Freshly washed and pretty satisfied with herself, Iseul entered the bedroom to find three extremely winded girls flat on their backs.

She pressed her lips together, and feeling a little sorry for them, she said: "Don't worry, I was the same when I first got here. Please, take a shower and you'll soon feel better. Lessons will commence soon in the main building and the headmaster doesn't like it if you're late."

Groaning, Whan-wook sat up and rubbing her legs she whined: "Do we really have to do this every day? Why on earth do ladies have to run around like boys?"

With a sigh, Iseul explained: "We are Wonhwa now. It's a great honor. We will be trained in many types of martial arts and for that we need our bodies to be fit. It will also benefit your mind. Please hurry." She left the room, wondering if they would even last a week.

The girls stumbled into the classroom when the headmaster had just begun today's lesson. True to his word, the man treated the girls like he would have done with boys who were late and so they were held after class to copy several pages of the material they discussed.

On exiting the room, Iseul saw how the youngest, Ha-neul, was close to tears, but there was nothing she could do. If they came here for an easy way to find rich, handsome husbands, they were in the wrong place. Du Ho fell in step next to her and said, as soon as they were out of hearing range: "You did a lot better when you first came here."

Her eyes flew open wide and had it not been completely inappropriate, she would have given the boy a hug.

🌸

Lunch was almost a happy affair, now that the young men no longer completely ignored her. She sat beside Du Ho and answered various questions about various trifling subjects. In the meanwhile she studied the different groups that existed within the Hwarang school.

There was Jae-sung and the boys who were convinced he would be the next crown prince. Opposite them was Hojin and his band of followers. They seemed to be equal adversaries, whose minions regularly glared at the other group. It was almost funny. The two candidates themselves didn't seem to care whether the other were alive or dead.

At another table were the two other Hwarang who entered the selection. Iseul thought they looked rather disinterested. Perhaps they thought they didn't stand a chance, but were forced to participate, like her. The two commoners still ate alone.

When the three girls finally walked in, they had ten minutes of lunchtime left. The boys at Iseul's table had already left to go to the practice grounds and she was about to follow, but decided to stay when she saw the three standing a little forlorn. This time, none of the boys stood up for them and they were pretty much ignored.

"Over here," Iseul called and Ae-cha smiled visibly relieved. They sat down at the table and began taking little bites. Iseul sighed and urged: "You have less than ten minutes before practice begins, I suggest you forget your etiquette and take bigger bites."

Whan-wook huffed, but silently did as she said. Ha-neul played with her food. "I'm not very hungry. Why did we have to write so much? I've never had to do lines before," she wailed.

Patiently, Iseul said: "You'd better eat well. You need the energy."

"I'm beginning to regret the decision to come here," the girl said with pouting lips, but she did begin to eat. They were finished just in time and Iseul herded them over to the practice fields, where they were divided into groups. Because the three newcomers didn't have any experience whatsoever, they were sorted into the main sword-fighting group. Iseul's skills weren't advanced enough yet to do something else, so she was also left behind. Du Ho waved at her with a sorry expression and left for the archery field.

To her great surprise, Jae-sung was among the Hwarang who remained as well. Why did he have to stay? He was an excellent swordsman. When the two Jee brothers were also ordered to stay, she began to understand. There were twelve of them, which had to mean six of them were great and the rest ... wasn't.

They were paired up together with whom they just happened to be in front of, in her case: the youngest of the two commoners. But before Iseul could even lift the sword in her hand, someone pushed the boy in front of her aside. With a straight face, Jae-sung now stood before her and Chul-seok was forced to give way.

It took her a few seconds to recover, but then she set her free hand in her side and demanded: "What do you think you're doing?"

Jae-sung lifted an eyebrow, but remained stoically, which only upset her more.

"Please go back to the one you were paired with. I want to fight with Chul-seok."

Everyone around them stood still, openly curious about how this would play out. Iseul squinted as Jae-Sung planted his sword, point down, in the ground, as if to say he wouldn't budge. Fine, then she would.

She pulled Ha-neul, who was next to her with wide eyes and mouth agape, over to her place and once again stood in front of Chul-seok. The boy looked a whole lot better, since he had taken a bath. And now that he wore the same outfit as the rest of the boys, there wasn't anything setting him apart anymore. Hwarang all had the same rank, why was Jae-sung acting so strange? Was there perhaps a different reason? Did Binna tell him to be nicer to her? If that was the case, this was a strange way of showing it.

Again, Jae-sung marched up to the boy and again he shoved him out of the way. Iseul had it with him, but before she could say another word, objection came from a different corner.

"Leave him alone." It was Chul-yeo. His dark-brown eyes shone as he placed himself between Jae-sung and his brother. "What is your problem?"

This time, Jae-sung did answer. "She needs to be instructed properly, mind your own business."

Iseul tried to interfere, but was held back by the point of his sword. What in the world was he thinking? What did it matter who taught her? They were all better than her. She looked around, but of course, the instructor was nowhere to be seen. Well then, she had to solve her own problem.

With one hard blow of her sword, she thrusted Jae-sung's blade out of the way and walked over to where Chul-seok was standing. Without looking at either of the elder boys, she pulled her designated partner to a spot a little further away and placed him opposite her. Then she lifted her sword and bristled: "We don't have all day, now teach me!"

Chul-seok looked sideways with a helpless expression. He lifted his sword halfway, so Iseul charged and forced him to reciprocate. He easily blocked her, but now at least she had his full attention.

From the corner of her eye she could see Jae-sung walking up to them, but before he could say or do anything, the voice of the instructor bellowed over the field. "Why are there only two of you sparring? Form pairs, do as I say and improve your skills."

With a smug expression on her face, Iseul watched how Jae-sung retreated and began to instruct a terrified Ha-neul how to hold a sword.

Chul-seok also wore a slight smile and when she took a new stand, he lowered his sword and walked over to correct her. Arms a little higher, elbows out, shoulders back. He walked back, raised his own weapon and told her to attack again.