The morning came, Hongjoong gathered his crew in his cabin to see what they found "first, Seonghwa's team, what did you find?" He asked them, sitting behind his desk "as Neil said, we found illegal deals with the black market, and some assassination contracts" he told him "I found a drug bottle behind the bookshelf with this letter, please read it" Valerie gave him the letter, he opened it and read it, when he finished, he crawled the paper into a small ball, he took a deep breath "what else did you find?" He asked.
"I found some parchments as evidence of using bribe and poison" Mingi told him "great job" he complimented them, they blushed from embarrassment "but, what did you read in the paper?" San asked him "it's an instruction for how to use the drug on the prince" Hongjoong told them not looking at Neil "from Captain. J to the prime minister" they fell silent "isn't this the Captain who is looking for Neil?" Jongho asked cutting the silence "he is" Valerie said with anger building up inside her.
"Yunho, did you find the custody papers?" Hongjoong changed the subject "oh, yeah" he said putting them in front of Hongjoong "we also found the paper that says the throne goes to the prime minister after Neil's death, it's not signed yet" Jongho put it in front of him "great, and I found this in your third drawer" Hongjoong said pulling a small box out and putting it on the desk, Neil stepped in and opened it, it had a blue rose inside it with a small paper "hey, this rose" Yunho said grabbing the box close to his face "from where did you get it?" He asked Neil "I didn't, the minister did, he used it on my parents" Neil told him.
Hongjoong looked at Neil, he was trembling but he stood firmly "what does it do?" Hongjoong asked "it's symptoms are like a heartattack, but with no cure and it leaves no trace behind, how is this an evidence?" Yunho asked Neil confused "not the rose, but this letter" he said taking the box from Yunho "this letter is a contract the minister signed to buy this rose, and its date is a week before the emperor and the empress's death, also, there is this letter" he said taking something from under the box "it says that he used it on the emperial family but I didn't die, so he faked the custody papers" he told them.
The crew was surprised by him "how old were you?" Mingi asked afraid of the answer "ten" he told them "how did you find these at such a young age?" Seonghwa asked concerned "I didn't, my butler did, but he died after giving me this box and this fake rose" he told them feeling sad "can I kill the minister and this Captain. J?" Valerie asked this time "no" Hongjoong dead banned and she sulked at him.
Hongjoong dismissed the crew, they'll start moving the next day, today they'll rest so they can have more energy tomorrow "Captain" Yeosang walked into Hongjoong's cabin "what?" He said annoyed "I want to visit the city and do more investigation, can I?" He asked innocently "can I too?" Neil asked from behind Yeosang surprising them "why do you want to go?" Hongjoong asked Neil surprised "I've never visited the city, and all the maids used to say its so beautiful and lively, I want to see how my people live" he told Hongjoong feeling nervous, Hongjoong looked at them for a good time and sighed "fine, you can go with Yeosang and Valerie" he allowed them and they jumped excitedly "but first, hide your blonde roots before going" he told him pointing at his head "I'll do, thanks" he thanked him and ran to the main deck "be careful" Hongjoong stopped Yeosang "I have a bad feeling about him going into the city" he was worried "Aye Captain" Yeosang said and closed the door behind him.
Yeosang, Valerie and Neil wore long coats over their clothes and gloves, and black cloak over their heads "why are we wearing cloaks?" Neil asked curious "so no one can see our faces or your hair" Valerie told him, they walked in the main street, it sure was lively, people were bargaining over goods and they were buying food from the trolleys "did you see the newspaper today?" Neil heard two women talking
"they raised the prize for the one who finds the crown prince to 1 million"
"no wonder, his coronation is close, and its already been seven years since the emperor and the empress died, the country needs an emperor".
Neil stopped in his place and looked at the people, they are his people, but he felt like a stranger to them, they never saw him in public, how are they going to trust him when he becomes an emperor, Yeosang realized Neil was not near him, he looked behind him to see him standing in his place, he ran to him and Valerie followed him "what are you doing standing all alone?" He asked wiping the snow off his shoulders "nothing, just looking at my people" he said still staring at them "you almost gave me a heartattack" Yeosang sighed "you should stick with us" Valerie told him holding his hand "let's go eat" she suggested and they agreed.
They roamed the streets trying every food shop, they stopped by the souvenir shop looking at some antiques, Neil liked a snowball that had a castle inside it and a family of three "how much is it?" He asked the owner holding the snowball in his hands "it's 1 golden coin" the owner told them "isn't it a little bit expensive" Yeosang told him "well, it shows the lost imperial family, of course its expensive, you might never see one of them again" the owner sighed in annoyance "it's okay, I'll take it" he told the owner and he put it in a small box "can you pay for it? I'll pay you back" he asked Valerie holding her hands and looking straight in her eyes, she felt hot in her face from blushing, she cleared her throat "there's no need, it's a gift from me" she assured him looking away, Neil was so happy, he smiled widely at her, they took the box and left the shop.
Valerie was still blushing, Yeosang noticed it "he's a child" he told her, she felt offended "I'm just thinking he's cute" she said glaring at him "really?" He asked suspicious "really" she told him, Yeosang leaned and whispered in Neil's ear and he nodded "Valerie" he said and she looked at him, before she could say anything, he kissed her cheek "thank you" he smiled at her.
