Sumin woke up feeling dreadful as always.

But then, this time there was a small spark of something, and Sumin tried her best to ignore it. There was no way she felt a little hopeful from the news they had gotten. She could be dead in a matter of hours!

"Morning," Luhan greeted.

Sumin sat up from the hard ground, and ruffled her messy, long black hair. Her hair had passed her shoulders and she really wanted to cut it so it wouldn't bother her at all. But then, she was also too lazy to search for a deserted place to do it and cut her hair with her dagger. She didn't want to do it in their home, because that would mean she would feel Luhan's wrath because she added more trash in their dirty warehouse, and she also didn't want the place dirtier.

Sumin hissed in pain when she straightened her back. Definitely a bruise from yesterday.

"Do you want to take a shower now?" Luhan asked, then sipped water from a plastic bottle. It was also their last one, and Sumin reminded herself to buy a new one today. Well, if the invitation yesterday turned out to be a fraud or a prank.

Sumin shook her head with a small smile. "Nope. Who cares about the Queen? At least we've cleaned ourselves at the public shower yesterday."

"Good, because I'm also too lazy," Luhan said.

Sumin raised her hand and flicked her hand to her, so the bottle was immediately flying to her grasp, surprising Luhan. She gulped down the remaining water, feeling hydrated after her sleep.

"How many hours do we have left before the suppposedly carriage come?" Sumin asked after the bottle was empty.

"Well, I'm guessing from the sun, it must be around 8 AM or 9 AM."

"Great. Wake me up one hour later," Sumin said and laid her body back to her previous position.

Sumin closed her eyes, preparing to sleep until Luhan said something. "Aren't you scared?"

She opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling above them. She saw there were cracks, obviously, in many places. There were too many to count.

If the one who was asking wasn't Luhan, then she would definitely answer with a "no" in a second. But this was Luhan, and she trusted him, the same as he did toward her. She knew him well that his words meant he was scared, and wanted her to feel the same so he would feel like he wasn't a coward for feeling it.

They were similar, but also different in some ways.

"Yes," Sumin said softly, fluttering her eyes closed, "I'm scared."

Sumin slowly opened her heavy lids, feeling her shoulder being moved repeatedly by someone else's hand. She groaned, growing a dislike to anyone whom dared to wake her up when she felt this sleepy. And that anyone, was obviously Luhan.

"Stop it, head," Sumin muttered angrily. When she got angry, she would curse and this was definitely one of those special moments for her to be angry.

"It's ing 11 AM already and the carriage is really in front of our home," Luhan said. He usually cursed because she cursed at him first, or when he was panicking.

Sumin snapped open her eyes, ignoring the heavy resitance of her eyes. "! They are really here? So it wasn't a lie?"

"No ," Luhan sarcastically said.

Sumin scrambled up and immediately grabbed her comb to brush her bed hair. She stared at her reflection through a small mirror Luhan had bought her two years ago. He told her he bought her that small mirror so she would notice how ugly she was so she knew how much he suffered looking at her face everyday. He earned a hard punch to his stomach that day.

When she knew her hair was decent enough, Sumin put down her things and looked down to her outfit. She was wearing a simple red T-shirt, and noticed a small orange stain at the bottom of her T-shirt. She also wore a black trouser and dirty, old blue sneakers she had stolen one year ago.

She nodded approvingly at her attire, then turned around to look at Luhan's. Luhan wore a grey hoodie this time, and light brown khakis. He wore his damaged, worn out grey sneakers, which were supposedly white as far as Sumin remembered.

"You're seriously going to the Palace with that?" Luhan asked, pointing at her T-shirt.

"We don't have much time and I'm sure they will understand our situation," Sumin said. Even though she said it confidently, she couldn't help herself but to be anxious whether the Queen would really approve and let it slide, or be offended for her impolite fashion.

Before Luhan could complain, Sumin pulled him out by his arm from their home. Once they were out, Sumin couldn't help but open widely in surprise at their carriage.

It was a white horse-drawn 'coach' carriage, with the horses being white as well. There were a few stripes of gold in the carriage, adding a bit luxury for the design. There were even golden snake with a crown on top statues ㅡ their symbol ㅡ at the back of the carriage. There were three people she saw; two coachmen on the front to lead the carriage, and the other one was the silver man.

"Good day and it's a pleasure to meet you both again. My name is Julius Travis, at your service," the silver-haired man introduced his name as he bowed formally.

Luhan didn't give any bows nor nods, but Sumin bowed a little in response. Now that she knew he really was from the Palace, she couldn't take any more risks. After all, there was a big chance they were taken there to be captured and she didn't want to add any more punishments for herself.

Julius led them to the elegant and luxury carri