The euphoria of kissing Jaehyun was still there when you opened your eyes the next morning, smiling lazily at the blue sky above as you adjusted to leaving your dreams behind.

Now that you were awake, you didn’t have to dream of Jaehyun anymore.

Picking yourself up from the spot you had slept upon, you dusted off the skirt of your dress before shifting to where you heard the morning routine beginning. This was your favourite part of the day, the communal effort of helping one another get ready for another day of travel always brightened you up. You liked seeing Lucas still half asleep as he blindly grabbed onto the food Taeyong held out to him. You smiled when you found Jane and Ten nudging each other playfully as they washed their faces. And you stopped moving altogether when Jaehyun’s gaze caught yours.

You wanted to wake up like this for the rest of your life.

“So today we should get to the ocean,” Taeyong mentioned elatedly, smiling over at you in particular as you quietly ate the bread you were given for breakfast. “We just need to travel through the next township and then turn onto the track to the beach. We will make it there by late afternoon if we don’t loiter in the village for long. We only need to gather new supplies, so maybe half an hour spent there?”

Ten nodded. “It won’t be long until we’re crossing the border into our kingdom, either.”

“Really?!” He nodded again at Jane’s exclamation and she squealed with happiness. “I’m rather excited to see where you all come from!”

“It’s not that exciting, lots of villages much like this one,” Lucas said with a shrug and Jane shot him a look. He chuckled at her. “But if you want to think of it as a magical venture into another land, who am I to take that from you?”

You had to admit you felt as excited as Jane. You would see the vast mass of water you had envisioned and then move onto another chapter in your journey entirely. You knew you’d eventually need to discuss with Jaehyun about heading home too, but for now, it was far from your conscious thoughts. You just wanted to live in the now, to enjoy the company of your group of friends and experience more of the land you were travelling. You felt light as if nothing could drag you down in mood or thought.

And when you set out for the next township, you fell into step next to Jaehyun, his smile small enough not to draw anyone’s attention to it, but his eyes were bright and shining at you. It made you feel giddy and you quietly shifted closer to his side.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked and you nodded lightly. “I’m glad.”

“And you?”

Jaehyun blushed a little; now shy due to not being alone with you. It made you feel encouraged to brush your fingertips against his hand next to yours and he glanced down at your gesture before snapping his head up and facing the path you were walking along. He then cleared his throat. “Must you tempt me so early in the morning, Y/N?”

“Should I act as though you weren’t all over me last night?” you asked, staring ahead yourself. For some reason, you liked how affected he was by your attention on him right now. It made you feel empowered that there was someone out there who had fallen for your charms that you hadn’t known to exist until last night. Perhaps, they grew when you were asleep and you were now a renewed version of yourself, unable to deny the fluttering within your stomach any longer. You had become addicted to Jaehyun the first time his lips touched yours and you didn’t know how else to address it than directly. You hadn’t expected him to become the shy one, especially with how forward he had been last night under that tree, and all the way back to camp.

You felt selfish, but you yearned to get him alone just so you could taste him again.

“You’re flying too freely right now, little bird,” he mentioned as he recomposed himself, though his cheeks remained flushed. You giggled and he groaned, shaking his head. “Now I’m the one entrapped.”

“By me?”

He glanced at you and nodded. “By you.”

To say you felt overwhelmed was an understatement. And because you were so wrapped up in how magical it felt to have him admit that, you weren’t watching where your feet were being placed down and tripped over a small rock, hitting the ground with a thud before he could save you. It was a wake-up call that you would have preferred to reach you in another way.

Especially since your waist was still healing.

“Are you alright?” Jaehyun asked as he helped you up and you nodded before you could truly assess any damage. Apart from the bruise to your ego from the embarrassment of falling literally head over heels for him, you couldn’t decipher if there was any further pain. He looked you over as Taeyong jogged back, concerned that you had both fallen behind.

“Did you fall?” he asked as he examined the situation and you nodded softly, your eyes widening when Jaehyun started wiping the dirt off of you. It was intimate and yet an instinctive way to help someone in an accident, but it wasn’t helping you any. You grabbed at the skirt and yanked it, wiping it down roughly yourself.

“I’ll be perfectly fine. Shall we continue on?” you asked firmly, giving both men a look before you moved off swiftly, cursing inwardly at the pain now coursing through you and the embarrassment that still overwhelmed you.

