"Huh, what a spoilsport. Looks like Yeosang is in a bad mood today," Wooyoung grumbles as he stomps his right foot to put out the open fire.

Only then Narae notices the lack of light except for the illumination coming from the moon high above, as Wooyoung holds out a palm for her to take again.

"Second best choice, the princess of ice," he hums. "Maybe we'll get the welcome we're looking for."

She looks questioning, but at the same time doubtful in what she herself knows. Still, she asks, "Isn't that the Aesa Realm? I thought the previous king and queen bore no princess, only princes? And the oldest prince is now the king?" Hurriedly, she adds, her mind whirring with the facts that were fed to her. "Are there any of their relatives we're visiting?"

"You're absolutely correct," Wooyoung does a satisfactory nod as the dimensions around them changes, the transition seemingly much faster than the previous one. "The previous king and queen only have two sons. The youngest likes to be called princess, though. Sweet guy, he is. Seems to have his own language as well."

The first telltale sign that shows they're currently in the Aesa Realm is the smoke that comes out of her mouth as she exhales in surprise at the change in temperature. She immediately releases Wooyoung's hand before proceeding to hug herself.

"Ah, sorry for not telling you to dress warmer. It's an unplanned visit since Prince Yeosang looked like he wouldn't want to have us for tonight. Here, here," he chastises as he guides her along a stretch of ice tunnel, nothing but slippery ice and the reflection of white covering them. "Our next best choice is Mingi; sometimes if he can't sleep he would hang outside the palace compound-" he takes a deep breath, "-and sing."

She almost slips a few times but even without looking at her and moving forward, Wooyoung makes sure that his cousin is well-cared for. He lets her grip the back of his shirt as they span the walkway, having it tugged occasionally followed by her yelps until they reach the end. Sure enough, Wooyoung's guess proves to be spot-on as they hear the echo of someone singing, funnily, about orange juice.

"Princess! Mingi!" Wooyoung shouts, hoping to halt the singing of the prince who's currently sitting among the crystal-covered leaves.

The prince stops singing, searches around for a moment on who could be interrupting his session, before his face breaks into a goofy smile. Prince Mingi, as Narae has come to learn, despite living in a monotonous realm where his palace is covered entirely in ice, likes to dress in colours that give a stark difference between him and the rest of his surrounding. His red hair glimmers under the moonlight, with his pink-coloured silk pajamas twinkling like they're dusted with glitter.

From the top of the tree, he makes a descending walkway out of ice, enjoying himself too much as he slides down, not caring even though he almost tumbled in front of his guests.

"Princess Narae, Prince Wooyoung! What brought you here?" he grins, stretching out his arms as if to offer a hug.

It does seem so.

Wooyoung, a person who likes skinship and is clingy towards people around his age, falls into his embrace like it's the most natural thing he could do. After what seems like a full minute of embrace, they let go of each other and Mingi excitedly addresses the princess, "What might be the reason you're here, princess? It's too deep into the night and I don't think you went out of the palace through the front door." He eyes Wooyoung with an accusing look.

"She wanted some fresh air," Wooyoung defends himself. "I'm just following orders."

"Come on, you're making me sound as if I forced you to come here with me," she deadpans, rolling her eyes. Both men laugh at this while they walk to a spot where they can sit under the expanse of the starless sky. "We went to Kryon, but it didn't seem like Yeosang was eager to have us there. Got out as fast as we came."

"Wooyoung," Mingi groans. "Did you ask Yeosang to do his magic fire thingy and look into the past the moment you saw him?"

"It's not like I asked him about it as soon as we got there-"

"Well, technically you jumped on him regarding that topic. He seemed pretty insistent on not wasting his energy on me," she emphasizes.

"It's just how he talks, pretty blunt," Mingi offers. "Most of the time he never really meant it, just the way he's brought around. His chin," he drags a finger on his own chin, "is as sharp as his words. He really turned both of you down, just like that?"

"Uh-uh."

Wooyoung and Mingi turn silent, before both of them simultaneously say, "He definitely did it and already saw something."

She looks at them quizzically, "How'd both of you know?"

