The team returned to a shining house and the smell of a delicious warm meal waiting for them. They entered the dining hall, starving and tired to be met with the sight of Pearl serving the dishes as Seonghwa cleaned the kitchen.

'Meat!' San groaned before dropping all the traps he had set for Hongjoong for revenge on the floor. The captain shuddered as he saw the super sharp knives that clanged on being dropped, thanking the heavens that the prince chose to show mercy as he joined him after washing his hands. Everyone ate in silence, too tired to utter a single word after running around the town for the whole day. Not Wooyoung though, he had different plans.

'So, when are you two getting married?' Seonghwa choked on his rice, startled by the silver-haired instigator of all chaos' question.

'Wooyoung!' Pearl groaned, patting her boyfriend's back as she handed her a cup of water.

'What? It's a valid question!' he insisted, turning his attention back to the choking spy who was trying to avoid his gaze at all costs. 'So, when's the marriage?' He asked again, snickering at the deep red that spread over Seonghwa's face all the way to his ears and neck.

'I mean,' He started, 'It's a bit too soon to be thinking of marriage.'

'So you don't plan on marrying her?' Wooyoung snapped.

'No!' Seonghwa's eyes shot back to Wooyoung as he tried to clarify what he meant.

'No?' Wooyoung exclaimed.

'I mean yes!'

'What?' Pearl cried.

'I mean that it's a very serious commitment and I don't think we're ready for it yet. We met not even two months ago and I think we need more time than that to decide. Besides the situation right now is not ideal- Hey! you're just pulling my leg!' He stopped his monologue and huffed at the clearly snickering bodyguard causing the table to break into laughter. Seonghwa pouted at his teammates, going back to his curry and rice and shoving mouthfuls as he tried to avoid meeting anyone's eyes at the table.

'Hey! You'll choke like that!' Wooyoung finally gave his teasing a rest, stopping the spy from shoving his mouth full of plain rice.

'Ah! I feel lonely now that there's a couple in the team.' Mingi sighed, secretly eyeing the Golden-haired beanpole who sat right next to him before leaning his head on San dramatically. Seonghwa was sure he heard his partner mumble a low 'I could help with that,' followed by a string of jealousy-filled colourful words addressed to the poor clueless prince. He had to hold himself back from slapping the back of his head, opting to curse at his idiocy and obliviousness in his head instead.

'Please don't tell me you're that lovey-dovey, affectionate type of couple,' Jongho begged the two, visibly shuddering at the thought of his senior and the princess being all mushy right in front of his salad. Jongho was, as Yeosang liked to call him, allergic to happy couples. In fact, his favourite pastime hobby back home was observing couples frolicking around in parks and marketplaces and sending them judgemental looks so, one could guess what observing one up close like this would do to his mental health.

'Oh, don't worry about that! We're completely cool.' Pearl reassured them as she passed them their desserts to end the meal.

They were, in fact, not cool at all. Jongho felt nauseous as he witnessed the scene of the princess sitting on his senior's lap, both of them cosied up in a warm blanket as Yunho went over the details of the plan. 'Since Seonghwa here is adamant about not letting princess go near Ember,' Yunho pointed at the spy who was all but melting into the tangle of couch cushions, blankets and Pearl, secretly cringing on the inside watching his friend since childhood be so...weird. He couldn't think of a better word; everything about this situation was so weird to him. The fact that Seonghwa is actually dating, that somehow his sleep-deprived old hag attitude landed him a princess, that he's letting Pearl get so into his personal space; It seems as if the invisible wall he built around himself for all these years doesn't exist for the princess. As if to prove his point, Pearl turned to land a loud smooch on her boyfriend's cheek. That was something he'd need to get used to. He coughed, raising his eyebrow at the couple who was lost in their own world. 'If your shameless display of affection is done, should we get back to the plan?'

'You're just jealous.' Pearl poked out her tongue, teasing him childishly.

'Hmm, sure honey,' he won't admit it even if she was right. 'Anyways, back to the plan. Since being with Ember won't be the safest option for Pearl, I devised a way to distract him while we do our job.'

