We stopped a while later because the princess was getting hungry. Honestly, I found it amusing how when I asked her if she was hungry out of concern only to get shot down immediately, then have her stomach contradict her words. The sheer embarrassment and fluster on her face was just too much for me that I had to laugh full of mirth. Of course, she ignored me and stomped away making me have to play catch up.

We dined at a nearby restaurant where they served one of the best soups and poultry in the area. Soojung had excused herself to use the bathroom while we were finishing the last bit of the food we had ordered. I sat there waiting for her, but after minutes had passed and no sign of the princess, I felt uneasy. Gathering our things and paying for the food I went in search of her. Knocking on the door to the bathroom I said, "Soojung, you in there? What's taking so long?"

There was no answer.

Making sure there was no one nearby I barged into the small bathroom only to find it empty except a small piece of fabric with the princess's handwriting on it lay out on the small wash table. Snatching it up quickly I read the contents.

Immediately I snarled clenching my teeth. That damn sly princess!! Ugh!!!

That little sneak decided she was tired of my constant shadowing and left me high and dry so she could explore marketplace by herself in her new found freedom from me. That was when I noticed the small little bathroom had an opening window to air out the stink of a bathroom. She had escaped through that and is now nowhere to be seen. Speaking of which, why did it feel like she's done this before. Like a hurricane I race out of the restaurant and onto the streets whipping my head left and right in search of her. Damn, no sign.

Using my enhanced senses I tuned in on conversations near and far trying to see if I could pinpoint her location, utilizing my sense of smell I tried to see if I could sniff her out. But no luck. Too many people talking and too many smells interfered with locating her. Dread was starting to set in on me. If the Emperor found out I lost his daughter, I'd be as good as dead.

Deciding it would be better use to try looking for her from above I vertical jumped on the top of the roof of a nearby building, shocking most passersby with my athletic skill. From above I could see further and got a better bearing of where I was. Jumping from one roof to the next I continued to search for the princess while carrying all of our bought things. Left and right I looked, high and low I searched, still nothing.

I ruffled my hair in frustration. How the hell could I have let her dupe me like that; I'm an idiot. I thought all hope was lost in finding her until I heard her voice faintly. I honed in on the location trying extra hard to concentrate where that was over the noise of everyone else. It was coming from the northwest area. I took off in that direction, as I got closer her voice became more clearer, but my problem was she wasn't alone.

"Com'on pretty lady. Just one drink, it won't take you too much time." A gruff voice said.

"Yeah, I bet we can show you a real good time." A second voice added on.

"We can protect you from harm, we are gentlemen after all." There were three voices and they all sounded lecherous. That did not bode well with me.

When I arrived at the scene standing on top of one of the buildings I saw it all; three buff men in soldiers' uniform were cornering Soojung trying to make advances and she was scared. She didn't show it with her cold facade, but I could tell she was frightened by the look in her eyes. People had gathered around as well but no one did anything to help; they just stood there like statutes or whispering quietly. It pissed me off, but I could see why they did not do anything, they were commoners up against large burly soldiers with weapons and from the reaction of the people, those three weren't a new threat. They've done this before.

"Get the hell away from me, you old erts." Soojung stated firmly holding her ground with as much authority as she could muster. Sadly the three men were not impressed, instead they seemed more irritated. Their once "nice" voice turned into sneers.

"Old erts, eh? We'll show you old erts," the largest of the three said spitting at Soojung and advance towards her.

He tried to grab her wrist but Soojung was quicker and she slapped his hand away. "I said leave me alone, freaks!"

By slapping the offensive hand away from her she only pissed the guy off even more and soon, the two lankies with him advanced on her as well. The people that were being unhelpful bystanders became nervous, some even running back into shops and locking them. Things were not looking good and my instincts to protect Soojung kicked in quicker than a crossbow.

"Why you little wench!" The larger man brought his balled hands up ready to take a swing at the princess. Now if I wasn't as quick with reflexes as I was, surely the punch the man was about to inflict on Soojung would have connected and the princess would have been knocked out cold, or worse. But I was there, and I wasn't about to let anything happen to her.

I maneuvered right in between Soojung and the beefy