As the weeks progressed, Byulyi kept on visiting Yongsun in the forest. She would always give the excuse of wanting to see the village to those who were curious of her frequent visits out, who were often her mother and Jihyo. She hid the secret well, taking extra care never  to let it slip in her words and always checking that no one was following her. The Queen, although slightly suspicious, left her daughter alone. She knew Byulyi was responsible and mature enough to not get herself into trouble, and thus tried not to worry as much. King Gualtiero, on the other hand, spoke of the many dragonkin that he had located and slayed. He reported with pride that the dragonkins were starting to reduce in population which made Byulyi sick to the stomach. The necklace was also starting to grow longer with newly collected fangs being added almost every week.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just come over into your room to meet you?” Yongsun hummed. They were once again sitting next to each other, strawberry cake and cookies on the towel in between them. They were silently watching a fox taking a drink from the pond when Yongsun popped out  with the question. Byulyi turned and stared at her incredulously, shaking her head.

“No! It’d be so dangerous! You could get caught and then executed! Do you not remember what I told you about the guest that is currently staying over? The one who hunts down and kills dragonkins?” Byulyi opposed, waving her hands around while trying to emphasize her point on King Gualtiero. Yongsun snorted, leaning back against the tree comfortably.

“You worry too much Byul-ah, I’m a very stealthy dragonkin.” Byulyi rolled her eyes at the wink Yongsun sent her cheekily before nagging at her to promise to never come to the palace. Yongsun finally gave in after a while when Byulyi kept poking her with a stick, rubbing her sore side with a grimace as Byulyi grinned in triumph. However, Yongsun wasn’t one to drop an idea so quickly without even giving it a try which Byulyi soon discovered after a rather unpleasant fright in her room that night.

Byulyi was just about to bury herself under the covers when a light tapping was heard at the glass doors that led to the balcony. She glanced up, eyeing the covered doors warily. She wasn’t one to believe in ghosts and often laughed off the many ghost stories that her father used to tell her when she was younger. The tapping came again, insistent and loud. Byulyi grabbed her sword off the dresser near the bed and slowly inched her way towards the doors. The fact that her room was shrouded in darkness made the whole thing seem scarier than it was supposed to be. Ghost don’t exist Byulyi, they don’t. She reassured herself, hands reaching out to pull back the drapes keeping the doors covered. Then again dragonkins exist, so the possibility of ghosts existing is still there. She jumped back in fright when the tapping came again, sounding more impatient. Taking a deep breath, she held her sword firmly and jerked the drapes away from the doors. Gingerly, she opened the door and stepped out into the chilly night air, peering about cautiously. Upon confirming that there was indeed nothing or no one on the balcony, Byulyi sighed in relief.

“BOO!!” Byulyi screamed and stumbled back into her room, tripping over her feet and falling on her . Teasing laughter filled her ears and she opened her eyes and lowered her arms to see Yongsun bending over in laughter. She stared at her with a dazed expression before frowning once the situation finally sunk into her shocked brain. She stood up, waving her sword threateningly at Yongsun.

“Stop laughing!! What are you even doing here, didn’t I tell you to not come here?” Yongsun tried to stifle her laughter, clutching her aching sides. She finally managed to calm herself down after a while of continuous laughter and answered Byulyi.

“I told you before that I wanted to visit you in your room, and here I am!” Yongsun grinned, flourishing her arms about. Byulyi fixed her with an expressionless gaze, not the least bit amused. Yongsun pouted from the lack of reaction and Byulyi groaned, tossing her sword back onto her bed. She closed the doors as Yongsun plopped down onto the bed, rolling about on the blanket in glee. She gasped when she touched the pillow, immediately pulling it close to her and hugging it tight.

“How is this so incredibly soft oh my gosh!” Yongsun pushed her face into the pillow, inhaling the sweet scent of lavender.

“You’re dirty!! Don’t just jump on my bed like that! Who knows what type of bugs or dirt you have on you!” Byulyi complained to which Yongsun pulled away from the pillow to glare at the girl, offended at the remark.

“Excuse me, I’ll have you know that I do wash myself pretty decently even though I live in the forest with a cave as my home.” Byulyi merely sighed, sitting herself down next to the dragonkin. She stared at Yongsun as she looked around the room and took in the fancy furniture and decorations, mouth open in awe. The room was filled with light now thanks to Yongsun quickly lighting up the candles in her room for them to properly see each other.

“So this is what it’s like to be a princess.” Yongsun mused to herself. She already knew about the hundreds of servants and soldiers that serve and guard the palace as well as Byulyi’s own personal handmaiden but still failed to comprehend what it actually was like to be a princess. Byulyi coughed, shaking her head in embarrassment. She let Yongsun take her time to drink everything in her room before bringing up the problem that needed much discussion.

