This book will also have 20 chapters, by the way!

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Yeosang had once told Jongho that he was no prince.

He had also once questioned if Zey's people had no moral compass for not helping those in need, claiming that Asora's people were far quicker to assist.

And yet, as they walked through the spacious white marble corridors of the palace, Jongho couldn't help but remember those words for the message they had conveyed.

Yeosang was a prince. He might not have been one on the paper because of his heritage, and he might never have been acknowledged as such, but he was a prince, undoubtedly. As he darted through the halls to check on their surroundings, he carried himself with the intensity and resilience that the people needed in a ruler. No lie passed his attentive eyes, and not even a little minor detail got ignored. The behavioural similarities between him and Seonghwa were uncanny, and if Seonghwa could be called a crown prince, then Yeosang could be one, too.

Being a prince wasn't all about heritage and blood laws. Sometimes, it was just about the man behind the acts. And compared to the bastard of a king that currently ruled their lands, Jongho would support the man who specifically pleaded with them to dodge the automatons so they wouldn't have to kill a single person any day. He knew that the bloodshed was inevitable, but Yeosang's hunt for truth and justice rivalled Seonghwa's.

Jongho didn't know where their mission might lead. They might get captured most likely, or they could lose their battle and their lives. The little possibility of winning this fight seemed inadequate even to consider, but Jongho couldn't help but wonder what would be afterwards. Once the clockwork of Asora halted, and the wheels stopped turning, what would happen? Would the people accept the rerouting they were planning? Would they accept a new king as their core? Enough of Zey's people despised Seonghwa, and once Yeosang's identity would promulgate, they would shun him, too. Their gamble didn't just shape the hope of Asorazey; it would also decide what would happen to their group.

That day determined how the two princes would judge over their father and what role they took on. Just how the Undying had blood on his hands to gain the throne, they would, too.

Jongho was shaken back into the moment by Yeosang, who fell into his arms from the window above. They had arrived in the gardens to breach the masses of automatons that lit the area with their glowing blue eyes and stood rigid. As he soundlessly set Yeosang down on the ground, the prince eyed Jongho worriedly. Yeosang's eyes were shadowed by deep circles that prove the lack of sleep in the past week. Still, his beauty had yet to flee him.

When Jongho nodded at him wordlessly, the prince stepped over to Seonghwa to press against the wall. They were as far out of reach of any nearby automaton possible, and the fact that they stared up ahead against the palace fence also made it easier to pass by them.

It made sense. After all, they were no more but a pretence for the king to show off his might. He had no murderers he protected himself from. The farce had begun after he had attempted to kill Seonghwa and maintained for the people of Asora to assume that the royal family was indeed in danger.

San stalked next to Jongho like a wild cat on its hunt for prey. His agile body moved fluidly under his clothes, and no movement around him evaded his keen senses. As a duo, they snuck past the first three Bishops. Empty and without a will, they stayed rooted in the spot to stare up ahead. No noise reached them.

Jongho's heartbeat thrummed in his ears as he ducked behind another bush. In his life, he had crept around a whole lot - and got called a meater in return - but the prospect of making a huge moral mistake if he were to defend himself weighed him down. Killing humans was an easy thing to do. Jongho usually didn't heed the rules and norms that forbade him from it when he saw it necessary. This time, however, he had made a vow to Yeosang. And he wanted to keep it.

With a quick point of his finger to another bush up ahead, San motioned Jongho to go. The two of them scanned out the route so the others could follow it with lesser disturbances. Originally, Jongho wanted to stay with Yeosang if something would happen to him, but that wouldn't be possible.

Seonghwa was directly behind them, and once they reached the point where they needed to be, he beckoned them to halt. Crouched behind one of the mighty automatons, Jongho peered up at the windows above. With their grappling hooks, it would be no issue to reach it, but the noise they created most likely alerted the three automatons in their surroundings.

Jongho motioned Seonghwa to stay back and remain hidden. Then, he pulled the magnetic gun that Mingi had handed him earlier. As predicted, the automaton turned its mighty torso towards him with the horrible screech of metal scratching against metal. Jongho jumped back when a huge hand reached to grab him and fired against the Bishop's chest. Instantly, it powered down. Not bothering to check on the dead man inside, Jongho scaled its back to rip the cables that would keep it from recharging in a few moments.

His sudden acts had alerted the other two automatons of his presence. San was already on the back of one pulling on its cables when Jongho fired at the last one. Their large and chunky bodies made it difficult to act fast, and their weapons needed a long time to charge, too. He bet that for a big war, they would march over the lands and stomp everything to ashes and dust. They were horrible guards, though.

Once Jongho had shut off the third one, they sat still for a moment, listening. A few birds disrupted the silence of the night, and somewhere further up, he could hear voices. Seonghwa had mentioned that the main palace building had lots of actual human guards that actually served as security and were able to act fast. They were mixed with the automatons, however, so that part would be the most finicky.

When no noise sounded, the window above them opened with a subdued click. Wooyoung peeked down on them and the situation. Then, he motioned Jongho to throw him his hook. Unsurprisingly, the idea of him walking the palace with a big rope in his hands had been declined for suspicions on people getting wary of him.

