Yunho jerked awake from his sleep when he heard a loud knock on his door. From the sound of it, it must be from one of the royal guards, specifically his father's because it's only them that will knock on his door like they wanted to tear it down. Yunho sighed, rubbing his eyes with his fists and trudge to the door sleepily.

"Yes?" Yunho mumbled, looking at the guard sleepily. "The King summoned you to the main hall. Lord Mingi had told him that you are healed completely and he wishes to see you now." Yunho blinked a few times to get rid of the sleepiness and nodded his head at the guard, "I'll be there."

Yunho closed the door and yawned. It has been a week and his back is healed, thanks to Mingi's magic and salves. Can't even let me be for more than a week.. I miss it when I'm free to stroll around when naneth(mother) is still alive.. Yunho sighed while getting ready to go and meet his father in the main hall. He put on a casual tunic and made sure that his hair is not in disarray before walking out of his room and went straight to the main hall.

Yunho halted for a bit when he saw that their guests were in the main hall too. I think I've experienced this before.. Yunho thought before bowing a little to their guests which they all reciprocated and he went to the front, meeting his father.

"Yunho."

Yunho bowed before answering, "Yes, my king?"

"Since you are healed, I have a new duty for you."

Yunho sighed subtly, already expecting it and nodded his head quietly.

"I received some reports a few days ago from the west guards. About 200 orcs were sighted near our west border but they did not try to breach the border yet. I want you to execute all of them. We can't have orcs strolling near our borders."

"Yes, my king. Who will I be going with? Or are you sending me alone?" Yunho asked and he hoped that the king wouldn't be sending him all alone to fight with 200 orcs. He might be good at fighting but 200 orcs? He doesn't think that he can fight with all of them and get out of it unscathed.

"I will send 5 elves with you, Garreth, Aerovan, Jun, Fynn and Cael. Lord Mingi, Lord San and Lord Jongho will also accompany you as they are the top 3 warriors in Fronithien and voluntered to go help us." King Seojoon smirked as he announced the names that would accompany Yunho and he smirked became more apparent when he caught Yunho grimaced. Being with your 'Lord Mingi' out in the wild without me watching your every movement and your monthly cycle is coming in the next few days would be a great way for Lord Mingi to fuss over you more and maybe will finally confess to you. I'll be able to punish you once they go back to Fronithien.

Yunho pursed his lips in a thin line but nodded his head to the king. Father is doing this on purpose.. He doesn't want the Fronithien elves to know that I am blessed by the Valar to have children yet he sends me away with them when he knows that my monthly cycle is coming.. Of course elves won't bleed like normal women and I'm thankful that my monthly cycle is of elf rather than human but it will still be painful with the cramps.. Not to mention that I would be weaker than normal until it is gone.. I must hide it so the Lords wouldn't notice.. Yunho sighed subtly and waited for his father to give more orders.

"I prefer if all of you can start as soon as possible. Would tonight be alright?" King Seojoon asked the 3 Fronithien Lords and they gave him a smile, nodding their head in unison. "We can do that. We can leave after dinner." Mingi said after he had a quick look from his brothers and the King smiled in satisfaction.

"Tonight it is then. All of you are dismissed and I'll see you at the dining hall tonight. Yunho, please stay for a moment." Seojoon said and the Fronithien elves bowed before heading out of the main hall as Yunho watched Mingi anxiously until his father cleared his throat, making Yunho turn around and face his father.

"I hope you still remember what I told you when they first came here, Yunho." Seojoon said with a stern face, hiding his smirk as best as he can. "I do but why are you doing this, my king..? You knew that my monthly cycle is coming in a few days yet you let them come with me.." Yunho retorted softly, his gaze on the floor as he didn't want to be seen as being very rude to the king.

"They volunteered before I can say much so I had no choice but to let them or they will be more suspicious and I don't want that. I really want this diplomatic relationship to happen, Yunho and I don't want anyone to ruin it. Especially you just because you can't control your weakness." Seojoon said while glaring at Yunho making the half-elf squirm uncomfortably, biting on his lower lips feeling ashamed.

"I apologize, my king.. I will do my best to not let them know about it." Yunho muttered making the king smirked as he knew it would be impossible as he had seen it before how the monthly cycle weakened his half-elf son. "Please do as I don't want them to know about it at all or you will be severely punished. You are dismissed and don't even bother to eat today. You can eat in the wild."

Yunho bowed and left the main hall, walking to his room with his shoulders slumped.

--

Warm cotton cloth can help with the cramps but then I need to warm the cloth over the fire first. How can I warm it without being suspicious..? The fire would be in the middle of the camp.. I just hope this one won't be a bad one because I still need to kill the orcs.. Valar.. Give me strength to kill the orcs when my monthly cycle comes..

