The weather was fair that day.

Normally, it was the best time for everyone to head outdoors and enjoy the sun, but for the residents of a certain castle, everyone was inside, frantically running through the halls and checking every nook and cranny of the vast expanse of the estate.

The reason?

The princess of the castle and of the kingdom was missing.

It started when the maid woke up early to do her usual duties, alongside the court lady only to find their charge missing from her room with the bed sheets undisturbed and not a single soul in sight.

Suffice it is to say that panic ran amongst the servants and the guards of the castle which resulted to an impromptu search that has turned fruitless still.

Of course the king was informed of what the commotion was all about and even instructed the knights to join in the search while he sat tiredly on his throne, his fingers massaging his temples as he feels a headache settling in at the trouble his daughter was causing. This wasn't the first time it happened. Despite being a princess, he considers his daughter as much of a troublemaker than she is a royalty and he finds her hard to deal with when she gets into one of her 'adventurous' moods.

Nevertheless, he wasn't worried at all. The princess could fend for herself just fine, and he normally lets her do as she wishes so long as it didn’t taint their family name, but for that day, she had some duties to fulfil and now was the worst time for her to be out on one of her adventures.

"Has anyone even seen her today?" he asked the guard currently on one knee in front of him with his head bowed as he delivered the current status of their search. Unsurprisingly, they still came up empty-handed despite having scoured the entire castle grounds.

"None that I know of, sire." the soldier replied.

The king slumped tiredly against the throne, letting out a tired sigh, "And are you sure that no one has made it out of the castle?"

"I swear on the honor of my men, sire. Not a single ant has taken a step out of the castle grounds since the previous night."

"And if I find that she's been outside all this time?"

The soldier stammered, "T-That's..."

The king just shook his head, "If you've searched the entire castle then she's not here. Stop the search and call the Knight Commander."

"About that sire..." the soldier cleared his throat, as he continued with a hint of nervousness in his tone, "The Commander is also nowhere to be found."

"That's good then." the king nodded, finally feeling relief after a whole morning full of headaches. Meanwhile the soldier just raised his head in wonder. He thought that the king would also find the bit of news frustrating, but it surprisingly had the opposite effect.

"I-It is, sire?"

Instead of answering, the Queen turned to him with a soft smile and said, "The Commander knows Yerin best so she must be on her way to fetch her now. Kindly cease the search and tell the maids and soldiers to prepare for our trip today."

He bowed his head low upon receiving the command, "At once, sire."

When the soldier exited the throne room, the queen looked over at her husband worriedly, "I still think Yerin should be informed of this."

"You think if Yerin finds out the truth she will sit idly by and let it happen? You already know what she is capable of doing. It's best that she is kept in the dark with regards to this."

"But husband... this is her life and her future we are talking about, and she has as much say to it as we do."

"The future of our kingdom's prosperity lies in her hands. This is not the best time for her to be her rebellious self. Yerin has no choice in this matter." he said with finality, "We set out as soon as she returns, that way, she will have no choice but to come along and finally do her duty as the princess of this kingdom."

"Husband--"

"My words are final." he interrupted, "You best go and get ready, wife. It will be a long journey."

---

Yuna marched up the slope of the hill just behind the castle, taking her time to appreciate the greenery and silence. She had to admit that being the commander of the kingdom's knights had its downsides. For one, she was too busy overseeing the castle's security and managing the knights and soldiers of the kingdom to actually have time for a leisure stroll like this.

Being the closest person to the princess, she was the only one who knows where she can be found during the times she would run out of the castle. Because of this, it was natural that she would be the one tasked to go and get her back.

Perhaps there was benefit in being sent out for errands like this.

Finally reaching the top of the hill, she could vaguely make out the familiar figure of the princess sitting on the grass and just staring into space. Yuna was sure she was enjoying the view of the kingdom again, like she usually does.

"Isn't it about time you quelled the chaos you caused inside the castle, princess?" the knight spoke as she approached.

The woman turned to face Yuna and just grinned at the sight of her.

"If you're here then they should be fine." she answered, relaxing once more and patting the space beside her, "But I don’t have any plans to go back just yet. How about you join me for a while?"

Yuna breathed out a laugh before doing as Yerin requested and took a seat beside her, "Only for a while, but we have to go back. I wouldn't want your father after my hide if I don't return you in one piece."

