Shock painted over her face. She knew the day would come where he would have to leave and go back to his place. She had prepared herself emotionally for the same but she hadn't expected him to ask her to go with him. Her face stiffened. She couldn't go with him. She looked in his eyes. "No, I'll stay here and accompany grandma. You know where we are. You are always welcome to visit us."
He felt dejected though a part of him knew that it was going to be her answer – no. He knew that probably, she would not agree for the same but hearing it from her was different. "You're right. I have to leave soon. I'll go notify Grandma." He walked towards the hut.
Grandma was bagging dried herbal leaves next to the stove and putting them away. Mua Kong stepped inside the hut and saw her bagging her last bag. He waited for her to finish and called aloud, "Grandma."
She turned to face him and knew what he would say just from the look on his face.
She gave a small smile and nodded her head. "I'll have Hli Ja accompany you out of the mountains."
"Thank you for taking care of me and letting me stay here. I'll come back to properly thank you. I have some business to go take care of first." He had a business to go back and find who hired assassins to kill him.
*
The scene shifted to the next one.
That morning, Hli Ja accompanied Mua Kong down the mountain.
"Wait a moment. Can you take me to the place where you saw me? I need to scout the nearby area to see if my person is still there," Mua Kong said to Hli Ja.
He wanted to make sure that his personal bodyguard's body was not there and see if there was any evidence that was left behind. Mua Kong trusted his bodyguard's ability to take care of himself.
"You had important people with you on that day?" Hli Ja's muscles stiffened. Every day, she regretted leaving her sister behind as she was weak and vowed to never leave people dear to her behind. Although, she did not know Mua Kong's person, the thought of leaving a good person behind to die still vexed her heart.
Seeing her pale face, he could tell what was going through her mind. "My personal bodyguard. Don't worry. He's more skill than I am. He's definitely alive. I just want to make sure that his body isn't there and maybe I could find some clues about the assassins." He reassured her.
Hearing him relieved her. "You still owe me. You haven't taught me how to fight yet. Don't forget," she warned him in her stern voice but both knew what her real intention behind it was. She wanted him to return to her.
"Haha, I'll come back after I take care of some things. I won't forget." Mua Kong chuckled as he promised her.
Soon, they arrived at the area where Hli Ja had seen Mua Kong being chased by assassins but there was not a single trace of fighting marks left behind. The place was cleaned out. He hurriedly traced the area back to where he got separated from his bodyguard. There was not a single dead body lying around.
Mua Kong was not sure if it was the cleanup work of his bodyguard or the assassins. If it was the work of the assassins, they might have cleaned it up to cover their tracks but if it was his bodyguard, the bodyguard most likely had looked for clues and found something so the area was cleaned up? However, why his bodyguard had not come looking for him? Or his bodyguard did but was not able to find him? A bunch of thoughts flashed through his mind.
Seeing his suddenly worked up and serious stance, she was worried. "What's wrong?"
He turned his head to face her. Not wanting to get her involved in his problems, he covered up his thoughts and replied, "Nothing, let's go down a little farther from here and you can go back. I promise I'll come back to get you and grandma after I settle some things."
She remained silent. She was not sure if she wanted to go back to human society. Life would not be the same again without her sister. Also, she was not sure if she would blend in well with the rest of the people.
When he did not get a response from her, he guessed what was taxing her heart at that moment. "I won't let you suffer. Trust me," he added earnestly.
By that time, it was already late in the afternoon. He looked at the position of the sun in the sky and looked at her. "Let's part ways. I don't want you to get back late into the night."
"It's ok. I'm used to the mountains," she assured.
"No! The mountains can be dangerous," he cut her off.
"Okay. I'll watch you go first and I'll hurry back."
He took a moment to hold her image in his eyes before he turned around and sped off. She kept staring at his back that disappeared from her sight soon. She sighed and walked back to her grandmother.
In the main hall of the main kingdom's palace, the king was furious. He had sent out search parties to find his youngest son, and all they had found was the bodyguard and the dead assassins. There was no news whether his son was captured or dead already. How was he going to face his wife in the afterlife? The disappearance of the second prince and king's anger caused chaos in the palace.
The king did not think an outdoor event could have a tragic end for one of his sons. Everything the assassins had on them even their weapons had nothing distinct that could give out clues where the assassins were from.
The prince's personal bodyguard was rescued shortly after he passed out. He was treated but he could not save the prince and the prince had disappeared. He felt extremely guilty of his incompetence and continuously felt that he should not have lived. His remorseful figure was kneeling in front of the king when Prince Mua Kong walked through the door looking unscathed.