Three weeks has passed since they started heading towards Blackbalt Snow, Jongho and Seonghwa took turns in training Neil, he improved pretty well, but he still can't fight in real battle.
Seonghwa was having a duel with him on the main deck while Valerie, Yunho and Yeosang watched from the quarterdeck "don't be so hard on him!!" Yunho shouted for him to hear, he was leaning his elbows on the railings as well as Yeosang and Valerie "don't worry, I won't" Seonghwa assured him.
They stood opposite of each other en garde "begin" Seonghwa ordered him and he advanced and swept his sword at Seonghwa, Seonghwa only moved his head backwards, he tried to cut him but Seonghwa turned to the right, Neil almost fell.
Neil stood stern in his place, then thrust his sword at Seonghwa's chest, he avoided it, and Seonghwa was about to strike, Neil retreated avoiding his attack, he didn't wait and advanced again aiming for Seonghwa's neck, Seonghwa stopped it with his sword, disarming Neil, he fell on his back, and Seonghwa pointed the end of the sword at his face "good fight" he praised him "but it isn't over until one of the opponents die, so go and pick up your sword" he scolded him and Neil quickly picked up his sword and swept it at Seonghwa.
The fight was Seonghwa avoiding Neil's attacks and scolding him, he told him some tips if he ever lost his sword, he advised him to always carry a dagger with him in case he needed to use it.
The fight had finished with Neil completely exhausted and Seonghwa didn't even shed a sweat, he went to the quarterdeck after he helped Neil standing up "how was he?" Yeosang asked him "pretty good actually, he showed such improvements in three weeks, he has potentials" Seonghwa told them "that's good news aside from him recovering" Yunho sighed in relief.
They stopped talking when they saw the snow falling, Valerie panicked "what is this?!" She shouted hiding behind Yunho, but it didn't stop the snow from falling on her head "you never saw snow?" Seonghwa asked surprised "is this snow?" She asked surprised "we only had rain on our island, or the part I lived in" she explained getting away from Yunho, pulling off her glove and reaching her hand up so she can feel it "it's cold, and light" she said fascinated by it "if it piled up on the ship, we could try playing with it" Yeosang suggested.
They heard doors of the cabins open, the rest of the crew ran towards the main deck and jumped under the snow happily.
The snow didn't stop, forming a thick layer of snow on the ship, the crew started a snowball fight, everyone avoided Jongho's balls because they were extremely strong, Wooyoung and San kept aiming at Seonghwa, Yunho was throwing them at everyone until one hit Hongjoong, he made a huge ball with the help of Valerie and threw it at Yunho, but he used Mingi as a human shield, he got hit by it, then he glared at Yunho and started running after him, Yeosang was building a snowman with Neil and a fort next to it, so they can attack the members freely.
The fight was quite long, they kept on playing until sunset, they went to the kitchen to eat after a long battle.
After they finished eating and chatting, Hongjoong cleared his throat getting everyone's attention "it's been three weeks now since we started heading towards Blackbalt Snow, that means we only have one left until we arrive" he told them and looked at Neil who is obviously nervous "look Neil, I won't push you to say anything, but at least you can tell us about who we are fighting" said Hongjoong in a calm tone, Neil took a deep breath and looked at the crew "the target is the prime minister, he is in charge of the empire until the heir reaches the legal age, the previous emperor had put him in charge two days before his death, later on, I found out that he killed the emperor and the empress right after they signed the papers of his custody over me until I become the emperor" he told them.
There was a little bit silence, Wooyoung put a hand on Neil's shoulder patting him "it must've been hard on you" he said and Neil nodded his head slightly "do you still have the scheme of the castle with you?" Neil asked Valerie and she ran to Hongjoong's cabin, and brought the scheme back with her, Neil took it and opened it on the table, everyone got closer so they can see clearly "we'll move on Friday because there will be a ball and everyone will be busy, so first, when we arrive at the island, we should dock on the east coast, it's abandoned because of the winter monsters, so it should be safe there" he told them "how is it safe with winter monsters on it?" Mingi asked almost shouting "they are harmless, unless you attack them first or they see you as a threat, anyways its rare to encounter one of them" he assured him, Yunho put a hand on Mingi's shoulder "don't worry, you don't look tasty anyway" Yunho teased him making everyone giggle and Mingi sulked.
