Antifragile

When Sakura awoke the next morning, everyone else was already awake and eating breakfast. She walked past Chaewon and Kazuha having a staring match, oblivious to everyone else staring at her.

“Is she this really this dense or is she pretending not to notice?” Yujin whispered to Yena.

“Leave her be.” Eunbi chided.

Sakura returned with a small bowl of leftover soup, happily gobbling it down as the staring match between Chaewon and Kazuha continued. Eunbi looked mildly annoyed by Sakura’s ignorance, but the others were rather amused.

“Is something wrong?” Sakura asked slowly when she finally noticed them staring at her.

“Your girlfriend and your best friend have been fighting over you for the past hour and we were waiting for you to break it up.” Wonyoung deadpanned.

It was only then that Sakura noticed Chaewon and Kazuha were glaring daggers at each other, neither side willing to give in.

“What’s going on?” Sakura demanded, pulling them apart as she sat herself in between them.

“Chaewon has something to say to you.” Kazuha insisted.

“I don’t! Whatever you heard last night was utter nonsense. I was asleep the whole night! How can you be sure it was me anyway?” Chaewon argued.

“Who else speaks in the same way as you?” Kazuha answered dryly with a condescending look.

“I’m telling you, you heard the wrong thing! And besides, even if it was true how is it any of your business? It’s my love-life and I can like who I want!”

“It is my business when it involves the princess. We may no longer be in the palace, but it is still my job to look after her. I just don’t want her getting hurt or distracted.” Kazuha refuted.

“Okay that’s enough. Clearly the both of you have unresolved issues with each other, so get over it. I’m not some toy for the two of you to argue about. Did either of you even stop to consider my feelings? How can you both be so sure of what I want?” Sakura screamed, silencing her two bickering friends.

“And Mount Sakura has exploded.” Eunchae remarked softly, earning her a slap from Yunjin.

“Sakura I’m sorry I swear I wasn’t-“

“Don’t, just don’t. Please. I just need some space for a while.” Sakura interrupted, cutting Chaewon off as she stood up.

“Where are you going?” Eunbi called after her.

“I don’t know, I just need some fresh air.”

“Be careful, the soldiers are still walking around.” Wonyoung reminded her.

Sakura flashed her a brief smile before leaving, heaving a big sigh as she closed the door. Kazuha and Chaewon sat facing each other, still reeling from the shock. This was the first time Sakura had ever blown up like that, and they were beginning to feel guilty.

“I should go after her.” Kazuha quickly said as she scrambled to stand.

“No, stay. She needs some time alone right now. I’ll quietly tail her from behind until she cools off. Yunjin, you’re in charge.” Eunbi replied, quietly slipping out of the house.

Eunbi watched from afar as Sakura stomped along the crowded streets, trying to walk her anger off. Few people paid attention to her, assuming that she was merely a lady angry with her husband. She followed behind her from a safe distance, just to ensure that nothing happened.

Sakura wandered around aimlessly for a long time, before she finally grew tired and entered a small tavern. Eunbi waited until Sakura was seated before she snuck into the tavern as well, hiding a few tables away from Sakura.

To her surprise, the princess immediately ordered some bread and alcohol. She nearly protested out loud, but Sakura seemed to have no problem holding her liquor. The princess downed cup after cup of wine, even managing to impress some of the merchants surrounding her.

“My lady, would you do me the honour of accepting my challenge to a drinking game?” A rather handsome looking man asked politely.

“Of course I would. What are the stakes?”

“If you win, I’ll give you 500 nyang. If I win, you have to spend the night with me. Sound fair?”

Eunbi wanted to protest out loud, but remembered that she wasn’t even supposed to be there. When Sakura nodded her head to accept, Eunbi instinctively wanted to run out and grab Sakura to run away. However, she trusted the princess enough to know that Sakura would never let the man win.

“Challenge, begin!” The tavern owner declared as the large jars of wine were placed in front of them.

Sakura and the man drank cup after cup, effortlessly reaching round ten without even stopping. By round fifteen however, Sakura was beginning to falter while the man still seemed completely unaffected. Sakura’s cheeks were beginning to blush, her body slowly swaying from side to side. She wouldn’t last much longer.

Sakura forced herself to continue until round twenty five, where her body finally gave in and she collapsed onto the table, unconscious. All of the man’s supporters cheered, and his previous gentlemanly facade gave way to his lust as he eyed Sakura’s body.

“Stop!” Eunbi shouted as he reached for Sakura.

“We had a deal, back off.” He growled.

“The deal isn’t valid if you cheated. Don’t think I didn’t notice that you were buddies with our little tavern owner friend over here. Can you confidently say right now that the liquid in your jars were all wine?” Eunbi challenged.

“Of…of course! Who are you question me?” He spluttered.

“Fine, so it should be no problem if we get an unbiased bystander to judge. Right?”

“Right…right.”

Eunbi beckoned a random person from one of the adjacent tables to test the jars. The man was growing increasingly nervous, but he couldn’t risk losing his cool and admitting he cheated in front of everyone.

“All of these jars contained wine, and a very strong wine if I might add.” The person declared, gesturing to Sakura’s jars.

He frowned as he tested the man’s jars, repeatedly drinking it while looking confused.

“This isn’t wine, this is water.” He announced.

“Ah damn it! Screw you meddling bitch. ” The man cursed.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be taking this poor girl away to somewhere safe. Obviously I can’t trust your integrity after the stunt you just pulled.” Eunbi replied confidently, carrying Sakura on her back.

“Or…we could just take both of you by force. Get them boys.” The man snickered as more men surrounded the two of them.

“I really didn’t want to have to do this, but you are getting on my nerves.” Eunbi sighed as she set Sakura down gently.

Eunbi then whirled around to face the man, grabbing her knife as she did so. Her knife ended up inches away from his throat as the man froze in fear, eyes fixated on the knife.

“Let us go now, or I won’t hesitate to kill every single one of you.” Eunbi threatened.

“You wouldn’t dare. You’re just a weak, single maiden.” He scoffed, though he sounded unconvinced.

“You wanna try me?” Eunbi demanded, using the blade to draw some blood from the man’s neck.

“Okay, okay! I surrender. Stand down boys. Let’s go.” The man conceded, scrambling to run away as fast as possible.

“That’s what I thought.” Eunbi said with a triumphant smirk.

Eunbi easily grabbed Sakura, who was slowly regaining consciousness, and helped her all the way back to the hut. Sakura was still very drunk, but Eunbi just wanted to get home as quick as possible. It was enough trouble for one day.

“Unnie, what happened?” Chaewon asked as she ran outside to help Eunbi.

“A drinking contest and some dirty men happened.” Eunbi groaned.

“Dirty men? Don’t tell me they…”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t let them. You didn’t think I’d sit and let it happen did you?”

“Of course not. Sorry, I was just worried.” Chaewon apologised as she led Sakura back inside.

“Chaewon…is that you?” Sakura slurred, still swaying on her feet.

“Yes , it’s me. How much did you drink?” Chaewon exclaimed.

“Let me show you.” Sakura answered with a loopy grin, leaning in towards Chaewon.

Sakura firmly planted her lips on top of Chaewon’s, a grin on her face as she kissed her.