Yerin pat her shoulder in assurance, "You'll be fine." she added with a smile, "You're not the Knight Commander for no reason. If I trust anyone to keep me safe, it would be you."

Yuna turned to her for a brief moment, studying the princess's features before letting out a scoff, "Wouldn't it be better if I don't protect you from anything in the first place?"

"Oh? I assumed you would be the kind of person who liked showing her skills in the sword."

"Then you haven't known me that well, princess, I'd prefer not being in any trouble." Yuna mused, "Unfortunately, so long as I'm by your side, trouble follows almost like a curse."

Yerin pouted, hitting the knight's shoulder, "I resent that."

Yuna just laughed.

The two fell into a relaxing silence once more, just watching the clouds hover by and the feeling breeze blow against their skin, overall giving a feeling of contentment that they enjoyed. But the one thing they found most enjoying was having a clear view of the whole kingdom from where they sat. They could clearly see the hustle and bustle of the citizens showing them the clear life of the kingdom.

Yerin watched over them with a fond smile on her face, not wishing for anything else besides seeing the citizens living happily under her father's rule. She's convinced that her father, the King's ruling, was what made their kingdom into the place it is now, and she can’t help but be proud of the person her father is for having achieved such a feat.

"What's on your mind?" Yuna's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Yerin briefly turned to her before replying, "My father did a good job in ruling the kingdom. I’m wondering when the day will come when a Queen can be as much of a ruler as a King is." she replied automatically.

Yuna was taken by surprise by her words, at the same time alarmed knowing how dangerous those words were, "Yerin..."

"I know." she shook her head, "Forget you heard anything."

Yerin huffed out a breath before standing up, "Let's go back. I think I've caused everyone enough trouble."

She turned her heel and walked down the path with Yuna bolting up from her spot and jogging over to catch up. She glanced discreetly over at Yerin and saw her looking still deep in her thoughts, no doubt about what she just said a moment earlier.

"I think you are capable of doing it." Yuna spoke, causing Yerin to turn to her with in slight wonder.

"If there's someone who's fit to rule this kingdom like your father does, I believe you are that person." she continued, hands clasped behind her back as a small smile adorns her face, "You have my support, princess."

Yerin was unable to keep herself from feeling grateful over the Knight's words and didn't hesitate to engulf the latter in a hug that took her off-guard, "This is why I confide in you the most, Yuna." Yerin pulled away, smile not leaving her face, "But that’s still far from happening. I still have many things to learn, places to discover, people to meet. Still, I have you to thank for when that time comes."

"I-I haven't done anything." Yuna cleared to cover up her small blunder, "And I only spoke the truth. You are a good princess to the people, and the people love you, for sure you also have what it takes to be the kingdom's ruler."

"You're kind with your words today Yuna." Yerin noticed, brow raised as she stared at the knight who seemed to refuse to look back at her, “Did something good happened?"

"You're imagining things."

"Tell me~" the princess urged but the knight just marched forward faster, showing her refusal to answer the question.

"Let's hurry, princess." she just said, urging the royal to walk faster.

"My strides are half of yours, slow down!"

---

"What is...?"

What the two arrived upon wasn't what they expected to see. Carriages were flocked at the courtyard, the servants and soldiers helping load what they assumed to be their luggage into some of the carriages. Yerin even noticed her maids supervising some soldiers who were carrying her things.

"There you are Yerin." her and Yuna's heads snapped to the direction of the voice, seeing her father approaching the two of them with her mother by his side, "You certainly took your time but it's good that you're here. Go and prepare yourself, we will leave as soon as you are ready."

"I wasn’t informed we are leaving, nor was I told where we’re heading." Yerin stared.

Yuna stepped up, just as confused and surprised as Yerin is, "Sire, if I may, I was also not informed of this trip. I would have prepared my men."

"There's no need for the knights, but you will be accompanying us as well commander." the king replied, "So I suggest you to make haste with preparations."

"Where are we going?" Yerin questioned, slightly frustrated that she was being ignored. She found it suspicious that no one told her anything about such an important trip, given that her parents were also going, but also the fact that Yuna was not informed, she feels that there was something going on that her father didn't want to tell her about.

But whatever it may be, it couldn't be that bad... this is her father they were speaking of after all.

