Late in the evening, Jinyoung hastily opened the door to the small rental apartment. "All right. We managed to get a hold of a royal ticket." He raised the opened envelope to Hana's face, revealing its contents: a piece of paper with a gold border in the margins and elegantly written calligraphy. 

Hana stared quietly at the page for a few seconds. "No way, how did you do it?"

Jinyoung gave a friendly smirk. "I'm the best thief in all of Clyne! I thought you already knew that."

Clyne shares its borders with the prosperous neighboring kingdom, Iridine. One day, the people of Iridine discovered a gigantic crystal which gave citizens magical powers. The citizens who showed great control over their powers became nobles and have brought wealth and political stability to the kingdom. Those who did not show any affinity to the crystal were shunned by the locals and eventually fled to Clyne. With the mass influx of people moving into Clyne, the royalty's power over the nation slowly lost its control and the kingdom crumbled into an empty shell of its past glory. Not all hope was lost, for there were determined people of Clyne who are seeking revenge on Iridine.

"Gloating as usual, I see." Hana took the paper out of Jinyoung's hand. As a childhood friend, Jinyoung was indeed the most clever person Hana has ever met. They were both chosen from an orphanage to be a part of the secret clan within the fallen kingdom of Clyne, whose duty was to improve the kingdom's economic situation. Iridine was to hold a kingdom-wide ball to gather potential princess candidates for the prince to choose a partner from. Royal tickets were sent out to females who are of a specific age group to invite them to the castle. Preparations were all paid by the royal family in order to make it fair for all candidates.  

Jinyoung sat down. "We're all set to continue our infiltration plan."

"We?" Hana rolled her eyes. "Don't you mean just me? Unless you managed to get another ticket for youself and decide to cross dress. By all means I'm up for that!"

"Hana, I can never tell if you're just joking, or actually dead serious." Jinyoung gave a small punch to Hana's shoulder. "Just stick to our plan."

Since Jinyoung and Hana had no powers, Jinyoung would be doing behind-the-scene magic so that it would appear that Hana had some powers of her own. 

"Okay, okay." Hana chuckled. "We've still got a few days before the ball, so why don't we go explore the town a bit?"

"Tomorrow, right?" Jinyoung yawned. "I'm pretty much done for the day." He stood up and walked to his room. After closing the door he proceeded to lay face-first onto the bed. 

His body was aching from all the running he did during the day. Grabbing the royal ticket was no easy feat. He had to first locate the courier and determine the route he was taking. Then he needed to sneak into the mail carriage to snag himself the ticket, and he also had to erase his tracks by removing the address from the courier's planned route. He did not have the heart to tell Haru that he miraculously made it out in one piece after he was discovered by the royal guards. It was a good thing that 

While there were no exterior cuts on his body, he could feel bruises forming around his stomach area. "Royal Knight Mark, was it?" Jinyoung muttered under his breath.