The night of the soiree on Saturday afternoon hits different when it's orchestrated at Yokosh's castle - it always does because of how live the crowd comes to be. The music, food and at last women... That was the centre of it all and it was what sucked Lee into that world of luxury and pleasure.
But somehow that day he was off - the music was loud enough but still faded inside his ear drums. The food was delicious and yet he couldn't even take a bite, and his precious woman Yanar didn't seem to sooth his heart as before. Even when she tried to get him to talk Lee wasn't in the mood - he neither could talk nor drink.
"You are awfully quiet today" Yanar clinged to his silence, you could tell she was bored.
"Just go dance with others and leave me alone..." Lee barked at her and that was uncalled for, he soon realized he was wrong and tried to calm her down but Yanar had already left his sight.
The place wasn't as sparkling as it always was and he knew only one thing was missing - his princess an his best friend. He loved her so much and there was no way he could no longer partake their silence and them growing apart. Mingzhu was all he had, she was the most valuable thing even more valuable than gold he gets during his trading.
After a moment of silence he quickly got up and barged outside, without saying goodbye to his host or to his woman Yanar. He walked to his carriage where his men were waiting for him and he only said one word "Take me home" and the horse's hooves pounded and took him home.
Along the way Lee had a plan inside his head and that was to finally admit his feelings again to Mingzhu, even though he thought it would be too late but still it was worth the shot. The same distance from his small castle to Yokosh's castle felt usually longer that night, as if the carriage was lagging behind. He even used his hand to bark at the drivers "Faster! Faster!" he said rushing the drivers to get him to the castle so he can hold Mingzhu in his arms.
When they reached the gates he didn't wait for a servant to help him outside. He got out and paced up towards Mingzhu's room, and that didn't feel like enough he started racing towards the room and his hat even dropped but he didn't care about it, the only thing that mattered was her.
His pace was stopped along the way by his servant. His name was Kim.
"Sir where are you racing to?" asked Kim.
"Get out of the way Kim, not now" Lee pushed Kim away.
"We seemed to have lost the mistress Sir!" said Kim and at that instant Lee suddenly stopped.
He turned back "Lost the mistress?"
"Yes sir, she hasn't return ever since she took off with Chyou. They went to the market"
"What?" asked Lee confused by what he was hearing "You lost Mingzhu?"
"Sir she didn't return back to our carriage, some of the men say they saw her walking to another carriage with Chyou"
"Another carriage?"
"Yes sir"
Lee pushed Kim and raced outside, as if trying to catch the up to the carriage that took Mingzhu. His thoughts went on to think that perhaps Mingzhu was kidnaped by strangers.
"Sir wait..." said Kim running after Lee. "Sir"
"What is it Kim?"
"Sir, I don't she's in danger"
Lee stopped just when he was so close to the carriage, he turned back to Kim "What do you mean she's not in danger, you clearly said she was taken into another carriage"
"You didn't hear me well sir, she wasn't taken. She went on... voluntarily... and smiling. Perhaps she planned this" said Kim carefully not to upset his master and Lee was in conflict with himself.
In his mind he convinced himself that there was no way that Mingzhu would leave him like that - abandoning him. He shook his head in disagreement "No! No! She would never, she wouldn't leave me" he barked loudly while panting hard as if he had just run a marathon.
He walked to a horse nearby and mounted it. "Yah!" he hushed the horse and off it went with speed. All along the way he was nervous, unrest and dissatisfied with whatever Kim had told him. It was midnight but still felt like morning for there were a lot of people outside dancing to music and just simply having fun - he was still in Karta after all.
The part to the market was as smooth as if he was riding on an empty road. He kept saying "Wait for me Mingzhu, wait for me..." while tears fell between his cheeks and caused a blur to his vision. He rode hard and after just a short time he was already at the market, he looked upon on top of his horse for any sign of Mingzhu to see none. He decided to dismount his horse and wonder along the market, he checked every carriage only to find strange faces of travellers who travel at night and merchants leaving the city.
When checking carriages didn't seem to bear any fruits - he walked directly to the city's gates keepers.
"Have you seen a girl... she's beautiful and... she was accompanied by her servant. Did they pass through the gates this evening, they were in a carriage?" he asked the gates keepers but they all shook their heads.
Then he went back to the market and asked each person that was there for Mingzhu. He described her likeness but Karta was crowded with beautiful girls especially at that part of the city which was heavily crowded come dusk till dawn. Lee spent nearly the whole night asking for Mingzhu and still he didn't get an answer, a Sunday morning was rather a vacant time for a place like Karta. Most people spent the last night getting drunk and have fun and used the morning after for resting hence Lee found himself roaming around an empty market.
It was quiet and he could hear his own heartbeat - and his heart stuck with fear of what would happen if Mingzhu actually left him. Maybe she was tired of his manner which clearly didn't serve her and he didn't care at that time. He was blinded by luxuries and women, while he should've just been there for Mingzhu.
"Are you alright Sir?" Lee heard a male voice asking and he turned over to look who it was.
The man was part of the gates keepers and he saw Lee last night desperately asking for a woman he'd lost.
Lee asked him "Who are you?"
"I am the city's gate keeper. I saw you last night, you were looking for... a woman in a carriage?"
"Yes"
"Well did you find her?" asked the man and Lee shook his head.
"No I didn't"
"My apologies for your lost but I may have seen a woman yesterday, she was with a servant as you prescribed"
Lee rose his head in excitement and moved closer to the man. "Tell me everything Sir" he said.
"She was inside a carriage rode by soldiers who wore sigils from Leilani. I reckon they were Leilani soldiers"
"Leilani soldiers?" asked Lee and the man nodded and then he left him.
Lee still had questions but his mind couldn't contemplate about the possibilities of Mingzhu going to Leilani. "What would she be doing there?" he asked himself and formed theories around his head. Every gut inside his body went against Mingzhu's departure to Leilani but he did knew where she would go, back to Tong'an.
So he rode back to his castle and that same day he gave the keys back to Yokosh and took a horse, together with enough supplies to last him to Tong'an. Mingzhu will be there, he thought. She must be there for where else would she go?
His one intended place was at the rebels sanctuary in the flying tower - General Chun must be waiting for him and Mingzhu or as they knew her as Yae Lin. The feelings and memories of their times together became a constant motivation for Lee to keep going forward, the same way they used to get inside the city he used it to flee Karta. The city which changed both of them for worse, Karta awoke their feelings and also buried them at that same instant. The city didn't give them a chance for their love to flourish and grow, it brought up something in them that completely shattered them to pieces.
After a few miles away, Lee turned back to look at it and cursed it with everything he had and he swore never to return again. He couldn't care less about Yanar or the lump some of money he had made for all that time, he didn't take neither gold nor a single cent from his store. He left it all to Yokosh, the only thing that mattered was finding Mingzhu in Tong'an, but little did he knew that he was going the wrong way.