"You will know on the way there, Yerin." he just said, turning away to leave, "Hurry and prepare, we don't have all day."

"Father--" she was about to call, but a hand on her shoulder prevented her from taking a step further. When she looked, she saw Yuna staring back at her with the same apprehension and nervousness on her face.

She leaned in slightly so that only Yerin could hear her, "I doubt that the king will tell us anything so I will try to gather as much information from the servants, let us do as his majesty says for now."

Yerin let out a sigh as they both straightened themselves. She still had doubts but nodded her head anyway, "I'll leave it to you, Yuna." she looked over in the direction of the carriage that contained her things while the maids were patiently waiting for her from a distance. A feeling of uncertainty welled up in her chest, "The fact that this was done in secret doesn’t sit well with me."

"Me as well your highness, so I will find out as much as I can." Yuna assured her, "I will come find you as soon as I have answers."

Yerin smiled up at the knight, feeling grateful for her presence and how she kept on proving to her time and time again how deserving she is of her trust. It's during times like this that she knows Yuna will be on her side and Yerin was more than willing to remind her that she will do the same for her.

Having grown up with the knight, they've gone through many obstacles together and knew they can rely on each other for anything.

With a bow, the knight then asked to be excused as she set off to do her task. The maids noticed her leaving and took that as their cue to approach the princess.

"Your Highness..." her personal maid began to say and Yerin just nodded, already knowing what they wanted her for.

"Right, let's go."

Time passed by too quickly for the princess and soon enough she found herself inside the carriage with her father and mother, already heading towards a destination she still didn't know about. All she knows is that the journey will take them nearly two days worth of travel and she can only think of a few places they might be heading to based from that.

But given that her parents are heading there themselves, she has no doubt it might be to visit another kingdom and there were two kingdoms that she knew were two days away from theirs.

It was a shame that her request to be placed in a separate carriage was turned down. She couldn't strike up a conversation with Yuna, who was marching beside their carriage on horseback, without her parents listening in on them. She was sure that Yuna had managed to gather information with the glances the knight would give her once in a while, as if telling her with her eyes that she has something important to say.

"Father, you really won't tell me anything about the purpose of our trip?" Yerin tried one more time only to be met by a shake of his head, blatantly refusing to answer her question. The action just made her all the more suspicious.

"You will know when we get there so it's best that you just wait until that time." he replied, looking away. Yerin turned to her mother, pleading with her eyes to provide her the answer she seeks but was met with a shake of her head, along with a saddened look that made Yerin uncomfortable.

Why won't they tell her anything?

Feeling slightly frustrated, she vows she will get to the bottom of the matter if it was the last thing she has to do.

---

"Yuna?" Yerin called out in a hushed tone as she walked through the forest in the dark of the night. She had managed to sneak out from her tent and agreed to meet up with the knight somewhere more hidden and the forest was the perfect place for it. However, she expected the knight to be there already, but there was no sign of her anywhere.

"Yuna?" she called out one more time and waited for any form of response but was only met by silence instead, the chirping of the cicadas and the rustle of the tree leaves being the only sounds that made its way to her ears.

Sighing, she just leaned against a nearby tree and looked up, the cover of the trees did not completely keep her from seeing the cloudless night sky and before she knew it, she fell into a trance, just gazing up and admiring the twinkling of the stars, even counting them in their mind despite knowing how impossible it was.

She was so focused, she failed to notice the presence quietly approaching her. And when the presence reached out and grasped Yerin's wrist so abruptly, the princess almost jumped out of her skin and opened in a yell but was silenced by another hand that covered before she did so.

Heart beating erratically in her chest and eyes wide in fear and nearly gasping for breath from the nervousness, she let out a relieved sigh when she realized who it was.

With her free hand, she took off Yuna's hand on and glared at the knight, "You should know better than anyone I hate being taken by surprise like this."

Yuna chuckled, letting go as her hands fell to her sides, "Sorry about that your highness. How was I to know you weren't paying attention to your surroundings? I remember even calling for you twice."

Yerin bit her bottom lip as she felt her cheeks warming up at having been caught daydreaming, "J-Just don't do it again."

Yuna nodded amusedly, "As you wish princess."

"Never mind that, what have you gathered?"

