"Shiv! I just heard the news! You found something from that wor..."
Aditya turned into a stone sculpture after witnessing the scene before him.
Ira swiftly turned around and buried her face on his chest. While Shiv was shooting daggers from his eyes at Aditya.
Both Shiv and Aditya shared a telepathic conversation just by looking at each others eyes.
"How dare you enter, that too right at this perfect timing!? Are you itching to get killed!!?"
Aditya looked like a lost puppy who felt completely helpless in that kind of situation.
Aditya tried to slip out of the room as quietly as he could.
"Sorry... for the disturbance... The third wheel is now leaving...."
Ira completely dug her face into his chest from complete embarrassment.
Shiv smiled a little as he gently patted on the girl's head.
"It's fine now... He left."
It was more like Shiv made him to leave.
Ira came back to her senses after hearing his words. She immediately pushed him aside and ran out as fast as she could.
"What the! What in the world was I about to say to him just now!!? This is wrong. This is wrong! He is A Prince. Even though he is hiding right now... One day, when he gets back his country, he is the person who could become The King. On the other hand... What am I? I just happened to find out about my identity... I'm not even sure what i am... This is not right... I must maintain a distance with him for both of our good."
Ira took a deep sigh, "I better find Chahna... I am so hungry!"
.....
Shiv spoke of the Investigation Bureau in the court meeting that was held at the noon. There were not many scholars by his side. But the ones he had were indeed very trustworthy.
Shiv was someone who was abandoned by his family and his people because of his unique eyes which they thought to be demonic. But even during those times of his abandonment, the people who stayed by his side were very few. Those scholars were one of the few people who supported Shiv, despite of his uniqueness.
Those people tried to persuade the previous king many times to bring back the prince from the abandonment. But despite those people's petitions to the previous king, he simply refused to heed to the words of those scholars into bringing the prince back to the palace.
Till now Shiv wore a mask on his face to hide his beautiful eyes from the public. The scars that he had incurred during his childhood was so severe that he refused to show anyone his face. But Ira was an exception...
She broke through all of his walls and touched his wounded heart and soul. She was the only one whom Shiv had ever shown his face to. But gradually, as he started spending more and more time with her, he stopped using his mask as often as he did in the past.
He even lets other people to see his face as long as he was with Ira. Without he himself realising it, somehow Ira became a key for the door that he had locked himself into.
Though Ira had absolutely no idea how much her existence meant to him....
Just like that a few more days passed before they could find any kind of leads on that person.
.....
General Veer and General Dev came back to report to Shiv as soon as they had found a clue on their investigations.
"Prince Shiv, I, General Veer am back from the investigation."
"Yes, continue with your report!"
"Your Highness, we were still not able to track any person who could have possibly escaped from that dreadful night of the Varma's, but according to some of the eye witness, there appears to be a strange guy who wears some unidentifiable foreign clothings. He was spotted in the village where we are currently performing our tradings and other dealings that are necessary for the functioning of our village and... he was also spotted near the outskirts of our village. To be precise, near the water source of our village."
Shiv pinched the space between his brows. He felt like a headache coming his way. That person whom they are searching for was actually near the place where that lighter was found my General Dev.
"Your Highness, I too have something to report to you about. May I?" Since Shiv looked a little annoyed General Dev didn't know whether he could continue with his report.
"Yes, carry on."
"Your Highness, actually the 3 victims that had been kidnapped had been found to be missing only at a particular point. And that particular place where they have disappeared was near the water source of our village. Beyond that point, those people could not be traced. There is absolutely no trace of them, it looks like those 3 were spirited away."
"Hmm... But judging from General Veer's findings, there is a possibility that those 3 victims could have been kidnapped by that guy whom we are currently looking for. We have no time to waste. We must take action immediately before he does anything to anyone."
Both the generals took his command and swiftly acted on it. But unfortunately, that was where their leads ended. There was absolutely nothing that they could find beyond that point.
Shiv even made use of his alliance with Abhinav and used his men to aid his generals in finding that person. But all of their hard work paid them no effect.
.....
Shiv was not yet sure whether he could discuss about his findings with Ira, as she was already very depressed from all that had happened.
He couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of reaction she would make, if she were to learn the truth that the person they were searching for and the case of the missing individuals pointed a certain unknown individual.
Despite all of these, he absolutely didn't want to see her cry anymore. If possible he would love to take care of this matter silently without making her aware of it. But that was not what he had promised Ira....