Eunwoo hates to admit it, but she loves to eavesdrop. When her father and her mother become engrossed in a meeting, she'll wander down the hallway and linger by the marble doorway, picking up on business deals and military operations. 

Today is one of those days. In her satin nightgown, she tiptoes from her bed to the outside of the conference room, the murmur of voices already appearing as she delicately walks closer. 

"Pirates. That's the problem." a voice—her fathers, she presumes, from the deep tones—says. 

Her mother speaks up. "I have heard rumors that the Terror of the High Seas is approaching our kingdom. Some even say she's already among us, but that's the servants talking. Always spreading silly rumors."

"Isn't that good?" Sehun, the king's advisor, adds. "The bounty on that woman is insane. If we manage to capture her, the kingdom will be set as a major power for years."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Sehun." laughs the king.

"Now," the queen adds, diverting the subject, "Onto Eunwoo's suitors." 

From behind the door, Eunwoo rolls her eyes. 

"I've had Hara organize some files and such for the variety of suitors coming to visit the ball. There are several from neighboring kingdoms which could really help our military alliances." 

Eunwoo sinks down to the floor. There's nothing she hates more than being used as a pawn in her parent's political games—no longer a person, just another piece in their puzzle of hierarchy and power plays. She hates her suitors too, meeting one is worse enough, but in just two days she'll be in a room full of them. 

She's not sure she wants to hear anymore, so she stands up and begins the quiet walk to her room.

Jieqiong loves visiting new places—the fresh scent of the air, the strangeness of the people's faces. Considering that both Nayoung and Minkyung were on the navy watchlist, the crew had decided it would be safe for them to say on the boat for the moment. However, Jieqiong was considerably under the radar, and with a strong desire to stretch her legs after being on the ship for so long, she found herself exploring the bustling port of Black Widow Island. 

From Kyungwon's pre-arrival briefing, a procedure Nayoung considered a necessity, Jieqiong had learned that Black Widow was a huge trade hub, and the capital of a large grouping of islands ruled over by one royal family. 

Jieqiong watches the castle from the midst of the smoky and loud nighttime dock crowd—its spires reaching towards the starry sky. She can remember wanting to be a princess when she was younger, and sometimes she still wishes to be someone born into the lap of luxury, but most of her is content with her life now. 

Jieqiong moves through the crowd, past stands selling exotic birds and skewers of meat, and finally to a hat seller—a tired-looking woman sewing a feather onto another other wares. She spots what she was looking for—a tricorn hat garnished with a large, dramatic peacock feather. 

Nayoung has always refused to wear any sort of fancy captain's gear, living for a sense of durability over extravagance. However, Jieqiong can just picture this hat on Nayoung, and she can't resist shoving a few gold coins in the woman's direction and purchasing it as a gift to her lovely captain. Not wanting to carry it around, she places it on her head—what's the harm in playing pretend captain for an hour or two? 

She passes two women chattering quite loudly about local gossip.

"I heard the Terror of the High Seas is here."

"I don't see any pirate ship at the docks, Sojung."

"I heard she stole a navy ship to repurpose for herself. She could be anywhere!"

"You're such a conspiracy theorist!"

Jieqiong gives herself a silent chuckle, and begins walking towards the castle. She begins to notice the naval officer presence greatly increasing, but no one seems to watch her with any sort of suspicion. The front gates of the castle are flanked with castle guards, and she notes they're weaponless—an easy takedown. The gates appear to loop back into a dark forest, a much easier entrance. Jieqiong reaches into her shoulder bag, uncaps a pen, and pulls out her journal. Quickly, she scribbles a couple of blurry sketches and rough notes, before ducking back into the crowd. 

"Miss!" 

Eunwoo looks up from her book. Her room is lit just by candlelight as she does her before-bed reading. 

At the door is Yein, who gives her a quick bow.

"Yes, Yein?"

"I found out who that boat belongs too. The servants are saying it belongs to..." Her voice lowers a register. "The Terror of the High Seas."

Eunwoo closes her book and sits up, intrigued. 

"It's a pirate ship?"

"They're saying it is, miss. I mean, they do a lot of gossiping down in the kitchens, but Sojung said she saw a strange lady with a pirate hat outside the palace, and that she thinks that boat has no official naval markings, but it looks like a navy ship. The Terror is said to have captured a navy boat, you know."

"Thank you, Yein." 

"You're welcome, miss." 

Eunwoo stands up and walks to her window, staring at the odd ship in the distance. As the hours of night have waned away, the crowds at the docks have disappeared, and she swears she can see tiny figures sitting on the deck of the ship, conversing.

She's never told anyone, of course, but she's always wished she was a pirate or a sailor. Mostly, she wants to be far away from her family and the castle, somewhere out on the ocean. 

She undoes the latch of her window and leans out, thinking. Pirates are one of the worst enemies of the Alligned Kingdoms, especially her father's—who faces pirates stealing from his trade ships on the daily. The last place anyone would look for her would be among the crew of a pirate ship. Eunwoo's fingers tap on the windowsill. Hm.

"Are you sure it's safe to be out?" Minkyung asks, looking out on the island scenery. 

"It's fine." Siyeon nods. "Like Jieqiong said, most of the naval officers are by the castle. No one's going to approach us anyway, we look like a naval ship."

"I hate how you're smarter than me, even though you're younger." Minkyung grumbles, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and letting out a wispy sigh. "So what's the report on the trade ships?"

"Shouldn't I tell Nayoung that?" 

"She's in her study. She doesn't want to be bothered."

"Oh. Well, there's one navy ship. And a couple are just food transport, basic goods, we don't need that . The only one worth stealing from is that one at the very end of the docks. It's the king's official trade ship. See the guards? Probably means there's gold on it." 

Minkyung nods, and writes something on a leather bound notepad. "I'll report back to Nayoung tomorrow morning. You should get some sleep, since you're the best at stealth on the crew, you'll be doing a lot of work tomorrow." 

Siyeon laughs. "You're a little high-strung sometimes, Minky."

"I'm just trying to do my job."

Siyeon gives her a wide smile. "Goodnight."

Minkyung smiles back, just slightly. "Goodnight to you too, Siyeon."

In her study, Nayoung sits and scratches lengthy notes into her captain's log. She's wearing Jieqiong's silly hat—the girl had insisted so brightly that she wear it and it had become a little hard to resist her pleading eyes. 

There's another rap on the door.

"I told no one to disturb me." she says loudly. 

"It's Kyungwon."

Nayoung sighs. She doesn't quite understand why she holds such a weakness for the tall, warm navigator, but she finds it hard to resist her charms.

"Come in."

Kyungwon gently pushes the door open. "I brought you some tea." She sets a saucer down next to Nayoung. 

"Thank you." 

"Nice hat."

Nayoung looks up, and quickly takes it off. 

"Jieqiong made me wear it." she says, embarrassed.

"It suits you."

"Thank you." 

"I was out on the town today. Did you know they're calling you the "Terror of the High Seas" now?" 

"I saw. It's a little stupid of a nickname. Too dramatic for my tastes."

"I like it. Makes you seem powerful." Kyungwon sits on the armchair Nayoung keeps in the study. "Gives you an air of mystery."

"I'm not powerful." Nayoung says with a sigh. 

"You should stop doubting yourself so much."

Nayoung gives her a weak smile. "You treat me too well."

"I'm going to sleep. Goodnight, Nayoung. Don't keep yourself up too late."

"Goodnight." Nayoung replies, before gently closing her captain's log. She should rest.