“Anyway, didn’t you promise me that you wouldn’t come here?? How on earth did you even get here anyway did no one see you strolling in?” Byulyi questioned and Yongsun stuck her tongue out at her.

“You don’t know until you try right?? I tried to get here without getting caught and here I am! Not in some musty dungeon all chained up or with a sword impaled in me. As to how I got here-” Yongsun stopped speaking to remove her cloak, spreading her wings slightly for Byulyi to see. She wiggled her eyebrows at her, folding her wings against her back again.

“So you flew and no one saw you?”

“I did fly quite high, though I had to dip down every now and then to locate the room you would be in.”

“How did you know this is my room? What if someone else was in the room and saw you?”

“Your scent was rather overpowering when I landed and checked outside, so it was pretty easy to assume that this was your room.” Yongsun grinned smugly at Byulyi, a twinkle in her eyes. Her gaze soon slipped past her to land on a bowl of fruit on the table in the middle of the room. She perked up and bounced towards it, snatching up a juicy red apple. She bit into, humming at the sweet taste. Byulyi widened her eyes in shock when she saw Yongsun’s back where scars of large claw marks made itself known from her shoulder blades to her waist. She made a mental note to inquire the dragonkin about it later, if time permitted and if she allowed it. For now she decided to keep quiet about it, storing the image away in her mind for later.

“Don’t you have apples in the forest?” Byulyi tilted her head to the side, getting herself comfortable on the bed. Yongsun turned around and almost choked on the chunk of apple in when her eyes landed on Byulyi’s exposed collarbones and shoulders. It was then that Yongsun took proper notice of what the princess was wearing and it did a fairly good job of unintentionally showing her cleavage due to the low cut it has. It was the first time Yongsun had seen Byulyi without her standard tunic and pants. She tore her eyes away and coughed, clearing . Byulyi, noticing where Yongsun had been looking at, blushed deeply and wrapped the blanket around herself.

“ert.”

“Hey! I totally am not! I just happen to glance down and…yeah. ANYWAY! About those apples, the apples in the forest aren’t really that nice plus they’re kind of hard to find sometimes.” Yongsun explained as she tried to steer the topic away. She offered a bite to Byulyi who took a small nibble. They began to talk about simple things again, wasting the night away with laughter and small quarrels. At one point Byulyi yawned widely, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Yongsun glanced out of the room, noting in surprise that the sky was beginning to get slightly brighter.

“Wow, we’ve been talking for so long already. Poor baby, you should sleep now. Don’t come down to the forest again, you need to get all the sleep you need. I can come again tonight anyway.” Yongsun remarked, standing up. She made sure Byulyi was nicely tucked under her blanket, smiling as the girl looked up at her with sleepy eyes.

“You’re coming again…? It’s dangerous, you might get caught this time.” Byulyi murmured softly, worry evident in her voice. Yongsun simply caressed her hair gently to which had Byulyi closing her eyes tiredly.

“They won’t catch me. If they didn’t catch me today, they won’t catch me ever. Have faith in me Byul-ah, I’ll be back here again tonight at the same time. Perhaps you should leave the door open for me so you won’t be frightened when I arrive.” Yongsun giggled lightly when Byulyi whined softly, scrunching up her nose. Sleepy Byulyi is the cutest Byulyi.

“Sleep well Byulyi.” Yongsun whispered as she grabbed her discarded cloak, turning to face the room and spreading her wings. She beat them once and sent a gust of wind through the room, extinguishing the candles. As she turned to walk out of the room, she glanced one last time at Byulyi, smiling fondly when the girl seemed to have fallen sound asleep. She quietly closed the door before climbing up onto the walls of the balcony. She pushed off from the stone, flapping her wings and soaring into the steadily brightening sky.

The Queen was surprised by Byulyi’s uncharacteristic-like late attendance for breakfast, the girl often always being up and early to reach the Great Hall just in time the servants served their food. She raised an eyebrow as Byulyi stumbled in rather hurriedly, consciously running her hand through her hair to comb out the remaining unruly curls.

“Slept quite late now have you dear?” The Queen commented casually, daintily cutting into her meat. Byulyi ducked her head in embarrassment, coughing slightly.

“I was... up late reading a book that I really liked and didn’t keep track of the time.” Byulyi cheered internally for coming up with a rather excellent reasonable and believable excuse. Her mother simply stared at her, eyebrows raised as if she didn’t quite believe her. Her mother was a sharp and observant woman, being able to point out little details and hidd