That would teach you for feeling too giddy over capturing Jaehyun’s heart. Falling at his feet was a distinct reminder that this trip was short-lived and you would eventually have to return home – without him at your side. Your mood darkened for most of the morning, and by the time you reached the next village you were far too exhausted. Dragging Jane off to the closest bathroom, you pulled her inside and let out an excessive whine.

“Why are you like this?” she asked, watching you intently for a moment and then she gasped. You guessed you didn’t need to tell her anything, she knew you far too well for secrets to exist long between you. “Did you, did you do something last night?”

“Jaehyun kissed me.”

“Y/N!” she shrieked, slapping your lower arm frantically. You cried out and pushed her off.

“That hurts! I fell over before, remember?!”

“I’m sorry but you know you’re not meant to let anyone but nobility touch your lips!”

You glowered at your best friend. “So I’m not allowed to be elated at all? I thought you would be pleased for me, considering how happy I was for you and Ten.”

“Yes, well there is a difference between us, Y/N. You’re not exactly free to kiss anyone in this world, regardless of how much I feel Jaehyun matches you. I know you might have forgotten that you’re a princess but I haven’t, and if your Father finds-”

“Enough Jane!” you cried, tears b in your eyes. “I had hoped for your support!”

“Y/N!” she called as you flung open the stall door, stomping away from your best friend and away from everything in haste. Today had started out so well and now you were an emotional wreck. You had read that when in love you act irrational, but were you really? As a friend, you had hoped that Jane would be excited for you, much like you had been for her. Had she always regarded you so differently? You had never put a distinction between your friendship, she was the best person in your world. Did she not feel the same? You hated that you now doubted her and as you ran around the village blindly, you hoped you would stop thinking so negatively. You didn’t realise how messy it could get to admit you liked Jaehyun. Would the others dislike you feeling something for Jaehyun as well?

Today was not a good day.

“Oh sorry, Miss!” someone said as you bumped into them and you turned to apologise, your eyes widening when over his shoulder you spotted a royal guard. You moved just before he turned to look at you and raced back along the path you had taken, only to find another guard coming towards you. Why hadn’t they moved on? They had been through the forest hours ago, and by horseback, they should have easily been able to explore this village and be on the move before now.

It made you panic and you hoped for someone you knew to appear right then. A hand shot out for you and pulled you out of sight, muffling your sentence as you asked if it was Jaehyun. You noticed by the grip that it wasn’t and your eyes adjusted to the darkness, relaxing when you saw that it was Taeyong.

Until he let you go. “Just how long until you told us, Your Highness?”

Taeyong had gathered everyone quickly and you had all left the village, the eldest keeping you close to him in case you did anything rash. Which, given the dark gaze he was continuously shooting you, it was rather pointless but you didn’t want to argue anymore.

You were tired.

And when you were finally surrounded by the trees again, Taeyong stopped walking altogether, turning to face everyone else. He regarded them each for a moment, sighing when his eyes fell upon Jaehyun’s.

“You knew?” It only took Jaehyun a second to realise what he meant. He went to speak but the leader shook his head. “Why are we doing this, Jaehyun?”

“Why have you done everything you have for me?” he shot back and Lucas rubbed at the back of his head in confusion.

“What’s going on?”

“That’s different, to me you’re someone I’ve known my whole life. Doing this for you makes sense. And whilst I wondered if you were similar, I didn’t expect it to be this close!”

“Don’t!” Jaehyun yelled and the two stared at one another, panting heavily. You watched them both, and it only dawned on you then that there was more to this group than they let on. You wondered why it only struck you then. Stepping forward to them both, you went to speak but Taeyong pointed at you harshly.

“The missing princess, I should have known that’s why you were helping her!”

“Wait, what?” Ten glanced at his hyung and then at you and Jane. “The missing princess? No way.”

Jane diverted her gaze and kept silent as Ten cursed loudly.

“You helped me escape my own fate, why can’t we help her?!”

“Did you know from the beginning?” Taeyong bit back and Jaehyun shook his head firmly. “When did you find out?”

“The night before last.”

“When we first heard the rumour of her missing?!” Taeyong reiterated and let out an incredulous scoff. “We could get in trouble for this!”

“To be honest, it’s not that bad,” Lucas added to the conversation but no one paid him any mind.