Yuna turned serious as she straightened herself, "I'm afraid not much. There’s only hearsay from the servants, but I am sure with the path we are taking, we are heading to the Kingdom of Blume."

"What do the servants have to say?"

Yuna sighed, "One of the servants said that they saw a messenger from the Kingdom of Blume the other day with a letter from the king. Word has it that your father and the king of Blume has been engaged in negotiations for a while, as for what it is about, no one has any idea just yet."

"It must be important if my father wants to keep it a secret as much as possible." Yerin grumbled, leaning against the tree once more and redirecting her focus back to the skies, "This is the first time that he's acting like this and it's not making me feel any better. He hasn't even mentioned that there’s something wrong."

"Perhaps it's not that, your highness. It may be just an alliance between the two kingdoms and having a strong ally like the Kingdom of Blume will surely reassure his majesty that our home will be kept safe." Yuna reasoned out.

"Then why the secrecy?"

Yuna didn't know the answer to that, but if anyone asked her, she had a small suspicion on why the king insisted on keeping everything silent, and why they were travelling such a long distance just for negotiations.

She just didn't know how Yerin would react if she ever voiced her suspicions out. Not to mention in all the years that she's known the king, he didn't seem the kind of person who would make such a rash decision and there was no way he would do such a thing to his own daughter.

It would probably be for the best that she doesn't speak of her thoughts.

But it did nothing to relieve the discomfort she could feel within her chest.

"Yuna? Are you okay?"

The commander's head snapped up upon hearing Yerin call for her and she quickly nodded in reply, "Yes. I'm well princess. Never mind that though, you should head to bed. We still have a long way to travel and you will need all the energy you can get for tomorrow."

Yerin stared at her, "You should rest too."

Yuna shook her head, "I have to stand guard for tonight your highness."

Yerin visibly frowned at this, concern overcoming her features as she continued to stare straight into the knight's eyes, "But you haven't had any proper rest since we left."

Yuna softened at the concern the princess showed, "I'll be fine. I've been trained to endure things like this, but not you, so go to sleep."

She didn't want to but knew that Yuna would insist and even go as far as carrying her to her bed if she refused so she could only surrender and start to head back with the knight by her side to make sure that her orders were being followed.

At the entrance of her tent, Yerin stopped and turned to Yuna before saying, "When you feel tired, sleep. I won't forgive you if you collapse during the journey tomorrow."

Yuna chuckled, resting her hand on her sword's hilt, "I swear on my sword princess, now sleep."

Yerin just narrowed her eyes at her before fully entering the tent, Yuna waiting until she was sure that Yerin had tucked herself in.

The knight then walked away, taking up her position along with the guards with them, the earlier discussion plaguing her mind.

She just hopes her suspicions weren't correct.

---

Yerin's eyes sparkled as she stuck her head out of the window of the carriage and took in the view of the sea, the houses, and the large castle atop a nearby hill. She can only think of one word that can describe everything she was seeing at the moment.

Beautiful. There was no other better word to describe the splendor before her.

The Kingdom of Blume was nothing like theirs. Though she was proud to say that her home had its own charms and is certainly beautiful in its own right, but Blume was in a league of its own. It was as if all parts of nature melded with the kingdom, it was a work of art, like the mere sight of it felt like staring at a painting that she couldn't get enough of.

The castle town of Blume was by far larger than she expected. Sure, she did study about it being one of the most well-known kingdoms in the empire, but seeing the place for herself is another story.

"This place is beautiful." Yerin couldn't help herself from saying while the knight commander overheard her words and just smiled, looking out at the view as well.

"I've been here many times but the scenery still takes my breath away." Yuna remarked.

"You've been here before, Yuna?"

"On several errands, your highness. It's a long journey, but seeing a view like this everytime I come here is a reward in and of itself." Yuna smiled, "I think you'll come to love this kingdom."

Yerin reciprocated her smile and looked out again, appreciating the view once more, "I love it already."

"That's good to hear." the king suddenly spoke, causing everyone nearby to turn to him, "We will be here for quite a while, I'm sure the Kingdom of Blume has places you would enjoy visiting as well."

"Do you have no plan to tell me the real reason why we're here, father?"

"You will know in just a few, daughter."

Yerin sighed loudly, "I don't understand the reason why you can't tell me now."

