Safe at last? (1/2)

Swords were raised as the group turned to the tunnel entrance and were immediately dropped when eyes were laid upon the injured General Ki. 'Father!' Lee Joon cried as he ran to his father's side to help keep him up.

The old man was bleeding through a large gash in his stomach and sweat dripped down his brow. He looked faint and it was a wonder how he travelled alone through the tunnel. The King rushed forward to his other side and helped carry him towards the door.

'Get all Royal Doctors to General Ki's old room immediately!' he ordered the guards as he brushed them off as they rushed forward in an attempt to help the King carry his old friend.

The Princesses and their fiancees followed behind as General Ki was transferred to his previous lodging in silence. They were all both grateful to the man that had saved their lives and worried for his life, the bleeding did not seem to stop. They stayed outside while the Royal Physicians attended to their saviour.

'This is all our fault! If only we were competent enough to defend ourselves!' Seohyun wailed to Kyuhyun.

'No! It's ours, we should've known that you both couldn't fight and split up so each of us could protect both of you,' Eunhyuk and Hyoyeon said.

Yoona growled, 'It's no one's fault except for those stupid rebels! How dare they attempt to hurt my kingdom?! I will fucking murder them.'

Taemin squeaked at the use of such profanity but was ignored by the others who nodded in agreement to Yoona.

'I will go out there and kill every single one of them if I have to,' Taeyeon declared, 'If anything happens to General Ki...I will hunt down the rebels who attacked him.'

'I will brand them with a burning hot iron with my name before I skin them alive. Then I will personally behead them and display their heads on the castle wall as an example to all their other rebel friends,' Yuri muttered with a twisted grin.

The princes and Kyuhyun stared at her wide-eyed while her sisters nodded in agreement. They did not think the Princesses were capable of such evil thoughts. Before they could say anything though, the door to General Ki's private quarters opened and Lee Joon stepped out. The group swarmed around him and gave him encouraging hugs. He grimaced a smile at them in an attempt to show his gratefulness but could not help but sigh.

'The doctors say he is stable for now. The cut was very deep and a few vital arteries were severed but he will be okay. Your father is staying to watch over him and I'm going to head back in too... I just came out to tell you all not to worry and to go rest. You've been on the run for a long time now. You need to sleep.'

The solemn expression on Joon's face prevented the Royals from objecting and they slowly filed to the rooms they had preoccupied before going on holiday, too tired to walk to the Jewel Palace where their new bedrooms waited.  Sooyoung towel-dried her hair while she waited for Key to finish washing up. He was taking much longer than usual, complaining that he hadn't had a decent bath since leaving the holiday house. A few weeks ago, she would've whined about his diva-like personality but now she grinned. It had grown on her and his simple whining had become such a commodity in the current time of unrest. They may have made their way back into the palace safe and sound but the war against the Rebels raged on. She knew soldiers and innocent civilians were dying and felt hopeless and unworthy of enjoying sleep, and yet, she could feel her eyelids drooping and the exhaustion take its toll. Sooyoung was out cold by the time Key walked out of the bathroom. While she snored and slept at a weird angle, Key still found her endearing. Although he found her endearing, he wasn't sure if he genuinely loved her or felt such affections toward her due to his obligation as a future-husband and this inner turmoil and uncertainty unnerved him. He knew she deserved to be loved completely and wholeheartedly for who she was, regardless of political obligations as royalty. Despite this, he knew she was someone very important to him and as such, wanted to desperately protect her from the up and coming war. He sighed as he drew the blankets around her and kissed her forehead faintly. He knew these thoughts were not going to let him sleep tonight.  'Jjonggggggggggggggggggggggg. Jjonggggggggggggggggg,' Sica called.

'What?'

'Brush my hair for me.'

'Do it yourself.'

'No!' she huffed and planted herself in between his legs on the bed.

He sighed and took the hairbrush from her. He knew there was no way to argue with her when she was being stubborn, she always got what she wanted. However, it was times like this that he found himself falling in love with her over and over again. Her childlike whining to him was an expression of her affection and displayed how comfortable she felt with him. She was letting her guard down and allowing him to see the true Jessica. For this, his heart beat faster and faster. However for her, it was just a way for her to be spoilt by those she loved. Acting like a child allowed her to be showered with love and affection from those she needed it from the most. While mature, Jessica was in truth, very insecure. Growing up with so many sisters who were so carefree, loveable and adorable, Jessica never felt like she was the most important person to anyone. While their parents loved them equally and everyone else tried to do the same, it was easy to tell that while they grew up, Hyoyeon and Yuri were General Ki's favourites, Leeteuk loved Taeyeon and Seohyun the most, Yoona and Tiffany held the admiration of their music instructers and their cousins always favoured Sunny and Sooyoung over her. With Jonghyun in her life, she finally felt like he belonged solely to her, but she often needed to act spoilt around him to be reminded of this, especially during the current times when she felt more insecure than ever. She could not help but feel that the current situation in her Kingdom would break the two apart and as a result, needed to be loved more and more by him while she still could.

'What are you thinking about?' he whispered into her ear.

She smiled and turned, 'you.'

With that, the hairbrush was forgotten and the two were lost in their own world. Tonight was to be the night, she thought, I want to show him how much I love him.  Yuri could not rid herself of the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. While she was mainly concerned about General Ki's welfare, the uneasy feeling remained lerking in the background, like a shadow that followed in the corner of one's eye. The uneasy feeling compelled her to follow her fiancee's every move from her place in the centre of the bed. She watched as he sauntered out of the bathroom towel-drying his hair wearing nothing but boxers but pushed all sexual thoughts to the back of her mind when she realised a blush was creeping upon her cheeks. He picked up his map of the Royal property and examined it before turning to his bags and pulling out the maps of the secret hideout in the mountains. He frowned but looked up when he felt curious eyes on him. Instead of looking away and pretending to be interested in the blank wall like she usually did, Yuri continued to look at Minho lovingly. While he enjoyed seeing such affection in her eyes, became concerned at her odd behaviour.

'What's wrong?'