Hongjoong cleared his throat getting their attention "continue" he told Neil and he nodded "we'll walk into the woods on the east coast, there's a wall splitting the city from the woods, under it there is a hidden passage that heads immediately to the palace in the capital, we'll use it to get in there" they were surprised and excited about the hidden passage.
"It'll take us 6 hours until we arrive at the palace, the passage can lead to every room in the palace, we'll split into teams and I'll lead each team to their assigned room" he told them "but why can't you use the teleportation gem?" Seonghwa asked confused, he gulped a little nervous "because" he looked down at the map "he put a curse on the necklace, whenever the gem is used, it will show it's destination to him" he said trembling in fear "he'll be able to capture us immediately" Yeosang sighed in annoyance "should we kill him?" Wooyoung suggested "No!!" Neil snapped "why? It's better if he dies and you go back easily, and you already made a deal with Hongjoong" San questioned confused "I want to put him on a trial, expose everything he had done, so no one can feel sorry for him" Neil mastered up all the courage inside him to say that out loud, Yunho put a hand on his shoulder, calming him down "as you wish" Hongjoong told him.
"We'll go to the second floor, it's where his office is, you'll be looking for parchments he signed, they are deals with the black market for drugs, poison and more illegal things" he said looking at the scheme and pointing at it.
"Then, I'll let the other team out in the hallway, they'll search every room for the custody papers and among them, there's a parchment that says after I die, he shall take over my place as an emperor, that's the reason why I ran away in the first place" what he said took them by surprise "the last team will go into the third floor, I'll let you out in the hallway, you'll have to walk towards the painting of a lady smiling warmly with a blue dress, next to it is my room, its access to the hidden passage is sealed, on the third drawer of the dresser next to my bed, push the wood in and you'll find a box, the evidence of him killing the emperor and the empress are in it" he explained "what about you?" Jongho asked "I'll stay in the passage until you finish, so I can guide you back" he told them, and Jongho nodded in understanding.
Hongjoong sighed "your plan is actually fine" he said surprising everybody "we'll go with it, we'll decide on the teams later until we arrive" he told them.
Yunho put a hand on Hongjoong's forehead "is there something wrong?" Hongjoong asked confused "he has no fever" Yunho said worried taking his hand off his forehead "maybe he got hit in the head from the snowball fight?" Wooyoung asked "or maybe exhaustion" Seonghwa said "what are you talking about?" Hongjoong asked annoyed "you are acting weird, usually you won't accept someone else's plan so easily, so we thought you finally went mad" Jongho explained "you!!" Hongjoong said furious "go do your choruses!!!" He shouted at them "we were just worried!!!" Mingi shouted and ran out of the kitchen with everyone, Hongjoong sighed and sat on his chair "kids" he smiled to himself.
Seonghwa ordered San and Yunho to clean the deck from the snow "can't we do it tomorrow, its already dark" San whined "no, it'll soak the wood and its no good if the ship wrecked in the middle of a freezing ocean" he told them drinking from his hot coffee "is he saying the truth?" San asked Yunho in a hush voice "I doubt it" they chuckled and continued wiping.
Valerie was on the quarterdeck with a mat over her shoulder, her nose and cheeks are red and she is trembling from cold "you really are sensitive to cold weather" Yeosang commented amused by what he's witnessing, he was in the kitchen bringing two cups of hot tea, he gave her one "th-th-th-thankth" she thanked him taking a sip "your welcome" he said smiling "tho, are you in thothal conthrol over the helm?" He mocked her "hahaha, tho funny" she faked a laugh drinking more tea "and yeah, I'm in total cont-achoo" she sneezed "I must be sick from the snowball fight" she said wiping her nose with a tissue "I would be surprised if you didn't, you went all out on everybody" he told her, she ignored him and continued holding into the helm.
The next day came "Jongho!!" Hongjoong shouted, Jongho turned around to face him "come to my cabin" he ordered and he went in.
After a few minutes he left the cabin "Yeosang!!" Hongjoong shouted "Aye!!" Yeosang replied from the quarterdeck "come to my cabin" he ordered and he jumped on the main deck and went in.
