"Are you feeling okay now, Princess Byul?" Sora asked in concern, her brows knitted together.

Byul laughed at how Sora had called her and shook her head. "Don't call me Princess Byul, just call me Byul, unnie. It sounds strange." she muttered. "Yeah I'm fine, fit as a bull."

"Bull my ." Baekhyun ushered her to sit down again the moment she stood up. "I thought I told you that you were not to leave your chair?"

"I didn't leave my chair, I just lifted my off the chair." Byul made a face. She looked at Sora and sulked. "See what this guy puts me through?" she harrumphed. "At least the EXO-M boys already left, or they will join Ddong-ha in the whole fuss over nothing."

The EXO-M boys had left Korea that morning, leaving tears and hugs.

Sora chuckled softly and bit back a smile of amusement. She couldn't deny that this two really matched each other really well. Despite their differences in background and characters, Byul and Baekhyun fitted together like two jigjaw pieces. And not to mention how their moments were very cute together.

"I'm just concerned." Baekhyun defended. "Anyway Sora, Chanyeol was asking about you earlier. He told you to meet him outside the servant's quarters after you're done with work tonight."

His expression turned teasing as he grinned at Sora. "Is something going on between you two?" he wriggled his brows.

Byul slapped his arm lightly and shook her head. "Don't , Ddong-ha." she muttered. "Look at unnie, she's blushing already."

"Hey, when someone blushes, it means that it's real." Baekhyun pointed out, looking more and more gleeful by the moment. "Anyway, I've relayed the message. Turn up if you must."

Sora played with the hem of her sleeve. "It's probably nothing, Jeonha." she murmured. "You're reading too much into it. What would a prince like him want to do with a bodyguard like me?" she responded.

Baekhyun glanced back at Byul and remembered how Chanyeol was once deeply in love with his own girl as well. And hey, she had been a bodyguard once too. "You'd be surprised." Baekhyun laughed softly.

-----

"Do you feel unwell? Need a rest?" Baekhyun eyed Byul warily and held onto her shoulders. "I see a bench ahead, let's sit there."

"Ddong-ha." Byul rolled her eyes. "We just stood up from our previous rest. Stop making me stop so many times. This isn't called a stroll if more than three quarters of the time I'm sitting."

Baekhyun sighed softly and nodded, taking her hand. "I'm just worried. For the superwoman to faint, it really shocks you, you know." he flicked her forehead lightly. He discreetly glanced back at Sora who was following them at a respectable distance, giving them privacy.

Sora was kicking at the grass thoughtfully, her brows furrowed and seemed to be troubled by something. Or perhaps someone.

Baekhyun would like to think the someone was Chanyeol.

"Do you think there's something going on between Chanyeol and Sora?" Baekhyun asked in interest, his eyes lighting up. "Chanyeol hasn't told me anything yet, and I have to admit I was too preoccupied by you to notice anything out of  the ordinary," he tapped his chin. "But perhaps?"

"If they're meant to be, they're meant to be." Byul shrugged. "Don't force him into a relationship he doesn't want and if he does, he'll go for it." she shot him a look. "Why are you such a busy body anyways?" she snorted. "You're acting more like a girl than I am."

"Hey!" Baekhyun clutched his heart as if he was hurt. "You wound me." he whined. "Fine fine, I'll just leave the love things to him. Maybe he just wants to talk to Sora about some kungfu matters, I don't know."

He swung their interlaced hands lightly as they strolled on in silence.

They reached the pond where water lilies were aplenty, dotting the water surface and making the scene look extremely beautiful. Baekhyun let out a satisfied sigh and looked down at Byul. "Just wondering, how many kids do you want?"

Byul's cheeks turned pink rapidly and her eyes widened, her body stiffening beside him. "W-What?"

Baekhyun grinned cheekily and bumped her shoulders. "Ayee..." he laughed. "Why act shy, missy? We're going to have kids someday, and I'm hoping to have more than a few." he admitted. "The more the merrier, you know."

He pointed at the pavillion. "When the days aren't so busy, you and I will be sitting there. I'll be writing poems and you'll be watching me, trying to figure out what the hell I'm writing-"

"I can read now, you idiot." Byul scowled.

