"Have you made up your mind, Princess?"
Hak spoke, sitting at the corner of the wooden floor as his gaze followed Yona and [Name]. The older ravenette female was pulling Yona's cloak over her shoulders and tying the strings for her with a soft smile. Yona turned and lifted her arms, playing with the material of the cloth, before finally turning to Hak.
"Yeah. Hak, [Name], you approve, don't you?"
"Of course," [Name] said, grasping Yona's small hands in hers gently, and looking at her. "You made the right choice, I'm proud of you, Yona-chan." Yona grinned innocently in response, until she was interrupted by Hak.
"He'll probably be less of a burden than someone else I know," He threw a smug smirk at the redhead, who pouted and furrowed her brows.
"Who are you talking about??"
"Who knows~" Hak shrugged off her playfully angry expression, glancing at [Name], covering her mouth as she chuckled at their exchange.
Then, Hak stuck out his tongue at Yona, teasing her even more. Yona's eyes widened before she mimicked his actions.
"Hak!"
'So, even Hak acts like a child sometimes, huh?' [Name] thought, grinning. She laughed louder at their childish actions, her eyes closing as she did so and head tilting to the side. Her silky hair fell over her shoulders, and unbeknownst to her, her melodious laughter and sweet smile brightened up the room. She hadn't noticed the stare from the male in front of her.
~
The three of them, now four, stood in front of Ik-soo.
"Yoon-kun, are you alright?" The priest asked, smiling softly, gazing proudly at Yoon. [Name] noticed his bright, magenta eyes behind his hair, sparkle with joy but with a hint of sadness.
Just for a minute, he reminded her of Soo-won. The old Soo-won.
'The old Soo-won never really existed. It was all a facade. Ik-Soo is nothing like that two-faced bastard-'
"[Name]...?" The ravenette female was pulled out of her reminiscent thoughts by a certain redhead whispering her name and grasping her hand gently. "Are you okay?" Yona asked. [Name] hadn't noticed, but her lips were pressed into a frown, her hands clenched onto her cloak in frustration with her thoughts.
[Name] smiled at Yona, genuinely, and gave her hand a squeeze of reassurance, "I'm alright." 'Princess Yona is so strong.' [Name] thought, knowing that Yona had similar thoughts running through her head at times as well, yet she remained cheerful and innocent, trying to push away negative thoughts of the past and instead look ahead of her for the future.
"This is a bag we can put the princess in when we enter cities that are guarded." Yoon explained, pulling out a large cloth and holding it out. "...To put me in?" The small redhead tilted her head in confusion, blinking at Yoon. Even Hak had been surprised by Yoon's idea. [Name] chuckled softly at their expressions.
"I've got a bunch of other stuff. Do you want to see it?" Yoon was now sitting on the floor, various medical supplies and even a book on medicine surrounding him.
"I've seen enough. Let's go. We'll lose the daylight." Hak sighed.
"Huh?" The pretty boy stopped rummaging through his bag and blinked at the tall man.
"Thank you for taking care of us." Hak said. "We'll see you later, Ik-soo." Yona smiled and waved at the blonde male. Ik-Soo placed his hands together in front of him, "I'll pray for your safe journey."
Then, the two turned around and began to walk. [Name] remained behind. "Ik-Soo..." She spoke, "Thank you," she bowed lightly, then grasped his hands. "Please take care of yourself. Don't worry about Yoon-kun, we'll take good care of him." [Name] smiled at him.
"What the heck? You were the one who told me to show you...!" Yoon huffed, as he hurried to try and put away everything back into his bag. [Name] crouched down to help him.
"See you later," Ik-Soo smiled. "Yeah," the strawberry-blonde male nodded his head, before turning around and walking away to catch up with the other two, [Name] walking beside him.
"Let's hurry. Before the sun sets, we need to cross three mountains." Yoon walked fast, stepping in front of the rest of the group to lead them. "Are you already ordering us around?" Hak rose his brow, but smiled slightly nonetheless.
"I'm a handsome genius. Of course I am. Shut up and follow me."
~
"Yona-hime. Please get in the bag," Hak spoke nonchalantly, holding the bag open as if Yona was going to just happily jump into it. "No," She shook her head profusely, puffing out her cheeks with her arms crossed.
Yoon sighed. "Yona, please."
The redhead released her arms, pouting. "Yona-chan, it won't be too long, I promise. And I'll hit Hak if he does anything weird, okay?" [Name] smiled sheepishly, trying to coerce the stubborn female.
