Her eyes slowly opened, getting used to the light in the room. Chaewon blinked and tried to move, hissing as a sharp pain pierced through her face and head. She heard a noise coming from the other side of the room, as a woman dressed in white ran to her with urgency. 

“Your Highness! Oh, thank Heavens...” She muttered, looking up with both her palms together near her chest. “I’ll have the guards inform His Majesty.” She ran to the door and came back a mere second later. “I am Hyunjin, the nurse.” 

“W-What happened...? How am I here... alive?” Chaewon asked. 

“The guards brought Your Highness here. One of them is injured, I think she fought the men who attacked you,” Hyunjin explained, as she grabbed a wet towel. 

“She...? Hyejoo? Where is she?!” 

“She’s in the room next to us. Please, stay still, Your Highness, I need to clean up your wounds,” She said with a warm smile. 

The towel felt warm on her cheek, burning her cut. Chaewon held her breath for a moment. 

“Is she okay?”  

The nurse remained silent, and Chaewon felt her pulse rising fast. 

“She will be fine, Your Highness.” 

“What do you mean she will be fine?”  

“She suffered quite a few injuries, so it might take a while for her to recover.” Hyunjin pressed the towel now on the side of her head. 

“What kind of injuries?” 

“I’m afraid I don’t exactly know. There was a lot of blood on her face and clothes when the other guards brought her here.” 

Chaewon's heart clenched against her chest. Was she that hurt? 

“Thank Heavens, your cut was not deep enough to leave a scar. I'll be leaving now, so you can have proper rest, Your Highness. Just call one of the guards outside if you need something, yes?” Hyunjin smiled at her.  

The princess nodded and muttered a thank you as the nurse left the room. The second she was left alone, her mind was bombarded with questions. What exactly happened when she went unconscious? Did Hyejoo fight all those men alone? Was she the one… saving her life? Even after she said those things to her, she still came back to save her? Why? Didn’t she hate her, like Chaewon hated her too? And didn’t Chaewon make it clear that she didn’t need any protection?  

Maybe she did need protection. And that made her hate Hyejoo even more. Because even after what happened earlier that same day, she came back to save the damsel in distress.  

Chaewon clenched her jaw. In the end, despite all of that, she wanted to see her. She wanted to see Hyejoo, to make sure she was alive. And maybe she hated herself more than everything else for it, but she still screamed for the guard outside. 

Hyunjin came running inside the room. 

“I want to see Hyejoo.” 

The nurse frowned. 

“I would recommend rest for now, Your Highness.” 

“I wish to see her. Please, take me there.” 

Hyunjin sighed. She helped Chaewon up from the bed and led her to the room next to hers. Chaewon opened the door and slid inside. As she approached the bed, her eyes widened and her hands moved on their own to her opened mouth. 

There she was, laying down, bandages covering several parts of her body. Her face was covered in bruises and a cut traveled from her forehead, all the way down to her chin, passing thought her right eye and the corner of her so pretty and unique lips. 

A tear fell from Chaewon's eye, as she clenched her fists with a sudden rage and hatred invading her mind, and an uncontrollable wish to kill the men who did that. Hyunjin had said she was injured, but no words could prepare her for what she saw. 

But... it was her own fault. Because she was weak, and she wasn’t able to fight them alone. If she had been stronger, nothing would have happened, and Hyejoo wouldn’t be in a bed covered in bandages. Because Chaewon was weak, Hyejoo had to step up and fight the men she was supposed to defeat. Because of her weakness, someone else suffered in her place. 

No. It wasn’t because she was weak, it was because she was stubborn. It was because she didn’t allow herself any help in protecting herself. If she had never told her to leave, she would be there with her in that moment, and the both of them could have defeated them. It was because she was so blind with her arrogance, with the thought she could never be defeated.  

After all, Hyejoo was right. Chaewon was nothing more than a spoiled brat, who was so insecure she needed to prove herself she could hold against any threat that came her way. And that mistake could have cost her life, or even someone else's. 

Hyejoo had always been willing to put her life on the line for her, and in return, she'd only gotten mean, ungrateful, childish, petty words. She'd never deserved it. 

♚♚♚

Chaewon spent the rest of her day laying in bed, in the medical wing, looking outside the window. Her father visited her as soon as he knew she had woken up. He was relieved that she was okay and that the men who attacked her got caught, but something else also worried him. 

“I’ll get another guard as soon as possible.” 

“No, father. I don't want another guard. I have one, and she's injured because of me.” The words flew from her lips. 

“I understand you must bear the weight of her condition, but she performed her duty as well as she could, and now she needs to recover. In the meantime, you need someone else to protect you.” 

“I won’t leave the castle until she recovers. All of this time she looked after me, now it’s time for me to look after her. It can also be a good time for me to rest and... sort some things out.”  

The King stared at his daughter for a few seconds. 

