Wide-eyed, Emi’s mouth hung open in horror and she did the first thing she thought of, run. Hence, she did just that, taking advantage of the darkness, especially since she was dressed in all black.

          “Stop right there!” The guard or Emi’s comrade demanded and Emi gritted her teeth, hastening her pace.

          Who would stop in this situation?

          The guard quickly ran to the place where he last saw Emi, on the other hand, the other guard only held a clueless look on his face, trailing behind the guard who was frantically looking for Emi. Unfortunately, it was way too dark for them to see any further, since it was past midnight now. The torch along with the moonlight didn’t provide that much light either.

          “Damn it.” The guard hissed out and he immediately ran to the cellar door, pulling it open.

 

 

          **********************************************

         

         

          Entering her room through the window, Emi quickly undressed and wore back her normal clothes, instantly keeping her black outfit inside her wardrobe. However, just as she placed her outfit inside the wardrobe, something dropped out from it and she heard a soft thudding sound.

          Looking at the ground, the object glinted brightly and Emi widened her eyes, realising it was the Timeless Necklace as she hurriedly picked it up. Holding it in her hands, she frowned at it in puzzlement.

          How did this even drop out?

          She checked for the hidden pocket in her outfit and noticed something amiss as she sighed, shaking her head at herself. The button to the pocket wasn’t buttoned at all, due to her being in a rush at that time to shove the necklace into the pocket, forgetting to button it up.

          “Thank god, if it dropped out at any other place, it would have been disastrous.”

          She stared at it, wondering what to do with it now.

          What should I do?

          I’m going to disappear from this place tomorrow and the necklace won’t be of any of use to me anymore.

          Emi gazed at the necklace, even after seeing it so many times, she was still dazzled by its beauty. Among all her years of stealing, this was the most beautiful jewelry she had ever seen in her life.

          Sergi and the Dragoons, both of them want this so badly.

          Should I give it to one of them?

          Emi wondered, before shaking her head immediately.

          No, I shouldn’t do that. I’ll keep it instead and when the time comes, I’ll use it as a bargaining chip.

          It could save my life, or even give me my freedom.

         

         

          **********************************************

         

         

          In the morning, Kris and Yun set off into town immediately looking for clues as to where Sergi might be. Kris recalled Zao’s words, remembering him saying that Sergi might be hiding out in a deserted area.

          Kris decided to head for the place the first occurred in his mind, a place where rumors would accumulate. Hence, Kris and Yun stood in front of the Kris’ destination and Yun glanced at his best friend, raising his eyebrow at the name of the place. The place resembled a mansion, only that Yun knew that it wasn’t a mansion, definitely not at all.

          “Kris…is this the hidden side of you?” Yun asked, amused.

          “Huh?” Kris furrowed his eyebrows at Yun’s words, looking at him and looking back at the place, before his eyes widened slightly in recognition.

          “God, no! Definitely not! I’m not here for that! I’m here for something else…” Kris quickly cleared up the misunderstanding and Yun only nodded at Kris.

          “Yeah, sure, alright—whatever you say, Kris.” Yun said and Kris narrowed his eyes at him.

          “I told you, it’s not like that.”

          Yun only grinned in response and Kris ignored him, marching into the place as Yun followed behind him. The moment they stepped inside, they were greeted by women dressed in revealing clothes in a flirtatious manner and neither of them were shocked, it was a brothel after all.

          “Kris, you-“

          “Whatever you are going to say, my answer is that you are misunderstanding my intentions.”

          Yun let out a short chuckle at his answer.

          The interior of the place was luxurious, there were huge couches placed at parts of the place and glamorous dividers that separated parts of the place. It was decorated with fancy lighting and expensive tables, along with a long flight of stairs to the second floor, which Yun assumed were the rooms for the women to provide certain services to the customers here.

          They saw numerous amount of women sitting on the couches, along with men, some in groups and others alone. The women were either fawning or flirting along with the men, while the men were leering openly at them.

          “My goodness, Kris, is that you? Am I dreaming?” A feminine voice asked and Yun turned his head towards Kris’ direction, seeing a woman dressed in slightly better clothes compared to the others, approaching Kris while swaying her hips sensually, her long straight brown hair swinging along to her movement.