Yunho flopped down on his bed, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down as he could feel his anxiety rising. He tapped on his cheeks and started to gather his things as they would be out in the wild for around 2 weeks to patrol the west border and make sure that all the orcs are killed.

Yunho checked his weapons, the arrows and 2 knives, making sure all of them are sharp enough and the bow in good condition before putting them neatly beside his packsack. He went to his balcony and sat on the stone chair, sighing softly while looking at the scenery. He closed his eyes and started singing softly making the trees nearby flutter their leaves softly as they hummed in sync with Yunho's singing.

--

"Alright, the horses are ready." Eden whispered to himself as he pat one of the horses closest to him when Yunho arrived at the stable. "Eden? What are you doing here? I was just about to prepare the horses but it looks like you already did." Yunho smiled a little and went to his own horse, a golden champagne wild horse, well, used to be a wild horse but Yunho found him injured years ago while on patrol and had treated him. The horse won't part with Yunho since then.

Yunho laughed when his horse pawed softly, looking at him excitedly after seeing Yunho entered the stable. "Hello Glor, did you miss me?" Yunho whispered while patting his forehead. Glor huffed softly, rubbing his cheek on Yunho's head eliciting a giggle from the half-elf.

"I wanted to make sure everything is fine with the horses as I won't be coming with all of you. Just wanted to ease your duty for a bit." Eden said as he helped Yunho tie his packsack on Glor. "The king won't be happy if he knew that you helped me with my duty." Yunho looked at Eden with a small amused smile that made Eden chuckle. "Well, no one saw me so you'll be fine." Yunho shook his head at Eden's answer while giggling a bit.

"Aside from the Fronithien Elves, who will be coming with you?"

"Garreth, Aerovan, Jun, Fynn and Cael."

"...I see.. I hope Garreth and Fynn won't give you a hard time."

"I doubt that.. But at least I know that the other 3 won't.. They are somewhat nice to me.." Yunho gave Eden a forced smile as the royal guard ruffled Yunho's hair.

"Trying to flirt with the prince's personal bodyguard again, half-elf?"

Yunho groaned quietly that only Eden could hear him, he rolled his eyes before turning around to face the owner of the voice. He was about to retort when Eden spoke first, "Talking is not flirting penneth(young one), I thought you would be wiser because you are already 1025 years old. Just because you are slightly older than Yunho, doesn't mean that you can belittle him everytime you see him. Half-elf or not, he is the firstborn of our king and one of the princes too."

Garreth paled a little as Eden rarely reprimanded them whenever they teased Yunho but Eden really had enough as he saw how Yunho seems to be stressing a lot lately. "Why are you here Lord Eden? Are you coming with us too?" Garreth asked, changing the subject as he doesn't know how to retaliate to what Eden had said.

"No I'm not penneth. I'm just going to see all of you off."

Gerreth nodded his head as he slightly glared at Yunho who was staring at him impassively. "What are you looking at?" Garreth snarled at Yunho. "Did you had a quick sex before coming here without washing yourself from the smell? Your braid is crooked too. Is that how you are presenting yourself towards the Royals of Fronithien?" Yunho impassively stared back at Garreth making the latter blushed and quickly reach for his braid, undoing it quickly and trying to braid it again.

"Shut up, I did not smell of sex."

"You're not. You reeked of it." Yunho retorted and Garreth blushed even redder. "Might do something about that before the royals come. The king won't be happy if he knew how unhygienic his elves are." Garreth gritted his teeth and rushed to a nearby well to clean himself a little and Yunho finally giggled after he had made sure Garreth won't hear him.

"Can you giggle one more time, my lord?"

Yunho widened his eyes when he heard Mingi's voice and quickly turned around, blushing for a bit as Eden smirked subtly seeing the red on Yunho's cheeks. "W-why?" Yunho asked, tilting his head cutely while trying to get rid of his blush. "I love the sound of it." Mingi answered in a heartbeat making Yunho choke on his spit. Mingi widened his eyes, rushing to Yunho and patting his back until the latter stopped his coughing fit.

"My lord?"

"Yes, my lord?"

"Do me a favor, don't say those things in front of the king. Please?"

Mingi blinked and nodded his head, "As you wish, my lord."

"Where is Lord San and Lord Jongho?"

"They'll be here in a few minutes, their husbands are making it hard for them to leave." Mingi chuckles, shaking his head as Yunho nodded his head in understanding. The 3 of them talk for a bit while waiting for the others to arrive.

--

The first 3 days went without a hitch and they arrived at the start of the west border in no time.

Yunho was helping everyone setting their camp for the night when the first cramp came. He stumbled a little and would have fallen on his knees if not for his quick reflexes. Yunho bit his lips to prevent himself from groaning out loud as his lower stomach cramped up. He had to sit down at one of the tree roots nearby, pulling both of his knees closer to his chest to ease the cramps for a bit and take a few slow and deep breaths while at it.

