Warning: Sakura is starting her "double-life" from this chapter onwards. It may be confusing for readers when Sakura will be Saku and "he" sometimes and she will be Sakura and "she" sometimes; and even more confusing when sometimes Sakura will be he AND she at the same time. Sakura's gender change depends on the context and point of view of the narration. Please re-read the previous chapters for the cause of this confusion.

The next morning, Eunbi orders Jaeyeon to investigate the horse traders before the Festive Marketplace ends. Even though Sakura has emphasized that they were not the people who tortured her, these men will definitely know who was Sakura's ex-owner.

"I will trace the black horse's breeder." Jaeyeon answers with confidence.

Eunbi nods. "And keep it low. I don't want Saku to know we are following up his case."

"Yes, Your Highness." Jaeyeon is permanently on guard for the Princess except when Eunbi is in her lab, but he is always happy to get special assignments from the Princess, which shows her trust in him.

"By the way, where is he now?" Eunbi asks.

"Saku? I met him earlier this morning in the training ground, he was riding First Snow. I asked him why did he do that? He said he needed to have a personal touch with First Snow to know how to help him."*

"So you allowed him? But he has not yet fully recovered."

"I think he is too used to physical work. He will feel uncomfortable when he has nothing to do."

Eunbi laughs, "Jaeyeon, you are already defending him!"

Jaeyeon grins, "Your Highness has assigned him to be my dongsaeng (younger sibling) before His Majesty assigned him to us as a servant. I still remember that."

Jaeyeon's response fills Eunbi's heart with warmth – maybe her parents are right to choose the man who is loyal and compassionate to be her husband.

"Alright. I want him to keep me accompany today. He needs to get accustomed to the Palace life. Make sure he washed and changed into clean clothes before taking him to the classroom. I am not really used to commoners' odor."

Jaeyeon bows lightly, "I will ask the servants to take care of it."

Kura actually smells good...Eunbi thinks, she doesn't know why she lied.

 ***

Sakura feels extremely curious when she was brought into the Royal Library where the classroom is situated. Nearly every inch of the four walls of the library is covered with books. Sakura has known what is a book, but she never saw so many books in her life. She raises her head up high and turns her body in 360 degrees to get a panoramic view of the room. That makes her dizzy and loses balance. Eunbi catches Sakura's wobbly moment when she enters the library and can't stop laughing for a while.

Today, Eunbi is going to have history and poetry lessons. She makes Sakura sit next to her on a chair in front of a big desk. The girl looks uncomfortable not to be able to move around, but she obeys quietly. When Eunbi is engaged in a discussion with her teacher, Sakura starts to peek into the huge book that lays in front of Eunbi.

A large illustration intrigue Sakura, there are small words next to the picture and Sakura tries to read them. She can read out words by recognizing the alphabet although she doesn't understand their meaning – her parents used to teach her how to read and write when she was very young. It came to a halt when her father died suddenly and her mother became gravely sick. After being sold as slaves, there was no more reason to be literate. Still, Sakura was proud to be able to differentiate the words on branding irons and writing down horses' names.

Unconsciously, Sakura slowly stands up for a better view of the illustration. It has recorded a ceremonial procession of people dressing in 2 different costumes, they were playing musical instruments and dancing with an abundance of food and wine. The event took place in a valley – which looks familiar in the young girl's eyes.

"Music Corridor." Sakura pronounces the words correctly with her soft child voice although she doesn't understand what it means.

The discussion stops. Eunbi and the teacher turn to look at Sakura, who is so absorbed in the illustration and doesn't even realize that she has interrupted the class.

Eunbi coughs and glares at Sakura. Sakura quickly shrinks back to her seat.

The teacher, on the other hand, is very kind. He adjusts his eyeglasses and turns to Sakura, "Music Corridor is the original name of what is now called 'Peace & Friendship Triangle'. The tall mountains formed natural boundaries for the Tokkiz Kingdom and the Arukas Kingdom, and the Music Corridor was the only gateway that links the two countries up. It used to be a vast area where Tokkizans and Arukasians traded and did cultural exchanges. It was called Music Corridor because Arukasians are very artistic, nearly everybody can sing and dance, if they cannot sing, they write poetry and make pottery. In the past, the border was very relaxed with only a few soldiers patrolling, and cross-border marriage was very common. However, the area was occupied by the Cistumon Empire after the Cistu-Ar/Tu War and it became a military zone. Cistumonions see the corridor as a military fortress instead of a passage of humanities and culture."

