“What happened? Where’s Jongin?”

Chanyeol barged through the Park mansion’s gate and bellowed, his voice booming through the entire place. “Where the HELL IS KIM JONGIN???”

Two guards came running, and bowed in fear. “Maid Haesol has been abducted in the market, and Lady Shin had ordered him to go search for her. And she had been returning to the mansion with the rest of the guards when they were attacked right in the street next to the mansion...” the guard bit his lip, not even daring to look up at his master. “We’re the only ones left here. All the rest went looking for Lady Shin.”

Chanyeol’s hand went up to his head automatically, and he gripped at the silver embroidered headband on his forehead. Face turned red, and sweat forming on his forehead, he stood there, and unlike any other time when an attack occurred before, he was at a loss of thoughts, he couldn’t take any action or give any order to his subordinates.

Just then, both Sehun and Baekhyun arrived at the place, and quickly approached Chanyeol. “Chanyeol, I set off three troops from the palace in three directions, and brought two troops with us here. Where should we start searching? Do you have any clue about their whereabouts?” Baekhyun asked urgently.

Chanyeol didn’t reply. “I shouldn’t have let her go out... why did I let her go out...” he muttered to himself. Sehun came to him, and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Hyung stay in your senses! You can’t be like this now!” he shook Chanyeol violently. “Tell us, where should we start searching?” he asked again.

* * * *

He decided to take his way alone. After sending off all his troops and the extra troops sent by the king along different directions in the capital, he took his horse and set off all by himself.

“But Chanyeol,” Baekhyun had protested before leaving with his soldiers. “We all know that Seora wasn’t their only target!”

But Chanyeol repeated his command for the second time, ignoring Baekhyun’s words. “Take you troops and leave right now, and send another to Lord Kim Minseok’s place and he’ll know what to do as well. I’m leaving on my own, and that is the best thing to be done right now. So I won’t draw as much attention as setting off with a large team.” And his decision was given, so both Baekhyun and Sehun did not dare argue further.

He chose the path which led to the most unattended area of the capital, the village where poorest people lived, who begged in streets of the capital in day time and returned to their huts and shacks at night. When his horse galloped across the village, no one dared to come closer to him, scared of the tough looking government official whom they thought is there to chase them away from the village. He came to a stop in the middle area of the small village, and jumped down from his horse.

Only little kids who understood nothing just stood by and watched him with their mouths agape, and the grownups decided to back off into their huts.

“I’m not here to harm you or anything!” Chanyeol spoke out aloud. “I’m just here to know something. Is there anyone who saw a noble young lady being taken by someone, or a carriage? Or at least a palanquin?” he asked impatiently. But no one dared step forward and answer.

A sigh left his lips. He put his hand into his robe and pulled out a pouch of coins. “Those who can give me a clue can have this.” he held it up in the air.

In a trice, more than a dozen men and women flocked around him, eagerly eyeing the bag of money and giving out various clues.

“It was a carriage! They went this way!”

“I saw a lady being dragged that way my lord!”

“She was on a horse with another man my lord!”

Various descriptions started pouring out of the people who gathered around, annoying the general even more. He sighed and stepped on his horse’s saddle, to haul himself up and fling his leg over to sit on the saddle.

“It was a hay cart.”

He turned around hearing a young voice from the other side of his horse, and a boy in his teenage was standing looking up at him. “The hay cart was taken by about a dozen men, dressed in brown and black. I saw a pink silk fabric sticking out from underneath the hay.” He further explained.

Chanyeol went pale hearing the boy’s words, and bent down to get closer to him. “Where did they head to? Did you see?”

The boy nodded. “They entered the jungle behind the graveyard. You should hurry my lord.”

Chanyeol reached out to ruffle the boy’s already messy hair. “Buy something good to eat with this.” he handed the boy the pouch of coins in his hand, and took the reins back. “Thank you,” he nodded to the boy and fled out of the village.

The graveyard the boy mentioned, was not far away from that village, and was the place where ordinary citizen brought their families’ dead corpse to be buried if they aren’t cremated. The place was deserted as usual, and had no sign of anyone’s attendance in a few days. Once Chanyeol reached the land, he noticed cart wheel marks on the damp ground right away, and just like the boy had said, it led straight into the jungle behind the graveyard. He didn’t waste a single minute, and led his horse into the forest.

