Jungeun and Heejin are princesses in an arranged marriage. Jungeun is a brave general for her kingdom always coming and going from Heejin's castle. In the months since the engagement, they've only just started getting close. Heejin is tasked with getting the resistant general to sleep.

   “Lady Heejin—Princess,” Haseul’s thin voice comes to invade Heejin’s sleep. 

    It’s still the earliest hours of dawn by the view of the pitch navy with white twinkling in specks between it. 

    “Princess,” Haseul says again. There’s quiet urgency laces her normally calm voice. 

   “Heejin.” There’s more emphasis on her name this time.

    The princess sits up slowly, shaking her bed hair around until it falls in a neat tumble of dark locks. One candle illuminates the vast room, giving sparse vision to only her maid. It’s far too early for this, but the older woman would only wake her if it was worthy. She turns to her, her voice still deep and honey dipped with a rich tone after sleep.  “Haseullie, what is it?”

    “It’s Jungeun….” Haseul sighs.

    Heejin sits up a little straighter, her posture tensing. “What’s wrong? Has she left again? Is she injured?”

     The maid draws a deep breath with the shake of her head and touches her mistress’s forearm. “She’s here, in her assigned study, working. She won’t go to bed, no matter how much I ask she get rest.”

    “Oh…” Heejin gulps. “She’s just been gone for a month and a half. It’s her first night back, why would she not rest?”

    “She will not tell me. She looks so unwell, I want her to just lay down! She’s not going to recover from those wounds by staying up to such unreasonable hours. In the time I’ve known her, I’ve been aware of her wretched sleep patterns, but I saw her leaning against the wall for support early in the afternoon… Princess, can you please convince your fiancée to rest?!” Haseul’s eyes have widened in her hushed explanation, she’s clearly concerned.

    Heejin thinks about it, she has known Jungeun to be a horrid sleeper, hell, she’s even accompanied her late into the night on adventures. It’s obviously a problem how little she does rest considering how often Jungeun is sent to work out stressful situations with hundreds, thousands, of lives are at risk. The princess is sure that Jungeun has the dark bruises under her eyes permanently fixed on her countenance. 

   Heejin had seen her fiancée earlier in the day, but only briefly. However, even with their short interaction, Heejin managed to see the stark, solid bandages beneath Jungeun’s shirt and poking around her collarbones where her shirt neck did not cover. Jungeun had also, momentarily relaxed in the embrace and leaned her weight into the other girl before bolting up right as they separated for their different duties. It was as if she fell asleep and was jerked awake.

    The princess rubs the edges of sleep that rest around her eyes, knowing she’s about to deal with a very stubborn princess general that will take all the prying in the world. She turns to Haseul. “I’ll go get her to bed, thank you, Haseul.”

   “Good luck my lady, you’ll need it.”

    Heejin pulls on her thin robe hanging beside her and walks through the cold halls to Jungeun’s assigned study. She is not exactly awake enough to have any other thoughts on how to get her fiancée to bed besides tug her by the arm and say 'let's go’.

    But of course it won’t be that easy.

    She walks into the study, stopping at the door frame to take in the situation. Jungeun sits in the soft glow of candles surrounded by books and parchment. She frantically scribbles on parchment looking half asleep already. 

    “Jungeun, you should rest.” Heejin walks forward, her bare feet hitting the cold floor. She stands by Jungeun and places a hand on her shoulder.

    The general barely spares a look towards her fiancée with bloodshot eyes and pure misery etched onto her expression.“I’ve got work to do.”

    “Oh god,” The princess is taken aback by how horribly blunt the statement is and how terrible she looks. She tries,” You’ve just returned and you need rest. Curses, you look awful!”

     Jungeun rolls her shoulders and slumps back into her chair and finally makes solid eye contact with the other girl. “I’m aware.” She tries to laugh, but it hitches in and she gives a weak cough. “War isn’t exactly pretty, Princess.”

    “Jungeun! Don’t joke around with me, it’s dastardly early in the morning. Please come to bed.” Heejin tugs on her arm to pull her out of the chair. “Your duties can be left long enough for you to rest.”

    Her fiancée hisses as Heejin has grabbed her where a recent injury was placed. “Heejin, ack!  I have to write a letter to a duke and plot and plan for the coming weeks, double check supply lines, navigations, these need to be sent out as soon as possible to prevent us from losing more ground than we already have.” The last few sentences are said like bubbling hysteria. 

    “Well those plots are no good to anyone when done by a deadbeat general!” Heejin retorts hotly. “When was the last time you slept?”

     Jungeun squints her eyes, her grimace increasing as she searches the foggy bay of her mind. “I-I—uh…. four days ago?”

    “You’ve only just returned and can’t even walk,” The princess sighs in frustration at the situation, the other royal has been inundated with an absurd amount of work. She blonde’s well muscled arm. “Why can’t someone else do all this bull?”

     “There was a double agent within the Beta court. The whole Alliance is insisting only authorized personnel send letters or they won’t even look at them, my usual team has either been captured, in hiding, or back in my country.” Jungeun heaves a great breath and seems to look forward at what she wrote, but leans too far. Her head is aimed for the dead center of the solid oak desk because she’s too tired and lets it fall, but Heejin quickly steps in the way.

    “Oof…” 

    The general’s head softly hits Heejin’s warm belly, she lets it rest there and her eyes struggle to pry open. It’s warm here, not cold like out on the front lines. The other smells like vanilla, not rotting flesh and enough raw blood to fill a river. There’s no screaming, it’s the quiet sound of the two princesses breathing and Heejin’s heartbeat. There’s no fighting for just one more day alive.  She’s safe here. Jungeun’s aching muscles, so cramped and taught, seemingly melt into the warm body in front of her. 

    It’s her first night out of dozens that she isn’t actually on a war front, yet all she could think of was the battlegrounds.