As Hyuna brings Jiyoon into the camp, everyone were staring at them. As usual, information travels quickly, there were rumors about a maid that would be joining the military school to see if she’s qualified to become part of the royal guard. Everyone were looking forward to it, it was unusual to see girls in the military forces, Hyuna was one of those rare exceptions. As they walk into the camp, all the trainees were out to look at their new members. They were skeptical, the girl standing in front of them doesn’t look strong at all, she’s skinny and not so tall, one of them even approached closed to her and commented: “Are you sure you are able to hold a knife, sweetie? I can teach you if you let me to.” which made everyone laugh.

“This is a camp for professionals, not a newbie who doesn’t look like you have the strength to hold on a sword. Are you sure you will be able to survive here?!” Another soldier said with an angry face.

They were pissing Jiyoon off, she was confident that she could kill every single of them quickly, but she knows she had to remain calm, this was for her mission. The first one kept making jokes about her and she smirked at the him: ”Don’t look down on woman, or you will regret it”

“Oh, come on, you look so scary like that!” But then she stepped on his feet and kicked him on his leg. The guy fell loudly on the ground and making him scream in pain. “You !”

He quickly got up and wanted to hit Jiyoon but Hyuna stopped him:

”I know you want to smack her. Don’t worry you aren’t the only one!” Hyuna couldn’t hide her feelings for Jiyoon. “EVERYONE LISTEN UP! I’m sure most of you have heard of it, she will be in the training camp for a while to see if she will be able to join me as a bodyguard for our princess. Where’s the commander?”

“The commander will be away for a few days, I’ll be taking charge” says one of them, who was the second in command; the squad leader.  

Hyuna frowned. ”Alright, please take good care of her. We trust you to help her to be a good guard or rather to show her what it takes to be a real bodyguard and not just an amateur.”

The squad leader made a bow. ”Do not worry, everything is under control.” Hyuna returned the salute and walked away. Before leaving, she says in a low voice, that only Jiyoon could listen.

”Wanna bet something? I bet you won’t be able to survive this, don’t forget there’s no mercy here, so if you want to run away do so now, if not,  you should write down your will, because you won’t make it out in one piece” Then she walked away leaving Jiyoon, who only stayed serious.

“You are the one who should write your goddamn will. I will kill you, I swear.”

The squad leader walked around Jiyoon, in circles, examining her: “Hm, I guess you do know a bit of sword right?”

Jiyoon nodded.

The squad leader ordered to give her a sword. One of them gave her a long, sharp sword.

“Show me what you got then, YOU! Go spare with her” as he pointed at a random soldier.

As one of his soldier walks out, he looks strong but Jiyoon isn’t worry at all but then she’s wondering how should she deal with this, win over him easily or let him defeat her, then without notice the guy charges at her, without thinking she knock him down on the floor making everyone stun by her fast movement. “What just happened…” said one of the soldiers. The loser was angry, he quickly gets up and drags his sword out and starts attacking her with no mercy, she dodges every single of them swiftly then with a fast movement knocks his sword away and has her sword near his throat, then she bows.

”Thank you for letting me have an easy win” she didn’t want to make enemies here. And she just put a humbled expression.

 “awww, why are you being such a gentleman?!!!” The others .

The squad leader nodded approvingly and gave an order to one of them to guide her, a young girl who looked younger and even weaker than Jiyoon.

”My name is Kwon Sohyun” She said after the squad leader left with some of the soldiers. “Please come in with us, we’ll show you around” she smiled at her. They showed her their training room, what is their routine, and show her the dorms.

“This is our room, we will be sharing it together, I hope you don’t mind.”

Jiyoon looked around the room and shake her head:”No no, you used to live alone in this room?”

Sohyun shake her head:” Hm... no but now yea…well actually not anymore because I have you with me” she softly giggled.

Jiyoon, without realizing, started to smiled, she finds Sohyun very cute.

Then Sohyun suddenly frowns. “well … for a while until you go back to the princess..”

Jiyoon felt weird, how come she cares about her when she just met each other, but deep down she was happy, because she feels like she will get to know this girl a bit better and maybe she can get some information out of her.

Sohyun seemed to be a cheerful girl, who was able to handle a bunch of guys. She explained to Jiyoon that basically every morning they will be running around the castle, doing physical exercises, training with swords, archery, martial arts, basically almost the same as what Jiyoon had been doing since she was young, which kinda disappointed her, she kinda wished there was more challenge for her.

Days passed quickly, and to the guys surprise, Jiyoon was able to keep up with them since the beginning, they thought she would have give up after two days, they were really stunned by her ability. After a week, their commander came back, and the squad leader reported to him about the new girl.

“What’s with all these commotion in the camp?”

