It is the first day of the Festive Marketplace in the Tokkiz Kingdom Capital City Square to celebrate the birthday of Princess Eunbi. The Crown Princess is going to have her 17th birthday tomorrow, and the special marketplace is going to last for 3 days.

There is one person in Tokkiz, however, who is not happy about this event – the Princess herself. Since she was a child, she has been fascinated by the marketplace that sells all kind of everything, but she was not allowed to participate in the activity – some special goods (suppose to be sold in the marketplace) will be delivered to the Palace for her to choose, but that was not real freedom of choice, and she could not really talk to real people. Eunbi has been a very clever and diligent kid. She has already read over half of the books in the Royal Library, so naturally, she yearns for more.

"Jaeyeon, can you tell me what you saw in the Festive Marketplace again?" Eunbi asks her First Knight sulkily during breakfast.

"You have asked me over 3 times in the past week, Your Highness," Jaeyeon smiles and continues, "are you really so desperate to discover what the marketplace is?"

"That is MY birthday party but I am not allowed to attend." Eunbi pouts.

"That is a party for the commoners, even nobles do not attend – " the young nobleman makes a crescent-like eye smiles — Eunbi is too adorable for him to handle, "but if you really want to go for a walk, I have an idea."

"Yes?" Eunbi looks up with excitement.

"Yes. But you have to promise me, you are not going to buy anything from the marketplace that will arouse the suspicious from His Majesty the King or I will be in trouble."

"I promise!" Eunbi jumps up from her seat and runs to Jaeyeon and catches Jaeyeon's big hand in no time, "tell me what to do."

Jaeyeon smiles brightly, "I have prepared you with some men's clothes, and that's my birthday gift to you."

***

As Eunbi has anticipated, the marketplace is packed with people and with all kinds of goods on display, but what she has not expected, is the smell of commoners, the specks of dirt, and stagnant water on the ground. People talk loudly in foul language gossiping and arguing something Eunbi cannot comprehend. Nevertheless, the marketplace is energetic and exciting, full of life and creativity.

"Hey, handsome young men, want to try out our Heavenly Horses? They sweat blood from their skin when they run at full speed. The best horses you can find on earth." When Eunbi and Jaeyeon wander to the west end of the marketplace, some men dressed in filthy clothes greet them.

Eunbi, who loves animals, is intrigued, "sweat blood?"

Jaeyeon stares at the horse traders with suspicion. As a young man who could be promoted to be the Kingdom's First Knight at the age of 20, he has excellent knowledge of horses. Some of these horses look a bit too chubby for warfare.

Contrary, Eunbi steps up to examine the horses with great interest. She carefully touches a black horse which appears to be smaller in size than the others. The horse is a bit tense at first but soon starts to relax her ears upon the touch, which makes Eunbi giggles lightly.

Her voice is like silver bells. Jaeyeon thinks as he watches Eunbi carefully. He must make sure there is a safe distance between Eunbi and any other human, but he feels slightly relaxed with a horse. Until he notices Eunbi has fixed her gaze on someone behind the horses.

A ragged young girl that looks a bit older than 10, holding two buckets of water nearly 1/3 of her height, is walking slowly towards the stall. She is walking in an awkward posture that makes a clinking sound with every step. Jaeyeon follows Eunbi's sight that falls on the girl's feet. Without any shoes on, the girl's ankles are chained by a pair of heavy leg irons, which cause her feet to get swollen and covered with bruises and blisters.

Suddenly, a man who is walking hastily from the opposite direction accidentally kicks on one of the buckets without seeing the girl, making half a bucket of water spilled onto the ground.

"Yah!" The girl stops and cries in anger.

"Yah what! It's you who hurt my foot!" The man screams and slaps the girl on her head, making her fall onto the ground. He then moves forward and kicks her on the stomach.

Jaeyeon got triggered, "hey you! How can you hit the girl like that, she is only a child!"

The man retorts, "she is only a slave."

"There is no law that permits you to torture a slave," Jaeyeon says loftily in a deep voice. He is tall and well built for his age, and he is disseminating an aura which makes the other men in awe.

On the other side, Eunbi found that she cannot take her eyes off the girl as if there is magic. It seems the girl can also feel her gaze. She looks up from the dirt and meets Eunbi's stare. Eunbi feels a small quake within her eyes.