          Yun couldn’t lie to himself, the woman was undeniably y.

          The woman automatically latched her pale, skinny arms around Kris’ neck, leaning in to plant a kiss on his lips, only to end up kissing his palm.

          “Francesca, it’s…nice to see you too.” Kris forced a smile on his face as he used his other arm to pull her arms away from his neck, proceeding to push her away gently after that.

          The woman only let out a chuckle as she opened . “What are you doing here, Kris?”

          “I’m only here to ask a few questions.”

          “Questions?”

          “Have you ever heard of the name, Sergi?”

          Francesca frowned, a contemplative expression on her face before her emerald eyes lighted up in recognition. She gestured to the both of them to follow her and she brought them to her office, ensuring that no one was outside before she locked the door.

          “I may have heard a thing or two about him, now why do you ask that?”

          “Tell me everything you know about him.”

          “Of course, but Kris, you should know, my information isn’t free.” Francesca’s lips curved into a seductive smile.

          Kris only sighed in return, gesturing to Yun to pass him something and Yun finally understood everything as he passed a bag of money to Kris.

          Francesca shoved her palm out to Kris and Kris shook his head, placing the bag of money on her palm.

          “Thank you, Kris. Now, go on, I’ll promise to answer all of them honestly.”

          “What do you know about Sergi?”

          “Well, none of us here know him personally, since he has never came here before but we heard of people talking about him before.”

          “What is it?”

          “You see, the regular customers we have here are…unique. They can range from the old, the young and the…scary ones.”

          “Scary ones?”

          “Yes, they were muscular and had scars either on their faces or arms. The girls around here mentioned to me that they always mentioned the name “Sergi” in their conversation and the way they spoke about him, it was as if he was the boss of them.”

          Kris and Yun glanced at one another, nodding their heads.

          “Did they mention anything about a location?”

          “Well, there was a girl who daringly asked where they were from, since they looked so frightening and they said it was somewhere that girls like her wouldn’t dare go, since it was a bad area.”

          “Is there any infamous area here?”

          Francesca furrowed her eyebrows, deep in thought.

          “…yes, there is one I vaguely remember, since I’ve been there once in my life. I’m not sure if anything has changed or if its location has changed but that place was filled with endless amount of outlaws. The government couldn’t handle it and it went out of control, hence, they sealed it off from the public.”

          “Where is that?”

          “It should be further down north from here.”

          “Is that all?”

          “That should probably be all, since that’s all I can remember. You can stay here longer if you want to, I may remember a thing or two.” Francesca offered suggestively and Kris shook his head at her.

          “Thanks, but I’d rather not, Francesca.”

          “What about your friend then?”

          Yun widened his eyes at her, politely declining her offer too and Kris chuckled, before walking away to her office door, pushing it open as Yun followed behind him.

          Francesca pouted at his disappearing figure, no matter how many times she asked him, he would politely decline. However, she knew that he isn’t interested in things like that, since she didn’t get to know Kris through this business.

          A few minutes after Kris left, Francesca stood up abruptly from her office chair and let out a sigh.

          “Damn, I just remembered something else.”

          Francesca remembered the girl not believing their words, saying there was possibly no girls there and surprisingly, they agreed. The girl told Francesca that the special girl there was no ordinary girl.

          The special girl was a remarkable thief.

          “Well, I guess that they will figure that out on their own.”

         

         

          *******************************************************

         

         

          Kris and Yun pulled their horses along with them, since riding on their horses now would be risky as the streets were still present with people. They continued down further north, just like what Francesca told them to.

          “Kris, are you sure we can trust her?”

          “Yes.”

          “How do you know that?”

          “I saved her life and her business, so she told me that whenever I needed any information or help, I can approach her.”

          Yun nodded but a few seconds later, he narrowed his eyes at Kris.

          “Wait, then why did she demand payment from you then?”

          “That’s just her way of doing things.” Kris sighed, waving it off.

          “How strange.”

          “She’s always strange.” Kris snorted.

          The further down they continued, the more deserted the streets became and the both of them noticed that.

          “Excuse me, misters.” Someone called out to them and they stopped, looking at the person who called out to them.