“I understand.” 

“Father, ask Jungeun to replace me for the training sessions. She’s a great swordswoman, I trust her with that job.”  

“And I'll trust your choice, my daughter.” He grabbed her hand and smiled at her.  

Chaewon forced a smile and her father excused himself, as he wanted to let her rest. 

Jiwoo also visited her as soon as the news reached her ears, breaking in loud sobs as she saw the princess in bed with the bandages in her face. 

“Jiwoo, I'm okay.” Chaewon comforted the crying woman, caressing her hair. 

“You are because Hyejoo saved you! What if she wasn’t there?!” 

Chaewon felt her heart break a bit more. 

“She wasn’t. I called for her.” 

Jiwoo raised her head and faced her with a frown. 

“We fought earlier today. I told her to stay away from me, and she did so. I was attacked and went unconscious, so I still don’t quite know what happened, but apparently she appeared and saved me.” 

Jiwoo widened her eyes and before she could speak, the princess continued. 

“She... hasn’t woken up yet. She’s alive, but... she could have died. And it’s all my fault.”  

“Chaewon... it’s not your fault-“ 

“It is. I was horrible to her. But she still put aside the way I treated her and almost gave her life to save mine.” Chaewon looked away, outside the window, as she felt a tear escaping her eye. 

“She saved you because it was her duty to do so.” Jiwoo tried to reason with her. 

Chaewon kept silent. 

“Chaewon, what matters is that both you and Hyejoo are okay.” 

"She's not okay! You haven't seen her like I did!" Chaewon snapped, her voice coming out louder than she wanted, making Jiwoo recoil. "I'm sorry. I need to be alone.” 

Jiwoo grabbed her hand, making her look at her eyes. She smiled at the princess and leaned to plant a soft kiss on her cheek, making a small smile grow on her lips. Jiwoo knew Chaewon well enough to know she was not angry at her, she just really needed to be alone. So, without any more words, she got up and left the room. 

♚♚♚

Chaewon must have fallen asleep faster than she could notice, because when she woke up again, the sun was already rising. The pain in her body had lessened, so much she could stand on her own. She left her room before nurse Hyunjin could came in to tell her she should stay in bed, and looked at the door beside her. Without hesitating, she barged in. A pair of eyes were already staring at the door when she peeked inside, making her freeze on the spot. 

Hyejoo was awake, sitting and leaning against the headboard, holding a mug between her hands. Chaewon stepped inside and closed the door without breaking eye contact, and walked to her bed.  

"I'm glad you're not hurt. At least as much as I am." Hyejoo smiled, laying the mug on the small tablet beside her bed. 

"Why... Did you do it? To prove your point? To show me I was wrong? There, you proved it." Even though Chaewon didn't really mean what she said, she had to keep that façade so she wouldn't burst into tears. 

Hyejoo stopped smiling all of a sudden, her features changing into a serious expression. 

"Are you serious?" She asked, almost offended. "This had nothing to do about proving points or showing who was right. Do you think I would risk my life to prove a point? You were in danger. I did what I had to do."  

There was nothing Chaewon could do to stop herself from crying. Her lower lip quivered as she let loose the tears she had been suppressing since the second she had seen Hyejoo awake. She hid her face in her hands because she couldn't bear look at her, nor feel her eyes on her. When she thought Hyejoo couldn’t surprise her no more, she was wrong once again. 

"You shouldn't have! You should have just let them take me!" Chaewon blurted. 

"I would never do that, in any circumstance. I would give my life to save you," Hyejoo said, her voice so calm it got even more to Chaewon's nerves.  

"Why would you do that?! When all I did was treating you like you were some kind of monster! Why would you give your life for someone like me?!" The tears kept on streaming down her eyes. 

"Because I'm a Guard, it's my job to give my life to protect people, and because you're the Princess." 

"Is that all? Is there enough of a reason?" 

What else it would be, anyway? 

"To me, yes."  

Chaewon's tears stopped, at last. She breathed and calmed herself down, telling her heart to stop beating so fast. She took a step closer to Hyejoo's bed and grabbed her hand between her own pair. 

"Hyejoo... I'm sorry. For the way I treated you, for not trusting you. In fact, it was in me I didn't trust. But now, because I can trust myself, I can also trust you. So... Please forgive me, and let's start over."  

Hyejoo gave her a wide, beautiful smile. 

"And I sincerely apologize for not staying with you even though you asked me to stay away. If I had stayed around you, this situation could have been easily avoided." 

"I know, and there's no one who regrets saying it more than me. Because of it you..." 

"What matters is that I'm here. We're both here." Hyejoo rested her other hand on top of Chaewon's. "And I promise I won't leave you ever again." 

---

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm sorry again for the delayed chapter, this time I didn't forget, I was out visiting another city and I just came back and here it is the new chapter! We're starting to see some fluff keke