Tai Qi entered his room and looked around, seemingly looking for someone.
"Where is Yua Emi?"
After he could not find Yua Emi, he called a servant and asked.
"We don't know, master." The servant bowed respectfully and replied.
"What do you mean you don't know? Didn't I ask you to deliver my message to her that I was calling her back?"
"Master, we went to her parent's house to deliver your message, but she was not there?"
"What do you mean she was not there?"
"Her parents told us that she had left on the same day she went there. She said that she was returning back here."
When Tai Qi heard this, his eyes narrowed.
"Why didn't you tell me before?!" Tai Qi looked at the servant with narrowed eyes and his tone had a tint of anger in it.
"My lord, forgive me, but another servant had come to tell you about this before, but you were busy and had ordered not to be disturbed: thus, he could not tell you about this." The servant lowered his head even more after seeing Tai Qi's changed tone. He was sweating from the fear of angering Tai Qi.
Tai Qi thought for a moment before his expression changed for an unknown reason, then he asked the servant hurriedly,
"What about Mah Qi, wasn't she with her mother as well?"
"Yes my lord, she was, but she is also nowhere to be found?"
When Tai Qi heard this, an aura was released in the air that sent shivers down the servant's body. He fell on his knees and was sweating profusely.
"You, go and call for the third elder, also… check on Cu Gil and Jil Lu, then inform me." Tai Qi ordered the servant with raging eyes.
"Yes…yes, my lord." The servant hurriedly stood up and left. He wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
"Yua Emi, I hope you won't betray me: otherwise, I don't know what will happen."
Here, he was not talking about Yua Emi or others, but himself. He himself didn't know how it would affect him.
Tai Qi sat right where he was standing, on the floor. He then leaned against the wooden wall close to him and lowered his head. His elbow rested on his knee.
Betrayal was not something that could be underestimated. If a betrayed person was smiling, then it could only mean that his endurance was not something to be taken lightly, but it didn't mean that they were happy. One of the cruelest revenge or attack was a betrayal. It could break a thousand times reinforced fortress and a person from the inside.
It was especially the case for the one who was trusted the most, like a loved one, a friend, or the one from the inside. After all, betrayal could only be caused by the one whom a person trusted, not by the enemy. It was always someone close.
After an hour,
"Are you sure she is nowhere to be found?"
"She was supposed to be back two days ago, but she is not. What do you think happened?"
"I can't say anything without investigating. But, we should not jump to any conclusion yet."
"You are right, she might be in some kind of trouble, or…"
"Or, she might have run away."
"Uh,"
"Nothing is confirmed yet, so don't think of anything bad yet. We need to look everywhere, maybe… it is not what we are thinking."
"But,"
"What about Cu Gil and Jil Lu? Did you send someone there to check them?"
"Yes, he should be arriving very soon."
Tai Qi and Zihao De were speaking with each other when someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
A servant entered the room and spoke,
"My lord, both Cu Gil and Jil Lu are missing. We looked for them at every possible place, but could not find them."
"Hmm," Tai Qi and Zihao De looked at each other.
"Sigh, it seems that the odds are really not looking good." Zihao De heaved a sigh.
Everything was going towards a narrow path. Even though he tried to stay positive about the situation, he felt that the letter might have been right. After all, everything was going according to the letter. Nothing was looking good.
Yua Emi's betrayal would not only affect Tai Qi, but the clan itself and Tai Qi's reputation as well: Zihao De pondered. If this kept on, then the letter would turn out to be right.
It seemed that the letter had predicted the future.
"Wait a minute, future…," Zihao De suddenly had a thought. He then looked at Tai Qi with shocked eyes.
"What happened?" Tai Qi noticed the change in Zihao De's expression.
"Tell me, who sent the letter?" Zihao De asked Tai Qi.
"I don't know about the identity, but the guards said that the one who delivered the letter was a girl and called herself elder Shu Ti's daughter. But after sending someone to ask elder Shu Ti, it turned out that the girl had lied." Tai Qi also somewhat understood what Zihao De wanted to do.
"Are you sure he did not lie?"
"Yes, the guard confirmed it himself by going there himself. The girl that delivered the letter was not Shu Ti's daughter."
"Think about it, the letter was delivered to you today. And coincidentally, all three people were also affected in the previous two days. Cu Gil, Jil Lu, and sister Yua disappeared in the previous two days, how?"
"So, if I am not wrong, you are saying how Cu Gil, Jil Lu, and Yua Emi knew that a letter was going to be delivered to me after two days, and they disappeared beforehand, right?" Tai Qi thought for a moment before saying.
"That's exactly what I am saying. How did they know? From the tone of the person in the letter, it was clear that the person wanted to reveal information about Cu Gil, Jil Lu, and sister Yua, so how come the other three knew about this beforehand? Could it be that the one who sent the letter was one out of the three? Or, the one who sent the letter had informed the three beforehand?"
"You are right, how come we did not notice it before? That's terrifying, if the person knew about their disappearance, then why did they even send the letter? What do they want? Or, are they trying to…" Tai Qi thought of something and stopped, he didn't even want to think about it,
"Or are they trying to affect you, that's what I am thinking as well: otherwise, what was their purpose? If that's true, then it is most likely the Ma clan. However, there's another possibility as well that Cu Gil, Jil Lu, and Yua Emi sent the letter themselves. But why would they do this?" Zihao De completed the sentence instead of Tai Qi.
"But, there was another thing in the letter that Jil Lu might have died or Yua Emi must have disappeared. It could only mean that the person himself didn't know the situation of the three. Then, that could only mean that the person wanted to affect me." Tai Qi now knew that there was more to the letter than they had initially thought.
"Yes, now we only have one clue, the letter. We need to find the one who delivered the letter to you. This way, we might be able to find Yua Emi and the others."
"But, nobody knows the girl. So, how are we going to find her? The one who sent the letter was very clever, they made sure that no evidence was left for us to track them. However, if the person knew so much about me and Yua Emi that even I didn't know, then the person could only be the one who is very close to us. We can be sure that the one who sent the letter is near us."
Tai Qi was not a fool. He knew that nobody could know so many secrets without living with them or being close to them. Now what they had to do was to find that person.
!*****!*****!