“You’re not a bad dancer,” Sooyoung says while her eyes scan her guests faces.

“You’re not as tall as they say,” she says softly as she extends her hand out when the dance ends,  bowing to the crowd.

The stranger tries to let go of the majesty’s hand but her grip was firm.

“Come with me,” the monarch urges.

Leading her, hand in hand, they step outside to a balcony overlooking the garden maze. Watching the guests navigate the maze, they leaned over the ledge with elbows touching.

“What is your name?”

“I’m just a guest, no one special.”

“I know the faces of my people and I have never seen you before.”

“Maybe you don’t know your people well.”

“Excuse me?”

The stranger turns to look at the queen, smirk strewn across her face.

“Wendy. My name is Wendy. And you’re right, I’m not from around here.”

“Why couldn't you have told me your name from the start?”

“It wouldn’t be as fun if I gave in that easily.”

Sooyoung chuckles lightly and matches Wendy’s posture, turning towards the smaller girl too. The sound of the live string quartet from the garden below starts to fill the night air. This was one of her favorite songs. Gently closing her eyes, the queen sways back and forth to the music. Wendy watches the monarch’s gracefulness, being drawn in by her natural beauty. Reaching out to grab her hand, she pulls Sooyoung in and they dance together under the moon. Slowly they step side to side, letting the music move them. The night breeze just enough to keep them cool in a situation where temperature would usually rise. Looking up at the queen in her arms Wendy’s eyes travel from her perfectly parted hair, over her forehead, across her eyes and down her nose. The moonlight illuminating all of her features. The true beauty of the queen was on full display tonight.

“Your Majesty,” Wendy says softly, eyes scanning her face, “you’re beautiful. Did you know that?”

Sooyoung’s eyes open slowly to her voice, and a softness in her expression made her feel weak. A flutter in her heart.

“Yes, but I haven’t heard that in a long time,” she replied with a smile.

“I’m sure your friends tell you all the time.”

“They do, but not from someone who makes me feel the way you do-” her voice softens as they both lean forward.

The two of them, alone on a balcony overlooking the castle garden. Sounds of laughter and live music are slowly growing quieter as the sound of their hearts beating in their chests grow louder in their ears. Wendy watches the queen’s eyes close as she leans down, their faces only inches apart.

“I have to go,” Wendy says while turning her head away from Sooyoung, pretending to look inside of the ballroom.

“What? Stay the night at the castle, it doesn't have to be with me. I can have a spare room ready for you,” the monarch says, snapping out of her trance.

Wendy steps away, and the cold air immediately sends chills through her body as it occupies the space where the queen’s body was once keeping warm. Sooyoung holds her hands tightly, keeping her from leaving.

“I really can’t. I have a busy day tomorrow,” she says as she frees one hand from the queen’s grip.

“Where are you staying? Can I see you tomorrow?”

“I don’t think I can see you again, your highness.”

The queen lets Wendy’s hand slip through her fingers as she watches the small girl turn away and head back inside, leaving the party. Leaning over the balcony again she puts her head in her hands and huffs in frustration.

“What is wrong with me?!” Sooyoung says to herself and she sighs loudly, “Why did she make me feel like that? Wendy?”

A light knocking comes from the door behind the queen, she hears someone step out onto the balcony and she smiles.

“I knew you’d come back, no one can ever turn down my offer-” the Queen says as she turns around.

“Your offer?” says Dohwan with an eyebrow raised.

Sooyoung’s expression dropped and her face turned blank. Adjusting herself infront of her childhood friend she looks over his shoulder at the party and notice Yerim peeking through the door. She opens her eyes wide, signaling Yerim to get her out of this situation.

“What did you want to offer me? And of course I’d come back to you, we grew up together! I couldn’t stay away from you any longer,” he smugly says while stepping closer.

“Your Majesty?! They need you in the kitchen!” Yerim interrupts with her hand extended to the Queen.

“Ah! Duty calls, we’ll chat tomorrow,” she says quickly while grabbing a hold of Yerim’s hand moving past a confused Dohwan.

-----

The sound of the fire crackling is breaking the silence in the queen’s room as Sooyoung lays on Yerim in the bed, Joohyun on the lounge chair and Seulgi leaning against the door.

“That was her if you didn’t know-” Joohyun starts before getting cut off.

“Of course it was! I haven’t seen Sooyoung that entranced since-” Yerim’s voice quieted down after realizing she hasn’t said Sungjae’s name since his passing.