Valerie stood in her place shocked, her face then turned bright red "you idiots!!!" She yelled and ran past them "wait, I'm sorry!!!" Yeosang shouted running after her leaving Neil behind laughing at them.
Neil started running behind them, it seems like he lost them, he started looking around hoping to see them between people, but he couldn't find them, he stopped after feeling someone tapping his shoulder, he looked around to see a man wearing a white suit and white gloves, he was the same height as Yunho, he had black hair and black eyes, he was smiling at him "prince Neil?" He asked getting his face closer to him "sorry, wrong person" he told him and turned around about to leave, but the man stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder "are you sure?" He asked in his ear, Neil panicked, he took the man's arm and flipped him making him fall on his back.
Neil took his box and started running, he doesn't know to where, but away from that man, he went through crowds so he won't catch him, he kept on running, until he saw Yeosang and Valerie looking around "Yeo-" he was stopped by a cloth on his mouth and an arm around his waist, he dropped the snowball box struggling to get off the man's grasp until he felt like all his strength left his body, and fell unconscious.
Yeosang and Valerie were looking for Neil in the crowd, they couldn't shout for his name, because it might draw attention "shit, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have ran" Valerie said furious "it's not the time for regrets, keep looking" he told her, Yeosang was walking quickly looking everywhere when he kicked something, he looked down to find the snowball box, he grabbed it and started looking around, he saw a man in white suit holding someone and getting into a carriage, that was Neil.
Yeosang gave Valerie the box "go to the ship immediately and tell Wooyoung to come and find me, he knows what to do" he told her and started running towards the carriage "hurry!!!" He shouted and she climbed the building next to her, she started jumping from one building to another until she arrived at the forest intro, she jumped from tree to another until she arrived at the beach their ship was on.
Valerie saw Wooyoung playing with San in snow "Wooyoung!!!" She shouted for him to hear her, he turned his head to see Valerie running towards him "you don't need to run, I'm not going anywhere" he joked with her "Yeosang said to come and find him" she told him and he started running past her and into the forest, she fell on her knees scared, San looked at her worried "what's wrong? What happened? And where's Neil?" He asked sitting next to her, she looked down, she couldn't face them "I should go and help them" she said standing up and about to leave "don't!!!" Hongjoong shouted from the ship "you'll just be in their way" he told her and went back in.
Neil woke up from the cold water that was splashed on him taking a huge gasp of air, he tried to move his hands, but they were cuffed up his head and attached to the wall behind him, he looked at himself, he wasn't wearing his coat or his gloves, then scanned the room, he opened his eyes in realisation, it's the cell he used to stay at whenever he disobeyed the minister "good morning" that voice gave him chills whenever he heard it, Neil turned his head slowly to face the man in front of him, he was wearing a black suit, his hair was white like his beard and his face filled with wrinkles "did you miss me?" He was smiling at him, Neil was trembling, from cold and fear, the man started getting closer, walking towards him "don't, please don't come any closer" Neil begged, he started pushing himself backwards, but it didn't help, the man grabbed Neil's face and made him look at him "I missed you so much" he whispered in his ear, Neil was about to cry "you know, I was worried about you, because you left with a severe injury three months ago, but you seem pretty good now" he said letting go of Neil and standing up, Neil started breathing heavily.
The cell door opened letting two men in, one of them was the one who captured Neil "I hired these men to find you and bring you to me, and after I found out that someone stole my documents, I knew immediately it was you, because, you are the only one who knew about them" he said, Neil head was down, he didn't want to see his face "so, I told them to be on standby to capture you the moment they see you, and here you are" he said smiling "now tell me, where are my things?" He asked gently.
Neil didn't respond, the minister felt rage build-up inside him, he started kicking Neil's stomach, Neil gasped from pain, he kept on kicking and asking "where are they?" until he found it was useless, he stopped kicking and stood at the cell's door leaving Neil coughing on the ground "fine, I will stop now, we still have a lot of time till your coronation" he told him, Neil bit on his lower lip angry for being weak "do whatever you want" Neil heard the minister telling the two men before he left.
They looked at eachother and back at Neil, the man that captured Neil was wearing the same white suit with brown hair "you know, I'm really bored" he said smiling and approaching Neil "when I held your waist, it was like a woman's waist, small and cute" he said tearing Neil's vest and shirt off, Neil widened his eyes in shock "what are you doing?" He asked scared "just checking on something" he said taking off his gloves and putting a hand on his waist, his hand was cold "your skin is smooth, just if it wasn't filled with scars" he said smiling "is it that good?" The other man asked sitting on the other side, he started examining Neil's face "your face is not that bad too" he said smirking "get off me!!!" He shouted at them pulling his head off the man's hand and spitting on his face, he kicked the other man on his stomach.
The two men felt rage, the brown haired man punched him in the face forming a bruise on his cheek and the other kept on kicking him in the stomach again that he no longer has strength to fight back, his skin is starting to turn blue from the cold and his lips were trembling "hey, let's finish this before the minister comes back" the brown haired man said "no" Neil managed to say "just shut up" the black haired man tied a cloth around his mouth, Neil started struggling even more, he doesn't want this.
The brown haired man started roaming his hand on his chest and waist, while the other man started unbuttoning his pants, Neil wanted to die, he felt weak, hopeless, no one was coming to help him, he is left all alone again.
Neil thoughts stopped when he felt a warm liquid on him.