The squad leader answered. ”Sir, you’ve been gone for a while, we’ve been assign a new trainee”

”A new trainee? Didn’t we already have our recruitment months ago? Who allowed that? I don’t recall giving this permission”

”I’m sorry Sir, it’s the princess’s order, she want her to be her bodyguard, but miss Hyuna did not agree so they decided to put her into our camp to see if she’s capable to protect the princess”

The commander slammed the table. ”What they think our training camp is for? A place for their mere playgame?! This is a training camp! NOT A PLAYGROUND!”

The squad leader quickly bowed. ”Sorry Sir, but... she’s actually very good… better than most of our soldier, actually.”

He raised an eyebrow:” Huh what? She?!”

“Yes..it’s actually a girl…”

The commander and his subordinate went to see the trainees to have their usual session of sword training.

As they go toward them, Jiyoon was fighting against one of the oldest guys, but she easily took a win making the senpai frustrated, they were all treating her well, just like a sister. Jiyoon, who usually had a sarcastic and cold attitude towards most people, started to act more friendly, especially with Sohyun, who seemed to admire her. For once she actually thought that it was possible to have friends and not everyone was as bad as they had told her.

Suddenly everyone bows down as they see the general, and quickly went back down the stage which made Jiyoon confused, suddenly she hears someone footsteps, the commander unsheathed his sword and quickly dashed towards Jiyoon making her surprised by his sudden attack, they started to fight, she was surprise by this ability he has, it’s being a long while since she had someone at her level. She could feel the excitement of a challenging fight, and at one point she knocked the commander’s hat away and she stopped on the spot. She recognized his face, how could she forget that face. But at that precise moment he counterattacked, and caught her unguarded, his sword a few inches away of .

The commander spoke first. ”I’m sure that someone told you to never let go of your guard even if there’s something that surprise you”

Jiyoon looked at him for a moment, trying to analyze his behavior. She breathed to calm herself down. The commander then smiled and Jiyoon was cautious about him.

“Sir, do you think that I could possibly know that? I’m just a girl with some good luck on my side“ She tried to act innocent.

“Is that it? Why are you here then? Because of the princess? Did you made an oath to protect her?”

“No....not exactly...”

The commander’s stare was more intense. “And then why did you protect her? What made you risk your life to do it?”

He was very well informed. Jiyoon couldn’t keep up with his stare.

“Oaths are just words after all. What it counts is...what you do to make them true“ The commander said and then he spoke to the others “everyone, well done!“

After a couple of months the trainees were going to have a tough test of survival skills. Some of them were stressed and others were terrified. This survival test is like what Jiyoon being experimenting since young, it’s an endurance test in difficult situation; no one is there to help each other. You can either die from it or gravely hurt. You have no time to help each other, as the commander explains what it will be. Jiyoon noticed that Sohyun was unusually quiet with fear and her head was shaking.

Jiyoon, without thinking, put her hand on Sohyun hand:”Hey…calm down…Everything will be alright..”

Sohyun was surprise by Jiyoon, as it’s the first time Jiyoon took the initiative to touch her, she smile bitterly to her: ”I…” she frowns “Nevermind. Thank you” then she gaves Jiyoon a fake smile, making Jiyoon felt uneasy.

“She must be hiding something…” thought Jiyoon

After the commander’s explanation, he sent everyone back and tells everyone to take a rest before the test will begin tomorrow. Sohyun quickly got up and ran to her room while Jiyoon just stood there. She was thinking whether or not to go after her but before she does that, some soldiers held her back:”She’s…like this whenever there’s a survival test…”

Jiyoon:”Why? Did something happened?”

Soldier 1:”Hm…because..” he got cut off by another soldier

Soldier 2:” It’s something about her..if...you want to know more…you can go talk to her, she seems very fond of you…”

Jiyoon stare at the boys and nod, she ran up the stair to their room.

As she enter the room, she notices Sohyun was sitting on the edge of the bed with teary eyes. She looked up to Jiyoon and quickly fake a smile to her:”Hey..”

Jiyoon slowly close the door and walk up to her:”Hey…What’s wrong? I’m here..if you want to talk about it…”

Sohyun:”I…sigh…I don’t like this test..every year this happen..some of my friends will die…” as she says that tears were flowing out of her eyes.

Jiyoon didn’t know what to do. It was the first time that she faces a situation like this, but she had witnessed other people to speak stuff in these kinds of situations. She quickly sat beside her and held her hand. ”Hey…shhhh…it’s ok. Everything will be alright… We are all professional right? Everyone will be okay…”

Sohyun:”Jiyoon ar…”

Jiyoon:”Yes?” she looked deep into her eyes

Sohyun took out a necklace and gave it to Jiyoon:”Take this…if…I can’t make it back…I want you ..to..”

Jiyoon cut her words:”Don’t say that!” Jiyoon doesn’t know what’s happening, she saw so many of her so call comrade died, without feeling but why does she cares about this girl so much :”Sohyun, believe me, you will be fine! I promise you, I’ll protect you!” she gave a very meaningful stare to Sohyun.