"-and our daughter might be learning how to sew, sitting there with us." Baekhyun continued. "Our sons will be trying to catch the fishes in the pond, running around and laughing merrily. I'll bet one of them is a kungfu expert like you and he'll be doing somersaults and flips along the railings. Maybe there'll be another baby in your arms and you'd be too busy taking care of her to notice."

He smiled down at Byul affectionately. "How does that sound?" his lips twitched up. "I like it, you know."

Byul leaned against him and sighed softly. "It does sound alluring," she admitted. "But I'm still going to do Kungfu after that, let me tell you that first." she warned. "And don't expect me to spend my time doing embroidery or things like that unless you want me to cut off the blood circulation of my fingers with the threads."

"Never expected things like that, and if you did it wouldn't be you." Baekhyun laughed and shook his head. His grip on her hand tightened. "I love you the way you are, your sassy attitude to your fatal punches."

Byul gave him a punch on the chest appropriately.

"Though maybe I won't mind if you cut down the punches a bit." Baekhyun added with an afterthought. Byul burst into laughter and sank deeper into his embrace. Hmm...if only all days could be spent like this.

Sora bit her lip as she looked out from behind a tree.

There he was, pacing outside the servant's quarters with his brows knitted together, to and fro, to and fro. Did he not have a sense of pride? What was a prince like him doing at such a lowly place as this!

The other maids and servants seemed to wonder as well, and they kept looking at Chanyeol with awe and puzzlement, greeting him respectfully as they went in to rest. Sora looked up at the sky and knew that it was late, a time where kids would already be soundly sleeping and adults would already feel the sting in their eyes.

Chanyeol was still waiting for her, but wat for?

Sora let out a soft groan, her hands on her robe. She didn't like how she acted around him, he always surprised her. Couldn't he be an arrogant prince that treated her like dirt? She would get used to that in no time.

She wasn't used to princes smiling at her and offering her seats in the theatre to watch plays. Much less looking at her so often as if she was somewhat attractive when she wasn't.

Sora was used to being treated like a lowly being, and used to acting like one. Bowing her head and accepting punishments with not a word of reluctance, she was so trained that even when she was punished, she accepted it whole-heartedly as if she deserved it. She never even felt that it was unfair.

Chanyeol was treating her in a way that made her think he was confused. He was a nice person no doubt, and his niceness was melting her. And then there were moments when he sprang things on her like thinking she wanted to poison Baekhyun with poison ivy, and her being responsible for Byul's fainting that made her particularly hurt at the accusation, because of the drastic change from his niceness.

Couldn't he freaking stick to one, for goodness sakes? But well, it wasn't like she had good intentions. She was the bad person, she had to remember that.

She didn't realise her loud sigh had alerted the man in question and he had already walked over to her, peering down at her from her hiding place. "What are you doing here in the bushes?" Chanyeol asked curiously.

Sora gasped and she quickly jumped up from where she was, insanely embarrassed. "Prince Chanyeol."

"Chanyeol." he corrected her. "I was waiting for you. Baekhyun hyung told you I was waiting, I suppose?" he raised his brows. Sora nodded, her gaze ducking to the ground. Chanyeol seemed pretty nervous as he fisted and unfisted his hands. "Great, uhm. I hope you'll be fine with sleeping a little later tonight. There's somewhere I want to take you."

Sora looked up at him in surprise and saw him send a small genuine smile in her direction, a smile capable of sending flutters and tingles. It sure did to her.

She nodded and followed Chanyeol as he walked, aware of how he kept looking back to check if she was following. Never had someone cared so much about her with small actions like these, and it made her melt even more. She shouldn't be melting, she reminded herself. She couldn't afford to melt.

The two of them walked to the pond where Baekhyun and Byul had went earlier in the day. Sora nearly didn't recognize it as such when she saw the place, her jaw promptly dropping open.

There were a million little wax drips on leaves spreaded out on the grass beside the pond, lit up with little flames. They brightened the entire night view of the place and glowed prettily in the dark, forming the words "I'M SORRY" in the middle of the grass patch.