"Oh we know," Mingi says. "All of us have been friends since we're like, babies. We know each other too well- too well until we're all uncomfortable so as to say."

"Define 'all of us'." She does quotation marks as her mind traces back to what she read with what Serim had told her.

Hearing them say that they're friends seem to be on every opposing side of what her lady-in-waiting had told her. Not about how each of them are vying to steal the Arcus from her. Not about how each realm are enemies of each other. Not about how she shouldn't trust any of them, except for her own brother and cousin.

But it seems that even Wooyoung is a part of the group.

"Ah, you must have been told that the realms are enemies of each other, and the tension during your celebratory dinner seemed to suggest the same thing, right?" Mingi asks, lacing his hands together.

"Essentially, yes. Everything seems to be bouncing from one fact to another."

"Technically," Wooyoung starts. "The realms are enemies of each other because we have our own interests to protect. But that doesn't mean the younger generation of the royals can't be friends with each other, especially since all 8 of us are around the same age."

"But-"

"Serim told you that you should be careful of them, because they want to steal the Arcus from you?" Wooyoung interjects, but there's a smug smile at the end of his sentence. "Well... that could be partly true. Since you lost your memories, who do you think you should trust?"

Suddenly, she feels the world is closing in on her, the cold ice pressing onto her skin. She's fully aware of how she's alone with these two men; one she's told she could trust, and another she's told to be wary of. Trust- she doesn't even know whether she has that right now.

"Ah, that hurts!" Wooyoung shouts immediately, rubbing at the skin near his exposed shoulder.

"Don't play around with her," Mingi growls, giving a warning to him with his eyes. Then he quickly turns to her, an underlying apologetic tone coming in. "Wooyoung likes to tease you a lot, if you haven't noticed. He can be-" he pinches his shoulder again, this time putting in more force, "-really annoying sometimes."

"I'm sorry," her cousin whines. "It's just amusing to see her flustered."

"You're supposed to help her, not play around, you idiot."

"So are you saying," she pauses, biting her lower lip, "that Jo Serim has been lying all the way to me?"

"Woah, woah," Wooyoung puts up a hand, his palm almost too close to her face as if he's going to press it over her mouth if she doesn't stop talking the next second. "I'm not saying that Serim is lying to you, gosh, chill. You always make me scared if you get angry, so spare me the heart attack. What I'm saying is, she probably explained it to you in her perspective. Technically, she's not wrong because by right, the realms are on their own by tradition, but it doesn't mean that over the years it hasn't changed. We're social creatures who of course would like to mingle with each other, plus we see no need in acting like we're at war all the time."

Mingi nods like a woodpecker with every word Wooyoung mentions, before putting in his own thoughts.

"She's probably just worried about you, and tried to protect you by, you know, laying all the groundwork in this quest of regaining your memories. It's better to be safe than sorry, anyway."

"But the Arcus," she repeats dumbly, feeling like a puppet on a string, but instead of one she has different puppetmasters who keep on pulling her in opposite directions. "She said that I should be wary of you-" she points a thumb to Mingi, who blinks in surprise, before shifting to Wooyoung, "-and trust you. But right now I'm sitting together with a friend and a supposed foe, so you can't blame me for being confused."

"Ah," Wooyoung starts, with both the princes looking at each other, shrugging. "Maybe there are some realms that are seeking to steal the Arcus from our realm, but the urgency seems to be decreasing as time goes by. The most who would be interested in the relic is Natur Realm - since King Hongjoong is about to get married to you. But even then, I wouldn't say he's actively pining for it. We all have our own powers anyway, and the lure to get this so-called expansive powers seems to ring different with the younger generation. Like this princess right here," he nudges Mingi, "aren't you happy with your own powers?"

"Definitely," Mingi replies, doing a show of making a structure of a ball with spikes all around out of ice, before handing it to her, "I amuse myself enough by doing this. Here, a present for you."

She accepts it gingerly, turning it around in her palms but unsure of how she's supposed to react.

"Just act like you're really grateful for it, works everytime," Wooyoung whispers. "Doesn't take a lot to make Princess Mingi happy."

