Soyeon leaned back in her chair and yawned so widely her jaw popped.

“Are you trying to catch a fly in there Soyeon?” Krystal asked with a smirk.

Soyeon ignored her as she poured herself another cup of tea. She hadn’t slept a wink since making it back to headquarters. After separating Jungkook and Jimin and locking their bedrooms, she made her way into the kitchen, determined to wait until Minnie came back. She still couldn’t decide if letting Minnie go back to rescue Yuqi by herself was a good idea. But it wasn’t like Soyeon could go too—she’d be recognized. That was her fault. Her renunciation of the Minister’s rule and notorious escape made the Minister plaster “Wanted” posters all over town.

“Here, eat this.” Krystal slid a plate with a couple of hotcakes soaked in honey under her nose.

“Thanks,” Soyeon replied gratefully, sniffing in the aroma. They smelled amazing. She picked up a fork and dug in. Krystal sat down opposite from her and folded her arms. Soyeon noticed she was chewing her lip, as if she wanted to say something.

“What are you thinking about?”

“N-nothing!”

Soyeon rolled her eyes and wiped but didn’t press further. Krystal would talk when she wanted to. She just concentrated on eating the soft chewy cakes and keeping her eyes open. After a minute Krystal cleared .

“So, I don’t mean to offend you, but what do we do now?”

Soyeon raised her eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, now that we have Shuhua in our custody, where do we go? We can’t stay here. Once the Minister orders a sweep of the town we’ll be found. But if we try to escape there’s no place to run. No other country will take us in, especially with Shuhua.”

Soyeon stuffed the last piece of hotcake into and swallowed. She contentedly patted her stomach and gave Krystal an approving nod.

“Your cooking is a lot better than I thought it would be,” she said, making Krystal blush.

Soyeon took a swig of tea and cupped the mug between her hands. She stared down at her inky reflection and mused for a moment.

“On the contrary, I think many different places will want to take us in. Because we have Shuhua.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Shuhua’s the last of our royal bloodline. She has sole claim to the throne. I think if we bring her to one of our neighbors, they’d scramble to have the chance to wed her. We can ally ourselves with the strongest and take back the throne from Yongsun,” Soyeon finished.

Krystal gave her a disbelieving look.

“So…your grand plan is to marry off Shuhua to the highest bidder with the biggest army and hope they’ll want to invade our country and oust Yongsun?” Krystal incredulou