Despite my current condition, I managed to gather every last ounce of strength and launched angrily at Kim Jongin. There were only two of us, and I was sure that the others were training in a soundproof room, so I let the emotion took over and unleashed it on him. Jongin was startled and took a few steps back, catching both my hands and stared me down.

                  “How could you do this to me?!” I shouted and shook him harshly. “How could you, after you vowed for my life…?! How dare you, Kim Jongin!”

                  His stares were cold as I shook him up. He didn’t move by an inch but his grip on me became tighter. I was at loss of words because I was so angry. All I wanted to do was to hit him, but his hands were on mine, and he didn’t seem to be letting them go very soon. After a few minutes of huffing and panting and a lot more outbursts, Jongin finally opened his mouth to silence me down,

                  “What are you talking about, Princess?” His tone was now mocking. No one in their sane mind would have the audacity to laugh at someone’s anger. But Jongin was anything but sane. “Perhaps you’d like to enlighten me. How could you accuse me of something I don’t even know of?”

                  “That man outside… Was it someone you sent to kidnap me?” I glared at him through my angry tears. Before he could reply, I burst out in rage, rambling on without stopping, “What have I ever done to you, Kim Jongin? Why do you want to kill me? Why –?” I hiccupped and continued repeating ‘why’ to the man in front of me.

                  “Quiet!” He hissed and I bit my lips in submission. He looked so… mad. “Did you see his face?”

                  “Huh?” I froze midair and raised my eyebrow.

                  “Did you see his face?” He repeated impatiently as he shook me. My anger cooled down a little because I was too confused to be angry. Kim Jongin was being weird now and I didn’t know why. He seemed ticked off. “Or anything you could recognize from him?”

                  “Uhh… No,” I stuttered as I replied. “No, I didn’t. He caught me from the back and I couldn’t even move because he was strong. Then I managed to kick him and ran away.” But that was not the point I was trying to make! “Did you work with the Elders to kidnap me and ship me off somewhere? Is that what you are trying to do?!”

                  Jongin scoffed and pulled his hands away so he could take steps back. There was a mocking smirk on his face – one that looked and felt so cold it could freeze hell over. He always hid every emotion with a smile, be it the sarcastic kind or the ambiguous one. “Darling Princess, had I wanted to kill you now, I wouldn’t have used someone else. Do you think I would’ve left an easy trail and let you off the hook just like that?”

                  All the bloods were drained from my face – not that it wasn’t pale enough as it was. He was so, so cruel, and yet I couldn’t bring myself to shack him away. If Grandfather were still alive, he would be regretting his choice right now. Kim Jongin was a miscast between the group of my Elites.

                  “No, you wouldn’t. You would’ve killed me off very easily,” I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. This was a normal reaction, I told myself. But behind that rage was sadness I couldn’t comprehend. “You wouldn’t have made that silly mistake.”

                  Kim Jongin sized me up and down with his arms folded, and I felt more conscious. “At least you’re being rational right now. Don’t worry, I will find out whomever it is that dares to kidnap you and chops him off to pieces. In the meantime, why don’t you clean yourself up before everyone else comes out of the training room and starts asking questions?”

                  I wiped off the tears from my cheeks and refused to let my guard down. This man had admitted for the second time that he would kill me when the time was right. “Fine, Jerk.” I didn’t get to ask him why he wasn’t training with the others, but I guess the bandage on his waist explained most of it. His neck was blue and bruised, and it was only then that I noticed how thin he looked.

                  “Kim Jongin, before I go, will you let me punch you just this once?”

                  My anger hadn’t calmed down completely so I needed to let off the steam on someone. Jongin seemed like the perfect target because he was the most suspicious person here. I bawled my fist readily and waited for his response. He was contemplating.

                  “Alright, then you have to call it even by today,” He decided and walked closer to me. But I didn’t need that much space to deliver one hard, full-blown punch that made him stagger a few steps back. I knew my best point was not agility but strength, so I counted on this to make the blow.

                  “! Sehun is right. You hit like a motherer,” He cursed and spat out the blood on the clean, spotless carpet.

                  “For today, we are even,” I finally relaxed with a smile and cheerfully walked away from him. Jongin watched with amused eyes as I pumped my fists in the air, still mad, but not so irrational about my judgement anymore. Hitting someone had never felt so good before, especially because he was Kim Jongin.

                  After I changed into my training clothes, Jongin was gone, so I headed downstairs towards the soundproof room and opened the door. Everyone else was there, including Taeyong, who looked much more energetic than he did in the morning. They were sparring randomly, sometimes changing partners and making allies in the midst of a fight, which made it even more interesting.

                  “Sena!” Chanyeol greeted, being his usual happy-go-lucky self. Right when he was distracted, Kyungsoo aimed a kick at his chest and sent him flying to the ground with a satisfied smirk. That sneaky little bastard… I smirked to myself and walked closer to observe everyone. 

                  “Sena, you are back,” Kyungsoo jogged towards me, but was tackled by Chanyeol as they both tumbled on the floor with a loud crack. Their fights could be so violent at times. I stifled laughter and helped pick Kyungsoo up while Chanyeol whined about how unfair I was to him.

                  “So? I heard you went to the construction site. Any news yet?”

                  Kyungsoo smiled and wiped off the sweat with his singlet. He wasn’t as bulky as the other boys because of his height, but he had broad shoulder and a manly figure. “I didn’t investigate the main building yet because it’s just ruins at the moment, but I did have an interview session with a few securities and employees. The CCTV cams were completely destroyed, so there was no evidence, but hey, at least I found out something important from the workers.”

                  “What did they say?” I asked and pulled him aside. A few Elites had stopped fighting and were now listening.

