Her nervous rambling trails off, and a small kernel of reassurance glows within her as she looks at Seokga’s expectant expression. Kisa doesn’t quite feel like examining why. “What if Hwanung hired somebody to go after Hwanin? From what you’ve told us, he could have a motive. With Hwanin a baby, Hwanung gets the throne and a break from being the god of laws. He might have hired somebody on the ship to kill him without having it trace back. The claws tell us that Hwanung enlisted a creature. But he didn’t come onto the boat himself. He distracted his father with a phone call, giving the murderer the element of surprise.”

The trickster god is silent, considering. “It’s a good idea,” he says slowly. “It’s a very good idea,” he adds with a wicked grin. “If I’d thought of that myself back in the day…”

Exasperated—and before she can stop herself—Kisa gives him a that’s not funny and you know it look.

He smirks, and she grimaces, wondering—not for the first time—at how natural it feels to speak with him. Squash this immediately, Kisa chides herself, and is rewarded (or punished, really) by the bemused expression forming on the trickster’s face.

“Erm—We need to focus on Korain,” she manages to say, her gaze breaking away from Seokga. “Someone should come with me to subtly obtain an alibi and confirm it with the security footage.”

“I’ll go,” Somi offers at the same time Seokga does.

The two glower at each other.

“We’re Threaded,” Seokga sneers.

“I was her best friend,” Somi snaps.

“Until you betrayed her,” the god hisses, and evidently lands a punch on his opponent as Somi shies away.

Exchanging a tired glance with Hajun, Kisa shakes her head in a mixture of reluctant flattery, exasperation, and deep exhaustion. Somewhere in the mix, there’s also an itching curiosity that Kisa ignores for the moment. “It really doesn’t matter who comes with me,” she interrupts, although part of her secretly wants to choose Somi, putting as much distance between herself and Seokga—with his reassuring smiles and sparkling eyes—as possible. “But there’s more to do.” She stares down at the blueprints, the mammoth ship sketched out in concise white lines. Her finger taps Deck 10 before moving to the etched stairwell where the body was found. “This stairwell doesn’t have a camera,” she murmurs, reminding them of their discovery the night before. “If it connects to a passageway…” There’s no indication, however, of any on the blueprint. Her heart falls.

“It can always be checked in person,” Seokga offers, shifting Hwanin in his arms uncomfortably. Kisa sighs and gently repositions the baby emperor in his brother’s tense grip.