That area of the forest had less shorted trees and bushes, and almost all the trees were tall and covering half the sunshine, making the forest look dark even though it had a few hours for the sunset. He followed the cart wheel marks until they came to a stop at some point, somewhat deep into the forest, and he stopped there, noticing that not only the wheel marks, but even the cart had disappeared from that place. He looked around a bit more, and came to notice a small shack some distance away.

He made his way to the shack, which was completely made of bamboo, and jumped off the horse right in front of it. From outside, it looked as if no one was around, and he didn’t think twice before entering the place right away.

He flung open the bamboo door, only to look into an empty single room, and nothing was in there, not even a sign of anyone living there. Wondering if they had brought her there, he stepped in, and walked to the back door of the hut, which was open ajar to the other side of the forest.

He had almost walked out of the hut, when his eyes caught something familiar, and he turned to find a hair ribbon fallen on the floor, in a corner of the room. He crouched on the ground and picked it up, at once recognizing the chrysanthemum embroidery on the strap of white silk. The ribbon was crumpled in his hand, his face turning red with rage and making him shake with anger.

Just then, he heard a twig being broken right outside the hut, and was followed by silence. He stood up, and silently stepped out of the back door making sure he made no noise, and saw a figure hiding by the side of the hut with the corner of his eye.

The next few things happened before the hidden man could even comprehend what had happened, and before he could even think of running away, the general had got hold of him and dragged him back into the hut and thrown him on the ground, and the tip of his sword was pressed against the side of the man’s throat.

“Where is she?”

The general’s was came out in a fiery growl, making the man gap at him in fear, trying to get up from the ground, yet held back by the sword. “WHERE’S JUNG TAEKWOON? WHERE WAS SHE TAKEN TO???” Chanyeol snarled at him again, but the man remained silent, his chest heaving up and down and glaring at the general.

Chanyeol bent down to grab him by the collar, bringing him back to his feet, and pushed him all the way till his back hit the bamboo wall, making the whole hut shake with the force. “Tell me where they are if you want to live at least a few hours more.” He hissed at the man, gripping his throat and making him choke and gasp for breath.

* * * * * * * *

Bora dropped the tray of sweets hearing Sehun’s words, and dropped herself onto the floor as well in shock. Sehun bit his lip, and waited for Minseok’s response.

“Where is Chanyeol now?” Minseok asked, standing from his table and stepping out of the room in a trice. “He headed somewhere alone, saying he needed to do it alone.” Sehun answered. “He said you’ll know what to do when I informed you my lord.”

Minseok stood thinking for a while, and spoke again. “I’ll join with my private soldiers, you can go ahead Sehun. I’ll take my men out of the capital, since inside the capital is already being searched thoroughly.”

Minseok was about to walk out of the house, when Bora came up and clung onto his arm. “Please my lord, find her...” she said, bursting into tears. “That child cannot face such encounters, she was once kidnapped when she was six years old, demanding ransom, and it took months for her to recover from that trauma.” She said, her voice trembling, and tears streaming down her cheeks. “She must be scared to death by now...please find her soon my lord...”

Minseok held her hand, and squeezed it reassuringly. “We will Bora, we will find her in no time. Don’t be afraid and stay calm, it’s Chanyeol’s wife we’re talking about. He’s not someone to mess with and we all know it.”

He brought up his hand to gently caress his wife’s cheek, and turned back to the captain, letting go of her hand. “Let’s go Sehun,” he strode out of the mansion, along with Sehun.

* * * * * * * *

Jung Taekwoon watched the girl tied to a chair in the corner of the room, and a smirk made its way up to his thin lips. “I was wondering why Lord Shao Xuan was so adamant about having her, and now I see it wasn’t just for nothing.” He looked around and his disciples smirked back at his as well. “And I also wonder why the wife of that hunter is so fragile like this? Shouldn’t you be more rough and tough my lady?”

The girl didn’t dare look up at him, but stay silent behind the strap of cloth tied covering , muffling her sobs and absorbing all the tears she shed. “Just a few hours my lady, when the darkness falls, we’ll be taking you to our boat and then to our lord, and half of our mission is completed. All you have to do is stay calm and cooperate.” He said again. Seora still didn’t take her eyes off the floor i