there at 5 PM on Monday, whenever that is”, she quickly let her know. “Sooyoung thinks we’ll all come back at the same time, or it’d make some weird time paradoxes, but just in case, if you don’t see anyone there on the first Monday, keep trying, okay?”

Seungwan nodded and squeezed Yerim’s shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t worry, we’ll find each other”

“Yeah”, Yerim replied with a tight smile. “Good luck”, she added uncertainly. Seungwan wanted to hug her, but she only squeezed her shoulder again and left.

(…)

They left not long after midnight. They wore men’s clothes, more practical for running and horseback riding, and heavy dark cloaks over them to conceal their identities. As Seulgi had promised, the two guards stationed to Joohyun’s bedroom were gone, and inside the room was only Yerim, who would hopefully come up with a good excuse for why the princess had disappeared under her watch. Not that it would matter for much longer, if Seungwan’s plan was successful.

They snuck down to the kitchen through countless secret passages, not meeting a single soul on the way. Finally, they made their way out of the palace, got on their horses and galloped away.

They raced that entire night and the next day, without pause. On the second night, once they were a safe distance from the palace, they stopped to let the horses rest and to sleep for at least a few hours. Seungwan sat in front of their improvised campfire, well aware that it could signal their presence to anyone in the area but not very worried when the plan was to get captured in the first place.

“Will you kiss me now?”, Joohyun mumbled against her shoulder, where her head rested lazily. Seungwan could tell that she had already drifted halfway to sleep, but she seemed to be resisting it stubbornly. “We’re far from the palace”

“You are still my princess, for as long as we remain in your kingdom”, Seungwan replied lightly, bringing her hand up to brush through Joohyun’s hair and help lull her to sleep. “But once we have left its borders, I promise that you’ll have as many kisses as you wish”, she lied gently. Joohyun hummed in approval, snuggling closer into Seungwan.

They sat in silence, basking in the warmth of the fire and the comfort of each other’s embrace. “Joohyun?”, Seungwan asked experimentally, checking whether the princess had already fallen asleep. She sighed lightly against Seungwan to indicate that she was listening. “Do you know what fudge is?”

Her heart rammed into her ribcage as she waited for Joohyun to answer, desperately hoping that she wouldn’t simply fall asleep. “Isn’t that what you mutter when something goes wrong?”, the princess finally asked.

“Right, it is”, she admitted with a forced laugh, the pounding of her heart so strong that it made her sick. “And… marshmallow caramel fudge?”, she tried again.

Joohyun giggled tiredly against her. “That must be for when things are truly catastrophic”, she replied playfully. Seungwan was glad the princess couldn’t see her face, because she wasn’t sure she could have concealed the grimace that those words elicited. She’d already known, in a way. There would be no story without the princess, right? She had to have been there from the start. But to have it confirmed with such finality was so much more painful than she’d expected.

Joohyun truly wasn’t hers. She wasn’t anyone’s. She wasn’t even real. So why couldn’t she stop loving her?

The princess’s gentle hands began to push her down, until they were lying on the ground side by side. She cuddled against Seungwan’s side, sighing happily as Seungwan wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close. Finally, she fell asleep, blissfully unaware that they would be captured by bandits before the sun rose again.

Despite her heartache, Seungwan must have followed her to sleep some time later, because it was only when harsh voices sounded in her ear that she noticed they’d been surrounded. Joohyun awoke at around the same time, barely stifling a scream at the sight of the armed men approaching from all sides. She clung to Seungwan, who felt strangely calm, tired to the bone of pretending she didn’t know what would happen next.

They were dragged to a small wooden cage by cackling bandits who poked at them with their sheathed swords, thrown inside unceremoniously and locked away. In a few seconds, the cage was being carried off, rattling as it traversed the uneven ground.

Joohyun wouldn’t stop crying, no matter how much Seungwan tried to reassure her that everything would be alright. “You’re a princess, they won’t hurt you”, she repeated gently, wiping away all her tears. “Your father will pay them and they’ll return you safely. Everything will be alright, you’ll see”

“And you? You’re no princess”, Joohyun sobbed out, clinging to Seungwan so tightly that the latter could barely breathe. “If they hurt you, if they kill you…” She paused, raised a hand to Seungwan’s cheek, trying to reassure herself that she wasn’t going anywhere. “I’ll be as good as dead”, she whispered, then burst into fresh tears.

“You were right, we should never have run”, she wailed miserably, the hand still on Seungwan’s back clenching the fabric in a small fist. “Now everything has gone wrong. Even if we live, we’ll only end up back in the palace. I’ll only end up married to the prince. We’ll never be together”, she concluded between sobs and pained gasps.

“Joohyun, listen to me”, Seungwan attempted, grabbing both of her hands and bringing them to her front. She began massaging her knuckles as she spoke. “I was wrong. I was absolutely wrong. Even if the odds are against us, impossibly so, we still have to try. For love, we have to try. I have no regrets” She brought the hands to her lips and kissed them, one and then the other. “I love you”, she concluded with a steady voice. It was all she could give Joohyun. She hoped it would help, at least a little.