          It was an adolescent male, who looked slightly skinnier than what males his age would look like.

          “You shouldn’t probably go further down anymore.”

          “Why?” Yun asked while Kris remained silent.

          “It’s…dangerous, there are very bad people in that area.”

          “How bad?” Yun probed further and Kris decided to allow Yun to do the asking.

          “They be-beat up people and steal from them, they even have a leader among them.”

          “Who?”

          “So-some people say it’s a woman or a man.”

          “A woman?”

          The adolescent male nodded eagerly, his eyes lighting up in excitement.

          “The Shadow Rogue.”

          Kris flinched at that name and Yun noticed it, a grin appearing on his face as he spoke to the male again.

          “Don’t worry, kid. We are bad guys too, just not as bad as them.” Yun said and the kid blinked curiously at them.

          Yun waved at the kid as he nudged Kris to move as they both climbed onto their horses, knowing that no one would be further down the road.

          “Wait, misters. If you want to enter the area, you have to go through the secret entrance, since it’s been blocked off from the public. The entrance is at the side of wall, hidden by the big sign.” The male explained to them and Yun nodded at him.

          “Thanks, kid. You shouldn’t enter that area ever again, alright?” Kris said, smirking at him.

          The male just nodded at them, eyes sparkling in admiration as he watched the two men ride off on their horses. The male noticed that they had a tattoo and an earring on both of them, immediately understanding who they are.

          The Dragoons!

         

         

          *************************************************

         

         

          Emi received another order from Sergi tonight and yet again, it was to steal from another wealthy person. However, tonight, Emi would disappear after stealing it as she snuck into town to pawn off the jewelries by selling it to a secretive broker.

           Dressing up in her outfit and snapping her unique belt to her waist, she packed everything essential to her into her satchel. Luckily, she didn’t have much belongings, hence, she didn’t really need to carry such a big bag, which meant less interference. Placing one leg onto her window, Emi glanced back at her room, remembering every single detail.

          This was the room she stayed in for almost her whole life, after her mother cruelly abandoned her and Sergi took her in as an underling.

          Checking her hidden pocket once more, she smiled to herself when she found the necklace still there and she gazed at the door, before smirking at it.

          Goodbye, Sergi.

          If you can catch me, just try, bastard.

          Jumping down from her window, she landed on the ground and doing a shoulder roll, quickly getting up and scurrying off, heading to the stables to get Luna. However, just as she did that, she heard someone shouting from the entrance of the house.

          What? What’s going on?

          Mounting her horse, Emi urged her to move forward slowly as she looked out for anything odd.

          That shout…it sounded like a call for help.

          Emi urged Luna to move faster, the odd shout for help filling her with trepidation. Removing her mask, Emi quickly took out a coat from her satchel, wearing it and pulling the hood over her head.

          The only people around here who knew how Emi looked like without the mask was Sergi and his followers. She assumed that they were getting attacked by another group of bandits. However, Emi had to leave the area and the only way was by passing through the entrance of the house.

          Damn it.

          Emi squeezed her eyes close for a second before pushing herself forward as she urged Luna to start galloping. Just as she made a turn to the entrance to the house, she realised that there was another horse right in front of her.

          “Whoa! Whoa there!” Emi shouted, not wanting to collide into the horse. The sudden stop caused her hood to drop down and both horses neighed loudly, Emi sighed out in relief, observing that the horse had no rider.

          How odd.

          There’s no rider…?

          Emi wondered before her eyes widened in shock as she glanced around in alarm, just then, she heard a shrill ringing sound. Horror was evident in her eyes as she saw something glinting dangerously, just inches away from her neck.

          “Don’t move, Shadow Rogue.” A familiar voice growled out and she let out a shaky breath, turning her head slowly to the side as she looked into a pair of familiar black eyes.

          A unique tattoo and earring.

          The Dragoons.

          “I finally found you.” Kris said, smirking wickedly and Emi could only gaze at him in terror as the moonlight shone on them, showing the contrast between their facial expressions.

          One day left.

          Zero day left.

 

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My holidays started, so I'm going to update faster now ^^. Hope you guys are enjoying it as much as I am writing it :)!