Sohyun tears kept flowing out and hug her tight:”Jiyoon unnie, promise me that no matter what happened, you have to survive…”

Jiyoon pat her head:”Silly, I will don’t worry, and you, stop worrying! You’ve been here for two years no? You are still safe! You will be fine!”

Sohyun, once again smile bitterly to her and nods.

Sohyun:”Jiyoon ar, can we sleep in the same bed tonight?...Can you hug me tight and tell me it will be fine?”

Jiyoon gulped, she never done anything like that but seeing Sohyun like this made her unable to refuse so she just nods and hug her tight.

During the night, she kept giving her some words of encouragement that made her smile a bit and thank her. Jiyoon couldn’t believe that she was being kind to someone else nor making a promise that she will protect her. As the night pass and Sohyun felt asleep, she left the bed to go take a walk around rethinking of what happened

“Why did I promise to protect her..? Why did I hug her? Why did I care about her…Why…What the hell is happening to me? What has this castle turn me into?!”

As she continued walking around the camp, the squad leader finds her and tells her to follow him.

----

“Please, Hyuna. I really want to do this with you.” Gayoon begged her, kissing her slowly not letting her thinking clearly.

“But…you can’t…do this with me. You are…” Hyuna mumbled but Gayoon’s hands on her, guiding her to touch her body, was numbing her mind. “I want you. This is an order. Now remove me of my clothes.” Her voice, low and suggestive on her ears made her unable to restrain herself. Hyuna grabbed her by her wrists and threw her on the bed, almost ripping away her expensive dress, tasting her skin, making Gayoon to moan in pleasure. “Hyun…ah, please…make  me yours…ah”

“….”

“…”

She felt pain and came back to her senses. She cursed loudly and stayed on the cold floor for a while, cursing internally and sinking into a massive feeling of pity towards herself.  Another impossible dream. What a pathetic way to start the day, Hyuna complained mentally. It was her free day and as usual, she had spent most of her morning, sleeping and having explicit dreams of her princess. She wondered if Gayoon was fine, considering that she had been looking depressed the last few days. But she insisted her to rest. Although Hyuna didn’t have any reason to enjoy her free days, she didn’t have any friends and her relatives lived far from her.

She looked at the clear sky wondering if she would be fine to watch her marrying that creepy prince or being with someone else. The mere thought of that made her blood boil with envy. She sometimes wished that Gayoon would request her to kill the king and his wife so she could be the Queen, and have the power and freedom that she deserved.

---

Jiyoon was surprised, nothing like this was permitted. She found Gayoon waiting for her near a tree, not far from a squad of guards.  She looked different than usual, with less elegant clothing, but still beautiful as always. Jiyoon tried to look stern as the squad leader leaves and she walks to meet the princess. Jiyoon bows and when she looks at Gayoon she’s smiling at her.

“Hello, Jiyoon.”

“Princess…”

“You can call me by my name.”

Jiyoon kept silent, she felt scared of her trust in her, almost blindly, but she swallowed and exhaled silently.

“I’m afraid that I shouldn’t”

“I will be your killer, I can’t get closer to you, Gayoon. Not like this…”

“This is an order. Don’t forget that I will be your boss after your test” Gayoon smirked and Jiyoon let herself to smile.

“But what if I fail and die” says Jiyoon

“Commander told me that you are a talented soldier, he’s thinking of promote you after this, and I’m sure you will do great, don’t forget, I picked you!” she smiled

The commander.  He always looks at her from the distance, that man that reminded her of her mission and her vows of obedience to the “Dark Moon”.

“Anyway, I don’t have much time. I came here to wish you the best in your test. And to give you this...”

Jiyoon couldn’t believe it. But Gayoon took her hand and gave her a small black box.

“I trust you to succeed, and after that, you will be by my side.” Gayoon’s words filled with tenderness made Jiyoon froze. How could she think of hurt her? Someone so innocent and kind. She felt disgusted at herself.

Jiyoon nodded and Gayoon was the one to bow at her. “Good luck, soldier!” She departed from Jiyoon and went towards her carriage, surrounded by her guards. After she leaves she opens the small box and finds a small medal and a little piece of paper, neatly folded to fit in the box.

“You already are worthy of this.”

When Jiyoon looked at the medal closely she remembered what Sohyun had told her once about the Royal Guard. When they become a guard, they receive a medal, symbolizing their commitment to their task, to protect and serve the Royal Family.

Jiyoon felt her heart pounding against her chest. She clutched the medal, feeling the cold metal in her skin. Her target had clearly showed her trust in her. How would she keep her facade at her, after this? She felt again the regret and the fear that she had felt the first time when she saw her.

“What is happening to me…? I…I…I can’t do this…”

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