“The men at the gate said she had a royal seal and that’s why they let her through,” Seulgi throws in while she fidgets with the metal plating on her gauntlet.

“A seal? She’s blue-blooded?” Joohyun says with a surprised tone, immediately sitting up.

“She’s-” the queen says under her breath, “a royal?”

“Interesting plot twist,” Yerim chimes in, her hand running through the queen’s hair.

“Find her, but bring no one else,” she says firmly to Seulgi. “No one else is to know about this.”

“Do you want me to bring her in?”

“No, don’t approach her. I will.”

“Right away,” Seulgi says turning to leave the room.

“Wait! I’ll walk you out,” Joohyun quickly says while exiting with Seulgi.

Seulgi makes her way down the hall, her mind focused on finding Wendy. She doesn’t notice the light pitter patter of feet approaching her from behind. Suddenly she feels a tug on her hand and turns around.

“Wha-”

She was met with a pair of lips.

“I can’t believe you avoided me all night,” Joohyun says as she pulls away from their kiss, with arms crossed.

She looked up at the knight with her brows furrowed.

“I was worried! You can’t just say ‘you’re going to meet someone' to Sooyoung and not expect me to run every scenario through my head! What if Wendy is dangerous?!” Seulgi rebutted.

“Then I would’ve told you.”

“Lies! You never tell me anything, you want just want play coy with me and let me figure things out on my own.”

“Yes, and what about it? You’ve been doing just fine.”

“Joohyun,” Seulgi says while dropping her head, “I just don’t want to let Sooyoung down. She’s been through a lot and I feel really guilty about Sungjae.

The priestess softens her stance and reaches out to grab the knight’s hands. Intertwining their fingers, she goes on the tips of her toes and kisses her forehead.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I was just trying to lighten the mood, but I don’t think you’ve ever properly-”

Sniffles interrupt Joohyun’s words, and Seulgi’s head falls onto her shoulder. Holding on to the girl in armor, she does her best to comfort her partner. Letting her cry and her hair, she softly hums to calm her down.

“Head out tomorrow to find Wendy, I know she’s staying in town. Sleep with me tonight and get some proper rest,” the priestess commands as the thin material of her dress dampens where Seulgi rested her face on her shoulder.

“Yes love,” Seulgi says softly through her tears as she stands straight up.

They stare at each other for a moment, thinking about everything they have been through together. From being strangers brought together to accompany their king’s wife to being madly in love with each other; they both could hardly believe how far they have come. They are not public about their relationship, but it wasn’t a secret either. They did their best to stay out of the public eye and to keep all public displays of affection to themselves. Everyone knew, but no one spoke about. It wasn’t looked down upon, but it was just never acknowledged.

They walked hand in hand to Joohyun’s room. The perfect temperature blanketed them with warmth as soon as they entered, triggering Seulgi to remove her armor. The priestess heard the knight struggling and she moved behind the taller girl to help her undo the buckles.

“What would you do without me, Seul?” Joohyun softly said while removing the chest plate.

“Sleep in my armor,” she replied flatly, not realizing that she was joking.

She chuckles and kisses the bare shoulder of the unclad protector. Seulgi turns her head to the left where she felt the soft kiss and smiles, closing her eyes lightly as she feels arms wrap around her waist.

“I love you,” Seulgi confesses to the woman holding her from behind.

Joohyun rests her head against her back, closing her eyes and hugging her tighter.

“I love you too.”

-----

The sun was set high into the sky, and a thin haze covered the town. Early morning, and it was an already busy day. The towns people smiled and greeted Seulgi as she walked past. She visited the locals, even chatted a bit until she saw a young girl in a familiar blue dress playing with a stick in the mud.

“Hello young lady, you look exceptionally beautiful today,” Seulgi chirps as she kneels down next to the child.

“T-thank you, it’s new! Do you like it?” She says cheerfully, spinning in a circle for the knight.

“Wow! This suits you perfectly!” Seulgi says through a smile even though the dress was still ridiculously oversized, “Where did you get it? I’d like to get one too!”

“Oh! A very nice lady gave it to me. She said it matches my eyes,” the young kid replies while blinking quickly at the knight, showing off her icy blue eyes.

“They do match! Do you know where the lady is now?” she replies, brushing the young girl’s hair behind her ear.

“I saw her head to the bakers!” she points before returning back to stabbing the mud with her stick.