"All in due time, daughter."

"Is it that much of a secret?" Yerin asked again, not settling with her father brushing her inquiries aside every single time. If her father can be persistent, then so can she.

"It is." he gave her a pointed look that told her that he has had enough of her questioning, "And it would be best explained where no one could hear. We will be meeting King Gladiolus in a few moments--"

"I'll behave." Yerin cut him off while looking away. She knew that tone anywhere, and it meant he didn't want to hear another word of her persistence. Yerin stared back out the window and saw Yuna looking back in slight pity to which she just answered with a small smile of assurance.

A few moments later, guards had anticipated their arrival at the gates of the city and escorted them straight to the castle where they met with Blume's King, Gladiolus who welcomed them heartily.

They then proceeded to the throne room while Yerin and her mother were lead to their rooms in the castle.

Yerin had just settled in her room when a knock on the door took her attention and so she called out, asking who it was and the person mentioned that she was one of the castle maids and that her father was looking for her in the throne room.

Fixing herself up to look presentable, she followed the maid to their destination and saw her father and King Gladiolus in the middle of a discussion which was interrupted when her presence was announced. Both heads turning in her direction, King Leon beckoned her over and turned to the other King in the room with a proud smile on his face.

“Ah, is this your daughter Leon?” Gladiolus asked, “She’s a very beautiful woman, I can see that she takes after her mother the most.”

“Are you saying I have no looks?” Leon asked.

Gladiolus let out a loud laugh with Leon joining in, meanwhile Yerin stood at the side feeling slightly uncomfortable. How would anyone feel if they were in the middle of a conversation and not be part of it? The one thing she wanted at that moment was to get this over and done with so she could leave.

“So you’re Yerin? Your father spoke highly of you, but now that I see you for myself, I feel his words have done you no justice.”

“Your words are too kind, your majesty.” she bowed, a small smile on her lips.

Gladiolus then turned to her father, “I’m sure my son will think the same. Unfortunately, he has yet to return from one of his ‘adventures’ so I hope you would excuse his absence for the moment, he can be a bit stubborn but I assure you he is a good man.”

The discomfort in Yerin grew the moment she heard the king begin talking about his son. Just from that alone, she already had an inkling on what this whole journey was about and she didn’t like it. She wished that this meeting isn’t what she thinks this is about, but there was no other possibility she could think of.

Yerin turned to her father with a look of betrayal, “Father--”

He paid her no heed as he just smiled at the king and nodded, “If it your son, Gladiolus, then I am sure he is a good man and will take care of my daughter well. Alas, my daughter would like to get a good look around the town…”

“But of course, I’m sure you’d find many places of my town to your liking.” he nodded, “I will send one of my men to give you a tour around.”

Leon smiled at this, “I appreciate it, thank you. We’ll now take our leave.”

The two of them exited the throne room with Leon keeping a firm grip on Yerin’s arm. Once the doors closed behind them, Yerin shook her father’s grip off her angrily.

“How could you?!” she growled, eyes furrowed in anger before walking away and heading to her room, Leon hot on her heels.

“Yerin, the kingdom is in pe—“ he began to say as soon as they reached her room.

“Father, you haven’t even apologized for not telling me! You are selling me out!”

“Daughter, Prince Clem is a good man, I can assure you that.”

“I don’t care if he is a good man or not, I don’t want to be married!”

“Yerin, daughter, our kingdom needs this alliance. If it fails, the whole kingdom will be in trouble. Please, do this, not for me, but for our people…”

“Did you even think of asking for my opinion before you hastily made your decision without even my knowledge?” she gasped, her face red with anger, “You’re my father! How could you do this to your own daughter?!”

“But I am also a king!”

“You have already failed the moment you decided to sacrifice me. You’ve always told me that a king is the father of the kingdom. If you’ve failed as a father of your own family then you’ve failed as a king. You didn’t even bother thinking of other ways; you just took the easiest solution without hesitation. Right now I loathe to be even called your daughter. No father would sacrifice his daughter’s happiness for his own.”

Yerin knew exactly what problem her father was talking about and it was the reason why she was extremely livid concerning the matter. She was sure that there were other ways they could save their kingdom from the crisis, but her father turned a blind eye to all other solutions and went ahead with what he thought was the only way.

