Four.

The Alliance.
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  They've been traveling for three days. The landscape of  Ilda tended to be monotonous. Sehun had seen it a few times during his horseback riding but he had never dared to venture this far, this would be the first time he'd ever been so far away from the capital . All of the land surrounding the capital, Ilda, was comprised of softly rolling hills with fields of wildflowers, grasslands, and the occasional smattering of trees. The only thing that broke up the scenery was when farmland would come in and out of view. The group traveled on the King’s Road which was large and well maintained. The King’s Road did not lead to any particular city; it stretched between them. Towns, and villages had to create and maintain their own roads that would connect to the larger and well traveled one. The big road led from the borders of allied nation(Banxanda) to the capital itself, with no other stops in between. Traveling along such a road reminded Sehun that if he turned in the right direction and walked, he would eventually end up in the capital once more. It had been a home to him for all his life. It was comforting in its familiarity. He gazed at the vibrant greens of the landscape around him and wondered how it would change as they traveled further along. Enchancia had formed a contract with them, but that was recent and they still weren’t considered allies until the wedding. This meant eventually they would run out of road and be traveling over bare land or small trade roads in order to make it to the border. Passing into a new territory would mean something different to see, at least. Still, that was a long time in coming. Sehun shifted around on the horse and glanced at his sister who was staring admiringly at Dame Seulgi. He knit his brows, he'd seen his sister looked at the knight in that particular way on several occasions but he never thought of it as anything. He knew his sister liked the company of both men and women but it was something she had kept a secret just like him. Joo-hyun had told him about it two years ago. But Sehun's not sure if Seulgi would see his sister as anything more than the princess and a fellow soldier in battlefield. He cleared his throat and Joo-hyun snapped out of whatever fantasy going on in her head. She turned to look at him and her cheeks reddened at being caught staring at another woman with adoration. Sehun decided to take pity on her, instead of teasing her, he looked around the others as he spoke. "We camp here for the night." He said coming to a stop in front of a huge cave. The atmosphere was getting colder, which clearly showed they're not far from the northern territories. Yifan lifted his head to look at the setting sun before moving closer to the prince."Sehun, don't you think there's still a little light to continue on?" Sehun shook his head. "No, a few miles from here and we'll be inside the Northern territories, it's better to be in a known place than venture into the unknown in the dark. At least if we camp here for the night, we will be able to make it out of dracoland province by the end of tomorrow." Yifan nodded. "You are right" he smiled before moving away to give orders on how the camp should be set. Sehun helped fix the tents, he had never been the type of prince that allowed his men to the job alone.  By the time everything was set up for the night, Sehun had retired to his tent and was about to remove his boots but his sister didn't allow him to even stretch his limbs as she barged in. One glance was enough to tell Sehun she has something to talk about. Pausing and smiling at her, Sehun beckoned her forward and Joo-hyun wordlessly moved to sit next to her brother, she rested her head on her palms. "I am listening" he said, resuming to remove his shoes. Joo-hyun giggled, brushing her hair out of her face. "What made you think I came to say something?" "Because I know that face" he pointed still smiling. Joo-hyun sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "Right" she said and paused for a moment as if wondering how to phrase her words. "Uhm– I think am in trouble" Sehun knitted his brows. "Trouble? By the Angel sister, what sort of trouble?" "I like one of your female knights" she said ducking her head. "Oh" Sehun made a sound and he smiled. "Dame Seulgi!" Joo-hyun lifted her face to look at him, mouth slightly open. "You knew?" He nodded. "I do" She scrubbed her face, letting out a muffle groan inside her hands. "Was I that obvious?" "To those who knows you, aye, you were." "What do I do?" She dropped her hands, bringing her knees up to rest her head as she look up at her brother. "I am not even sure if she'll ever see me in that way." She blinked rapidly and for a moment Sehun thought she was going to cry. "I am a princess, I shouldn't be doing this, I am not supposed to go against our custom, our morals but Sehun, the things she does to my insides are too much and I really, really don't know how to handle it" Sehun waited for her to let it all out without interrupting her. "Mother would be very disappointed if she knows how I feel about another woman." She bowed her head, hiding her face between her legs. "I am not sure what father would think of me and I do not even wish to know" she brought her head up once again and that was when Sehun noticed the tears in her eyes. Joo-hyun hardly cried– she never cried, not in battlefield, not when they were little, not even when her mother took away her favorite toys to punish her for always going to play with Sehun. The only time Sehun saw her cry was when his mother died. His sister was the strongest woman he'd ever seen and to see her in tears now made his heart to clench. It also meant Joo-hyun had been bottling up her feelings for obvious reasons and now that it was getting a bit too much to bear, she's letting out the frustration in form of tears. He shifted closer and sat behind her as he slowly raked his fingers through her hair. "It might not be alright for you to feel for another woman now, but I promise you, you'll be free to do so in the future" he started, gently pulling a few strands into place as he began to braid her hair. It had become a norm for him to braid his sister's hair since he was seven and Joo-hyun liked it whenever he did it. "I maybe powerless to do anything now, but I am going to change that when I take the throne. As King I have the right to change any rule I see fit."  "What if you never become king?" She asked and Sehun paused for a moment before he continued to weave her hair . "What I mean is what if king Heechul never allows you to come back? And then what?" "I will make sure he allows it. Even if I won't be able to come back then you will take the throne and–" "No" she shook her head firmly. "I do not want it, it is your birthright and no one is going to take it away. Not me, not my mother, no one." She let out a deep breath, and leaned slightly against his chest. "If the king refused to let you go as he promised, then Yifan and I have a plan to get you out of there– in fact we don't have to wait until the years passes and let you suffer even more" Sehun smiled fondly, even though his sister couldn't see his face. "You won't do anything, I do not wish for you to get into trouble little sister" "For you, i will slay every Enchancian, even the King as long as you'll be safe." "I appreciate it but I wouldn't want that, I wouldn't want you to be tied with treason." He pulled out the small ribbon holding his hair and use it to hold the tip of the braid in order to keep it from loosening. He patted her shoulder and she turned to face him. "Do not do anything for me that would cause trouble for you." She brought out something from her pocket and passed it over to him. "Take this, I know this isn't the wedding you dreamt of, but I thought I should give you something as a gift." Sehun took the item from her as he examined it, it was a wooden pin for his cloak.  "I know it's small, but I wanted you to have it, I carved it specially for you." Sehun smiled and dropped a kiss to her temple. "Thank you." She swallowed, looking away form him, her voice heavy as she spoke."I never wished for you to use the content inside but if we fail to break the marriage and set you free, if King Heechul changes his mind, if you have to live your eternity in Enchancia, I want you to consider it" her hand shook as tears fell from her eyes. "There's a powder Inside it's Painless, traceless, something for if things ever became unbearable. Ingesting it would be like falling into a deep, dreamless sleep you would never have to wake up from, and it would just seem like your heart had given out, as it was known to happen"  she added, wiping her tears away. "I never want you to use it, unless it's necessary." Sehun nodded, he understood his sister's concerns,she would never mean him harm and he knew it took a lot from her to come up with this. She's one of the best Alchemist in their kingdom. "Thank you" he said once again as he held her hands. "but really do not try anything, if I am being honest, I prefer this" he lifted the pin to her view. "Than you doing something silly to get me out of Enchancia." She opened to protest but he shook his finger. "Now now, enough about the melodrama, we were talking about your knight in shining armor." He said with a teasing smile. Joo-hyun huffed, but a small smile graced her face. "I am serious Sehun, I don't want to leave you to spend another year under your husband's claws–." "Let's not talk about me now hmm?" He said folding his arms. "As for Seulgi, I don't know her preferences but one thing I am certain is that I haven't seen her with another man and have seen her looking at Wendy's more time than i could count. But advise you talk to her_" "No, No" Joo-hyun quickly shook her head, her now braided hair glimmering slightly in low light. "What if you saw wrong? Or she's into Wendy and– and I do not wish to come in between them." "Well" Sehun shrugged. "You never know until you try." She looked at him skeptically, one eyebrow raised. "Really?" "Hmm" he hummed, smiling brightly at her. "What if she does not want me?" "Are you serious?" He said. "Who wouldn't want my pretty sister? Have you seen yourself?" She giggled, slapping his chest playfully. "Stop," she blinked slowly. "What if she refused me because I am the princess?" "She wouldn't!"  "Why are so certain?" "Because she's one of my knights, my friend and I've known her since we were little" he sighed. "Just talk to her about it, if not directly then drop a hint." She was silent for a while, then she nodded. "That I can do," He grinned, petting her hair affectionately. "All right, now go to your tent, I need to get some sleep." She kissed his cheek and thanked him before heading out. Watching Joo-hyun walked out of the tent, Sehun let out a deep breath and moved to a laying position. He closed his eyes as he thought about everything going on with him so far. He was getting married, to a man– dwarf, a warlock who was also a beast. The same beast that slaughtered thousands of his people. The man he had dreaded to see on battlefield, though he had never seen him closely but he had witnessed from afar how he shifted into half man- half beast and sliced his men with his claws.  Sehun had used his Adamas arrow to shoot at him from where he had stood but the man being a magic wielder that could also control metal had blocked his attack but not completely because the arrow had lodged itself in the man's arm, it was a close call and had the arrow hit where Sehun had aimed at then he was sure the Enchancian prince wouldn't have made it. And that was the first and last time Sehun had seen him on battlefield. A bitter laugh escaped his mouth. The irony of life, Sehun was about to marry the same man he almost killed. "Auriel, what a fate you've planned for me" he opened his eyes and adjusted his position, he could hear his men chattering outside around the fire and he's sure they'd be wondering why the prince hasn't come out for dinner.  But Sehun wasn't in the mood for food, his chest felt tight, his throat felt as if it had closed up and nothing would be able to pass through.With another heavy breath, he allowed his eyes to drift shut. Waking up with a start, Sehun abruptly sat up, pulling his dagger from where he kept it under his mat. He stood up and took a fighting stance as he glanced around his tent, he could swore something woke him but nothing was out of place– except– Sehun heard it in his mind, something out there was calling out to him in a strong voice he'd never heard and couldn't even begin to describe, one thing he could say about the voice was; it's powerful. Really powerful. Slowly, he made his way out, not allowing himself to be of
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Beau1996 1306 streak #1
Not a big Kaihun shipper but the story seems interesting!!
MundSonne
#2
Chapter 49: Again, this story is gold. All of your stories are gold. Thank you authornimm
Sharo001
686 streak #3
Chapter 47: I really enjoyed this story, it’s kept me entertained while being home from work with the flu for the last few days. I absolutely loved all the characters but my favorites were the dragons. Blink reminds me of Saphira, but with parents.😁 It was quite a journey but I am glad that Arkan was able to bring Artemis back and everyone had closure and a happy ending. Even Junmyeon felt remorseful for his crimes against his family and others whose lives he ruined.
XiaoShixun #4
Chapter 16: Let me recall who Luhan really is
darcynikov
#5
Eu já li essa história há algum tempo, inclusive é a minha preferida, seguida bem de pertinho por Pirate Of The Galaxy.
Parabéns pela maravilhosa escrita!!
tonnettie
#6
Chapter 47: This is real I am so obsessed with your stories. I’m close to finishing all your stories
tonnettie
#7
Chapter 33: I am so excited to read the ending of thjs.
tonnettie
#8
Chapter 14: He finally met Blink!