"Fine! But, I swear, Hak, if you--" Hak had pulled the bag over her head already.
"Hey!!" Yona's muffled voice could be heard from the bag as she wriggled.
"Hime, please don't move. Otherwise, we'll get caught."
Then, the group came across a merchant, one of Yoon's frequent 'customers'. "It's been a while. I've been waiting for your medicine." The black-haired, middle-aged man spoke.
"Sir, do you have any rice?" Yoon asked, handing him a bag. "Sure," he replied, before turning his head to look over Yoon's shoulders at the two standing behind him, "It's rare to see you travelling with other people... Who's the big guy?"
"Oh..." Yoon sweat-dropped.
Placing his free hand on the tip of his broad straw hat, Hak replied, "I'm just a fellow merchant. We have business near the border." He then lifted his head and released his hat.
"Ah, I see. Then, the woman is...?" The merchant then switched his gaze to the ravenette beauty standing beside 'the big guy'.
"My wife." Hak said. Yoon twitched at his absurd words, and a blush coated [Name]'s cheeks at his words. 'That wasn't a part of the plan--'
The merchant laughed heartily, "It's nice to meet both of you." The man stepped forward to shake Hak's hand, before teasing in a low whisper, "You got yourself a pretty one, eh?" He continued to laugh, seeing the female's flustered reaction.
"Yep, it was love at first sight." Hak replied almost immediately to the man's teasing words. He carefully wrapped his free arm that wasn't holding the 'bag of clothes', around the petite female's waist. [Name]'s eyes widened, and she turned her head to meet Hak's eyes for a short second before turning away, face erupting in a deep blush.
The merchant laughed at their sweet interaction, wishing them luck before walking back to Yoon and handing him a bag of rice, "I'll see you all around then." He grabbed his wooden cart, and waved before walking in the opposite direction.
"Hime-san." Hak called, as Yona began walking at a fast-pace, ahead of the rest, with a pout on her lips and red cheeks, embarrassed by the fact that she had literally been shoved into a bag and carried around. 'My poor dignity...' She thought, frustrated.
"What are you so upset about?" The black-haired male spoke smugly, acting as if he didn't understand why she was mad. "Is it because I stuffed you in a bag and carried you? Because I said there were clothes in the bag and handled you roughly? Because I--"
"All of it!!" An irk mark appeared on Yona's head, as she clenched her fist before her, furrowing her brows and glaring in front of her.
"Yona-chan, are you mad at me too...?" [Name] pointed to herself, tilting her head. "Of course!! Why did you let him carry me! And why did I have to be shoved into a stupid bag while you two are acting all lovey-dovey?!" Yona rambled, chasing the two until [Name] hid behind Yoon and Hak had climbed up a tree. "How should I punish you?!"
"That part was totally unnecessary." Yoon huffed.
"What? You mean when I said [Name] was my wife?" Hak smirked at Yoon, still in the tree. He shrugged, allowing his blank expression to mask his emotions. "It was simply acting." But in reality, he had done it just to irk Yoon, and perhaps to see [Name]'s flustered reaction.
[Name] couldn't help the distant pang stinging in her chest at Hak's words, realising his actions were only for the sake of blending in, and there was no reason to think twice about it.
Ouch.
"I was so afraid we'd be discovered, my heart was pounding," Yoon's brow twitched in frustration, before he sighed. "Listen up, all of you."
"A red-haired princess. A formal general and beast."
"It's Thunder Beast." Hak interrupted in a monotone voice, but was ignored by Yoon as he continued to rant.
"A black-haired beauty, and a handsome genius! We all stand out, so don't draw attention. Plus, we're near Fire Tribe territory and its capital city. You understand it'll be bad news if they find us, right?" Yoon lectured.
"Yes, sir." The three of them spoke in unison.
"Ah, wait~ Yoon-kun, did you just call me pretty?~" [Name] smiled, walking up to the strawberry-blonde male and leaning towards him. Her eyes sparkled and a soft blush decorated her cheeks. Yoon looked at her expression and the minimal distance between the two, and his face turned red.
"N- no. You heard me wrong. I called you an idiot." He stuttered, clearly flustered, turning around and attempting to walk away quickly.
[Name] chuckled at his adorable reaction. 'Tsundere~!'
But it was refreshing. Much more so than the one who kept playing around with her emotions...