Yerin finds herself collapsing onto the bed as soon as she enters her room, a resounding groan escaping her lips as she lets out a sigh of relief at the chance of finally being able to relax her sore muscles. Yuna enters the room after her and watches her colleague amusedly while closing the door behind her.

“It’s hard to believe you were full of energy just outside this room.”

Yerin groans and doesn’t bother replying, choosing to remain immobile in hopes that her fellow knight understands what she’s trying to tell her without the need to speak.

Yuna decides to let her rest and just informs her that she will be outside keeping watch.

“How are you not tired after all the roaming around we did?” Yerin finally speaks, craning her neck so she can look over at her, disbelief in her features.

She knew that Yuna was a hard worker, but really?

“I rested the whole day Yerin, you’re the one who roamed about.” she points out.

Yerin clicks her tongue and resumes her previous position and waves her off. Shaking her head, Yuna decides to leave her be and headed to their usual spot for keeping watch. As she trudged through the hallway leading outside, she was taken by surprise upon meeting Eunbi heading the opposite the direction.

“Ah Chevalière, where’s Yerin?” Eunbi asks, approaching closer while holding an item in her hands that Yuna couldn’t make out.

“She’s inside our room, milady.”

“Is she asleep?”

Yuna pauses a bit, finding this situation weird. For the daughter of the viscount to be openly seeking Yerin like this when they weren’t in the best of terms just a few days ago made her feel like there was something going on between the two that they were trying their hardest to keep from the others.

Nevertheless, she doesn’t seem to have any ill intentions for her comrade and decided to answer the question honestly.

“I doubt it, no matter how tired she is, she always makes sure to be wide awake when on-duty.” Yuna tells her.

“I see. Thank you.” Eunbi says with finality and bows a little before walking past her towards the direction of their room. The knight gazes after her for a while longer before going along her way. She thinks that whatever relationship the two has formed, she trusts Yerin to stick with her duties as a part of the King’s Guard and hope that her feelings not get in the way of it.

Not to mention that she still strongly believes that Eunbi is the Black Rose. Yuna doesn’t know what she’s planning, whether she’s only doing this to get closer to the woman in order to find out more in hopes that her suspicions are correct or merely letting things flow without bothering to think of her actions. Either way, all she can do is hope that the knight knows what she’s doing.

It wouldn’t be good if Yuna had to step in when the time comes.

---

It was a morning like any other, the two knights currently at the courtyard with rapiers out and battling as they moved fluidly around each other like a dance. The guards who were witnessing their spar can only watch in amazement as both knights parried and launched at one another, not giving their opponent any breathing room.

Yerin slightly lifts her wrist, successfully parrying Yuna’s intended attack as her blade hits the hand guard of her weapon and taking that opportunity she twists her own, aiming hers towards Yuna’s unguarded shoulder. With her sword locked, Yuna could only take swift steps back to avoid it and distance herself once more from Yerin’s range.

The taller knight’s eyes were sparkling, “You’ve improved a lot, Yerin.” she praises the woman, putting down her rapier and signaling the end of their bout. Yerin does the same with a wide grin.

“It’s not all that surprising when the person I keep on sparring with is you.” she answers, handing her fellow knight a towel while taking one for herself, “How are my grades for this spar, master?”

“Undoubtedly a ten out of ten.” Yuna nods, “It’s been that way a long time ago ever since you defeated the captain of the knights.”

“That was a mere fluke, he refused to take me seriously.” Yerin answers with a sigh.

“Regardless whether he took you seriously or not, you won the fight fair and square.” she says, “And if you hadn’t won that, I would never have made it as part of the King’s Guard.”

“We both know that you were more than fit to be here.” Yerin tells her with a small frown, “They all just refused to acknowledge your abilities since they can’t accept the fact that you were better than them.”

Yuna just smiles, reminiscing those parts of the past. After Yerin had ran away from her household alongside Eunha, she had stumbled upon them in an isolated area of the town on the run from their pursuers. After learning of their situation, she agreed to help them out and let them stay at their home where her parents welcomed them with open arms.

It was just one of those times when they were out buying supplies and trouble brew in the town. A group of knights helped dispel the chaos and as they watched them handle the situation, Yuna admitted that she wanted to be a knight one day. It was then that she also found out that Yerin wished for the same thing and so the both of them joined the knights but it was not an easy path.

Yuna as a squire was treated brashly by her knight, if not for Yerin’s interference she was sure that the situation would have been worse. At that time, Yerin was finally beginning her training while Yuna remained doing errands for them.

“I’ve had enough of this.” Yerin growls as she watches the knight leave after leaving Yuna with a bunch of errands once more, “If only he gives you a sword, he would never stand a chance against you Yuna.”

