CHAPTER THREE
How much respect do you truly deserve? (Not this.)

"Aeri!"

Yona's voice is a welcome reprieve from the chatter of the maids and the scolding of Joo-doh. Aeri smiles and welcomes the embrace Yona so readily gives, eyes so full of concern as she quickly lets go to look her over (Aeri laughs a little; Yona really is the picture of an older sister) and quickly launches into a series of worried questions and exclamations, ranging from Are you okay? to Sang-chul better have beat that guy up good!

Aeri relaxes as she calmly assuages her sister's worries, the smile never falling from her face, even as Hak and Soo-won appear and join the conversation from over Yona's shoulders. Their concern feels so different from that of the nursemaids that gushed over Sang-chul and barely batted an eye at the Princess herself. (Her blood boils. She is a Princess of Kouka and that demands respect. She demands respect.)

She is grateful for Yona, who is so genuine in her concern, and for Hak and Soo-won, who, despite their rare acquaintanceship with her, linger behind Yona with worry evident in their eyes and a stance that reminds her inexplicably of Sang-chul's from mere moments ago. Most of all, though, she is grateful for the attention.

(She is such a selfish child.)

It takes a while to convince Yona she is truly fine, but even afterwards she refuses to leave Aeri's side and Aeri is grateful for the company. Hak and Soo-won trail behind them as they walk to the castle courtyards ("It's so stuffy in here!" Yona exclaims, as talk arises beyond the door of King Il's lack of presence when the younger Princess has just been attacked within castle walls. "Come on, let's go outside!" Oh, she is so grateful for Yona) and Yona fills up the space between them with eager conversation, effortlessly bridging the gap of awkward discomfort between Aeri and the two boys.

Aeri laughs as she listens to Yona detail her latest outing to the castle town with Hak and Soo-won, an instance Aeri has heard of enough to be able to recall the entire event as if she had been there herself, but she sees the way Yona's eyes shine when she giggles at Hak's interjections and Soo-won's corrections and she thinks it's fine. Yona is always so energetic and Aeri loves that about her; she loves how Yona is so carefree and how, despite the infrequency of their time together, Yona is always so kind and so willing to look after her, and Aeri loves her so much.

Her heart stings with jealousy when Yona turns around to respond to Hak's jabs but she can ignore it. Her steps are lighter and her gaze does not wander with apprehension gripping her at every corner she turns and that is enough. She feels safe.

She is safe, because the castle is and always will be the safest place for her to be.

Aeri decides Sang-chul is tolerable. He may not be the hateful person she considered him for the past however many years he's been in the castle, but he's certainly not the angel she took him for when he decided he could do his job for once.

That time must have, in fact, been the only time he actually did do his job.

Aeri wanders through the castle alone, having taken off the moment her etiquette teacher turned her gaze elsewhere, but today she lingers by the soldiers' training grounds, peering from behind a pillar as Joo-doh marches off after finishing the day's training. For all his usual scowls, right now he seems... angrier. It doesn't take her long to find out why.

"Oh, Princess!" Hyun-woo spots her easily and waves her over with a bright grin. Hyun-woo is nice to her - he was the one who taught her how to fashion crowns out of flowers some years ago and he's always been the one Joo-doh sent to hunt her down when her disappearances proved too problematic to leave alone. The last time had been the only exception. She doesn't even have to ask for him to recognise the question on the tip of her tongue. "Remember your knight in shining armor from the other day?" he says, tone light with that air of nonchalance that drew her to him. "He's skipping out on training. Again."

"...Again?"

"Yep. The kid's always runnin' around tryin' to skip out on practice." Duri, a man with an eyepatch ever-present over his left eye, pops into the conversation with a snicker. "I almost pity the Captain."

Aeri pouts. "He deserves it. Mr Joo-doh's too grouchy. I don't like him," she says decisively, but falters at the end and glances around fearfully. "...He is gone, right?"

The men share a laugh. "Say, what do you think you hunt down Sang-chul this time?" Hyun-woo says. "I think Captain Joo-doh's gratitude would keep him from being too hard on you for the next little while."

She doesn't even have to think it over.

Minutes later, Joo-doh is back in the training grounds with Sang-chul trying desperately to get him to please stop screaming, it's too early in the morning for this, Captain, please-

She grins triumphantly back at him when Sang-chul's eyes meet hers and she can almost hear the sound of his regret for having saved her life. Yet, there's an openness to his expression that wasn't there before, as if he's finally surrendered whatever guard he'd kept up between them all this while.

Aeri decides she likes Sang-chul, for all his lethargy and reluctance to comply with authority, but it might take a while to convince him to feel the same way. Hyun-woo says it's a good start, though, and she trusts his judgement, in spite of Duri's loud chortling at his words and Joo-doh's subsequent decision to victimise the eyepatch-wearing man next.

Whoops, forgot to post this yesterday... The canon storyline will begin in chapter seven! Reviews would be super!