Mua Kong thought that being discreet about her would keep her away from danger. He was going to wait until he accomplished the goals set by the King, then he will show her to the world. But right now, he feels at a lost and angry at himself. He failed to protect his wife. He thought that if he keeps her inside his home, keep his work problems away from her, would keep her safe. He thought it was a method of protecting her from the eyes of others, but now he is not sure if what he did was the right thing. Maybe keeping her in the dark probably caused her more harms.

Back at Mua Kong"s palace, he instructed one of his guards to infiltrate Da Neng"s house. Since he does not have solid proof but just speculations, the only thing he could do right now is send someone to spy for suspicious activity.

At the crime site, the investigators were able to identify some corpses based on evidence the corpses had on their body that was not burned in the fire. Yee Len had fetched a coroner to screen the corpses for other causes. What Mua Kong suspect was all of the people in the inn must of ingested sleeping drug to not have woken up to the fire. He needed the coroner to rule out the cause.

Night time approached, at Prince Mua Kong"s palace, he sat in his study chamber dazed and helpless. Time is essence in this case and he has yet to pinpoint a clue to help him track down the enemy. He has not been able to sleep nor eat to keep his body healthy. Sitting in the study room, with all curtains down, dark shadows loomed over Mua Kong"s figure. The room was dark and gloomy leaving no s.p.a.ce for light to peek through as if the room itself could feel it"s master"s depressed state.

A week has gone by and the spy was not able to catch anything suspicious of Minister Da Neng"s house. Mua Kong agreed to give his spy another week to thoroughly search every family member without being obvious.

Some of the corpses who have family members that cared enough to track them down, came and took the corpses away for proper burials. Those that remains, Yee Len and the guards buried them, gave them a proper burial.

After Yee Len had expanded the search area and dispatched more guards, they were not able to find Hli Ja"s whereabouts. They have no lead as to who had took her, whether they may be from the palace or neighboring country. With no lead, all Mua Kong could do was dispatched a few guards to infiltrate the Northern and Southern country.

The time in Mua Kong"s heart had stood frozen at when he held her hairpin to his chest at the crime site. There was no evidence of her body found so he refused to believe that she was truly gone. He had a hunch that she was probably taken somewhere by someone and he hoped that he would find her someday.

Weeks turned to month, months turned to year and before long, over two years had gone by. Mua Kong still did not get any lead. He would go to the border by the southern country for months to fend territory and then take time to travel the country looking for Hli Ja every chance he gets.

Since then, Mua Kong doesn"t look the same anymore. He seems to lost the will to live on, but he has to force himself to live in case Hli Ja might be alive somewhere in the world. He became thinner, his eyes always looked so empty. The man who used to look so heavenly handsome, strong, stern, and always radiate a radiance aura wherever he goes no longer existed. He now always wears black cloak, unshaved and looked shabby like a living corpse.

Half a year later, marked the third year since the fire incident. The King decided to approach Mua Kong while he shuts himself inside his study room with all the curtains down. He sat in the dark room filled with emptiness, his eyes lifeless. The King had enough of seeing his son this way and muttered the courage to visit. When he arrived into the study room, he saw his son sitting on the chair in the dark staring at blank s.p.a.ces.

Mua Kong didn"t move or shift his gaze to look at the person who came in. He remained still like a statue. The King exhaled a deep breath before pulling a chair to sit across from his son. He looked at his statue son and in a low tone he spoke, "My mother was the fifth wife of the previous King. I was the youngest and my health was weak. I grew up witnessing all my father"s wives plotted schemes against each other. My father"s third wife and her family tried to poison him and overtake the throne...." The King paused and took a deep breathe before continuing in a hoa.r.s.e voice..

"At the time her son was the crowned prince. My mother didn"t come from a powerful family, our support was weak so we were always bullied. To escape from the palace life, I ran away to attend a well known school that teaches martial arts and intelligence. Your mother was the descendant of that school. She was beautiful, smart, kind, and top of the cla.s.s. That was how I met your mother. From there on, your mother helped me improved my martial art skill, she helped me think deeper, what lies beyond the surface." The King paused slightly to look at his son to see if he would get a reaction.

Still, Mua Kong didn"t move.