The man who first addressed the duo quickly comes to divert their attention. He turns to Eunbi, "little brother, do you want to see the sweat of the horses? I can show you a handkerchief with the blooded sweat."

Eunbi turns to the man and her eyes turn cold, "how much does she cost?"

"You mean this little black yearling (a young horse which is between 1-2 years old)? She is expensive. She costs 32 gold nuggets." The man pans his arm, "but the brown ones are cheaper. They just cost 10 gold nuggets each."

"I mean her." Eunbi points at the space behind the horses.

Jaeyeon widens his eyes but says nothing.

The horse traders turn around and look at each other.

"1,000 Hotaru." The man who kicked his foot on the water bucket says.

"We bought her with 1,500 Hotaru, how can we sell her with 1000?" Another man yells.

The gang starts to fight against each other about the price of the girl. It seems that some of them are eager to get rid of the girl, some want more money. Jaeyeon exchanges a look with Eunbi and raises his voice, "I'll pay you 1 gold nugget that worth nearly 8,000 Hotaru and she is ours."

The first man signals everyone to stop. He runs to pull the girl up and shove her towards Eunbi and quickly grab the nugget from Jaeyeon and says, "She has no belongings when she was sold to us. The leg irons were put on by her former master, and we don't have the key. So just take her now."

Eunbi hesitates for a second before she takes the girl's hand while the girl flinches with confusions. Jaeyeon decided they should leave as soon as possible so he grabs the girl's shoulder. At this very moment, the yearling suddenly trumpets and stands up with her hind legs. Everybody is shocked and Jaeyeon quickly covers Eunbi. The girl takes the opportunity to free herself and runs to the horse. She nearly falls because of the shackle.

"Yena!" The girl yells softly. It takes a while before the yearling calms down and lowers her neck. The girl Yena's cheeks gently and rubs her forehead against the bridge of the horse's nose. It seems that she is saying something silently to the horse and Yena finally closes her eyes and puts her head on the girl's shoulder. The little human and the petite horse stand silently for a while before the girl pulls gently away. Yena still squeals a bit when she watches the girl turns her back slowly with a haunched shoulder and her head hangs low.

She walks towards Eunbi and Jaeyeon, who are now totally speechless, and voluntarily let them take up her hands from each side. The aristocrats are quite surprised by the fact that, although her hands are rough, they are indeed clean.

***

After the horse selling stall is out of sight, Jaeyeon suggests that they should have a rest. They sit down by the water fountain and met with unfriendly eyes. When the trio was walking through the crowds, people sneered at them and some immediately gossiped to each other.

"What the !" A man who is sitting beside suddenly stands up angrily.

"What?" Jaeyeon feels very unpleasant.

The man stares at Jaeyeon and quickly move two steps aside before he speaks, "young men! Don't you know it's bad luck to sit on the same bench with a slave? And now you even sit down with her by the fountain, it means she will contaminate the water source! We are all going to have bad luck for 7 days. I'd better not to bet on any horse for the Princess Cup tomorrow."

Eunbi frowns, "sir, I don't see the relation."

"Little brother, you are too young to know about the world." The man snorts and leaves. Other people who are sitting by the fountain follow suit. The girl further lowers her head to hide her embarrassment.

"There is nothing wrong about you. The fault is not yours." Eunbi speaks after staring at the girl silently for a while, "I will make them bow to you one day."

"I think we must hurry back before any other things happen." Jaeyeon says in a serious tone.

Eunbi nods. "But I don't think she should walk like this anymore. It must be very painful – can we cut her shackle?"

Jaeyeon shakes his head, "Better not to arouse any more attention." He examines the leg irons again, "they are pretty shoddy. I think it will take the goldsmith no time to take them off."

He thinks for a while and suddenly squats down. "Come, on my back."

The girl is flabbergasted and shakes her head violently.

Eunbi tries to suppress her smile. Jaeyeon has been her knight for a while, but this is the first time she finds him so manly and attractive.

"Girl, you must obey him. He is your older brother from now on." Eunbi says gently and lets go of the girl's hand.

Jaeyeon rolls his eyes while the girl climbs to his back obediently.

***

Princess Eunbi was summoned by the King soon after she got back to the palace. She left the salve girl she just saved from the marketplace to Jaeyeon and other royal servants and hurries to the main building after changing back to her own clothes.

When Eunbi arrived at his father's studies, the King was half lying in his favorite armchair talking to Dr. Park, the Royal Physician who is also Eunbi's teacher. Her mother just sits calmly beside him.

