Prince of Flour

33. A Witch's Wrath

Hongjoong had easily changed courses to go back and have a nice little talk with Liv. The crew had been seething with rage for about two days of their journey, Seonghwa constantly worried to meet them and their heated eyes somewhere. They had indeed not taken well to that information he had provided.

Not that Seonghwa did not feel wronged by Liv. If Hongjoong's assumption about her had been right they all had suffered greatly by her hand. And even then she did not just hurt Hongjoong who she was angry at but also all of the crew members including Seonghwa at that time.

While he could understand the anger of the crew perfectly well, he did not quite see the need to go there and make her feel the consequences. They had already saved their lives already, why did they have to hurt her now?

When he had shared his thoughts with Yeosang (one of the still calmer people on the ship) he just had laughed and patted Seonghwa's hair. He had called him too soft to be a pirate yet and that she should have known she was going to get in trouble when defying Hongjoong's grace.

He also was right in some way. Hongjoong accepted her and respected her as a woman who lived and bore his child, even letting Yunho protect her. And then she had attacked Yunho too.

So while Seonghwa might have not understood fully how their minds worked regarding the matter he observed the happenings from a save distance, spending more time with Yeosang studying. Hongjoong was busy preparing for possible counterattacks from her side, sometimes sending mail out to Yongguk in order to make sure they were ready.

When the day came that they went ashore on the pirate's island again Seonghwa was keenly aware of how close to his home they were. He felt the need to go back and tell his mother what happened, that he was going to spend a lot of his time on a boat from now on if he knew her safe.

He had been thinking a lot about whether he could stay or not. He had given a promise to his captain, yes, but Hongjoong had also told him he could wait. If Seonghwa first wanted to make sure his mother was okay then he could always join the crew later on.

Hongjoong had promised him he would still be there and wait for him.

So he did plan on asking him after they had talked with Liv whether or not he could go home to talk to her, to plan his future.

He felt a bit out of place trudging through the city together with them, the crowd parting around Hongjoong who looked mightily impressive with his long coat, sharp eyes and quick steps. The whole main crew was with them (Seonghwa had automatically been ranked as such since he could read and had some survival skills to boast with. Also Hongjoong might have been playing favourites but the whole crew had agreed on his new rank as their cook. Yunho had been glad.)

Hanbyeol and Youjin had stayed on the ship, not really bothered by the happening as they did not seem important enough for Liv. (Another reason why Seonghwa was main crew. Their shadows had basically shaped the future again.)

Seonghwa was walking pretty much in their middle, being right behind Captain who was flanked by Yunho and Mingi. The other four too were walking behind Seonghwa, their faces grim and their hands settled on their respective weapons.

They had talked about how their visit would go. Seonghwa was supposed to go there together with the rest and grab Tikki. She did not need to see her parents fight and depending on how Liv might act Hongjoong was ready to kill her. If that would be the case they had decided to take Tikki with them, if not forever then at least for the time being until they found someone to take actual care of her.

Seonghwa was glad that he had gotten away with an easy task but he could still not deny the nervous clench of his guts when they arrived in that alley and Hongjoong lifted a harsh fist to pound at Liv's door.