FELLOWSHIP || Ateez Fanfiction

Chapter Fourteen: Deceived

Mingi POV
It is already evening. Hongjoong said we will reach Muelstatt's harbor in two hours. I played with Yunho, San and Jongho the whole day but now Jongho and Yunho are on their shift and San said that he wants to be alone for a while. Hongjoong has gone to bed and Seonghwa is cleaning again.
Wooyoung and Yeosang have been to themselves the whole day. They looked a bit anxious for some reason.
I don't know what I should do now. Maybe I could talk with Yunho in the crow's nest but it's super cold outside.
I really wonder what our two Nekra refugees are talking about.
I guess I could eavesdrop on them for a bit.

I sneak towards the bedroom and press my ear against the door.
"I'm so scared that someone will recognize me, even with different clothes and my hair styled differently.", I hear Yeosang say.
"They won't. It has been two years since they saw you. I don't think that they would remember, except if the king saw you. He might still be able to recognize you. But since we don't plan to go inside the castle the chance that we will meet him is almost zero."
"I just really don't want them to find out. What would they think of me then? That I somehow wanted use them to spy on the other countries or that I want the treasure to make my family more powerful? I don't want to lose them. They are almost like a family to me."
"I know."
Why would we think of him like that? I am now 100 percent sure that they aren't who we think they are but things still don't quite add up to me.
Who are they really?

We finally arrive at the harbor but since it is already late we go to bed.
The next morning we go into the city to sell the things we found. The city is huge and most of the houses are half-timbered houses. On our way to a jewelry store we see an announcement pinned to a house at the main road that today at 11 am is the winterfest parade.
"Can we go and see it?", I ask.
"I want to see it too.", Yunho says.
"Me too.", San comments.
"I'm curious, too.", Jongho adds.
"Yes, let's go there.", Seonghwa says.
"Sure. Why not.", Hongjoong replies.
I notice that Wooyoung is unusual quiet today and Yeosang hides behind him everytime someone walks past us. He also hid his birthmark with his hair today. We are able to sell almost everything and make a lot of gold.

Somehow we are able to get a good position in the front row for the parade. We have to wait a while until the parade finally reaches us. At the front of it walks the king and greets the people. Behind him walk people in various costumes that throw small paper bags with cookies into the crowd.
Yeosang tries to hide but we are quite squeezed together and Seonghwa has wrapped his arms around him. So instead he looks to the ground to hide his face. Wooyoung nervously bites his lip. The king gets very close to us and looks in our direction.
Then he walks straight towards us.
Did he really recognize Yeosang?
"Crown prince, I didn't know you were here too. I almost didn't see but your valet fortunately has a very recognizable face.", he says.
Yeosang looks up.
"Y-yeah, I guess he does."
"I will send a guard here that will accompany you to the castle."
"O-okay."
The king moves on. The people around us look at us and whisper things behind our backs. The others look at Yeosang shocked. I still can't believe it myself. Is he really the prince of the Nekra Kingdom?
Was his friendly and cute personality just facade? And Wooyoung, did he fake all of it too?
Seonghwa lets go of Yeosang and takes a step back.
"C-crown prince?! Of the Nekra Kingdom?!", San exclaims.
Yeosang covers his face with his hands. Wooyoung puts his arm around his shoulder.
"All this time I had the son of Nekra's king on my ship?! Why my ship? What is your family planning? Did you send the assassin to kill us and take over the ship?", Hongjoong asks furiously.
"It is not how it seems. We will explain everything later.", Wooyoung says.

A half hour later a guard appears that brings us to the castle. Inside the castle, a man dressed in expensive clothes greets us.
"Welcome to Muelstatt Castle. The king still needs a few more minutes. You can follow me. The king's valet will show your servants where they can stay in meantime."
"They are my friends, not my servants, and they will come with me.", Yeosang says.
"I understand. Then all of you, follow me!"
He brings us to a room with a big table and lots of chairs around it.
A woman and a man from the Nekra Kingdom are already sitting at the table. We take a seat and the man leaves us alone with the two.
The woman suddenly starts laughing.
"Look who we got here. Prince Yeosang and his valet who so cowardly ran away."
"Shut up *****! Yeosang isn't a coward...", Wooyoung screams and grabs the woman by the collar but Yeosang holds him back.
"Don't mess around and sit down.", he calmly says.
Wooyoung lets go of the woman and sits down again.
It is very quiet but the atmosphere is tense.