Yu Min heard and looked for her. He found her over in the hall. "Lei, what happened?"
"Cheng was a part of the group. Can you have Pan Shi check everyone for a duckweed tattoo on their shoulders?" Lei asked as she looked at him.
"Of course, but we need to report this to the magistrate and then report it to the king and Empress," Yu Min stated as he helped Lei up.
Lei nodded. "Ok, but first let's see if there are any other spies here."
Yu Min smiled as he went to find Pan Shi.
Lei was cleaning up as she waited for Yu Min to get back. She started to hum a medley that she heard when she was younger and would go around the kingdom. As she was humming the medley and cleaning, she was interrupted by the voice that she kept hearing.
"Oh. Poor Lei cleaning up the mess that she made when fighting," the voice stated.
"Who are you! Why are you inside my head?!? I'm cleaning up the mess that your people made," she exclaimed. She was clearly upset and pissed. Lei wanted answers on who she is and why she's doing it.
"Why would I tell you when you're getting so close to finding out. And to why I'm inside your head is to mess you up and a warning," the voice replied as she chuckled.
"A warning? To mess me up?"
"Yeah. I won't tell you that, my love. I'm not that stupid, sweetheart," the voice said, "anyway, have fun cleaning up and explaining to your parents what happened." With that the voice was gone.
Lei screamed. She was tired of just hearing the voice and the voice never answering her questions and always making her feel confused and unconfident about the clues she had gotten. Lei threw down what she had in her hands at the time, making more of a mess. "UGH! Why is it that whenever something big happens like a fight the voice comes?" She asked herself. 'Why did I make it to where she can only hear the villain's voice only after something happened?' Xiao thought to herself.
A few minutes went by. Yu Min came back with Pan Shi and a few others. Yu Min saw that Lei only made the mess bigger. "Lei, I was only gone for a few minutes, and you already made the mess bigger."
Lei didn't hear him and kept making the mess even bigger. She was angry at herself that she let that happen again.
Yu Min walked over to her and tapped her shoulder, dodging her when she jumped and went to hit him.
Lei realized that it was Yu Min. "Yu Min! You scared me!" she exclaimed as she zoned in after she almost hit Yu Min.
"Are you ok? You made the mess bigger, and I've only been gone for a few minutes," Yu Min asked-stated.
Lei looked around after she nodded to Yu Min, "yeah, I'm fine. I just feel like none of this would've happened if I were on guard and-"
Yu Min interrupted her by kissing her. "Lei, it's not your fault. Besides, you were resting from a cold. It's the guards that are supposed to be guarding faults," Yu Min stated.
Lei looked at him and replied, "it feels like it is my fault though…"
"Lei, it's not. How were you supposed to know that it was going to happen?"
"I don't know…"
"Right. You weren't supposed to know. They did a secret attack. No one was supposed to know," Yu Min said as he put his hands on her shoulders.
Lei looked at him. Her face had 'sorry, I failed everyone at the mansion,' written on it. She hugged him as she tried to calm down and not blame herself for this, but she couldn't stop. Lei ended up crying. She didn't want to cry, but she did and couldn't stop.
Yu Min hugged her back and gently patted her head. He felt like whoever was behind this, wants Lei to feel like she failed everyone, including the people who are working in her mansion.
A while later, Lei was still hugging him as she felt as if she stopped hugging him she would kill the people who were a part of the group. She had been trying to stop crying and to calm down, but she only made it worse. Lei had felt useless, weak, powerless, and hopeless. It was as if the leader of the group had drained all of her strength, power, and hope.
Yu Min picked her up and carried her back to her house so that she could rest and recuperate her thoughts and feelings. He hoped that maybe if she was away from the scene that maybe it could stop her crying.
Once he got to her room, he entered, carried her to her bed, laid her down on her bed, and tucked her in. "Lei, rest for now. I'll let your parents know about what happened at dinner time, ok?"
Lei nodded as she looked at him. "Don't leave me alone. You can leave when I've fallen deeply asleep, ok?" She stated as she was afraid that they would attack again and would actually kill her as she had lost all of her energy during the last fight and her crying non-stop, plus she had just recovered from being sick.
Yu Min chuckled, smiled, and nodded. "Sure, my darling. I'll stay with you until I know that you're actually asleep. I'll tell the guards to guard your house to make sure that you're safe," he replied.
"O-Ok. Th-Thanks, Yu," Lei said. She closed her eyes and was falling asleep, but she was woken up by a noise.
Yu Min noticed and chuckled. He started to hum her a lullaby.
Lei started to fall back to sleep from that. She fell asleep after a few seconds.
Yu Min smiled and kissed her forehead. "Night, my love. Sleep well," he whispered as he got up and headed out. Yu Min told some guards to watch over Lei's house and her. He then left after telling them.
Yu Min was heading home when he saw Dai Hui wandering around the kingdom. "Dai Hui!" He called out.
Dai Hui jumped and looked over. He saw him and walked over to him. "Yes, Yu Min?"
"Have you heard anything from the group of people and its leader?" Yu Min asked as soon as Dai Hui got closer to him.
"I haven't. None of my people have heard anything from them. I have lost a few to the group as they were discovered," Dai Hui responded.
"They attacked Lei a little while ago when it was dinner time. No one got major injuries, but Lei is shaken up about it and feels like she failed everyone. We need to find out why they're after her and if there can be anything that we can give them to stop going after her," Yu Min stated as he looked at Dai Hui.
"Do you want my men to watch her mansion until we find out who's behind this?" Dai Hui asked as he was going to have his men watch Lei's mansion no matter what. Dai Hui feels useless as he hasn't been able to help Lei very much with this mission.
"Yes. It would be better if the people didn't know about your men watching and guarding her mansion. They wouldn't be expecting it if they attacked again," Yu Min replied.
Dai Hui nodded. "I'll tell some of my men to watch the mansion and attack when they see the people of the group enter the mansion."
"Thanks, Dai Hui. After this, I'll treat you and your men to a meal," Yu Min stated. He was grateful that Lei had met him, even though his men kidnapped Lei and he wanted to marry her.
"I'll hold you to that then, Yu Min," Dai Hui responded as he let out a small chuckle.
"Ok. You better because I might forget it," Yu Min chuckled. He hoped that he could make it through the end of the mission as he still feels a little bit weak from the poison. "Hey, Dai Hui?"
"Yes?"
"If I were to die before we finished this mission, promise me that you will take good care of Lei no matter what," he said in a serious tone.
Dai Hui looked at him, confused. "What do you mean, Yu Min? You're not dying, are you?"
"A few days back..." Yu Min said as he went on to tell him the story, "I was cut by a sword covered in poison and the poison had entered my blood and I didn't wake up until today."
Dai Hui froze. He didn't know how to reply to him or let alone how to go about it. "I-I-"
"Don't tell Lei that I told you this. I can't have her worrying about me when she's already worrying about everyone else. Plus, she's already stressed out about this mission," Yu Min said as he interrupted him.
"I won't tell her, but you need to tell her soon though," Dai Hui stated.
"I know, but I don't want to put more pressure on her," Yu Min replied as he sighed.
Dai Hui looked at him and sighed as well, "look, I know you love her and care for her, but if you truly did, you would tell her right away even if it's something like this."
Yu Min looked back at him. He knows that he should tell Lei about this right away, even if it might mess up the mission. Yu Min nodded as he walked off.
Dai Hui watched him leave as he was worried about him. "I hope he tells her soon and I also hope that he can find a cure that can get rid of his poison."