The group stood in front of a two-story house, waiting for Yunho to open the doors. It was pretty impressive, with bougainvillaea lining the fence and a little kitchen garden growing tomatoes and a few other vegetables Seonghwa didn't care for. Although, one could say he was intrigued by his partner's newfound interest in gardening. He looked back at the blond, who was still rummaging through his satchel, trying to spot the house key for the last fifteen minutes.

'Are you sure you even took them with you?' Wooyoung questioned.

'I remember keeping it here somewhere.' Yunho combed through the poor satchel, giving up and spilling all the contents on the ground.

'What's this for?' Pearl lifted a wooden goat figurine coloured in the most vibrant shade of blue she'd seen.

"For good luck." He snatched it back from her, stuffing it back into his seemingly bottomless bag. "The grandma next door gave it to me."

"And what's this?" She lifted mini cushions out of the pile.

"For emergencies." The blonde replied simply.

"What kind of emergency requires you to carry a whole cushion around?" Wooyoung rubbed his palms on his face, exhausted from running around all day at the fest. Getting no answer from Yunho, he had the most genius idea one could think of while half-asleep and tried turning the door knob. To everyone's surprise, the door opened. Yunho had forgotten to lock the door.

'You're an embarrassment, Yunho.' Seonghwa sighed, having never felt this amount of second-hand embarrassment before.

'Hey! Don't start acting like my dad now!'

________________________________________

Loud chatter filled the cosy living room of Yunho's house, the smell of freshly baked brownies wafting in the air as Mingi pulled them out of the oven. Seonghwa was sitting on the carpeted floor, working over the map of the castle premises and trying to remember all the escape routes right in front of Pearl, who was lying on the old brown couch, munching on the spicy wafers Yunho had offered before running off to god knows where. She took one bite herself before bringing another near Seonghwa's mouth.

The castle was heavily protected, even the most minor escape routes were sealed off or packed with guards on every corner. Seonghwa gratefully bit into the wafer as he marked out lesser-used or scantily guarded routes around the garden and royal chambers.

'Not there.' Wooyoung pointed out a secret tunnel connected to a storeroom Seonghwa had marked. 'That's a trap. Enter there and you'll be dead meat in seconds.' he sat down next to Seonghwa, erasing all the lines which led to traps or dead ends; which were, unfortunately, most of them.

'So, you're saying that we have no other escape route except for this one.' Seonghwa pointed at the tunnel behind the walls of the Queen's chamber.

'It's the safest one.' Pearl spoke up from the sofa. 'We do have one in the hallway near the library and one in the kitchen as well but the library is heavily guarded and the kitchen is way back on the ground floor of the palace.'

'What makes you so sure that these would be safe?' Seonghwa looked back at the princess, reaching out for one of the wafers himself this time.

'The royal family was more cautious about secrets than anyone thinks. There are some routes that even I don't know of.' Pearl pointed out a now closed-off tunnel right next to the ballroom 'This one, for example, I know about it but Wooyoung didn't till today.' The spy looked back at the bodyguard for confirmation.

'I still can't believe there are so many.' Wooyoung looked over the map more closely.

'Anyways, our problem isn't the escape,' Pearl slid down the sofa, onto the floor next to Seonghwa. 'It's the infiltration.'

'I think Yunho had some plan but his ass has been incognito since we got here.' Seonghwa stretched, rolling up the paper now that the work was done.

'Seriously though, where did he go?' Wooyoung looked around the house as if the blond would magically appear from thin air right in front of them.

'Looking for me?' And perhaps he did, opening the door with incredible difficulty. His hands were full of a basket full of fruits, some flowers and what seemed to be like-

'Where did you get that from?' Seonghwa pointed at the golden dog sitting comfortably in Yunho's arms. Its coat perfectly matched Yunho's hair, cascading down in beautiful curls as it lay on its back, being held like an infant in the tall spy's long arms.

He let the dog down, letting it roam around and get used to its new surroundings. 'He's Guava. The old lady down the road couldn't take care of him anymore so I took him with me.'

'And what about these fruits?'

'The lady next door gave it to me.'

'And these flowers?'

'Oh.' Yunho took one flower out of the bunch and handed it to Pearl, then another one to Wooyoung, and then one to a blushing Mingi who had just entered to see what the commotion was about. 'It's a welcome gift for all of you.' He proudly proclaimed.

'Hey! What about me then?' Seonghwa extended his hand, pouting.

'Oh, I have the most special one for you!' Yunho turned around, Shuffling through his damn satchel again, 'I saved the prettiest flower for you!'

'If you're going to turn around, cup your face and say you're the flower, I will slit your throat and feed your bones to Guava.' This alerted the canine, who had plopped down next to the couch, chewing on its corners, much to Yunho's dismay.

'Hey! This cost me eleven coins!' He dragged the retriever away from the couch, handing him one of his toys before rejoining the group. 'Anyways,' he began, 'before we begin with the plan, I need a proper introduction.'

After a whole lot of explanation and shocked gasps from Yunho later, everyone sat in the living room, completely silent; save for Guava's snores. 'So you're telling me,' The blond began, 'that you're the princess of Alhena,' he pointed at Pearl, 'you are her bodyguard,' he pointed at Wooyoung 'and you're her cousin.' He summarised.

'For the seventh time, yes.' Wooyoung yawned from his seat.

'And the current King was your fiance?'

'Yes, Yunho. That's exactly how it was.'

'Woah.' The blond went back to staring at the floor, not blinking once as he processed his thoughts. 'So you're telling me that you're the prin-'

'Okay, enough.' Seonghwa interrupted, slapping the back of his partner's head.

'I knew your luck was like a man with asthma walking into a room full of smoke but I didn't know it was this bad.' Yunho looked at the redhead with an expression that was a weird mix of amusement, surprise, and pity.

'Trust me, I didn't think it was this bad either.' Seonghwa sighed. 'Anyways, what now?'

'You guys are aware that we can just do all the job for you, right?' Yunho turned to the trio 'That's why we were hired.'

'Yes. We painfully are. Seonghwa has been reminding us ever since this morning.' Wooyoung drawled.

'And that if you got caught you might end up as breakfast for the king's dogs?'

'Yes, Yunho. We know.'

'And the king only has Pugs.' Seonghwa added.

'Don't judge a book by its cover, honey. Those things are satanic.' Yunho widened his eyes animatedly. Seonghwa was fully familiar with his partner's utter dislike for the flat-faced, wrinkly breed of dog after one had bitten him on the leg when he was about twelve, but it still shocked him how passionate he was about it.

'Anyways, what's your decision?' He redirected the conversation back on track; knowing that if he let the tall boy continue, he might rant his heart out till sunrise.

'Well, since technically they're our employers, we're bound to follow what they want,' the blond shrugged.

'Great!' Mingi chirped. 'So what's your plan?'

Grandmas love Yunho.
I am grandmas-