After also a few minutes, he left "Seonghwa!!" Hongjoong shouted, Seonghwa pointed a finger on himself confused "get in" he ordered and Seonghwa ran inside.
Valerie was standing next to Wooyoung in the kitchen tasting the food "why is he calling them separately? Can't he just do it all at once?" She asked eating a piece of potato "if he does that, it means no one should know about it except them" he replied and smacked her hand so she can stop eating, she started whining "Valerie and Yunho!!!" Hongjoong shouted surprising her, she went out of the kitchen "get in" he ordered.
Valerie went in with Yunho after she knocked three times, Hongjoong was sitting behind his desk and Seonghwa was standing next to him "have a seat" he told them looking at some letters not lifting his head from them "what are you checking?" Valerie asked curious "these are the letters from the spies I put on the Blackbalt ship" Seonghwa answered "and it looks like they are trying to get the navy on their side" Hongjoong added.
They waited a little, then Hongjoong leaned his back on his chair and sighed "you can go and rest" he told Seonghwa and he left, Hongjoong looked at Yunho and Valerie "first, did you check about her memory loss?" Hongjoong asked, Yunho looked away feeling guilty "I didn't have much time" he said scratching the back of his neck "can you do it now?" Hongjoong asked "of course, let's go to the cabin" Yunho was about to leave "wait" Hongjoong stopped him "sit" he said pointing at the chair in front of him, he sat back "how is Neil's condition? Did he tell you about what happened to him?" He asked seriously, Valerie was curious as well, Yunho looked down "he only told Wooyoung and Yeosang about what happened, it looks like he feels comfortable around them" Yunho told him looking at Hongjoong and smiling.
Valerie then remembered "wait, was that four days ago?" She asked Yunho and he nodded "that's why I couldn't talk to them for the rest of the day, they looked very pissed" she told them, Hongjoong sighed "at least he told someone about what happened to him" he said relieved "yes, he is starting to recover slowly" Yunho told him "you are dismissed" Hongjoong told them and they left.
Hongjoong didn't call anyone after them, they went straight to the clinic, Yunho started examining her, 30 minutes had passed but there was nothing wrong with her "I'm sure 100 percent it's not memory loss, you must've been unconscious back then" he told her "I see" she nodded in understanding "they were the first ones you killed, right?" He asked and she nodded "but you were unconscious, so it doesn't count, so how did you kill so easily when we were on Rieto Haven?" Yunho pointed that out, but Valerie was surprised, she doesn't remember killing anyone "what are you talking about?" She asked confused "when we were on Rieto, you killed a thug in the south side of the town, you were with me, Wooyoung and Yeosang, he tried to steal from us, but you killed him immediately" he told her "of course we were surprised, but you looked so tensed when you saw the gun pointed at Yeosang, so we figured it was a reflex" he shrugged his shoulders, Valerie was looking down with her hands on her head "I don't remember" she whispered "I can't remember" she said looking at Yunho, he sighed "I'll go tell Hongjoong, don't be harsh on yourself and go help Wooyoung" he told her and opened the door, he waited for her to leave first and then closed the door and went to Hongjoong's cabin.
Valerie went to the kitchen a little confused, she doesn't remember such a thing on Rieto, she saw Yeosang and Wooyoung arguing, Wooyoung was cooking and Yeosang was eating cookies while sitting on the table "sit on a chair and stop eating cookies, the lunch will be ready" Wooyoung nagged and Yeosang ignored him and waved at Valerie handing her a cookie "thanks" she said taking a bite and sitting on a chair "see, she sat on a chair, you should learn from your elderly" he said joking around but didn't get a response from her.
They were confused, usually she would snap or make a joke out of it "is there something wrong?" Yeosang asked confused and sitting next to her "did I kill someone on Rieto?" She asked, they looked at her confused "yes, when we were in the south part of the town" Wooyoung answered her "why are you asking that?" Yeosang asked her "because, I can't remember such thing" she told them, they looked at each other and back at her "it's okay if you don't, it's already over, and it happened more than a month ago" Wooyoung assured her "just eat and forget" Yeosang said giving her another cookie and eating one "just STOP EATING!!!" Wooyoung shouted taking the plate from him and started running, Yeosang started following him and shouting "GIVE ME BACK MY COOKIES!!!" until Hongjoong stopped them and made them go back to their choruses.