Ruffling the kid’s hair she says thanks and heads towards the baker’s shop. Usually she would smell the lovely scent of bread baking oozing from the small store front, but there was no such scent. Seulgi knocked on the door, checking for Wendy.

“Hello? Are you open?” she asks through the door.

“Ahem!” says the baker standing behind Seulgi, “We are not open today. My whole inventory for the week has been bought out and I’ve been baking all night to fulfill an order. I won’t have supplies and goods for a few days.

“What?! Who placed an order that large?!” the knight says in shock.

“Wendy. She’s staying at the inn, if that’s who you’re looking for.”

“Thank you! Get some rest, baker. You deserve it.” she says as they both nod their heads in agreement.

-----

Slumped against a bench facing the inn, the knight takes a quick nap while waiting for the queen. She feels someone sit next to her but doesn’t think much of it. Right when she was about to doze off, Seulgi gets nudged by the person sitting next to her.

“This is an important task requested by the queen. Do not interfere,” says Seulgi as she shrugs off her bench mate.

“Sleeping was a direct order from the queen, Seulgi?” the person in the hood says with an oddly familiar voice.

Seulgi glares are the person next to her and immediately recognizes the set of full lips that were in a tight smirk.

“Your highness!” She exclaims after looking around and realizing that people were staring now.

“Quiet! I’m not supposed to be here, Yerim would kill me if she knew I was without protection,” the Queen says trying to hush her surprised friend.

“Understood. The woman is staying in this inn-”

“Wendy.” Sooyoung interjects, “Her name is Wendy.”

“Wendy is staying at this inn,” Seulgi corrects herself, noticing her sensitivity towards this stranger.

A small figure steps out of the inn with a piece of paper in hand. Looking down at it and around the village, she starts walking down the pathway towards the town square.

“That’s her. Go back to the castle and cover for me,” the monarch says as she stands up.

“Wait! What if she’s dangerous?” Seulgi asks, grabbing her wrist.

Sooyoung turns around and places her hand on Seulgi’s where she gripped. She squeezes her hand and encourages her to let go.

“She’s not dangerous. I’ll be okay,” the queen insists.

Seulgi looks Sooyoung in the eyes and she trusts her, even though she didn’t trust the new comer.

“You know where to find me,” the knight says as she leaves, hoping she’s not making another mistake by giving her this independency.

The monarch turns around trying to find the tiny woman, and sees the top of her head round the corner. Walking steadily she follows her, not wanting to make her presence known just yet. They reach the town square and the queen sees a line of people waiting and Wendy greeting everyone.

“What is going on?” The Queen asks herself as she sees the big crowd.

Wendy stands next to huge baskets full of bread and starts handing loaves to each person in line as they come up. Some people get one loaf, some get two or more but she keeps checking her list and crossing them off one by one. The monarch watches from afar, astounded at the organization and calmness of the people. She never thought she could hold an event like this without any chaos. She sees Wendy look in her direction a few times and she tries to hide her face, but her cover is blown. Sooyoung turns her back to the line and starts to head back the way she came when she feels a tug on her sleeve.

“Where are you going?” The voice behind her said.

Turning around Joy has to look down at the woman holding her sleeve.

“I’m heading back to the castle. I’m not supposed to be-”

“Help me hand out bread. Your people need to see you,” Wendy insists with another tug.

The monarch didn’t know what came over her, but she felt like she could trust Wendy with her life even though they had just met the night prior.

“If you say so,” Sooyoung says as she follows Wendy, their fingers intertwining.

“What a lovely surprise everyone! We have a special guest to help me hand out bread to all of you!” Wendy says in a loud voice for all to hear.

Taking off her hood, the Queen reveals herself. Some audible gasps escape from the villagers’ mouths as they bow in her presence. Sooyoung is taken aback by the unison of their bow in such an informal setting.

“No, please! Stand. Today I’m here with you, as one of you,” the monarch calls out to her people.

Wendy smiles and hands her a loaf of bread for the next person in line. The people thank the Queen and some even express their excitement for her ruling.

“The compassion you have shown today towards your people will resonate throughout,” an elderly man tells the Queen with a deep bow, slowly trying to kneel.

Sooyoung crouches down and helps him up, making sure he’s okay and gives him an extra loaf.

“Thank you for saying that. I hope I can make you proud,” she says while looking at his wrinkled face, thinking about all of the different rulers he has seen throughout his lifetime.