"Uh.. thanks," she says carefully, baring her teeth with what she doesn't think showed how grateful she is. She puts it down on her lap, waiting for both of them to continue their explanation.

"Well... let's put it this way." Wooyoung touches the ground until ice expands from under his palm, giving him enough space for him to carve anything into the sheet of ice. "Isla Empire is made up of six realms. Natur- Hongjoong, Havre- Yunho, Ylang- Jongho and San, Aesa- Mingi, Kryon- Yeosang and ours, Inis. We used to be at war with each other, it's in the history books and whatnot, so our ancestors bashed their heads against each other while using the most of their powers. You met Yunho this afternoon, right?"

She nods.

"Yunho's realm was not originally one, but our ancestors," he gestures towards the princess and himself, "decided to gift them with their own, kind of like a 'thank you' gesture for fighting alongside them. So now instead of five realms there are six. You probably know that Yunho does not have any royal blood in him, like a classic story of rags-turned-riches. Anyway, we inherited all these powers... but over the years the use of our powers kind of died down. I mean, we don't have any real reason of using them besides amusing ourselves."

"Plus, all of the six realms have come to an agreement to stop all the wars years ago," Mingi adds. "Now we just mind our own business. And only the royals have powers. Isla Empire is just made up of six realms, each with their own powers. It just so happens that your realm is the one that possesses the totality of all the powers."

"Wow," is just all she can say. "I missed out on a lot."

"Fairly, but you don't have to be so on guard about protecting the Arcus," Wooyoung replies. "You hid it at a place no one could find it anyway. Well, at least that's what you claimed to us. We can't be sure since you went on that journey alone to hide it, only telling us how you went through the roughest waters and highest mountains to keep it hidden. If that's a metaphor or a real direction, no one knows unless you get back your memories."

"Are you really sure no one is out to get the Arcus from me, then kill me after they have gotten their hands on it?" She narrows her eyes, suspiciously looking at Wooyoung then Mingi.

"I don't know, are you looking to steal the Arcus from her?" Wooyoung nudges Mingi.

"What? No?" he replies, sounding more like a question. "I'm happy with how I am, and my brother is too busy ruling the realm that I don't think I have ever heard of the word 'Arcus' since ages. Not sure about the rest of the boys."

Despite the situation, hearing Mingi referring to the other princes as the 'boys' brings a smile to her face. It made her feel like they're people; people she can get close to. Or maybe she already is; it depends. Not like she knows any better about her current situation with them.

"It's weird though," she starts.

"What is?"

"How none of you pointed out my change in personality, because that's what's bothering me the most. Serim keeps pointing out that I'm behaving differently from how I used to, San, Yunho and Yeosang too."

"Well... you did seem a bit different, but not much to me," Mingi says while sticking out his lower lip, mulling over it. "You're always like this to me; I mean you've always been nice."

"Me?" She points at herself, the question coming out a little bit too loud. "Nice? Wow, that's a first I'm hearing that."

"You're the nicest to Mingi. Or maybe you're only nice to Mingi," Wooyoung interrupts, sounding a little bit too jealous. "Because you always say that he's a baby who probably can't take it. With the rest of the boys, it's more of a rough relationship. You wouldn't hesitate to kick us where it hurts."

"Oh." She pushes her lips forward to form a pout, and this elicits a giggle from Mingi. "I lost hope on waiting to hear the word 'nice' when referring to me."

"Maybe," Mingi suddenly comes in between, putting up a finger. "Your loss of memories is related to the Arcus. What if you can gain back your memories once you find it back? It's a magical relic after all- maybe it can," he shakes his hands near his skull, "give you back your memories."

"But I don't even know where I hid it."

"That's why I have an idea," Mingi exclaims.

"I can already tell it's a stupid one and Seonghwa is going to disagree the moment he hears it," Wooyoung deadpans, closing his eyes.

"Let's find the Arcus, and maybe get back your memories!"

"I can already hear Seonghwa shouting no from his bedroom right now," Wooyoung sighs.

Mingi ignores him, excitedly bouncing up and down as he claps his hands. "Let's do this!"

"You're saying..."

"Let's go on an adventure to track down the Arcus!"