"Byullieeee~ Letter for you~~" Eunhyuk came dancing into the servant's lodge with a letter in his hands.

Byul brightened and beamed, reaching her hands out to get the letter. "Gimmie!"

Eunhyuk placed the letter in her hand and smiled. "I was back in the Capital City for a bit and visited Omonim." he explained. "She had one of the scholars in the village write this letter to you."

Byul bit back a smile and the rough, low quality paper. "I wish I could read, Oppa." she murmured. "O wish you could read too. I have no idea what she's saying."

"Well yeah." Eunhyul shrugged, looking a bit embarrassed because he had gone to school for a bit whereas Byul hadn't. And he was every bit as illiterate as she was.

"Maybe you can ask someone for help?" Eunhyuk suggested. "Like to read it?"

Byul nodded, folding the letter along the same creases gently and putting it in her robe. "I'll just have to ask around.." she shrugged.

Byul blinked for a bit when she realized where Eunhyuk was. "Omo oppa do you realize you're in the female lodging?" she hissed, eyes darting around in alarm. "Man! Thank god no one saw you!"

Eunhyuk grinned foolishly. "To be completely honest actually some of them did. I told them I was visiting my girlfriend."

"You what?" Byul gripped her heart in shock.

Eunhyuk laughed and slapped his thigh merrily. "Oh man you should have seen your face!" he howled in laughter. "I told them I was your dear oppa neighbor dumb dumb." he rolled his eyes.

Byul blew out a dragged breath. "Oh."

Eunhyuk pouted. "Why is that such a bad thing to be rumored with me huh?" he joked, knowing that as far as he and Byul went, they'd always be like siblings. Anything more would be gross.

"You really know how to bruise a man's ego...." Eunhyuk trailed off, his eyes narrowing. He strode across the room and picked up a piece of bloody cloth that was stuffed behind the wooden wardrobe to be hidden and had not been missed by his sharp eyes.

Eunhyuk paled at the dried blood and snapped his head towards Byul. "Where?" he demanded.

Byul swallowed. She lifted her robe gingerly and showed Eunhyuk her bloody and swelling calf. It was one hard hit and Byul had no idea how to go about bandaging the thing. She very nearly howled in pain when she went to bathe.

Eunhyuk winced and sat down on the bed beside her. "How?" he questioned, incapable of long sentences because of the worry.

Byul shook her head. "It's nothing oppa. Don't ask." she shushed him. "Anyway I'm a bodyguard now and it's normal to get hurt here and there right?" she laughed it off. "Now will you stop gaping at the wound and come help me with it before my leg rots off?"

Eunhyuk closed his mouth abruptly and pouted. "Aish Byul. I just told your mom that you're doing well here in the Palace. What if she knows you got hurt?" he chided.

Byul snapped her eyes towards him. "Don't you dare!" she warned.

"Don't worry, I won't tell." Eunhyuk promised. He looked around the room for a fresh piece of cloth. "Aish Byul you've got to be more careful!"

Byul huffed. "I am. But banana peels aren't." she muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Eunhyul wheeled around to look at RR with raided brows.

Byul shook her head. "Aish nothing! Just fix my leg it bloody hurts!"

After contemplating for a while, Byul finally knew who she should approach to help read her letter.

She tried not to move about too much the next day and Baekhyun didn't pay her enough attention to notice she had been hurt. Byul managed to survive till lunch and Baekhyun went off to his parents' to have lunch.

Byul clutched the letter in her hand and made her way to the usual spot where she and Chanyeol normally met for lunch.

She smiled, wondering what her mother had to say to her in the letter. She missed her family but this was the only way to support them: by being away from them.

Her smile was occasionally scarred by a wince as she limped, her right calf hurting a great deal. When she reached the garden, Chanyeol was already there waiting for her.

"Hey Byul." Chanyeol smiled kindly. He noticed her happy expression. "Did hyung forgive you? You look happier."

Byul rolled her eyes and went over to sit down. "Nah. That petty king would never do something like that. He's still giving me the cold shoulder." she sighed. "But on the other hand, I've received a letter from home!" she waved it about happily.

"Chanyeol-gun, can you read it to me please??" she pleaded.