“Yerin, Leon, what is going on…?” her mother arrived, alarmed at the sudden shouting that she heard from her room.

“Mother did you know about this?” Yerin turned to her who stood rooted to the spot the moment she saw her daughter’s pained expression.

“…What is going on?” she asked.

“My decision is final.” Leon spoke, straightening himself up and stared at the both of them with a cold look, “The announcement of your engagement is to be in a week. We have already agreed—“

Yerin turned desperately to her mother, “I didn’t agree to any of this. Mother, please tell him, we can save the kingdom without any need for this.”

“Yerin…”

Yerin wore a defeated look as she stared at both of her parents, “I’m so disappointed in both of you right now. Am I even your daughter…?”

“Of course you are,” Queen Iris reached out and grasped her daughter’s hand in hers, but Yerin shook her head and removed her mother’s grip from her.

“No you don’t. You wouldn’t do this if you did. You would have asked me. You would have told me if you really did care.” she gave them both a look, “I’m so disappointed in you.”

Turning her heel, she ran out of the room with Queen Iris calling out for her but she didn’t dare look back. Her heart was heavy and the pain and betrayal that she felt was inexplicable. She didn’t even know what to think but the only thing she knew was to get away from the place. Somewhere far and somewhere no one will bother searching.

“Princess Yerin?” a familiar voice called out just as she was running through the halls. Stopping in her tracks, she turned and saw Yuna rushing towards her.

“Yuna…” Yerin croaked out.

Alarmed, Yuna hurried in her steps and was by her side in second, willingly letting Yerin bury herself in her arms once she was close enough. Her worry doubled when she felt her body quivering and heard sobs coming from her lips.

“Your highness, what happened…?” Yuna could only ask.

“I want to get out of here.”

“Your highness…”

“Please.”

Hesitating for a bit, she knew she was going to get reprimanded if she let Yerin leave the castle without the King’s permission, but this was a different situation and staying here will only aggravate her further and the least she wanted to happen was for Yerin to get any more distressed than she already is. Damning the consequences for her next actions in her mind, she held Yerin’s hand and led her away, towards a direction where they were less likely to get caught and will lead them out of the castle and into the town.

“Princess, put this on.” Yuna took off the cloak that she was wearing and wrapped it around Yerin’s figure, “For your safety.”

Not even bothering to look up, Yerin just nodded and Yuna knew that she was going through a lot. She hoped that she could do more but at the moment, it was all that she could provide.

What Yerin needed wasn’t a guard or a protector, but a friend.

---

“I see…” Yuna mumbled as she stared out into the distance. They had somehow found themselves in the middle of a forest behind the castle and seeing a clearing where they thought they could take a break, Yerin relayed to her everything that happened.

Yuna wasn’t surprised why Yerin would take the news this way. She had her suspicions, but she hoped that they weren’t true. Unfortunately, reality wasn’t so kind.

“What should I do…?” Yerin mumbled.

“What do you want to do, your highness?” Yuna asked and Yerin just shook her head.

“I know what I don’t want to happen though.” she replied, “I don’t want this. My father speaks as if this was the only way for Blume to ally themselves with us, but why is there a need to use me for it? We can flourish on our own… These past days all he’s been thinking of is growing the kingdom and making it glorious while under his ruling, but on the way he forgot to be a father to his children. This is all so absurd…”

Yuna listened silently as Yerin went on, voicing out her complaints while the commander only listened, reminding the princess that she was there by her side.

“Did you know about this, Yuna?”

The knight quickly shook her head in denial, “To be honest, I had my suspicions, but I didn’t want to believe his majesty would do such a thing so I kept silent about it…”

“Well, it seems like he’s the person you didn’t expect him to be after all.” Yerin angrily muttered, pulling her knees close to her chest and glaring silently at the space before her, “I don’t want to go back just yet.”

Yuna just nodded, understanding why she would think that way. She was sure of one thing though, when Yerin says that she won’t go back, there was no way she was going back anytime soon. She assumes that they’d be here even after nightfall.

“I want to run away.” Yerin suddenly said.

“But you can’t.” Yuna disagreed.

“I know, but I want to. A part of me just wants to get away from this as far as possible, but it won’t exactly solve the problem, will it?” Yerin mumbled, “And it will be a problem for the kingdom if I do that.”