"Father, are you feeling unwell again?" Eunbi scowls. He was injured during the last war and his health has deteriorated since.

"Let's not waste our time on this." The King waves his hand in dismissal, "come, my child."

"Yes," Eunbi says and half kneels beside the King.

"Tomorrow is your 17th birthday. Although it still takes a year before you reach adulthood, I have a presumptuous request for you."

Eunbi tensed up, "yes. Please say it, father."

"You are the sole heir to the throne," the King sighs, "if I die..."

"No!" Eunbi's voice breaks, "father you will live a hundred years!"

"Face the reality, Eunbi," the King's voice is cold. "As monarchs, we do not have the privilege to be over-sentimental. We must always stay sober and cool. To protect the kingdom and keep its prosperity is our prime duty."

Eunbi lowers her head and nods.

"Now there are two things that needed to be fulfilled before I die. Firstly, I want you to be the Princess Regent when you reach 18. Never underestimate the ambition of the Cistumon Empire, Tokkiz needs a young and strong leader."

Eunbi looks up with widened eyes, but she dares not to say a word.

And the King continues, "Princess Regent is the leader de facto, I want you to be seen as an independent adult, so you should get married as soon as possible and have a family of your own before you take over the kingdom. It will be even better if you can produce a new heir to the throne."

Eunbi just looks at her father with an opened mouth with tears streaming down her face.

The Queen shakes her head quietly and hands Eunbi a handkerchief.

"We will not announce anything tomorrow, but we need to start preparing," the King says while putting his hand on Eunbi's head and it gently, "Dr. Park and Miss Chaewon will assist you. Now go."

When Eunbi bows and leaves, her mother stands up and follows her.

"Mother..." Eunbi whimpers again after they turned two corners.

The Queen smiles and pulls Eunbi into an embrace. "My dear, you are not a child anymore. You have been well-trained as an heir apparent, there should be no fear to take up your responsibility – after all, this won't happen until you turn 18, we still have a year to prepare – what is more urgent..."

"Oh, mother!" Eunbi squeals, "can I stay single as a regent?"

The Queen laughs, "I think Lee Jaeyeon is a nice boy."

"Jaeyeon? No!" Eunbi covers her face shyly.

"No? Why? Is he not protecting you well?"

"No...no! I don't mean no...I..." Eunbi suddenly recalls what happened earlier and her face starts to burn, "I mean...no – yes...no no no..."

The Queen laughs again, "yes. I got it. You know, we deliberately sent him to be your First Knight to see if you can get along well."

"Mother..."

"Alright! That's all for today. Now go back to your quarter and have a good rest. It will be your big day tomorrow, honey."

"Lots of duties to perform." Eunbi smiles with a hint of tiredness.

"As usual, Chaewon has found some nice products from the marketplace, is there any other thing you want?"

The girl! Eunbi has totally forgotten the girl.

"No. I trust Chaewon will know all my favorites." Eunbi thanks her mother and hurries back to her little haven.

***

Eunbi is a bit surprised to see Jaeyeon waiting for her on the way back. He looks so handsome back in his military uniform, and that makes her blush more. Jaeyeon is also stunned by Eunbi's beauty when her rosy cheeks are reflecting the last sunray.

"Why are you here?" Eunbi skips a step so she can walk in front of Jaeyeon.

"It's my duty to protect you, Your Highness" Jaeyeon smiles, "and I need to report about the girl."

"Yes, how is she?"

"She is free from any restraints now. We made her take a bath and changed into clean clothes, but we needed to shave her head because her hair was so messy that we suspected there were fleas inside."

Eunbi turns her head with a scary look.

Jaeyeon laughs, "It should be fine. I don't feel any flea bite – we put her in the stone hut next to the stable as you instructed and have fed her. So do you want to see her after dinner?"

"How about her wounds?"

"The servants have given her preliminary treatment on the feet and the head. But we haven't examined her under the clothes, and she still has some difficulties walking."

"Alright. Bring her to my lab after dinner."

"Yes, Your Highness."

***

The lab is situated in the basement of the Princess Compound. Unlike any basement, it is extremely spacious with a tall ceiling. The new wing was built as a gift when Eunbi turned 15, the King wanted her to learn to make daily decisions on her own and lead a more independent life. Kim Chaewon, Head of Royal Household, was sent to supervise the process. A huge lab was specially designed for the Princess to practice medicine and magic, as well as doing all sorts of "experiments" to satisfy her curiosity about the world. Its only entrance is sealed by magic, only a mage can unseal or reseal it.

