The Nine Dancing Princesses (TWICE FF)

21. Crystal

"Forest Fairy?" Mina and the Prince both of them exclaimed at once. Back in hiding the three princesses also exchanged curious glances.

"Yeah..that day I saw you in the forest, I followed you but you disappeared in thin air." Mina tried to recall if ever meeting anybody there, but she never did.

"Wait so... who are you?" The prince on the brown horse asked her.

Oh no. Mina could not possibly reveal her identity, they were from the University, she would get caught. "Just a folk" she replied within a second. Both of them frowned at that.

"What is crystal doing with you?" The black horse prince asked.

"Who? This is buddy. I found him in the forest." Mina said... which was not completely a lie. She did found him in the forest.

"Or more like you stole it." He huffed crossing his hands.

Mina frowned "excuse me? I stole buddy?" She increased her pitch getting angry.

Jihyo and Sana exchanged glances. "She may spill our secret in rage." Dahyun whispered voicing their thoughts.

"I can't step in, my brother is there." Jihyo said.

"It's okay I will go." Sana said getting up and taking a bag of medicines with her quickly pacing towards them as the argument heated further.

"It's not my fault you can't treat your horse well." Mina said.

"Oh... have you seen him? He is the most beautiful horse. That is the reason why you stole it." He voiced back.

"Don't even get me started. When I found buddy-"

"Crystal!"

Mina huffed at that. " when I found buddy he was injured, hungry, thirsty!" Both of them now in a glaring contest.
When suddenly Sana came into view With her bag full of herbs she called

"Chotto imoto~"

Mina turned back at Sana calling her sister. Suddenly everyone's attention was on her. "What happened?" She asked.

"Who are you?" The man who was arguing with Mina asked

"That could well be my question." Sana replied back "are you harrassing my sister?" That had them back off.

"by no means!" He retorted.

"Lady, we are princes of Nobel kingdoms we don't do that." The other prince who had been quite all this while spoke.

Hearing this Sana quickly bowed. "Sorry your majesty." Seeing this Mina also followed the suite, getting her hint and bowing.

"Apologies prince." Mina said. That had seemed to satisfy their pride.

"Now tell me...where did you find this horse and for what purpose are you using it?" The quite prince asked.

"As I told it was lost in the forest." Mina explained.

"And we are only using it for collecting herbs." Sana continued showing her bag and the one loaded on buddy. The prince hummed.

"You don't seem Korean" he remarked "your accent.." Sana cut him off

"well you are in a foreign land your majesty." Both the princes nodded at that.

"There was one more question I wanted to ask." The same prince said "Is there anybody else with you?" Sana narrowed her eyes at him before laughing.

"Are you suspecting us prince? We are just common folks" hearing this he hummed deep in thought. Meanwhile the other prince cleared his throat.

"About crystal..." Hearing this Mina became anxious, she knew it already had an owner but still these past few days she grew really fond of her buddy. The prince caught on her gaze and gave a chuckle. "Since the village is in a tough position...you can have him. Although I may want to see him." He said.

Mina hesitantly looked at Sana, not knowing what to do or say. A big ding was heard indicating that it was end of afternoon and begining of evening, since they were not so far away from the castle walls, they still heard a sound.

Both of them turned back with there horses, "I hope to encounter you again." He said and rode away following his friend. When they were out of sight, Jihyo and Dahyun came out with the horses.

"Oh god..." Mina said slapping her forehead.

"Wait" Sana began "who was your brother?" At the end of her question everyone was looking at Jihyo.

She sighed "Jimin, the other prince, who did not argue with Mina." Mina visibily flushed at that.

"I did not mean to lash out like that..." The others Chuckled at that.

"But do you know...who Mina actually have the argument with?" Sana asked Jihyo. She thought for a moment before answering

"Maybe prince Jungkook.." they were silent for a moment waiting for her to explain the 'maybe'. Jihyo huffed "I am not sure! It's been more than a year and I only met Jimin's friend for a brief moment." Everyone hummed at that nodding.

"We should probably get going then." Dahyun said looking at the sky. So they quickly mounted there horses and went off to the village.

~

"Oh my you are back" the old lady said when they visited the house of the wise. "It's like you are the angels send by god." Her husband added.

"Well grandpa," Jihyo began "we are short of time, it would be convenient to gather few people and ask them to spread our techniques throughout." The old couple thought for a moment before the lady got up.

"Follow me outside." She picked up the metal plate hung outside the door and started beating it with a thick rod. Within few minutes some young people came out of their home.

"Is everything okay?" A young man asked as he approached them.

"They have something to teach us... apparently they are here to help us. Listen carefully." The old man warned. Jihyo cleared her throat and stepped forward.

"So, what we have found is that the disease is spread through water...."

All of them explained thoroughly to all the few people gathered. The herbs and the filtration system... everything that they managed to gather.

"At the very least... never drink water without boiling it." Dahyun said and the old man laughed at that.

"That is the reason I never fell ill." The villagers laughed with him.

"he had a sensitive throat, it swells up with cold water." His wife explained.

The sun was starting to appear red. "We need to leave now, if you don't find the herbs let us know next time." Sana said.

"Oh and...is there any alternate path to enter the village." Mina asked out of the blue.

"Where...are you from?" A teenage girl asked her. The four of them quickly exchanged glances at what to tell. Because saying that they were the royals could enrage the people.

"We just have to go south." Mina said quickly before anyone could get suspicious of them.

"Oh....yes there is a very good pathway through the forest." The girl led them towards the beginning of the path.

"Thank you...and stay safe okay?" Dahyun ruffled her hair before mounting her horse.

"Luckily there is actually an alternate path." Jihyo huffed.

"Yeah..I don't think I can handle another episode of Jungkook vs Mina." Sana added.

"I said sorry!" Mina defended herself "I was just worried that he will take away buddy."

Jihyo sighed "Mina... Buddy is actually Crystal and you know.." Mina looked down patting the horse.

"But he willingly gave up his horse...did not even look back." Dahyun favoured Mina.

"Maybe because his kingdom is famous for its horses." Jihyo explained.

Sana sighed too. "Let's think about this issue when we actually have to return Buddy...for now we should have as much fun as we can."