The fight didn’t take long.

All three horsemen end up defeated by Taeyeon’s swings of sword.

Lady Miyoung was still silent when Taeyeon guarded her blade in its sheath after the fight was over. The three horsemen were still alive, but their wounds would be enough to teach them a lesson for now.

When some voices nearby were heard, Taeyeon looked behind her, she saw her group of friends walking slowly, carrying bags and tents with them. She managed to recognize Heechul leading the group, as tired as the other boys behind him.

When the six men gathered around them, they managed to see the aftermath of that fight. Heechul had dropped the bags he was carrying and placed himself beside Taeyeon. “You’ve put yourself in trouble again, Captain?”

“Probably.”

“Need a hand?” He asked, making himself sound stronger than he looked.

Taeyeon smiled. “Not really.” The fight was already finished anyway.

“What is going on here? Who are these people?” Asked Minho.

“Just your common highborns.” Taeyeon replied, dryly. “Nothing really important to see.”

“Ugh, I can’t believe we’re back to this friggin’ desert!” Shindong complained, placing his hands over his knees, taking a deep breath. “ me, why we left Midsummar in such a hurry?”

“Yeah, cap, why we’re back to this desert?”

Taeyeon sighed, not really answering that. Aside from Heechul, no one in the group knows the real identity of Mi Seohyun. In fact if Taeyeon could recall correctly, she doesn’t remember the boys ever meeting Mi Seohyun at all when they were in Midsummar. And when they left the capital city of the Red Mountains, Taeyeon didn’t really try to explain anything to her friends. She was trying to catch the servants as fast as she could so they would be safe from any harm. Taeyeon would never forgive herself if something bad happened to Lady Hwang Miyoung in that desert.

As she turned around and stared at the highborn in front of her, she cleared , trying to sweep the awkward moment away.

“It isn’t much…” Taeyeon started saying, moving towards the satchel Heechul dropped on the floor. “But we’ve brought some food.” She said, gently, retrieving four buns of bread. The tallest of the servants, whose name Taeyeon didn’t really remember, didn’t waste any time and quickly grabbed one for hers.

“Thank you so much!” The servant said in gratitude.

As the two other servants grabbed their pieces, Taeyeon held the only bun left. She lifted her hand with the bread towards Lady Miyoung. “For you.” She offered, her voice a little too serious for her liking.

Lady Hwang looked away, not really accepting the gesture.

“It’s filled with sweet bean paste.” She added up. “Made by Kim Youngsun, it’s really tasty.”

“Lowborn from a brothel house, huh?” She raised her eyes to Taeyeon, making Taeyeon blink her eyes, uncomfortable. “You’ve managed to offend me twice today.’

Taeyeon gulped, looking away from her. Her arm moving back to its natural position. “It...wasn’t my intention…”

“Was not? Did you perhaps forgot what you said inside that brothel?”

“Would you like to have a talk in private?” She tried to invite her for a conversation, respectfully.

“Won’t you curse me for my birth line?”

She munched her inner cheeks. “I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to…”

“What are you doing here?” She asked, her voice still raspy.

“I had 24 hours to leave Midsummar or Master Shin would send his men after me in order to kill me.” She revealed, making the boys from the group be surprised by the information. Taeyeon didn’t really tell them that either. “So I thought that…” She continued. “If I must leave Midsummar, better come back here and make sure you cross this desert well and reach Stoneguard safe and sound.”

Lady Miyoung sighed, feeling like calming down. Taeyeon felt grateful for that, maybe she would be finally forgiven by the words she said earlier that day.

“We’ve brought some food and water with us.” Taeyeon continued. “For we knew it would be a harsh journey for all of you.”

“Thank you.” One of the servants said. The palest one. She seemed to be a Hwang servant as her first instinct was trying to protect Lady Hwang from those men. “You’re very kind. Your sense of duty and honour shall be rewarded one day.”