After dinner, Eunbi changed into her working clothes and unsealed the lab door, waiting for Jaeyeon to bring the girl down.

There is no ventilation nor a single light in the lab, but the air is fresh, and the whole space is brightly lited.

And this can only be done by magic.

Eunbi deliberately sits in the corner that is far away from the entrance – she wants to observe how the girl walks to know her real problem. For some unknown reason, she is very curious about the girl's story.

Jaeyeon leaves the girl at the entrance and retreats. Eunbi seals the door after the girl has stepped inside.

"Come here," Eunbi commands gently.

The girl stares at Eunbi and walks to her slowly in high caution.

She looks very different from when they brought back earlier. Without hair, she looks androgynous in her prominent facial features, and pale after the dirt on her face is cleaned. Bruise and cuts on her head and swelling on her eyes have also become more obvious.

She is still walking with a weird posture, Eunbi thinks. She now has a better view of how she walks, as the girl has put on a pair of slightly oversized pants. It shows that her legs cannot close up as she walks, and she is obviously avoiding the garment. Eunbi deduces her observations into two possibilities: either she is hiding something in her pants or she has serious injuries around the crotch area. She soon eliminated the first possibility.

"I am Eunbi," Eunbi says and helps the girl onto an examination table. "What is your name?"

The girl just looks at her, and Eunbi returns the gaze.

"I am the one who paid for your freedom this afternoon."

The girl shakes her head, "Lord Jaeyeon."

Eunbi chuckles, "Jaeyeon is my knight. The money he used was mine. He will claim the money back later."

The girl looks totally confused.

Eunbi waves in dismissal, "it doesn't matter – so, I am Eunbi, I am a novice doctor and a mage trainee. I am not a boy, I am a girl."

"Eunbi? Your Highness?" The girl still doesn't get it.

"Yes, I am the Princess of this kingdom. My name is Eunbi. Usually, people do not call my name directly because it is disrespectful. 'Your Highness' is a title of respect used when people address me directly, and they will refer me as 'her highness' when they mention me but not talking directly to me. This morning, I dressed as a boy and went to the marketplace to have fun. It's a Princess Birthday Marketplace but I've never been there. When I saw you, I knew you have lots of injuries, so I decided to take you back to the Palace to have proper treatments. Jaeyeon is my First Knight, his duty is to protect me and fulfill all my reasonable demands, including carrying you back. Now we have changed back to our daily clothes, and I am Eunbi, and I am a girl. Is it clear now?"

The girl finally nods. It takes her an extra minute to open again, "Sakura."

"Sa Kura? Is it your name?" Eunbi frowns, "it's a strange name."

Sakura shakes her head, "Sakura."

"Sakura? One word?" Eunbi is intrigued. "Do you have a last name?"

Sakura shakes her head.

"How old are you?"

Sakura looks confused again, "around 12."

"Around?"

"Mama said I was around 2 when they discovered me."

"I see!" Eunbi finally understands, "you were an orphan?"

Sakura lowers her head and nods.

"Fine," Eunbi then changes her attention to Sakura's injuries. She puts Sakura into a lying position and examines her ankles and feet. They are well-bandaged so Eunbi just "read" their conditions with her palms over the bandages from about an inch. Feeling satisfied, she moves to Sakura's upper body. She immediately feels the girl's muscles tensing up.

"Relax, I won't hurt you," Eunbi says while taking off Sakura's clothes.

As Eunbi expected, there are bruises all over Sakura's petite body, and patches of whip marks are seen on the shoulder and the back. She inhales sharply. But she chooses to suppress her anger before her job is done.

Sakura just grits her teeth and doesn't make a sound when Eunbi attends her wounds.

After some treatments, Eunbi goes on with the examination and discovered a sunken scar on the back of Sakura's head. The wound should have been quite deep, but is now fully recovered and will not be noticed when covered with hair. And then something intrigues Eunbi – there is a tattoo behind Sakura's big dumbo ear on the left side. It looks like a totem, but no matter how hard Eunbi tries, she cannot see it clearly. She squeezes her eyes shut and rubs them with her sleeves, but nothing changes. The tattoo just keeps on flickering.