Sakura is thrilled with the information. This is the first time she heard the history of the area, but she has been grazing her horses in the area since she was seven. Whether it is called a corridor or a triangle, the pastureland is full of alfalfa and is the ideal breeding ground for the Heavenly Horses. Every spring to summer, horse breeders will bring their best mares to near the foothills of the mountains where the wild horses live. The mares will then mate with the strongest wild horses and give birth to healthy and strong Heavenly horses.** 2 years ago, Sakura was old enough to ride Yena's mother to the valley and let her mate and bring her back when she was in foal. She witnessed Yena's birth and they literally grew up together...

Sakura sulks when she thinks of Yena. Life is so ironic. When she was a slave she could run freely and ride a horse like the wind in the great pastureland, but at this moment, being a free person in a palace, she feels like she is being imprisoned by a chair and a table...

Nevertheless, the class comes to an end sooner than Sakura has expected. Right after the teacher left, Eunbi turns to Sakura excitedly. "You can read?"

Sakura shakes her head, "I just know the alphabet and how to pronounce them. My parents have taught me when I was young."

"That's amazing!" Eunbi relieves a long sigh before she takes a sip from her cup and accidentally spills a drop of water on the huge book.

"Oh my god!" Eunbi exclaims but Sakura is already wiping away the water with her sleeve. She even blows to the book, as if it will dry up quicker by doing that.

Then Sakura suddenly spots something. She points to the wetted area where the words from the back page are shown clearly and speaks with a complacent expression, "SAKURA."

"What?" Eunbi flips the page and sees the word in its original orientation. "Silly! That's not SAKURA, it's AR..."

Eunbi suddenly stops. She stares at Sakura with her eyes widen with shock.

Sakura flinches. "Yo...Your H...Highness?"

And there is a knock on the door. The next teacher has arrived.

"Let's talk later." Eunbi whispers.

***

Jaeyeon found the horse trader at the west end of the Marketplace. He brought Kang Kwangbae, a junior officer who is skillful at investigation with him. Both have changed into commoner's clothes.

The salesman recognizes Jaeyeon immediately.

"Sir, it's you again! Are you still interested in our horses? Too bad, most are sold except these few." He points his finger towards the horses when Jaeyeon is quite surprised that the black horse is still unsold.

"Oh, she is still there," Jaeyeon says casually. "Maybe your price is too high? People can buy a whole mansion for 32 gold nuggets."

"Not really. She is a pure-blood Heavenly Horse, and mare worth more that stallion – but I can give you a discount."

Kwangbae tries to get close to the black horse but the horse looks very defensive. She snorts and raises her front legs.

"You saw it?" The man says and shrugs. "After you took away our slave girl, the mare became uncontrollable. Who will buy a wild horse like that?"

"Well, Heavenly Horses have the blood of wild horses anyway," Kwangbae retreats from the stable and asks, "supposed she was bred in the Northeastern Prairie?"

"Yes, sir. You really know horses," the man raises his thumb, "this family which I bought the horses from is expert in breeding Heavenly Horses, but they mainly breed them for military uses. We usually can only buy ordinary horses for domestic uses from them."

"How come?" Kwangbae raises his brows, "my brother works in the military, but I never heard from him about the existence of Heavenly Horses in the Tokkizan army."

"Of course," the man suddenly lowers his voice, "they only bred those horses for Cistumons, and make a good fortune at it."

Traitors! Jaeyeon thinks, but he suppresses his anger and instead asks, "why?"

The man sighs, "I think that is her temper. You remember when you took away the girl, she screamed like crazy. I supposed that's why they sold the horse together with the girl."

"Sold the horse together with the girl?" Both Jaeyeon and Kwangbae exclaim in surprise.

"Okey, " the man blinks and suggests, "sirs, why don't you buy the horse together with the girl if you are so interested? I can give you a half-price – that's closed to the cost and it's the lowest I can give."

"I think we are more interested in the story." Kwangbae folds his arm on his chest, and Jaeyeon follows suit.

"I can tell you all I know as added value." The man shrugs.

"Deal." Jaeyeon raises his brows.

The man smiles instantly and bows to the young men, "thank you, thank you very much. I will tell you all I know."

 ***

Right after the lessons, Eunbi hurries off for a lunch meeting with the Minister for Home Affairs and some patrons on the establishment of the Tokkiz Arts Festival. Sakura was "left alone" and immediately being summoned by Kim Chaewon to kick start her training to be a Royal servant. The first thing she learned was how to get herself fed in the staff dining hall. Then she was sent to the Royal tailor to take measurements for new uniforms. After coming back from the tailor, she was instructed by Chaewon in person and she was made to memorize lengthy and complicated regulations and practices of the Palace.

It's harder to be a Royal servant than a slave! Sakura thinks. Salves only need physical power for hard and boring jobs, but a servant needs also intellectual power. Even though she is very good at memorizing, she still feels overwhelmed.

