Queen of Roses

18) The Truth Untold

"If we're going to do this, you have to stop doing that," Yoongi muttered, trying, but failing, to rub the exhaustion out of his eyes.

His peaceful sleep had been brutally interrupted by hesitant pokes on the feet accompanied by Chaeyoung's timid voice. She had woken him up at the earliest possible time she could to begin their training. Yoongi was not even aware that he had agreed to take over Taehyung's duties, but one could only ignore the Princess for so long before she annoyed you to bits and pieces.

With a frustrated grumble, he had finally agreed to help her while making the mental note of killing Taehyung later for this immense inconvenience. As they walked through the mountainous backyard of the temple with the sun barely peeking through the gloomy sky, he wondered just how his life had took a turn for the worst and brought him to experience such calamities with these people.

By far the most irritating part of this situation, however, was how cheerfully awake Chaeyoung was. Her smile was so wide, it could probably be detected from the base of the mountain they were currently on. If Yoongi wasn't mistaken, there also seemed to be a tiny spring in her steps – as if she were so excited, she could barely contain it. To Yoongi who valued calmness and silence, her whole being was a tad overwhelming.

"Doing what?" she asked, and it looked like her smile had widened even further. Probably because this was the first sentence he had spoken to her the entire morning.

He sighed as they reached the small open field in front of the towering temple, "being so ... happy."

He almost shuddered at the last word, not understanding how her spirits could remain so high despite the recent events. Especially the cave incident. As soon as his mind began to recall the admittedly terrifying experience, he couldn't help but gulp anxiously. Though he would never confess to it, he had never felt so truly alone than he did in that moment, when the only thing standing between him and death was a mere boulder.

Seokjin had told Yoongi how the Princess could have escaped without him but chose to save him instead. To say he was shocked would have been an understatement. His whole life, he had only known the nobility to be cruel pieces of shit, but this girl who looked slender enough to break in half at the slightest blow (and perhaps another noble girl who could chop wood like no one's business) were defying these beliefs on a daily basis.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips expectantly, "I have just always wanted to learn to fight. I guess you could say it's been one of my dreams for as long as I can—"

She trailed off after seeing his blank expression. It wasn't his intention to abruptly end her soliloquy, that was just what his face looked like when he was listening. Apparently, it had intimidated her though, and he wasn't complaining at the peace and quiet that resulted from it.

"Well then," he exhaled heavily, "shall we get started?"

Being the gentleman that he is, Yoongi decided to start off easy with the intention of easing her into it. They began running through Yoongi's basic exercise routines and fighting stances immediately, and it was a complete mess at best.

She was clumsy, unbalanced, inexperienced, and quite frankly, weak. Granted, she was a beginner, so he let it go when she accidentally punched him in the face. The second time, when she elbowed him in the ribs though, his patience began to dissipate slightly. Despite the unintentional agony she had put him through, he continued to push forward and teach her to the best of his abilities. However, when she somehow managed to kick him in the most private, treasured area of his body, he decided he couldn't take it anymore.