It was romantic, no doubt, and the fact that Chanyeol had actually done that for her made everything more difficult to accept. He shouldn't be doing this. He couldn't do that and make her knees go jelly. He couldn't!

"Well uh." Chanyeol rubbed the back of his neck. "Tadaa?" he bit his lip, suddenly embarrassed. "This is my apology for my stupid accusation the other day. I know you're a good person, Sora. I shouldn't have accused you of doing something to Byul when you obviously didn't."

Sora's eyes were on the candles. She couldn't tear her gaze away, it was too pretty to. "I'm not a good person, Prince Chanyeol. I'm far from that. In fact, I'm a bad person." she whispered.

"Chanyeol." he corrected without thinking. He sighed and bit his lip. "Look, I know you have your secrets but it's okay. Everyone has them, right? Maybe I should tell you mine so that you won't feel that bad." he shrugged. "Or maybe you'd already know from the palace gossips?"

Sora blinked at him in confusion.

"Right, I'll take it as you haven't heard." Chanyeol reddened sheepishly. "The reason why I went to jail in the first place was because I tried to harm Baekhyun hyung. I kidnapped all the princes, even the King and the Queen, helping my father in his plans to overthrow Baekhyun hyung from the royal ruling seat and pushing up to it." he admitted. "That's why I went to jail."

Sora's eyes widened. She sure never heard about this, and she sure couldn't imagine. You meant who? Chanyeol?

"I didn't want the throne though," Chanyeol admitted. "I wanted Byul." he looked away, sighing. "I was in love with her but it was Baekhyun hyung who got her affections. Jealousy got in my head, as so to speak. Needless to say, I regretted everything I did."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sora swallowed at his confession of being in love with Byul. She could see why, Byul was an amazing girl. Why wouldn't Chanyeol like her?

"Before you let your thoughts run wild, I want to tell you that I don't love Byul in that way anymore." Chanyeol clarified without knowing why he did. "I told you this because well, I want you to know that everyone has bad thoughts at some point or another. But that doesn't make them a bad person, do you get what I'm saying?"

Sora lowered her gaze. "I don't know you that well, Sora." Chanyeol murmured, tipping her head up. "But I really can't imagine you as someone bad. And I'm hoping to know more of you, too." he swallowed as Sora's bright eyes blinked at him. "As friends." he quickly added, flustering.

It didn't take the happiness out of what she was feeling then though. Sora bit back a smile and nodded, turning to look at the candles again.

Chanyeol smiled beside her and shuffled closer discreetly, and Sora pretended not to notice. "I take it that you forgive me for the mindless accusation?" Chanyeol asked carefully.

Sora sent him a small smile. "What accusation?"

Chanyeol grinned and chuckled softly. He really really really wanted to know this girl better. Really.

-----

Sora nearly skipped back to her own bunk but refrained from doing so to avoid waking up the other maids. She washed up and changed, slipping under the rough covers for much needed sleep.

Though she had a feeling she wouldn't be able to, with what happened that night.

Chanyeol was such a prince. Even if he was a commoner, he would be the Prince Charming figure in so many girl's eyes, and one of those pairs of eyes would definitely be Sora's.

Sora sighed dreamily, aware of how that act was so out of her character. Chanyeol was making her do strange things, that guy.

"You're finally back." a sleepy voice beside her made Sora jump in surprise.

She looked at Luna who opened her eyes sleepily in the bunk beside hers. Luna's hands felt the table beside her blindly and grasped a letter. "For you, Sora."

"Thanks. Go back to sleep." Sora whispered. She took the letter and went to the window to read it's contents, her heart immediately sinking when she saw who it had come from.

Sora,

How is the mission going on? We haven't received a single letter from you since your letter that you were chosen as the Crown Prince's bodyguard. Good job, but not good enough. We need more from you, Im Sora. Or should I say, Aimi Higashiyama?
Remember your mission, Sora. I hope to hear from you soon.

Signed,
General Higashiyama

Sora fell against the wall and felt a tear trickle down her cheek. Damn, she nearly forgot her own identity.