Before she is to be released, Chaewon asks, "Saku, you are good at horses, aren't you?"

Sakura nods, "I can talk to them."

"I know. When I saw you the first time, I know you were talking to First Snow," Chaewon replies nonchalantly. Teaching Saku drains her. The boy is extremely clever and it urges her to get far ahead of her schedule. He has finished one week's lesson in only 2 hours. His energy is still very high. So Chaewon has a new idea. "Were you born with that ability?"

"No. I got that ability because of Yena."

"Yena?"

"A horse. We can communicate. When she was still a baby, one day she screamed for help. We ran to their stall. Nobody knew her mother has a small accident, except me. I don't know why I suddenly understood what she was trying to say. And after that, I can communicate with animals. Not all the time, but over half of the time."

- Was it like this? Chaewon tests Saku with her telepathic power.

Saku widens his big eyes and nods vigorously.

"Good!" Chaewon raises her thumb, "I can't telepath with animals, and it's really hard to find good hands to take care of the Princess's animals and to comfort her horses. Why don't you take up that job? Then I can save some gold nuggets for hiring outside trainers. Also, I think you should have a more important position in the Palace than carrying dishes and cleaning the toilets – and it is good that I can telepath with you from now on."

Saku blinks with confusion.

Chaewon smirks, "it means I can notify you whenever I need to. This ability of you is called telepathy. I will train you up later so that you can control that power and serve the Princess better. Anyway, Her Highness has magic and medicine practice this afternoon, and she is going to have dinner with her parents tonight. I don't think she will need you for quite a while. Why don't you go to the stables and the zoo to have a good check on the situations and give me a report of your observation tomorrow?"

"Yes, Madam." Saku bows and heads towards the Palace Garden.

When Sakura is getting closed to the stable, she hears screams and yelling, and a familiar voice rings in her ears.

Who do you think you are? Take that stupid thing off me!

Sakura's heart starts to pound.

"YENA!" She screams at the top of her voice and runs the fastest she can towards the stables.

***

Upon hearing the familiar sound, the yearling*** suddenly struggles violently with all her might, forcing the stablemen to let go of the lead rope to prevent injuries.

Jaeyeon and Kwangbae groan in frustration. They have almost used up all their energy (and Hotaru) just to take Yena back. The yearling was very smart at blackmailing them to earn her snacks. She only moves a few steps when there is a snack, and there must be a variety of choices. By the time she arrived at the Palace, she was almost full. However, when the knights handed her over to the stable workers, she got nervous again. So they blindfolded her to make her calm down, but it ended up making her more nervous.

Yena runs towards the sound despite she cannot see. The workers and the knights instantly fall into panic, the horse is sure to bump into the boy. However, what happens next leaves them stunned. When Yena and Sakura are about to cross each other, Sakura suddenly grabs Yena's halter and flips her body safely onto the horseback. Without reins, Sakura manages to gain control just by tapping the horse's shoulders while moving her body and legs.

– Baby, calm down, and STOP!

– No no no! They are trying to kill me.

– Yena, no one is trying to kill you and I am here!

– Kura? You smell different!

– How dare you not recognize me! Now slow down. I cannot take the thing off when you are running like a mad dog!

Yena instantly slows down. She despises mad dogs. Sakura leans forward and takes off her blindfold from the back in one swift motion.

Everyone's jaw drops.

When Yena calms down, Sakura makes her stop and quickly jump down. The yearling is yet too young to be ridden. She picks up the rope and leads Yena back to the stable and ties her on a pole.

The men just stand like stones seeing the small human and the petite horse rub their cheeks and noses against each other. And they – to be exact, Jaeyeon, finally sees the child smile for the first time.

Sold the horse together with the girl...Jaeyeon and Kwangbae look at each other and obviously, they are thinking about the same thing.

* This is the job of modern-day professional riders in a jockey club. After the morning exercise (walking and swimming), the riders will start riding the horses to understand their situations and report to the trainers. The trainers and the vets will follow up on any situation before the jockeys will ride the horse in a race.

** According to ancient records, this was the method of how the original Ferghana horses (so-called sweats blood horses, or Heavenly Horses) were bred.

*** yearling: a young horse between 1-2 years old.

Author's Note:

Sorry that I have been very busy lately and it took me a long time to finish the update, and I don't have time even to write 1-2 more scenes as I have planned. How do you like this chapter? Please let me know if you have any questions. If you like this story, please give it an upvote, I will be very thankful for your encouragement. I hope I have disclosed a bit more on Sakura's past in this chapter and certainly more will come in the next updates. Thank you for reading.