The night winds down and they help their last villager, handing them the last loaf of bread as the sun starts to set. Sooyoung turns around to see Wendy cleaning up, stacking the empty baskets and loading them onto a nearby cart.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah! Just tidying up. I told the baker that I’d return his bread baskets when I was finished.”

The Queen watches the blue blooded stranger hard at work, not putting manual labor above her status.

“How do I help?” The monarch asks after seeing Wendy struggle a bit.

“Dinner at the castle sounds nice,” Wendy huffs as she loads the last baskets onto the cart.

“Meet me there when you’re finished. I’ll get the food started!” Sooyoung says as she walks backwards towards the castle, watching the smaller woman haul the cart.

Wendy turns her head towards the sound of her voice, smiling and giving a thumbs up.

“See you soon!” Wendy shouts as she maneuvers the cart back to to the baker.

As soon as Wendy was out of sight, Sooyoung turns and sprints back to the castle. Anxious and nervous about their dinner she knows there’s one person she needs to talk to.

-----

“Joohyun? Do you know where Sooyoung is?” Yerim asks, popping her head into the High Priestess’ room.

“I haven’t seen her,” she replies while braiding her hair in the mirror.

“Okay, I’ll ask Seul-”

“I haven’t seen her either!” Seulgi’s voice chimes from inside Joohyun’s room.

“Oh! Okay, no worries. Thank you both,” Yerim says as she closes the door.

Walking slowly down the hallway, consumed in thought, she hears her name being called.

“YERIM!” Resonates from down the hall from a familiar voice.

Turning around she sees the missing Queen and immediately feels worried. She hasn’t called for her in this manner since Sungjae didn’t wake up from his nap.

“Sooyoung! What is it?! What’s wrong?” she asks in a panic.

“I need your help!”

“Anything, my Queen.”

“Can you help me cook dinner for Wendy tonight?” The Queen asks in desperation.

“W-what? Yes, I can but why?” Yerim asked, taken aback.

“She’s going to be here soon, I’ll tell you after! Please help!” The Monarch says pulling Yerim by her wrist towards the kitchen.

Yerim agrees, but has her reservations. This was her best friend, her chosen sister, but she was acting out of character for someone she had just met. Yerim wasn’t the type to disobey, and she trusted Sooyoung with her life.

They start cooking, but it was quiet at first. Sooyoung focusing on not burning the food and Yerim doing her best at making sure the dining room was set by delegating the staff.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to get the chef in here?” Yerim asks while looking over Sooyoung’s shoulder.

“Yes, I’m sure. I want to make sure Wendy knew I made this from scratch,” the Queen replies while stirring the contents in the pan.

“Wendy will know for sure that you made that,” Yerim says with wide eyes, “Is Wendy blind?”

“What?! Why would you ask that?”

“Hopefully she is because looking at this food and having to eat it might be impossible,” Yerim says through a concerned half smile.

Despite the embarrassing comments, Sooyoung did not seem phased at all. Humming in between dialogue, Yerim notices that her best friend has changed.

“What did you do today? I was looking everywhere for you.”

“I was in the town square passing out loaves of bread to people with Wendy,” Sooyoung says while plating the dinner.
Doing her best to keep her hands as steady as possible the Queen carefully places the food on their plates. Yerim busies herself with setting plates on the table, along with an array of silverware and cups. She notices that her best friend is acting different. Just one day with Wendy and the Queen seems to be more humble and productive.

“That sounds…nice,” Yerim pauses mid sentence making sure that Sooyoung felt the awkwardness.

“Nice? We just met! We’re just getting to know each-”

“Anyways, the table is finished and the meals are ready. When is she arriving again?” Yerim says in an annoyed tone.

“I’m right here,” says a soft voice from the other side of the room, “hopefully I’m not late.”

Yerim spins around quickly, hoping Wendy didn't pick up on the annoyance in the tone of her voice.

“Welcome Miss…” Yerim drags on, realizing that she didn’t know her last name.

“Miss Son,” Wendy replies while keeping eye contact with Sooyoung, who just stood there smiling at her guest.

“Ah! Of course, enjoy Miss Son and your Majesty,” Yerim says with a bow as she excuses herself from the dining room.

Slouching in front of the door as soon as she closes it, Yerim sits with her face in her hands.

“Why is she acting like this?” She asks herself, “Who does Wendy think she is? Making the Queen hand out bread? That’s something the staff would do on behalf of the Queen.”

An uneasy feeling fills Yerim, she didn't trust Wendy one bit.