                  “Let’s just say that they admitted to the crime and pleaded me not to tell anyone else,” Kyungsoo replied with a smirk. His right fist clenched and unclenched, “There were two of them, one worked for the financial department, which is located in Level 34, right where the first explosion started, and the other one for the human resource department from Floor 77.”

                  “Did you ask ‘why’, or ‘how’, or ‘who’?” Luhan intercepted and put his sweaty arms around my waist. I used the towel to wipe his face roughly and smiled when he made a muffled protest behind the cloth.

                  “Not specifically who, but they said they were paid a large sum of money for putting two bags in the storage rooms of each level. I assumed that the person behind this comes from our internal circle because only the employers know about the personal information of the employees, including their bank account and such.”

                  It was a plausible possibility for now. As far as I knew, the ones who had the access to Yoon corporate’s employees’ informations were my Grandfather, the Elders and I. Not even the main branch family’s leaders or the human resource manager knew about the passcode to this information.   

                  “It’s one of the Elders, isn’t it?” I huffed and narrowed my eyes angrily.

                  They all looked at each other. Sehun finally spoke up after being quiet for a long time, “Sena, if it’s the Elders, why would they target the main building when they know very well that you wouldn’t be there? They even got themselves injured. What is it counted as, then? A suicide mission as a deploy act? I don’t think so.”

                  “Then what?” I hissed and raised my voice at them, “Is it Grandfather coming back from his grave? Or me? Do I need that big of a play to kill myself? Hell, someone tried to kidnap me just now and I don’t know who he was. And worst yet, I didn’t even get to see his face, so tell me who I’m supposed to point fingers at aside from the Elders!”

                  Sehun was the first to show any signs of emotion. He paled and gaped, unlike his usual calm and composed self. Luhan got angry and pulled me to him in an almost possessive manner. Had I not known better, I would have thought that he was angry with me. Taeyong, on the other hand, looked absolutely guilty, though I never blamed him for anything.

                  “You… were… what?” Yixing widened his eyes in shock.

                  “I was assaulted and almost kidnapped,” I calmed down a bit and waved my hand warily, “Don’t react so violently, guys. I’m fine. The problem is… Someone is out there trying to kill me, and I don’t even know who are my allies and who is against me anymore. Hey, are you even listening?”     

                  “We are useless…” Chanyeol, being the dramatic one, knelt in front of me with his guilty big eyes. To my surprise, the others followed and knelt with their hands on their knees. Sehun bowed his head in shame and said nothing. It was Yixing who spoke for them all, “I apologize, my Lady, this is all our faults. We couldn’t protect you…”

                  “No, it’s my fault,” Taeyong said gravely. “I should’ve waited for her.”

                  “Yes, good, keep blaming yourself all day along,” I gave them my two thumbs up and nodded, “Keep going at it while I am trying to solve who is trying to kidnap me. Good grave, people! It’s not your ing fault! Stop that self-pity and blaming! I am perfectly fine – head to toe.”

                  “But…!” Kyungsoo tried to speak and I quirked my eyebrow in challenge. He shut up.

                  “It’s not your fault either, Taeyong. I told you to go home first, didn’t I? And these things are bound to happen anyway. We are not just normal teenagers, we are the children of Seiryuu,” I intercepted and spoke calmly now. My anger had dissipated by a lot since Jongin wasn’t here to tease me. “Now can’t we work together to solve the problems? It’s been two ing weeks since the incident and nobody has a clue on what’s going on.”

                  They were still quiet.

                  “Everyone? Are you still alive?” I sighed, “Why do I have to treat you grownups like kindergartens?”

                  There was a chorus of ‘yes’ as they relented.

                  “Now get up. What are you even kneeling for? What kind of self-punishment is this?” I raised my eyebrows and helped Sehun got up first. He was very reluctant, but he gripped onto me tightly, his dark orbs boring onto mine in concern. I felt a skip of beat from my heart as I pulled away. Sehun wasn’t usually so intense.

                  “Luhan-ge?” He was next in line after Sehun because he was ranked first among the Elites. His strength wasn’t that far behind Sehun and Jongin and was far more superior than anyone else. He looked down at his knees, unmoving as he whispered, “Grandfather taught us… to kneel down everytime we made a mistake.”

                  I halted. Grandfather’s strict image appeared in my mind as I forced myself to squeeze it out. He had enforced his teachings on us since early age, and it somehow became a reflex whenever we did something wrong. Luhan was still kneeling without the intention of ever getting up. It was painfully obvious that he was still traumatized and deeply apologetic even when I told them not to.

                  Seeing that their leader hadn’t gotten up, the rest of the Elites kept on kneeling down with their backs bent forward. They might be rebellious at times, but they were uptight about their values and vows. I shook my head and put both hands on Luhan’s shoulder, forcing him to look at me directly in the eyes.

                  “Luhan-ge, get up. You didn’t make a mistake. I’m not Grandfather, I won’t punish you. Okay?” It seemed to work because his brilliant doe eyes stared into mine with so much clarity and intensity. “Now get up, all of you. Kyungsoo, continue your investigation with the employees and keep a watch on the construction site. Tao, you’d be best in spying, so go follow the Elders and report back to me. You can take Chanyeol with you.”

                  “As for you, Taeyong, just stay by my side, alright? And Yixing, you stay at home and report immediately if there is anything strange happening. Keep a close watch on the servants,” I assigned them each to their task, purposefully leaving Sehun and Luhan behind. None of them disagreed.

                  Later on, as midnight was approaching, I visited Luhan in his bedchamber and told him something I never thought I could,

                  “Luhan-ge, keep an eye on Sehun and Jongin. I have a feeling they were up to something.”