“Yerin, it’s fine—“

“Of course it’s not.” she cuts her off before beginning to walk away, Yuna at her heels fearing that she would do something reckless again.

It turns out that Yuna wasn’t mistaken, watching her friend approach the knight captain and with the loudest voice she could muster, challenges him to a duel. She tells him of the unfair treatment that Yuna is receiving and that if she wins, she wants Yuna to be given the chance to wield a sword and train alongside the knights.

Seemingly confident and eager to put Yerin in her place, the captain agrees and so their duel begins. However, Yerin proved to be more skilled as he failed to land a single hit on her and lost the duel after Yerin successfully wounded his shoulder, making him incapable to fight. She wasn’t surprised when the duel had earned the ire of the captain who simply could not accept the defeat but seemingly luck was on their side since a month after the duel, they received a summons from the king and was assigned as members of the King’s Guard.

They soon found out not long after that Sojung was actually there when Yerin had challenged the captain and had immediately gone to the king to have them recruited.

Until now they’re still not in the best terms with the knight captain, but he couldn’t do anything since they were now in a higher position than he is.

Anyhow, that was all in the past and she has honed her skills well while being in the company of the King’s Guard. Their captain, Sojung, made sure that they did not slack off with their training.

Though the same can’t really be said for Yerin since she always finds the opportunity to escape, she does take her duties seriously when she needs to.

“Is that how you joined the King’s Guard Yuna?” the two turn to the source of the voice, seeing the sisters approaching them. The two have been watching the spar from earlier and thought of joining them when they saw they were done. They just so happened to overhear the two’s conversation.

Yuna greets them with a bow before answering, “To be more precise, Yerin refused to join the King’s Guard without me and so Sojung, our captain, decided to recruit the both of us.”

“Sojung would have regretted it if she kept Yuna with the knights. That, and there was no way I would leave her with those imbeciles.” Yerin huffs, folding her arms across her chest and brows furrowed in annoyance.

The younger knight just chuckled, “Yerin has always been the one to defend me from the jeers and taunts.” she mentions fondly with a smile.

“Huh.” the older daughter turns to her, “Color me impressed chevalière.”

Yerin immediately grins back at the praise, “I wouldn’t mind hearing good opinions of me everyday if it comes from you milady.”

“Don’t make me regret my words, Yerin.” Eunbi’s mood immediately turns sour, but everyone could sense the mirth behind her tone.

“On another note, is there anything you need?” Yuna asks them when she noticed they were dressed differently, “You seem prepared to head out.”

“We received an invitation to a tea party by her highness.” Yewon answers for the both of them, “It’s still tomorrow morning, but we prefer to set off early to make sure we aren’t late.”

Yuna nods. Traveling to the city normally takes a half day on horseback, but with a carriage, it would be significantly slower. At the most, if they depart now, they would reach the city before the sun set and it would be too dangerous to travel at night.

“To be invited by her highness,” Yerin brows shoot up at the information, “Huh. Hard to believe she’d arrange something so grand out of nowhere.”

“You sound like you know her, chevalière.” Eunbi raises a brow in wonder.

“Oh? Are you perhaps jealous Eunbi?”

“…Is there any chance I’d get a decent conversation with you sometime this year?”

Yerin just laughs, “But yes, to answer your question, the princess is a close friend if you could say that. Her head maid is my little sister.”

“Your little sister?”

“You have a sister?”

“That I do.” Yerin declares proudly, “The best sister I can ask for and the most adorable too, ah but of course nothing can best your charms Eunbi.”

Said person turns to Yewon, “Can we just leave her here?”

“We can’t really do that…”

Eunbi just clicks her tongue in disapproval.

“I take it you need us to you to the castle town?”

“Yes. Father already told us to go on ahead and to get ourselves ready for the party and informs us that you two will be accompanying us, though I think he will ask someone to come get you so you know more details.” Yewon explains, suddenly noticing a servant approaching, “Speaking of which, that should be it.”

True enough, the servant informs both knights that the Viscount wishes to speak to them and so after a few more exchange of words from the group, the two follow the servant into the mansion, leaving the sisters out in the courtyard.

Waiting until they were inside, the sisters turn to each other.

“…Did you get all of that?”

“I did.”

The older sister exhales out a sigh, “Why were we never informed of this…?”

---

As the carriage along with their guards trot through the path leading to the city, Yerin and Yuna ride atop their horses, positioned on each of the carriage’s side. This caused the two to have little opportunity to talk and not to mention that their travel was slightly slower than usual due to having so many people with them.

Yerin can’t remember the last time she traveled like this and immediately misses the feeling of being able to ride with no worries of leaving anyone behind. Having traveled back and forth from the city, she had gotten used to arriving there within the day if she rode fast enough.