Chanyeol chuckled and flicked her ponytail. "Of course." he took the letter from her and opened it carefully, aware of Byul's excited eyes on him.

"Dear Eunbyul ah," he started, smiling softly. "How are you in the Palace? I heard from Eunhyuk that you're working as the Crown Prince's bodyguard! What honor you bring to the family!"

Byul rolled her eyes but kept on smiling.

"Jaeho's doing pretty well too. Thanks to the extra taels you sent, I was able to hire a Seongsaengnim for him." Chanyeol continued. "He had learnt all the alphabets and now can read some what fluently. It's comforting to see him do so, Byul."

Byul sniffled slightly, smiling.

"Remember to take care of yourself, Byul." Chanyeol peeked at her from above the letter, his lips twitching upwards. "We miss you, but we know you're doing your best in the Palace. We look forward to the time when you can visit home. Love, Umma."

Byul stared in front of her blankly for a bit, remembering every single word she heard and committing it to memory.

She let out a small sigh of happiness as Chanyeol folded the letter an handed it back to her. "Miss them?"

Byul nodded. "Terribly. But I have to make ends met." she shrugged. She beamed at Chanyeol gratefully. "Thanks for helping out Chanyeol-gun."

Chanyeol pinked and shook his head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." he murmured. He got out his bento and started putting more of his dishes into Byul's bowl like he always does. Byul wasn't able to argue against him most f the times and hence this had become a routine of theirs.

Byul took the bowl that was now filled to the brim and beamed gratefully. She and Chanyeol ate for a bit until a certain cat decided to appear.

"Oh look that's the kitten you saved from the tree the other time." Chanyeol pointed as the kitten sauntered over to them and meowed cutely.

Byul brightened and put her bowl down. "Omo kitty you've grown!" she smiled brilliantly at the kitten who was rubbing against her leg.

The kitten meowed in response and looked at her with its large eyes. "You're so cute kitty." Byul giggled.

The kitten moved over to her right leg and started to rub itself against her leg again. Byul winced in pain sharply and quickly retrieved her leg, moving it away from the cat as fast as possible.

Chanyeol frowned at her sudden reaction, noting that something was wrong. He picked the kitten up and set it on the rock they were sitting on, letting it rest.

He frowned at her leg. "Are you hurt? You winced, when the kitten touched your right calf."

Byul swallowed. "Im fine really."

*She's so not a good liar.* Chanyeol rolled his eyes. He pulled Byul by her had and roughly flicked the bottom of her robe up till below her knees.

His eyes widened at the swelling. There was a cloth that was tied messily around her calf, and it was stained with blood from her wound.

"Where did you get this?" he demanded, wincing just from looking at it.

"It's nothing Chanyeol-"

"It's not nothing. Where did you get it from?" He demanded, angry now. "You don't get this sort of injury just any day Byul. And you're not the type to be careless either."

Byul swallowed. "It's Ddong-ha." she murmured. She explained how Baekhyun tried to run away from her and had placed a dozen banana peels on the floor, causing her to trip. Her leg had hit the door step, causing that ugly wound.

Chanyeol's face grew darker by the second. How childish was his hyung to play such a trick on Byul? It's ridiculous!

"And he doesn't know?" Chanyeol retorted, angry now. "He could have gotten medicine from the Imperial Physician for you and he didn't?"

"Chanyeol-gun." Byun touched his arm lightly. "It's fine really. It'll heal. Don't blow it up, I don't want him to know."

Chanyeol looked at her like she was crazy. "Why wouldn't you want him to know?" he asked. "He's got to make the necessary amends for the consequences of his childish acts!"

"But then again it's my fault he tries running away isn't it?" Byul asked softly. "I'm really sorry that I said those things to him, Chanyeol-gun. I have no idea how much he likes Dahae gongju and I just blurted things out. It hurt him, I can see. I don't want him to feel guilty. Just treat it as my bad karma or something." she shrugged.

"But.." Chanyeol still thought Baekhyun had to pay for her hurt. At least in the form of guilt.

"Please?" Byul pleaded softly.

Chanyeol sighed. Too bad he had a soft spot for this girl. "Fine." he winced again as he looked at the wound. "But we've got to bandage this again. It looks terrible." he shook his head.

Byul laughed. "Blame Eunhyuk."