“He is a bastard child!” The leader of the three horsemen spoke up suddenly, spitting blood on the sand. Taeyeon turned around to look at them. “There is no honour and duty in bastard men! His blood is as low as of a cockroach!”

Taeyeon looked downwards, feeling a little bad herself for his words.

“Why don’t you shut up?” Heechul asked him, angrily. “He just defeated you in combat. Be glad Captain just didn’t try to kill you all.”

“Who are you anyway?” Leeteuk asked, approaching them.

“The wealthiest man from Yellowstone.” Taeyeon answered. Leeteuk, Shindong and Donghae looked back at her.

“Wealthiest?” Their eyes suddenly brighten up in joy.

“Sometimes, Cap…” Donghae started. “You beat up just the right guys.” And they move up to search for anything worthy in their belongings. The three horsemen started complaining, shouting at them to stop what they were doing.

Taeyeon turned her face around and stared at Lady Hwang once again. She was still silent, her eyes serious fiercely gazing Taeyeon’s.

“If you think you can forgive a bastard child for the words he said to you…” She started it. “Take this.” She offered the bun once again. “You haven’t eaten anything. You need to feed yourself up if you intent to cross this desert safe.”

Lady Miyong exhaled, still looking away. After a couple of seconds, she accepted the offer and retrieved the bun from Taeyeon’s hands.

“Stupid bastard.” She left out, walking away from her; making Taeyeon feel even more sorry.

The Hwang servant got closer to Taeyeon, lowering her head. “I’m sorry My Lord…Lady Miyoung is not in a good mood today. She is confused about a lot of things so it is not easy for her to deal with everything that is happening right now…”

Taeyeon sighed. “It’s alright. I probably have some guilty into that.” She said more to herself than to anyone. “What’s your name again? Seohyun?”

“It’s Ju…yeah, it’s Seohyun.” She answered at once.

“You must be important to the Hwangs.”

Seohyun blinked her eyes, not understanding her words. “Hm… why do you say that, My Lord?”

“She used your identity as her own back then.” Taeyeon geared her head towards Lady Miyoung. “She must trust you a lot.”

“I’m her handmaiden, My Lord.” She added up. “My family has been taking care of Hwang’s since the days of old. And I, no different, wouldn’t serve any other master.”

“Hwang?” The leader of the horsemen spoke up. “Hwang Family Clan? The Family that rules over the Hwang Estate??”

“Yes.” Seohyun replied.

“Who’s the Hwang here? My Lord Father is very fond of him!! It would be an honour if we get to meet a Hwang Family member!!”

“You already did, you dolt!” The tannest servant quickly cut off. “You almost her!”

“What, that ? Impossible!”

“Just shut up!” Heechul tried to quiet him down. “You’re not in a position to be haughty!”

“Anyway…” Seohyun nodded, calling Taeyeon’s attention back to her. “Thank you for helping us for the last few days. We owe you our lives.”

“No, you don’t.” Taeyeon dismissed. “It’s alright, I just did what I felt it was the right thing to do. Saving you all from Master Shin was the right thing to do.”

“You are really brave.” The other servants echoed together, putting themselves into their knees. “Thank you very much.” Taeyeon found that unnecessary.

“You don’t need to take a bow at a bastard child.” Taeyeon spoke up.

“We are not bowing to a bastard child. We are bowing to the man who saved us all.” The tannest of the servants answered. “We are forever grateful for your kindness. If not for you, Master Shin would have probably slayed us all.”

“You are servants from Master Shin?” Taeyeon asked them, realizing for the color of their skin, they would probably be from Midsummar.

“Yes, we were servants from the palace.” They answered and Taeyeon looked at Heechul suspiciously.

“Why you were helping them escape?” She asked, finding that weird. Wouldn’t they be loyal to Master Shin, their lord master?

“We hate this place.”

“We hate Master Shin.”

“We tried to escape many times before.”

“And Master Shin always managed to get us back.”

“So when we heard Seohyun’s escape plan, we thought we could help.”

“We would take this opportunity, help them escape, and make us escape as well.”