“Chevalière.” One of the guards grab her attention, pulling up their horse to match her pace, “There is a clearing not far from here, we’re planning to take a rest before continuing our way.”

“That sounds good. I’ll go inform them.”

He just nods in thanks and urges his horse ahead of the group once more. Turning to the carriage window, she leads her mare to the window and knocks on it gently.

“We’ll be taking a short break on the clearing ahead.” she announces when Eunbi opens the window for her. Normally, she would use this opportunity to strike up a conversation however, the expression on the viscount’s daughter’s face didn’t look all too pleased, almost like she interrupted something important between the both of them.

“I see. Thank you for informing us, chevalière.” Yewon answers for the both of them while Eunbi looked conflicted over something and as much as Yerin wanted appease her somehow, she knew when not to involve herself in other people’s matters.

She just nods and leads her mare a slight ways away from the window once more, watching Eunbi close the window from her periphery.

Yerin lets out a small sigh.

She was bored.

Still, they looked to be fine before they departed, did something happen?

It wasn’t long before the group finally found a good enough spot for a break that she was approached by her fellow knight, looking serious making Yerin wonder what was wrong with her as well. Why was everyone looking so serious at this time of the day? She questions if she fell asleep during some time on the path and missed things that is causing everyone to look this way.

“What’s wrong?” Yerin felt inclined to ask, knowing she will get nowhere if she didn’t ask questions.

“Something is bothering me.”

Yerin bit back a retort and instead asks, “About?”

“I’m just curious why we’re called to them.” Yuna mumbles, “I would if it was part of our duties, but then again, why were we sent to the Viscount’s residence in the first place?”

“To protect them from the Black Rose and if possible capture her?” Yerin tilts her head, wondering where Yuna was going with the question.

“Exactly, so wouldn’t it make more sense if we stayed by the Viscount’s side instead of being here?” Yuna tells her, and she finally understood, “Yerin, I don’t doubt your suspicion when you say that you think that Eunbi is the Black Rose however, what if she wasn’t?”

Yerin grimaces, “Then the Viscount and his son are open targets.”

“Yes.” Yuna frowns, “I’m not saying I don’t believe y—“

“No, no, I understand you well, don’t worry.” Yerin assures her friend, “Still, this is quite a predicament.”

“That’s why I’m thinking,” she says, grabbing the older knight’s attention, “That I will ride back.”

“We’ve traveled quite a distance already, are you sure?”

“This way we can cover all areas if anything comes up.” Yuna says, “And the last thing that we want is our honor besmirched at having an attack happen when they were right under our protection.”

Yerin hesitates slightly, feeling bad that her friend would have to go through the effort. The only rational thought here would be that both of them would head back to the Viscount’s residence. The Black Rose only strikes at night and at men, so the chances of them being attacked are slim to none, not to mention also that they will be camping outside since she doubts that they will be able to reach the city before night falls at their current pace. However, they were also requested by the Viscount to serve as escorts for his daughters since the information of the Black Rose targeting men are privy to only a select few. Going against his orders would arouse suspicion and may jeopardize their mission.

And as much as she hates to admit it, Yuna would be the perfect candidate just in case the Black Rose decides to attack. Yerin barely held her ground against the woman, so only Yuna, who is a better knight than her, may have the chance to best her.

Despite her strong belief that Eunbi is the Black Rose, she cannot let that prevent her from listening to reason and fulfilling her duty.

On the other hand, there is that other worry.

“I’m worried you might get lost on the way back…” Yerin couldn’t help but voice out.

Her fellow knight looked unamused, “We’ve gone through only one dirt path to get here, I can’t be that bad can I?”

“We never know…”

“If I get there in one piece, I swear I’ll make our spars a whole lot harder for you, Yerin.” Yuna threatens, earning a laugh from the woman.

“I jest,” Yerin grins, “Be safe on the way back.”

“You be safe as well, and tell me if anything happens.”

“Understood.” Yerin gives her a salute that she mirrors almost instantly.

Yerin then watches as Yuna mounts her mare and bids the group a brief farewell before galloping off the direction where they came from and as Yerin watches her fellow knight’s figure disappear through the woods, she can’t help but worry that something might happen.

There was a feeling of dread lurking in the back of her mind and she can only hope that it isn’t a bad omen.

...i'm alive

i apologize for not updating that frequently but the drive to write just :( 

i will still try to complete this story, however it will take some time to get back to the gist of things

anyhow, thank you still for reading. i appreciate everyone's comments and i once more apologize for my long absence

i can't promise a frequent update, but i will do what i can to see to this story's completion

not much happening here tho, the chapter was getting too long so i had to cut it at this part. i will see you again on the next update.

uhhh... and i apologize in advance for any errors i overlooked. ._.

until then ^_^