The supposed 4 hours of his Lordship's return has long gone yet there was no sign of him.
Mother Kim dressed up in haste and made to rush out to the place the husband told her he would be at, but before she could come out of the door , she stumbled upon her husband's pained gaze staring at the back of their new servant cum guard.
Surprised, she called him "my lord?"
Stretching her neck to get a glimpse of who the servant was backing after not getting a response from him, she let out a scream and rushed out to grab her child.
"My baby!... my dearest baby, what happened to you?"she sobbed.
*no response*
"My lord ! someone please talk to me, tell me what is wrong with my baby" crying profusely now she rushed her husband demanding an answer.
The man just grabbed her hands and ordered the servants to bring water to wipe his daughter's face.
Turning with full attention to look at the wife now, he embraced her but winced . Mother Kim shrugged away from him and saw that he was also hurt .
Bawling her eyes out, she demanded to know what happened but being unable to contain her grief she half-dragged him into the room her child laid motionless.
The doctor finally arrived with Seohwa and with the permission of the master of the house commenced work.
Diagnosis: broken bones, sprained ankle, weak pulse, bruises , trauma and finally in coma.
The doctor summarized by reporting that she's barely holding up. She's lost her will to live and might not make it through the night.
Mother Kim increased the tempo of her cries and finally exhausted , she slumped.
The doctor used his acupuncture needle to wake her up then gave her a tonic to revitalize her .
On his way out ,he had few advices for the both parents.
"My lord, your wound is quite minor compared to your child's own but I still suggest you rest because the ordeal you experienced is quite enormous and this child still needs you"
"My lady, in as much as you would like to cry but please don't do it, she can hear everything happening in her surroundings and I'm sure she wouldn't like someone crying before her. Tell her stories of all the good things in her life, encourage her to come back and finally convince her that she has to fight for herself... no one will do that for her" he shook his head.
With that final piece of advice, he bowed and left politely.
On his way to his compound he sighed . He believes that she wouldn't make it because of the severity of her injuries. Again, she refused treatment.
A doctor treats illnesses but healing is for the patients and Providence.
If she makes it through the night, he would come back the next day and continue serious treatment on her , her body is in tatters... but nobody knew that her heart is also in tatters too.
____________________
The emperor received the news that his son was missing. He gave out an imperial edict to summon all the royal forces to search for him
and headed towards his empress's palace.
Among the two of them , she's the most worried. The most dangerous animal right now is the empress.
If anything happens to the crown prince, he can't begin to imagine the bloodbath that would follow. With this thought running through his mind , he clenched his fist and hurried to keep her from running berserk.
___________________
The crown prince punched the prime minister a few times to relieve a little bit of his anger.
Not feeling satisfied, he went berserk.
He destroyed anything in his path and trashed all the guards that came to restrain him.
The chief came out and gave the order to put him in jail and he laughed so humorlessly.
"Put me in jail?...Who dares to put this country's crown prince in jail? Come on , let me see"
The chief thought he was mad and went to restrain him himself when the prime minister shouted at him before he faced the crown prince and kowtowed.
"Your highness, forgive this servant for not serving you well"
The guards and their chief saw that the young master wasn't bluffing and all fell on their knees kowtowing.
The chief was mad that the prime minister deceived him but it was drowned out by the fear of what will happen to him and his family.
Who doesn't know that touching as little as the crown prince's hair is tantamount to treason talk more of fighting him and that's exactly what he had done with his men.
Looking at the men kneeling before him , he felt disgusted but the most disgusting one is the prime minister who has changed from a roaring lion to a meek lamb before him.
He stormed towards him and spat .
"Two-faced old snake... acting meek now ?"
The man just stayed calm but answered him that whatever he did was for the good of the royal family.
The crown prince flared up and shouted "Royal family... Royal family, can you stop using that as an excuse? Nobody in the royal family employed you to do any work for them, you mahound !"
He grabbed his neck and told him to go to hell.
He turned around to go but a thought breezed through his mind and he turned back and asked.
"Old man, do you have a daughter?"
The prime minister trembled. His Highness just asked a tricky question. If he say no, he would never present his daughter during the consort selection and if he says yes , the crown prince will mark his daughter and never select her.
What to do? .
He thought and answered carefully "Your highness, my daughter is one that doesn't like strangers asking about her but I will tell her the crown prince asked after her"
The crown prince laughed while analyzing his answer in his head .
The old snake answered that he has a daughter, but that daughter doesn't know about him who is the crown prince hence eliminating the fact that she's interested in becoming his consort.
Ignoring the fact that he already knows about his ambition, he told him blatantly to tell her not to dream about becoming his wife as he will never select her .
He looked at the man with a venom so potent it can kill and said...
"Devil"
With that last syllable, he stormed into the streets but not before glaring down at the officers with the warning "not to be followed".
The chief and the officers released a breath they didn't know their were holding.
Visibly shaking, they couldn't shake off the fact that they annoyed the crown prince and hence they glared at the prime minister with hidden daggers .
"My lord, you better have a better explanation for this" the chief looked at the prime minister, his earlier adoration gone in his eyes.
One short sentence escaped from the prime minister's mouth who was looking distant probably because of the crown prince's threat...
"I know".
_________________
Back at the palace, the empress kept pacing around her son's room while darting her eyes at the door from time to time.
After some times of doing that, she bellowed.
"Are you there?"
A shadow that looked nonexistent appeared and knelt before her "Yes master" it echoed.
"Send a letter to my father , l want the top assassins on the move . Dispatch all the squad... I want my son found and those involved...KILLED!"
It nodded and like a mist disappeared into the darkness.
She sat down, she stood up, sat down again. Feeling suffocated, she ran out out of the room dishing out instructions.
"Get a normal dress, empress palace is joining in the search and I'm heading it"
The emperor that came running to her from her palace after hearing that she was still at the crown prince's palace heard this last sentence and stopped.
"My empress, stay back... I will go in your place" he beseeched.
But the empress stood her ground insisting that sitting idle and not doing anything while knowing that her son might be in danger was killing her .
"Then, let me join you instead"
She readily agreed. The crown prince's servants wanted to join too but she ordered her personal guards to drag them to the palace prison where they will await their punishment depending on the outcome of the search.
They royalties both changed out into the noble's cloths and left the palace with palanquins and plenty of guards to aid the search.