The Princess and Her Seven Knights (BTS Fanfic)

C H A P T E R 4

"You cannot get tired this easily," Y/N said firmly, her hands laced behind her back. "Buck up."

The seven boys panted heavily, as they continued attacking the dummies. Their arms had started to ache, a lot of their energy seemed to dissolve after just one hit. Hoseok, Taehyung and Jimin looked worser than the others, their attacks visibly getting weaker. The others were in a slightly better condition but not for long. The heat from the sun seemed to sap the remaining of their energies and one by one, they fell to the ground, exhausted.

Y/N sighed, worried that they will not be ready to face the enemies when the time came. They had six months more to prepare, before King Seth's birthday.

"You can take a break," She said, walking over to the dummies with a sword in hand while the others ran inside to grab a drink.

She attacked the dummies with all of her power, every hit seeming to reduce the pain clenching at her heart. Her mind wandered with the memories, her emotions surfacing for a brief moment before she pushed them back down. She could not afford to be weak, not when she was so close to avenging her family's death.

Jungkook watched her silently, not showing his presence. He saw how her hits looked like they were planned, with a balanced amount of strength and speed. He was impressed by her grace, but he still managed to hear the cry of exasperation that escaped her lips, soft but easily identifiable. He shook his head, he did not want to dwell into her matters, they were not his concerns. He had a different goal in his mind and when he was offered the chance to be a part of this mission, he jumped at it with no hesitation. It was directly connected to the goal he had.

The chattering of the other boys as they walked out of the house towards the fighting area brought him out of his thoughts. His eyes moved to Y/N, seeing how she had collected herself and posed a blank expression as if she did not just relive some painful memories.

"Enough of sword skills for today, we will need to work on your speed now. Follow me," She said in an authorial tone and turned around, walking towards the gates. The boys followed suit, curious as to where they were going.

They laughed and talked among themselves on the way, everyone piping in their comments at different points. Jin's dad jokes earned him a slap on the back of his head but the boys were glad that they had someone who could lighten the situation so easily, though they would never admit it out loud. Suga smiled at the sight of them, he was the only one who did not participate in the conversation so often. Well, apart from Y/N of course. He noticed that she walked quite ahead of them, alone and awfully quiet. He was not comfortable with starting a conversation easily with her as he was not used to her personality yet. He discarded that idea for now, though he did wonder what was going on in her head.

"We're here," Her voice cut the chatter short, the boys falling in a line behind her and looking at the scene in front of them.

"A hill?" Hoseok asked out loud.

A wicked smile graced Y/N's features, her eyes lighting up with mischief.

"Well, you have to race upwards and come back down." She said, which earned collective groans from everyone.

Jimin slumped down on the ground, kicking his legs like a small baby.

"I'm exhausted," He complained, "Y/N, this is too much."

"I agree," Taehyung muttered and settled himself next to his best friend, "Y/N, are you sure this isn't the road to heaven?"

Despite herself, she chuckled at the cuteness of the two boys which surprised the others. Not paying attention to their shocked expressions, she grabbed an arm each of the boys, pulling them up one by one.

"I'm not going to exempt you from this exercise, your cute expressions will not work on my cold heart." She said.

They pouted, causing the others to laugh. Thanks to them, the task did not seem so difficult so they gathered the last bit of their energies and ran as fast as they could.

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The boys felt dead by the time they returned back to the house. Their muscles ached, their head pounding and eyes heavy with sleep.

Y/N chuckled at their condition, she might have been too hard on them on their very first day of rigorous practice.

"Listen up boys," She called out, just as the boys were about to enter the house and they stopped to look at her.

"Please tell me it's not another training section," Namjoon pleaded, clearly very tired and scared at the idea of doing something else.

"No it's not," Y/N replied, "I was saying that since there is still an hour for dinner, you can freshen up at the hot springs."

The mood visibly brightened at the thought of the hot springs, the boys immediately rushed to the back of the house to relax their muscles.

Y/N waited for a few minutes before she followed them, taking a slightly different route and walking until she reached the one that was completely empty and solely supposed to be used by her.

She took off her sweat drenched clothes and stepped in the water, the hot temperature working wonders on her tired muscles as she let out a sigh of relief.

She could hear the boys playing nearby, the sound of someone splashing in the water and the laughter that followed made her smile slightly. As she gazed at the full moon, she realized that even though it had just been a day, she was grateful for the boys when they distracted her from the memories that tortured her. They may even grow on her, she thought. They were sweet, playful and innocent and she was going to try her best that these qualities will remain in them even when they would have to do horrible acts in a few months' time. 

"Y/N can I borrow some soap? The boys lost it somewhere in the water." Taehyung's voice got her screaming as she pushed herself deeper in the water. Thank God she decided to wrap a towel around herself before she stepped in.

"You--" She seethed, to which Taehyung gave her an innocent smile. She threw the cake of soap at him, which he miraculously managed to catch.

"Thanks!" He chirped, before starting to walk in the direction he came from.

"Oh by the way," He suddenly stopped to look directly at her, a mischievous smile gracing his handsome features. "I didn't look."

That comment alone got him a hair brush thrown at his face but he managed to duck it and escaped, skip in his steps.

"I hope that they survive to fight in the battle, that is until I don’t kill them first." Y/N growled, splashing water in annoyance.