'And that is?' Pearl questioned.

'Me.' Prince San raised his hand from where he was sitting.

'You're going to make out with Ember?' Pearl shrieked.

'What? No!' San looked back at the horrified princess, flabbergasted at the assumption.

'Then how exactly are you going to distract him?' Pearl frowned, looking equally confused at the prince's strategy to distract her ex-fiance.

'Talking? wasting his time? engaging him in pointless talks till you all successfully complete your tasks hopefully?'

'Oh,' Pearl sat back down, scratching her head. 'That's a much better method than what I had in mind.'

'Wait, what?' Seonghwa's grip tightened around Pearl.

'Ha ha, did I say something? I didn't right? Let's move on!' Pearl interrupted the redhead, looking at Yunho to resume the conversation before it was too late.

'This is why you shouldn't read erotica for inspiration in an actual mission.' Mingi whispered under his breath so that only his cousin could hear.

'No wait I need to know what exact-' Seonghwa was interrupted by a loud bang against the table.

'I'd prefer if you two discussed the details of her plan after we're done with this conversation,' Yunho sighed, done with the two at this point. 'Back to how San is going to distract Ember,' he continued. 'He'll engage with him in the usual princely talk. You know, the weather, border and the welfare of subjects and all that boring stuff,' The blond made random hand gestures, hoping that the rest of them would understand. To his delight, they did. 'While Ember is away, Wooyoung, you're supposed to leave with Pearl and Mingi through one of the passages. Jongho and Yeosang would be waiting for you two outside of the palace walls. All three of you would immediately leave for Nashira,' The three nodded in understanding.

'A carriage would be waiting for you near the border to take you to the capital. Your driver's name is Yeonjun. Yeosang knows him' The said guard nodded his head, sending a reassuring smile at them. 'Seonghwa and I would acquire the documents. My sources said that it's in the library. Any idea where it specifically could be?'

'Our official documents are kept in the farthest section of the library,' Mingi looked at the other two Alhenians for confirmation. 'It's heavily guarded though and locked.'

'Don't worry I'm an excellent lock picker.' Yunho said nonchalantly as if it was just some skill everyone had. 'Besides, Seonghwa could take care of the guards.'

'How many are there?' Seonghwa questioned.

'I don't know, somewhere between ten to fifteen.' Pearl spoke from her seat. The two infiltrators nodded, silently agreeing to discuss this later.

'You should also look in the drawers of my family's personal library,' Pearl suggested, pointing at one corner of the library which was labelled "restricted". 'I have a feeling he won't keep it at a place where it could be easily discovered. The lockers are too obvious a place.'

'Good point,' Yunho marked the map with small crosses over the lockers and the personal library. 'We would be going in as a part of Prince San's convoy. After we're done, we'll exit through the same route as you and hopefully be out of the country by morning.'

'Wow, you really thought this through.' Hongjoong patted the Blond's back.

'When do I don't?' he scoffed.

'I could list a few instances,' Seonghwa fired. 'Remember when we got trapped in hunting nets because of you?'

'Or when we had to jump into the river because you insisted that the other route was unsafe.' Hongjoong added.

'We were covered in leeches after that!' Seonghwa chuckled, 'Good old times.' the rest of the team looked at the three as if they were crazy, which they were.

'I might be having second thoughts,' Pearl whispered to Mingi.

'To be honest, me too,' her cousin mumbled back.

'Alright, that was the entire plan of action. Does anyone have any questions?' Yunho scanned the room, collecting all the maps splayed across the table to shove them into his endless satchel. 'Where's Jongho?'

'He left hours ago,' Yeosang replied. 'Something about the sight being too much for his poor stomach.'

Jongho was, in fact, out barfing at the sweet scene that the two love birds put on display throughout the meeting.

I am Jongho in every situation.

I am SO sorry for these irregular updates you guys! My college has been kicking my ass, wrangling my mental health and suffocating it to death these days. I'll try to be more regular with the updates. In the meantime, I ask for your patience and support.

Don't hesitate to tell me how you found this update to be!