The agreement between the two kingdoms have already been set, if Yerin ran away now, it will antagonize the Kingdom of Blume and end up making an enemy of them instead and she can’t risk being the catalyst for such trouble.

“Let’s just stay here until you feel like going back.” Yuna suggested.

Yerin just nodded, the feeling of helplessness regarding her situation made her uncomfortable, and she didn’t just want to accept the fate laid out before her, but at the moment she couldn’t find any other way out of this predicament she was currently in.

As Yuna had anticipated, night fell and none of them had any plans on going back, especially Yerin, but along with the night was a cold atmosphere and Yuna could visibly see the princess shivering as she hugged her knees closer to herself.

“I’ll go and gather some firewood for a moment your highness.” Yuna volunteered, standing up from the log she’s been sitting on.

“Let me help.” Yerin moved to stand as well but the knight shook her head, telling her she’ll be fine by herself, “What if you get lost?”

“I won’t.”

“…I somehow find that hard to believe.”

Yuna pouted slightly, though she couldn’t deny that her sense of direction needed some work, “I have my instinct with me.”

Yerin just rolled her eyes at the words before giving her an amused smile, “Well, I hope your instinct gets you back in one piece. Stay safe.”

“No worries. This forest is well within the boundaries of the kingdom. Bandits as well as wild animals have been cleared out to keep the area safe. The only animals here should be some deer and rabbits, last I remember.” Yuna assured her. If she didn’t know that this place was safe, she would never leave Yerin alone after all. She’s thankful for the number of times she was sent here during her days as a squire.

With Yerin alone, the silence of the forest became more pronounced and she went back to her usual hobby of staring up at the stars and mulling to herself, mostly about her situation. It was almost hard to believe that not long ago, she admired this place and was more than excited to go around and explore the sights, but now she wanted nothing more than to head home and have nothing to do with this place.

She still couldn’t believe that her father would just willingly give her away like this. It wasn’t enough for her that her soon to be husband was a good person, in fact they say that all the time, what she disliked the most was that her own opinion wasn’t even taken into consideration. Was it because they knew that she would refuse? That was her right to do so, after all it was her life, it was her future that was at stake. Who were they to decide for her? Especially if it wasn’t for her own good? No, it was for the benefit of others.

Thinking about it frustrates her more.

Heaving out a deep sigh, she held in a chill as she felt a cold breeze pass by and began to look around, wondering how long Yuna was going to take. She should’ve just joined her and made the work faster. Yuna just had a habit of going off on her own sometimes and would usually do the work by herself which  made her a very reliable person. She wasn’t a knight commander for nothing after all.

As of the moment though, it was either she was having difficulty finding anything in the dark, or she was having difficulty finding the way. Yerin was willing to bet it was the latter.

A scrunch of fallen leaves alerted her of a presence and she turned to the source, thinking that the knight has finally arrived.

“It was about time you finally found your way back, Yuna.” Yerin remarked, seeing the figure of a person approaching. She couldn’t quite make out the person herself because of the dark, but who else could it be given they were most likely the only ones in the woods.

However, her assumptions proved to be wrong when she was met with an unfamiliar face, a woman, beautiful no doubt, but a stranger nevertheless and said stranger was staring back with the same amount of surprise and confusion that she had upon seeing her.

Yerin opened to speak, “You’re not Yuna.”

The stranger just raised a brow, “No, and you’re not a familiar face either. Who are you?”

She was about to reply when she noticed the sword on her waist, her brows furrowing in slight apprehension. Yuna assured her that there were no bandits in this area, but there was still the possibility of bad bloods loitering around. If Yerin was to give away her identity to this stranger, who knows what this person will do?

“I don’t believe I have any reason to tell you that.”

The stranger just studied her carefully, Yerin feeling slight discomfort at being stared down and her gaze intimidated her slightly but there was no way she was going to show her any fear now.

“Well if you don’t have any business here, I suggest you leave.” the stranger told her, “This is my spot, and you’re intruding.”

“I-I wasn’t aware that anyone owned this place.”

“Well now you do, so I suggest you do as I tell you.”

“Or else?”

The person fell silent before placing her hand on the sword’s hilt and removed it from its sheath, the metal of the sword’s blade gleaming under the light of the moon, “Would you like to find out?”