"I'll get straight to the point," Eric said, folding his hands in front of him. Changmin and Dayeong were sitting at the table with him, while Hyunjae and Chanmi were guarding the door outside, like usual.

Chanmi had wanted to meet Changmin too, but in the end, he and Dayeong had convinced her not to. She would get in serious trouble if caught. As for him and Dayeong, being royalty meant they could get away with more.

"We want to investigate my parents for corruption and figure out if there's anything that can be used to force them to abdicate the throne to me."

Changmin looked at him for a long moment. Then, "are you doing this so you can be with Chanmi?"

"Well partly," Eric admitted, then narrowed his eyes in realization. "Wait, how do you know... Nevermind. You know nothing. Chanmi? Who's that? I want to be with my dear Dayeong, of course," he said, taking Dayeong's hand and hoping he hadn't screwed up already.

Dayeong raised her eyebrows at him, looking like she was trying hard not to laugh.

"Really, how did you know?" she whispered to Changmin, her eyes curious, taking her hand out of Eric's and leaning forward on the table, cupping her face with both hands as she waited for Changmin's answer.

"I room with Jacob," Changmin said as if that explained everything.

"Who's Jacob?" Eric asked after a moment, scratching his head in confusion.

"Your nighttime guard..." Changmin responded, looking at Eric like he was the stupidest person on the planet. "The guard who watched you sneak out to meet her like, a gazillion times."

"Excuse me... what? I thought he was asleep!"

"If he fell asleep on duty all the time, he'd be fired," Changmin sighed, rolling his eyes. "So, are you trying to overthrow your parents because of her?"

"Maybe just a little," Eric admitted. "At first, that was why. Now there's also the fact that my parents basically exiled Juyeon," he said, his eyes flickering over to Dayeong for a moment, but to his surprise, she didn't react. Her face stayed neutral, her eyes trained in Changmin. "But it's more than that. Honestly, I'm not just doing this for personal reasons. I'm certain that they're trying to hide evidence from outside investigation teams. They're royalty, so certainly they have a lot of crazy ways to hide their corruption. And if they did bad things... if they hurt people... I don't think they should be running the country," Eric said. "And thus, their corruption should be uncovered and exposed, don't you think?"

"I'll withhold any thoughts I may have on this situation, at least for now," Changmin said. "Your Highness, you do realize that by exposing your parents, you may be hurting yourself as well, right?"

"What? How? I wasn't involved in anything," Eric said, frowning at Changmin.

"Maybe not, but anything against your parents will taint the family name as a whole. The public will not be kind to you. I suggest you tread carefully and reconsider."

"Even if it hurts me more," Eric said after a moment of consideration. "I still feel the same. I still think it should be done."

"You also realize that if you two are caught, you will be disciplined quite lightly compared to any punishment I may receive from helping you. If I'm caught, I can be imprisoned for life."

"I know," Eric said softly, his hope deflating a little.

"So why should I help you?"

"I'm not sure," Eric admitted. "I'm not planning on offering you anything, because I don't want to add bribery to our list of crimes," he half-joked, sharing a smile with Dayeong. "Maybe you should help us because it'll be for the good of the country? It'll make this Kingdom a more just place, perhaps?"

"And maybe you should also help us because..." Dayeong said, speaking softly. "Because Eric will be a very righteous ruler. He'll be exactly the kind of King this country needs."

Changmin looked between the two of them, a small smile spreading over his face. "Okay. It's a deal, but under one condition."

"What's the condition?" Eric asked.

He grinned. "If your parents put me in prison, you'll get me out once you take over."

Eric laughed, nodding happily. "You got yourself a deal."