Eunbi makes a mental note of that. She then turns to Sakura's lower body.

"Now I need to examine your legs," Eunbi says and unties the waistband of Sakura's pants.

The girl suddenly grabs her waistband and sits up. Her eyes widened with fear and she shakes her head violently.

"I just want to help," Eunbi says as gently as she can.

But Sakura rolls down from the table abruptly and limps towards the entrance, only finds that it has disappeared. She starts to bang her head against the wall in a flustered state.

"Sakura, don't!" Eunbi shouts and sprints towards the girl. Just as her hand reaches Sakura's shoulder, she is immediately thrown into the air by an incredibly strong force. Eunbi quickly casts a spell that generates a counterforce. In a split of a second, Eunbi is sandwiched between two forces that stagnant her in the midair, it takes her a few seconds until the second force sends her safely back to the ground. Sakura looks absolutely terrified. She has even loosened her grips of the waistband and her pants are now slipped onto the floor.

It was too late when she realized it. Eunbi has instantly registered what she has seen.

"You...you're...a boy?" Eunbi gasps.

Sakura flinches and begs in a heartbreaking voice, "please don't hurt me! Please...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...please..." She is shaking so violently that her legs finally give way and she collapses onto the floor.

And Eunbi finally sees the truth. Sakura has two s. The area looks quite messy, the organs are tiny and underdeveloped, but it is unmistakable that Sakura has the s of both es.

Out of her shock, Eunbi remembers she has read something like this in the Royal Library.

Hermaphrodite.

It takes a while before Eunbi is able to speak again, and her voice is shaking too. "Are you...a...boy or...a girl?"

Sakura shakes her head.

"It's f...fine. T...there's...there's nothing, nothing wrong about that..." Eunbi's father's words suddenly ring in her head: as monarchs, we must always stay sober and cool. She takes a few deep breaths and says carefully, in her most gentle voice, "I won't hurt you – I didn't hurt you, did I? I'm a doctor, I only want to heal you."

Neither of them moves for the longest time. But Eunbi can feel that Sakura finally calms down gradually.

"It hurts..." Finally, Sakura utters in a barely audible voice.

Eunbi nods, "can I see it?"

Reluctantly, Sakura nods and struggles to stand up. Eunbi just stays in her place until Sakura climbs up onto the examination table and lies down.

Eunbi feels her palms sweating when she opens Sakura's legs further apart. She flips her fingers and ignites a few tongues of fire so as to have a better view. The moment she sees the wounds clearly, she cannot breathe and has to cover quickly as not to scream or throw up. The tiny area that just made up a small portion of a human body is covered with lacerations, bruises, abrasions, incisions, burns, and swellings. *

Sakura jitters upon Eunbi's touch and that makes Eunbi more nervous.

"I'm going to clean up the wounds. It may hurt a little."

Sakura jumps at the pain and her muscles begin to spasm.

Eunbi is forced to stop. The girl – the child must have experienced something so terrible that is no decent human can ever imagine. Eunbi feels a cramp in her heart and her vision suddenly becomes blurred. Then she starts to hear Sakura screaming for help and all she sees is total darkness. She struggles to shatter and push away the darkness with her hands to get near her, but the darkness seems endless.

"I'm here!" Eunbi shouts and her vision suddenly comes back.

To her surprised, Sakura is wiping her face with her rough fingers.

Tears are streaming down Sakura's cheeks, and without her realizing it, Eunbi is crying too.

"I'm sorry to have made you painful." Eunbi takes Sakura's hand and squeezes it a bit. Until she can feel a calmness through her hand, she asks, "dearie, shall we continue?"

Sakura nods and this time she just sobs through the treatment.

The real pain is not in the flesh.

Eunbi swears she will arrest the horse traders before they leave the city.

After all the treatments are finished, Eunbi gave Sakura some remedies and casts a healing spell.

"You will feel much better tomorrow. Jaeyeon will take you back to your hut – let him know whatever you need."

Sakura stares at Eunbi with an expression that cannot be read.

Eunbi is puzzled. "Is there anything wrong?"

Sakura just exhales softly, "thank you."

* Information about ual abuse: Injuries: Are They Telling us Something about ual Violence?

Author's Note:

I have toned down the level of violence. I don't want to write how the child Sakura was abused, it was just too heartbreaking. Please let me know how do you think so I can improve in the next chapters. Thank you for reading.