The girls had spent a few hours of the night trying to get as far from the castle as they could in a short amount of time. It was silent as they walked, not wanting to get caught, but either the adrenaline or the fear of the moment made them go very fast. Eventually they felt safe and decided they aught to rest for the night, under the cover of darkness. They could continue on their way when the morning came. 

Still used to the timing of the knighthood both Olivia and Yerim rose at sunrise. Quietly Yerim handed Olivia an apple, and set one aside for the still sleeping princess. Silently, they decided not to wake her until the sun was fully in the sky, giving her some extra time to rest. 

But just moments later Princess Chaewon yawned and blinked her eyes open. 

"Good morning," she mumbled sleepily, her eyes turning towards the sky. "Goodness it's early." 

For Olivia, those five words enough to have her completely whipped. 

Seeing the princess in the light, in person, she didn't know quite what to say. She was beautiful: small, with blonde wavy hair and delicate features, sparkling eyes and a bright smile. In her white nightgown, untouched by the stains of nature despite having slept on the grass, she truly looked like a princess. She was at a loss for words just looking at her. 

Yerim just kept looking back and forth between the knight and the princess in confusion, while the princess, just looked around at her surroundings. 

"How did you sleep?" Yerim asked, trying to end the awkward tension. 

"Terribly," she said, her more awakened voice sounding somehow rough and high pitched, all at once. Olivia's mouth was still open, looking at her. "I had a root digging into my back the whole time." 

"Whelp, that's our life for the next while! Time to get used to it," Yerim answered all too cheerfully, tossing Chaewon an apple. 

"You...you look," Olivia finally managed to stutter. Chaewon just watched her in confusion. "You look..." She sighed. "Nevermind." Olivia had always known she preffered women, but now girl had ever made her act quite like this before. Later on she would be very embarrassed, but for now she was just too awkward to do anything. 

"What?" Chaewon asked. 

"Never mind," Olivia said gruffly, taking a large bite of her apple to hide her discomfort. 

"Well...you look like one of the men in the council of lords," Chaewon neutrally answered. 

All of the different feelings building up inside of her, every one, erupted in Olivia, and she threw her apple core down onto the forest floor. "I do not look like an old man!" She cried, standing up and walking to the stream, looking out into the distance with her arms crossed. 

Chaewon winced and turned to Yerim. "I didn't mean it in a bad way," she explained, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Is she usually this weird?" 

"Madam Olivia is the strongest and bravest woman I know!" Yerim cried. "But yes," she whispered to Chaewon. 

"Get your things together! We'll leave as soon as everyone's ready," Olivia called from the stream, walking back with frustration. 

"Wait...what about breakfast?" Chaewon asked, standing up and brushing off the front of her nightgown. 

Yerim paused. "That was breakfast." 

Chaewon gasped and Olivia snorted. "First the root in my back last night, now no breakfast? I don't know if I'll survive." 

