The five of us continue to talk about the time that I have spent here and let's be honest, I still don't feel at home here. Now, I am officially announced as the crown prince and I will have more targets on my back. But I won't let anyone get me, I am not that weak as they may believe. I have to be honest, I prefer The Night Crew around me instead of the guards from this palace. I need to convince the queen about this matter. Because until this strange guy and the king aren't quiet and as long as the ghosts are around, I want The Night Crew to protect me.

Yunho has pulled me against him and hugs me tight. Yunho hate it that the two of us are separated because of this, since he has been protecting me ever since I was young and this is the first time that we are separated from each other like that. It doesn't feel okay with me either, but what can we do anyways? This was also the first time that the king showed how he currently is in front of so many citizens, so I hope that they will think differently about the king now. I hope that they are going to resist and show clearly that they aren't supporting the king anymore. But I know by now, is that the king will plan an attack on me and will believe that I am behind this attack. This weird guy is doing everything he can to wipe my whole existance out.

''But what are we going to do now? The king is under a strong spell and the guy behind it won't slow down anytime soon. But also, I don't trust the queen. She must have a reason to keep us away from you.'' Yunho then breaks a short silence. I sigh quite deep and I look at the rest of the team. Even rookie Joon Gi is visibly blown away by what happened today. This guy seems to be one step ahead of us everytime we try to end his streak, so I need to find out about his true intensions. I am the only one who can stop him, but I don't know how I am able to stop him.

''I think we need to discuss that tonight or tomorrow, because we need to know more about this guy. We don't know about his strengths and weaknesses, so we don't know what we can do to take him down. We need to do a closer observation on him, something we can only do with Taekwoon on our side. No way in a million years that I am going to hand you over to the queen and let her do what she wants.'' Byeongkwan adds to the conversation and I have to agree with him. We don't know anything of this guy yet, so we need to do a closer observation on this guy. We need to know what he is up to and how powerful he actually is.

''I agree, but we also need to take care of Taekwoon. I honestly think that he isn't safe here without us.'' Seonghwa continues and the four of them agree, not giving me time to react. But deep down, I agree completely. I can't think of a life without them around me, I hope that I can keep them inside the palace, because I feel safe when they are with me. Yunho looks at me and nods, as if he wants to say the same thing what Seonghwa just exclaimed.

At that time, the queen and the young prince enter my room after it was announced that they were going to enter my room. Yunho remains to hold me close, whereas the others take a seat behind us so that they won't be in the way. She doesn't look surprised that the team has taken off my royal attire, but I know that she is hurt by this. She wants me to quit The Night Crew, but she doesn't realises how much this team means to me. They have always protected me better than anyone else.

''I'm glad to see that you're okay, Taekwoon. It was sad to realise that this beautiful moment was cut short by our own king.'' the queen responds and it's then when I realise that there is some strange energy about her. Behind her, I see those three ghosts that have been around me all this time. By their looks, I can tell that it's something serious. I sign at them to tell me what is wrong and they immediately shake their hand, while signing at me that they will wait until the queen and the prince are out of the room.

''Yeah, I'm fine. I rather am glad that the king wasn't attacking me again, because that would've been the death of me for sure. But are you okay? You don't come across as if you are.'' I immediately respond and I can see a shocking expression on the prince's face. I ignore the prince for now, because I don't like it how he behaves around me. Maybe he tries to show something different than what he shows now, but we'll see when he will strike and then I will find out if I appreciate his flirting or not. The queen seemed aback by my response, but she quickly recovers and smiles again. She reaches out her hand to place it on my shoulder, but Yunho immediately pulls me back and tells the queen that he doesn't appreciate that someone like her is getting this close because of the strange energy around her.

The queen says nothing and takes a seat in front of me, with the prince taking a seat next to her. I appreciate that the queen wants to take care of me now that my own parents can't do it, but I still don't trust her. I also still am not willing to see myself with a high title, because this definitely isn't me. I want to leave the palace and I want to live a normal life, because this is definitely not me and I will try to keep the throne away from me as far as possible. 

''My queen, I want to take it slow. The throne is definitely not what I want right now and I want to continue to enjoy life to the fullest until it's time to sacrifice it all. As for these guys, they have been protecting me ever since I was young. My life is outside of these walls and I don't think I'll be happy here.'' I express and I look at the prince to see what he thinks about this, but he isn't too happy about me preferring the life outside of these walls instead of this life. Well, I have explained many times that I don't like it here. When I have the time to talk to him, I will explain to him how I truly feel and how unhappy I will be now that I am announced as the crown prince. 

''But ofcourse, I know how life must've been for you. But as I said before, you need to quit with this team. That is the old you and you need to focus on the new you over here.'' the queen says and I can feel the unfamiliar energy around her. Was she put under a spell aswell? Was I supposed to notice this before? I definitely am going to figure this out with my team, because I need to know if I am truly safe here or if all of this is one big lie to kill me in the end. Until then, I won't let the team leave the palace. Even if the queen wants to, I will make them stay. If she wants me to use my title, then I'll do whatever it takes to keep my team here.