You groaned and shook your head, turning on your heel and marched off down the path you were travelling on. You didn’t want to hear them argue anymore. There was another who joined you and you glanced to see Jane at your side, smiling gently at her as you took her hand.

“I’m sorry, you know.”

“I’m sorry too, for all of this.”

Jane sighed. “Do you think they’ll hate us for long?”

Before you could answer, you heard footsteps behind you. You both turned to see Ten approaching you and he slung an arm around Jane’s shoulders. He then smirked. “Not every day I get to a princess around the lands.”

“You’re not mad at me?” Jane asked and Ten shook his head.

“If you didn’t leave the castle, I wouldn’t have seen you again, right?”

“So then it’s a good thing that I convinced Jane to let me escape?”

“It’s not logical that’s for sure, but I think you’re pretty reckless for a princess, Y/N,” Lucas’ voice stated and you grinned at him as he fell into step beside you as well. “I don’t have to call you, Your Highness, right? I haven’t had to say that in so long now, and I don’t really want to go back to it again.”

“Lucas,” Ten warned and the youngest chuckled. You watched Lucas for a moment and mulled over his words.

Who had he served before joining this group?

“What about the other two?” Jane asked softly, noting they weren’t following just yet. Ten shot her a smile.

“They’ll come, don’t you worry.”

You were curious even if you were frustrated, and the guilt was eating at you from the outburst just now. It was difficult to be concerned with so many different emotions at once, and you didn’t know which one to address first. Should you apologise to everyone for putting them in this position? Ten and Lucas didn’t seem to mind as they joked around with you and Jane right now. But you still felt guilty for not being the one to tell them as you had hoped to. You were going to announce it at the ocean, to scream it out against the winds that you were the princess on the run from her life. That they had assisted you this far and you would let them continue on without you. That you would let Jane go in your stead to visit their homeland and return back to the village alone and get someone to help you back to your caged home.

Yet you had so many questions that the boys themselves weren’t exactly alluding to. What kind of group were they? You had half penned them down as some good vigilantes, helping others as they travelled from village to village. Like the tales of Robin Hood, you had some fantastical belief that the four of them were out against the world, assisting those who needed their aide.

Now though, you questioned it. The mentioning of royalty by Lucas had you wondering if they were messengers instead, or worse, spies for the neighbouring kingdom. You felt deep within your heart that you could trust them, but it didn’t stop your mind from conjuring such thoughts either. Did they work for the King or one of the princes of their kingdom? You wanted to ask, yet it scared you to as well.

And you were frustrated that you couldn’t stop Taeyong and Jaehyun from fighting and had walked off from them instead of approaching the situation as you had always been taught to do – with tact. You stopped walking, glancing over your shoulder at the lack of the pair behind you. It made you worried, hoping that they were safe. A grave sense of dread washed over you then and you spun around, heading back in the way you had travelled.

“Y/N!” Jane called and jogged to your side. “Where are you going, the ocean is this way.”

“I can’t leave them behind. What if they’re in trouble?”

“They know how to look after themselves, don’t worry.”

You glanced at Ten and he nodded to ensure his words were true. You sighed and glanced at the track in front of you once more and then slowly turned around again, your steps feeling heavy within your ears. It was then that you realised those weren’t the sound of your steps at all and spun to see a large bay horse galloping down the track, coming to an unsteady halt in front of you all.

“Where did you get the horse from?” Lucas asked with a chuckle as Taeyong dismounted with haste and then came to your side, his eyes wide with fear.

“You need to get up here, now.”

“What, why?” Jane asked as you reached up for the hand Jaehyun offered, Taeyong guiding you so you were safely up within Jaehyun’s arms on the horse. You noticed the rein’s design and gasped.

“Where will you go?” Jaehyun asked with urgency to Taeyong, who glanced around himself.

“We’ll spread out into the forest to cause a distraction. Take her to the ocean, we’ll meet you there. Go now!”

Without so much of a farewell, Jaehyun kicked the horse to move off again, your eyes stuck on Jane’s until you could no longer see her.

Stick to the back roads. Don’t be seen and always travel as a group.

Your departure from the others worried you and you clung to Jaehyun as the horse galloped along the track, taking you further away from those who meant just as much to you as Jaehyun now did. You didn’t know what would happen next, even if you reached the ocean.

And that scared you.