“I know”, Joohyun said, forcing a laugh in between her shaky breathing. “You told me before, remember?”, she asked in an attempt at playfulness that clashed painfully with the pleading in her voice. Seungwan nodded, smiled in return. She did remember, back when she’d been drunk and Joohyun had tucked her into bed with impossible tenderness. She was glad Joohyun had understood, that she’d taken it for its full meaning.

The princess took a deep breath, trying to subdue her stuttering sobs, and looked her in eye. She kept her gaze locked on hers in spite of all the bumps in the rocky ground that tossed their bodies from side to side in their cramped cage. “If anything happens… Can’t you kiss me, just once? So that, no matter what, we’ll always have that kiss?”

She knew, with absolute certainty, that if she kissed Joohyun at this moment, she would break down entirely. She would confess to everything. Joohyun would probably think she was insane, but it wouldn’t even matter because she’d soon forget. They both would, fated to live out their love story like automatons. And she knew she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t give up reality for something fake, manufactured just for her.

She blinked away the tears that finally came to her eyes. Her grip on Joohyun’s hands must be painful by now, but she couldn’t help it. “I can’t have you now, only to lose you later. I just can’t” Joohyun nodded solemnly. She knew what that meant, or at least she thought she did. She couldn’t imagine the truth. “But when this is all over, when we’re safe, when you’re no longer my princess”, she slowly enumerated, knowing that each condition was more improbable than the last. She paused at that, unable to finish her promise, and slowly let their hands drop to her lap. Joohyun didn’t ask anything else.

The rest of the uncomfortable ride was spent in silence. The sun was rising over the horizon, the sky still casting off the darkness of night, when they finally arrived at the bandits’ hideout. A foul-mouthed man pulled them out of the cage and into the hideout, cursing as he dragged them along a labyrinthic series of corridors that ended in a dimly-lit room where a relatively better-dressed bandit sat on a high chair.

“Ah, princess Joohyun, how nice of you to join us”, the man in the high chair quipped. “All this trouble trying to find you and then you come stumbling to our doorstep. I must have pleased the gods to earn myself such luck” The bandits laughed uproariously and Joohyun winced at the unpleasant sound. Seungwan rested a protective hand on her arm, trying to soothe her.

“And who might this one be?”, he asked, turning to Seungwan.

“Son Seungwan”, she answered simply. There was no room in her mind for fear, not when anger pumped through her veins like fire.

“Not a very pretty name, is it? I suppose it suits you” He laughed again, joined by all his followers. Seungwan’s hands dropped to her sides and clenched into fists. She was tired of the games.

“Will you waste the princess’s time with middlemen?”, she shouted to the room, not addressing anyone in particular. The bandit chief seemed surprised by her words, nearly as surprised as Joohyun, who stared at her like she’d grown a second head. She couldn’t bring herself to care when she knew that soon enough it’d all be over, one way or another.

“I am no middleman. These men are my own and follow only me”, he said menacingly, but Seungwan wasn’t bothered in the least. Joohyun followed the exchange with confusion, baffled by Seungwan’s sudden bravado.

“I don’t question that you are the leader of the bandits. But you, like all your men, are only following orders. I seek the man in charge, not his underlings”, she requested calmly, no longer needing to raise her voice when the room had fallen into deathly silence. Joohyun tugged on her sleeve, but she ignored it. She needed the mastermind behind all this, not the idiot blustering in front of her. She needed to get this over with, once and for all.

The bandit leader slowly unsheathed his sword. “I only need the princess alive”, he stated dangerously. “You are of no use to me, girl. So if I were you, I would mind my tongue”

“Enough”, a voice cut through his threats. It was clear it didn’t belong to any of the bandits surrounding them. It was too calm and collected, too rich with command, too laced with something subtle and mysterious. It was him. The one she wanted. “Let the girl come to me”

The man in the high chair didn’t even hesitate. He put his sword back in place and settled more comfortably in his chair, reaching with his right hand to point out a curiously camouflaged door. Only a slight frown showed how displeased he was at having to submit to the owner of the mysterious voice “You heard the man”

Seungwan gripped Joohyun’s hand, but she was stopped before she could start moving. “Oh, no, my dear. He wants you. The princess stays with us. Well, don’t worry, we’re all good company. And we do need her alive”, the man reminded her, letting out a small chuckle.

Joohyun’s eyes were large and pleading, but she had no choice. She had to go. She let go of the princess, telling herself again and again that she wasn’t real, the only thing that could convince her to leave Joohyun alone with these men.

“I’ll be right back. I’ll take care of everything, I promise. Everything is going to be alright” She hated herself for lying, but there was nothing else she could do. The only thing that kept her going was the thought that there was one thing out there that she hated more than herself, and it awaited her right through that door.

In a few steps, she was at the door. She stepped out of the dim space into an unexpectedly cosy little room, with a lit fireplace in a corner and comfortable armchairs disposed around it. In one of them sat an elegantly dressed middle-aged man who turned to her casually as she entered, pointing towards the seat next to his in a silent invitation. She approached him slowly, but didn’t sit.

After a tense moment of silence, he sighed, resigned to his fate, and got up as well. “Well then, Seungwan”, he said pleasantly. “I suppose it’s time for me to make my case”