A moment later, Wooyoung held the rope safely in his hands and fastened it nearby the window. San swung up the palace walls first and without issues as his powerful legs brought him up. A little squeak travelled outside when he appeared in the window faster than Wooyoung had accounted for. Once he was gone, Jongho ushered Seonghwa over.

San gave the prince an aiding hand despite barely knowing each other, and Seonghwa took it without hesitation.

Next, Yeosang snuck from the bushes over to where Jongho stood. Jongho's dark eyes were watchful of him, but he scaled the rope without much of a hassle. The time they spent in the canyon had gotten him used to work with whatever steep wall he encountered.

Mingi and Jongho went last and took the rope with them. The chamber they found themselves in was large and had a high ceiling. Seonghwa's room was dense with gold and expensive blue velvet covering the couches and his cacophony bed. Despite the amount of splendour that nearly induced a gag from Jongho, however, the crown prince didn't halt to reminisce. Rather, he seemed foreign to his own quarters.

"No guards are outside here, but the closer we'll get to the throne room, the more there will be. The king is currently having his meal." Wooyoung's hushed information travelled through the dimly lit room. Only the pale moonlight streaming through the high windows lit the scene, and Jongho was glad that he could make out the furniture before he would knock into something.

"Jongho, please hand me Bricky," Seonghwa asked just as quietly. While Mingi lit a little lantern for him to write to, Jongho got the little bird from his bag and activated him. He also shifted the peg that connected to the music box aside so the bird wouldn't start singing in their tense circumstances.

Seonghwa promptly wrote a message to Hongjoong before they sent the bird on his way. With a single blow of air, Mingi blackened out the room again.

"The plan is to silence the guards and get entry to the throne room. I doubt that father is able to defend himself. We'll destroy whatever attaches him to the dynamism. Then, Yeosang and I stay to take care of the mess while the rest of you flees. The court knows us, but they will see you as a threat. Hongjoong will come to pick you up. Wooyoung, you can stay, too."

In the dark, Mingi and San nodded seriously. Jongho felt Yeosang beside him shift to press their shoulders together in a tiny gesture of support. Their warm bodies found comfort in each other's presence without their attention ever shifting.

"Once we figured things out here, we'll get back to you. I might take a few days."

The uncertainty of their project had all of them on edge with nerves. If they were to trust anyone's word, it was Seonghwa's, but he couldn't possibly foresee two cities' reactions. If Gizfall were to take advantage of the news of the Undying's death, anguish would envelop all of them and cross out their plans.

"What if the news of you being bolted and volted urges them even more to try and kill you?" Mingi whispered in the dark. For a long moment, Seonghwa stayed silent.

"Then we will attempt our best to stop them."

Yeosang audibly exhaled. His breathing was shaky, showing the barest bit of the fear they all suffered at the moment. Their little group was hopeless against the fate that the higher forces would bestow on them. Jongho didn't believe in a god; he believed in science. And he hoped that science would save them.

"Then let's go," Wooyoung called the commando first. His steps led them over through the big room and to a door that Jongho wouldn't have seen in the murky shadow. Used to wandering, Wooyoung gingerly pulled it open to peek into the corridor before he motioned the others to follow.

If Jongho had thought that the east wing of the castle gleamed with expensive luxury, then the main building revised that feeling tenfold. Golden lines rounded the square flagstones of white marble. Grand pillars rounded by just as shiny decorations carried a ceiling nearly too far up for Jongho to notice. The floor was covered by a thick red carpet that dulled their steps and was free of any speck of dust.

Now and then, an exotic tapestry or a painting of old kings and their families hung from the wall. Little tables that carried vases full of colourful and fragrant flowers dotted the corridor.

Just as astonished as Jongho, San and Mingi also looked around with big eyes. Zey would be able to live forever from all the money that these possessions were worth. Money in figures so high that Jongho's understanding didn't reach them. In passing, he glanced down a glass cabinet that held ancient daggers and a book written in a language that wasn't theirs.

Yeosang looked uncomfortable in his surroundings as he followed Seonghwa and Wooyoung. The tall crown prince fit right in, as expected, and held himself with regal superiority, but Yeosang sneaked with the group of thieves and lawless savages as if he were one of them. Foreign in his own home.

The heavy smell of food permeated the air from downstairs. Busy voices travelled between the floors and made Jongho jump whenever they came closer to disappear behind one of the many doors.

Even the doors had golden ornaments.

Once they found the next corner to hide behind, Wooyoung gave them a signal to halt. Guards were up ahead, four humans and a Bishop whom they poked fun at. Wordless, the person in the armour let them.

Wooyoung joined them with a relaxed giggle that concealed the adrenaline in his veins.

"Hey, I was just sorting through the prince's stuff, and you wouldn't believe what I found there! Wanna take a quick peek?"

Immediately, the guards laughed with him. They didn't seem too worried about intruders with the guards outside and living in Asora, where crimes were not an issue. And why fear Zey's inhabitants since they shot them all down at the canyon?

As soon as Wooyoung rounded the corner with three of them in his company, Jongho lunged to snatch one. As he knocked the man out with the butt of his pistol, San and Mingi did the same. Worried, Seonghwa and Yeosang stood nearby to watch the unconscious men drop to the ground.

Then, they went to let the next disappear. Their mission would take forever, but it protected them.