"Since you seem so free right now, how about you go and hunt for our dinner, half-elf?" Fynn raised his voice from where he was setting up his bedroll, making Yunho jump a bit as he was so focused on his cramping stomach to be alert of his surroundings. Yunho took one last deep breath before standing up and walking to his packsack to retrieve his bow and arrows as he had put them down so he could set up the camp earlier.

"Do you want me to come with you, my lord?" Mingi asked once he approached the half-elf. Yunho gave him a small smile, shaking his head at the heir. "No, it's fine. You should rest. You hunted for us yesterday. I'll be quick." Yunho said, giving Mingi another small smile before bowing a bit and rushed to one of the trees and climbed on it. He loved hunting from on top of the trees, it's easier as the trees would help him blind the wild animals so he can shoot at them easily.

Though Yunho is somewhat struggling to hunt right now. His stomach keeps on cramping and his hands start shaking so he can't aim at the rabbits properly. He groaned when his stomach cramped up again for the ninth time and gave up to shoot the rabbits as he shakily sat on the branch while pressing his hand on his lower stomach. Valar.. I will never have a calm monthly cycle.. How can I hide this from Mingi?? He's a healer and I'm sure he would notice sooner or later..

Yunho closed his eyes, praying hard for the cramps to ease up so he could start hunting and after whimpering and massaging his lower stomach for 10 minutes, the cramps finally stopped. Yunho huffed out a shaky breath and concentrated on hunting those rabbits now, as fast as he could before the cramping started again.

Mingi looked over to where Yunho had gone and he started to feel worried when Yunho took longer than 1 hour to hunt for their dinner. He saw how fast Yunho is with his bow and arrows and knew that the half-elf is a great hunter too. He was going to go and look for Yunho when the half-elf stumbled into their camp site with a few rabbits and dropped it near the fire.

"What took you so long? I'm famished!" Garreth snarled at Yunho making the half-elf glare at him. "Then start skinning them and cook. Do I have to do that myself too or what? You told me you hate my cooking so do you really want me to cook this rabbit now?" Yunho retorts as he is irritated with Garreth right now and the cramps in his lower stomach are not helping.

"Hey, he's older than you Yunho. Show some respect." Fynn reprimands Yunho though he is a bit scared as he never saw the half-elf lashed out at anyone before. Usually Yunho would be hiding in his room and his father would let him be because he doesn't really want other elves to know that Yunho can bear children and will have a monthly cycle every month. Only him, Kyungho and Eden know about it.

"For 4 years. That is equivalent to 4 months in human years. We're practically the same age so shut up. Stop trying to reprimand me on my every move when you yourself can't aim at a rabbit properly."

Fynn gaped at him as Garreth took the rabbits and quickly skinned them as he didn't want to deal with this Yunho because it won't end well. He heard from several elves that sometimes Yunho can be very aggressive and retort to anyone that gets on his nerves. He would also fight back when he is like that and he would win most of the time so he only would bully the half-elf when he is in his 'normal' personality.

Fynn was about to fight him when Garreth pulled him back and shook his head, giving a look at Fynn that made the latter huffed and started to help Garreth cook their dinner instead. Yunho huffed quietly and went to his bedroll, laying down on his side and sighed. His stomach had started to hurt again and he knew he wouldn't be able to eat without throwing up later. His monthly cycle is that bad and Yunho hates it with passion.

He must've dozed off because he was awoken by Mingi softly threading his fingers into Yunho's locks while calling him softly. "My lord? Wake up. You should eat something before sleeping." Yunho hummed sleepily and was about to reply when his stomach decided to be a nuisance as it cramped up again.

Yunho whimpered and pressed a hand on his lower stomach while clenching his eyes shut making Mingi put a hand on Yunho's waist, his face in a worried frown. "My lord? Are you alright?" Mingi asked and Yunho finally registered that he had whimpered in front of Mingi when he was supposed to hide his pain. "I'm alright. Just a s-small uncomfortable feeling. M-must be because I t-tripped and hit my s-stomach on one of the t-tree roots." Yunho lies and sits up from his bedroll, giving Mingi a small smile assuring that he is fine.

"Can I take a look at it? It might be serious."

Yunho paled slightly and quickly shook his head, "N-no. It's alright. I will s-seek you if it g-gets unbearable." Yunho muttered and Mingi sighed softly and nodded his head. "Alright. Let's eat, dinner is ready." Mingi said softly and they were about to go and eat their portion when everyone stopped moving as their survival instinct flared within their bodies.

"Get down!" Yunho shouted as he quickly ducked and widened his eyes slightly when he felt an arrow fly past him, nearly touching his left cheek. Yunho quickly grabbed his bow and arrows, already drawing one of the arrows and shooting to where the arrow that tried to pierced him from and all of them instantly heard a grunt with a lot of running footsteps coming towards them.

"Yrch! (Orcs!)"