The evening came, the full moon had already begun to rise and Taemin had started to wear the clothes that Minho had got for him. The top was dark green while the bottom was almost black with a ribbon around his waist, and a ribbon in the pirate's hair styled in a high ponytail. He knew that if they saw him, especially after a few days staying in the place, they would probably think he was the prince's fiancée, which would make the rumor true and spread even faster.

They left the room together looking to the sides to see if there were guards around. According to Jinki, the way was cleared from guards, which means they could walk down the halls comfortably. Taemin left the room first, the prince after him, in case not all the guards were moved out of the way. The way to the stairs was easy, usually, at this time three guards would pass by who were patrolling but they did not show up. The prince stood by Tae in front of the stairs. "I'll come from the other side," he said and continued to another wing of the floor passing through one of the bridges and disappearing into the shadows of the dark corridor.

Taemin himself stepped towards the stairs, where they had planned to go down. The staircase was a little longer than the staircase between the ground floor and the first floor. The gram was half-lit, only two torches lit the way which caused some stairs to be completely dark so without noticing where the pirate was going he tripped on a step, which caused a loud noise to be heard and an echo to pass between the walls. Unfortunately, the floor below him was not as empty as he thought it was. "Who's there?" There was a guard's voice, Taemin did not go down and stopped in place, hiding in the shadows of the dark area of the staircase.

"Who's there? Show yourself," the guard said. Taemin could hear the footsteps he made, placing his foot on the step. But no more steps were heard because another voice was heard. At first, he thought that Minho had come and stopped the guard from ascending, but it was not the voice of the crown prince, the voice was hoarse and lower. But how can this be if all the officials are in a meeting? "Boy," the official told the guard, "it's nothing, just me, go on your tour and do not make trouble," the adult scolded.

The pirate was still frozen in place not making a sound, the sound of footsteps in the background became weaker, which means the official moved away from the place and the corridor became quiet. Tae took a step to the next step and continued more slowly and quietly. When he got to the floor, the prince was nowhere to be seen, Taemin decided to go to the stairs from which his lover was supposed to go down, but no one was seen and no sound was heard either, so he decided to continue alone.

As he turned to walk the way they had set, a familiar face stood behind him. "We meet again, don't we, Miss?" It was the same official he met a few days ago. "Where are you going at such an hour?" He asked, Taemin did not like the tone of his voice. He said nothing, just looked at the adult with a startled look. "Guards," the official exclaimed when he saw that the girl in front of him had said nothing. Four older guards appeared in the hallway. Two held Tae's shoulders, the other two stood behind the old man who smiled a horrible smile that revealed his golden tooth.

The official made a sign with his hand and Taemin was dragged by the guards after the old man. At first, he thought he would take him to his room so he started squirming and trying to escape the grip of the guards, who were very strong and did not release him. But the old man took him down the stairs towards the conference hall. Another sign and the two guards, who did not hold the pirate, opened the double doors wide so that all the officials in the room, including the king, looked towards the girl who was standing in front of them next to an official with four guards with them.

"What is this all about?" The king asked. His voice sounded steady between the walls of the room. "Are you blind, Your Highness?" The old man was rude to his king, many in the room did not like what they heard at that moment. The rood official made another sign with his hand and Taemin was ushered into the room, the doors at the back closed by the two guards who opened them. All the men in the room looked at the girl standing there, being held up. "Explain," the king ordered, he sat back in his seat after standing in front of the large map spread out on the table.

"Well, my king, this girl was caught walking around the castle." "Your name," Choi Siwon asked, his voice louder, and looked straight at the pirate, scanning his face. Or at least trying because his bangs hid the top of his face and the rest of his hair was messy from trying to break free earlier. "Lee Taeyeon," Taemin said in a quiet voice, feeling very uncomfortable with the situation he was in. Where is the prince? He did not know.

"I have not heard that name for a very long time, Lee Taeyeon," the king said, not taking his eyes off the girl. "What are your intentions here?" He asked. Taemin tried to think of an answer from the cover story, but his head was empty as if he had forgotten everything. The king's eyes went to look at his body. The bracelet on the pirate's hand was seen under his sleeve. When Choi Siwon's eyes rested on the bracelet, his eyes widened in surprise but then the light in the hall went out, the torches stopped lighting at once and the room was completely dark. They could not see anything. Taemin felt the guards holding him loosen and voices of screaming and choking were heard because of the attack, accompanied by sounds of surprise from the officials in the room. Taemin was dragged to an unknown place by strong hands.

The pirate saw nothing, but Sooyoung's voice was heard near his ear. "Do not worry, they do not know where we are, follow my voice, I was waiting for you down the stairs and you didn't appear," Sooyoung told him. Sooyoung was part of their plan, she knew a way out of the palace so Minho talked to her to show him the way while he reached the last staircase. They walked in the dark. "I heard loud voices of people going down the stairs and I thought something had happened, so I hid, I saw you being dragged by these thugs so I had to do something... shhh," the girl signaled him and stopped him from walking. Taemin managed to see a bit of Sooyoung, she wore black and had a hood on her head hiding her long black hair.

They went to a place that Taemin did not know, or that because he couldn't see the floor, he only followed Sooyoung, on whom he relied. When they reached the stairs, they stopped. "It's your way out," Sooyoung said. "You'll get to a place beyond the wall on the west side of the palace." She smiled. "Can you tell Minho that I love him?" "Of course." They hugged. "What about you?" He asked before going upstairs. "No one will suspect after I take off the hood and the clothes I'm wearing. Go," she told him and disappeared into the shadows.

Taemin went out through the wooden door into the cool air of Kyong-Ju. There was no guard in the area but everything can happen, so he should be careful. He walked towards the city making sure to hide in the shadows of the houses evading guards. The pirate let his hail loose from the hairstyle he had and gathered his hair into a new, lower, ponytail. Getting to the Son family house was the easy part, now he had to check to see if the landlord was even awake. From what he knew, Naeun is part of the plan, which means she probably made her father go cold for a while. 

Indeed, when he arrived, his friend opened the door for him telling him that her father had gotten drunk and fainted. She told him that the Hanbok suited him, then laughed at him. Before he started getting dressed in the guard's uniform, Naeun decided to shorten his hair so as not to disturb him. His hair reached his shoulders. After the haircut and dressing in uniform, he gathered his short hair again, took his sword (which he had brought with the uniform). He looked at the old man while Naeun went to fetch his bag, which was tidy with the new clothes he had received from her. "Thank you, Naeun, I do not know what I would have done without you," the two hugged outside the door.