"Better toughen up then princess," Olivia roughly answered, trying not to look at her new companion for fear she might do something...stupid. "Let's go." 

~~~~~~~~~~

The girls were still walking when the sun reached the top of the sky. Olivia lead their little trio, while Chaewon walked in the middle, and Yerim took up the rear. Now, Olivia was sure as hell glad she hadn't taken Princess Yeojin. 

Because if Chaewon said Princess Yeojin was a complainer, then she must have been really bad. Chaewon already was whiney enough. 

Every leaf, branch, or rock she stepped on earned a squeak or a whine for their trio, even while wearing her very fancy riding boots. Every few minutes she paused to complain about lack of sleep, or lack of food, or when they were going to stop. Olivia had even forgotten how beautiful the princess was in light of all of her complaining. Really, she had thought Yerim would be the most annoying person on this journey. 

"Oh, I can't go on," Chaewon said, putting airs on her voice to sound faint. "My little feet must be so red and bruised. We must rest." 

Olivia looked up at the sky, then growled. "Fine." 

"Thank goodness," Chaewon muttered. 

"Yes!" Yerim cheered, the only one of the bunch still excited about the journey. 

They pulled off the little side road they were taking through the woods, avoiding the main roads (where the knights would be looking for the princess) and sitting down underneath a tree. 

"Lunch?" Olivia grumbled and Yerim pulled some more apples out of their bag, handing each of them one. 

"Another apple?" Chaewon cried, her face falling. "This isn't enough to sustain me! I shall faint!" 

"Then go back," Olivia mumbled, cutting up the apple with her smallest blade. 

Both Yerim and Chaewon turned to her in shock. 

"If walking around, not sleeping on a feather bed, and not having a feast for every meal is so hard for you, then go back! It's not that far back. I don't give that much of a any more. I don't know if you're worth it." Olivia continued cutting up her lunch, not daring to look at Chaewon's pretty face, for fear of losing all of her resolve. 

Chaewon was silent for a moment that seemed like ages, and Yerim held her breath. "I can't. I...I must go on." 

Olivia hummed, sparing Chaewon a quick glance before looking down at her food, her heart pouding in her chest. "Fine then." 

Yerim sighed and cleared . "Anyways, now that that's cleared up, I wanna know-" 

"Everyone done?" Olivia interrupted. Chaewon nodded, her face expressionless. And even though she was pouting, Yerim nodded too. "Let's continue then, if our princess is sure she doesn't want us getting caught." 

"I don't," Chaewon snapped back. 

"Yay! Continuing on the journey, three girls on an adventure, first day on the adventure, the journey into the country!" 

Chaewon and Olivia threw their cores onto the ground and Yerim followed suit. Suddenly, even she felt too awkward to speak, feeling the tension between the princess and the former knight. 

The afternoon walking was far different from the morning, all three of the girls silent under the weight of their noontime conversation. At first Chaewon released little sighs and grumbles but slowly she began to walk normally. Eventually her expression changed, from annoyance and anger directed at Olivia's back to the woods, the trees, the sounds and the smells around her. 

Olivia, too distracted in her own thoughts to notice the silence behind her, suddenly wondered her companions had fallen behind. So she turned around and once again...she was starstruck. 

There was the princess, still in her nightgown, with wonder in her eyes, simply at the world around her. Olivia took in a deep breath and exhaled shakily. 

"What are you looking at?" She grumbled. 

"The world," Chaewon answered, ignoring the tone of Olivia's voice. "This...this is my first time outside of the castle walls. It's strange but it's beautiful. Not in the way the castle and its grounds are beautiful, but beauty of a different sort." 

Immediately, all of Olivia's frustration and anger melted out of her, entraced by the astonishment on the princess's face. "I...I can only imagine how it must feel," she mumbled quietly, turning her head back to the grass beneath their feet. Olivia spared a brief glance up and slowly, the princess began to smile at her. 

Olivia felt as though she was going to pass out, and could only manage the briefest of smiles back before looking away. 

"Anyways, I'm glad we're not awkward anymore," Yerim spoke up. "Although Olivia still does seem a little awkward-" Olivia shot Yerim a thick glare, and Yerim fell silent for a moment. "Well...um, before I was so rudely interrupted this morning, I was going to ask Chaewon a question." 

"Yeah?" 

"Why are you coming with us?" 

Up until that point they had still been walking, Olivia just turned around to talk to her but suddenly, Chaewon froze. She sighed before moving on again, and her companions continued. 

"I...so...I'm the heir, right? If and when something ever happens to my mother I am next in line to rule. And I have spend my entire life training for it. But....there's a law. The law says I can't ascend to the throne without marrying a man, and that I must when I reach the age of eighteen. I will be eighteen in a few month's time. And...that's just something I really don't want to do." 

"Can't your mom change the law?" Yerim asked. 

Chaewon sighed and rolled her eyes. "You would think so, right? But she is insisting only the council of lords can change it. And none of them want to because many of their sons are my suitors." 

"None of the suitors are to your liking?" Olivia asked, trying to come off casual but Yerim could hear the hope in her voice. 

Chaewon pretended to gag. "They're horrific. And that's not even the matter. I don't want to marry a man at all. I don't want to marry at all." 

"So your motivations are similar! You both have a point to prove. To all of the stupid men in the castle that think that none of us could actual do what we have set out to do." 

"Well, no. I'm not trying to prove anything. I'm just trying to...postpone the inevitable. I will go back in a few months time and marry one of the suitors. I can't abdicate; I would never force the responsibility of heir onto my sister. But I needed a break, just from the pressure of chosing a man and from the need to visit suitors and make wedding preparations." 

"You don't want to marry so badly that you are risking going out into lands you've never seen with people you've never met doing things that could most definitely be dangerous?" Olivia asked. 

Chaewon sighed softly. "When you put it like that it seems ridiculous. But...I guess I am that sort of person." 

The sun was beginning to sink in the sky, the lands about them falling dark. Olivia stopped and turned back to the princess, her heart stopping momentarily as well as her feet. 

"Shall we rest?" 

Chaewon nodded shyly and Yerim cheered, the pair making their way over to a stream. Chaewon began to set up their bedding, Yerim brought found kindling for their fire, while Olivia leaned over the stream, dagger in her hand. 

"What are you doing?" Chaewon asked. 

"Fishing," Olivia answered, stabbing a fish and pulling it's flapping body out of the water. Chaewon squeaked and even Yerim gave it a suspicious look when she returned with the firewood. Olivia was unfazed. 

"You were right, we need more nourishment than an apple." She did not say that she kind of sort of a little bit wanted to give Chaewon a better meal than before. Chaewon fell silent though, and Olivia wanted to speak to her more, although she wasn't entirely sure what to say. "I...don't think you are ridiculous for what you are doing," she eventually said. 

"Really?" Chaewon asked, looking at Olivia as Yerim stoked the fire, a sly smile on her lips. 

Olivia nodded. "I would do the same. I...I am that sort of person too." 

"You know what? I think you two are perfect companions," Yerim finally spoke up. 

Olivia and Chaewon shared a look and Chaewon raised one eyebrow. 

"Perhaps we are."