37 ~ Spring blooms yet dusk falls - II ~

Another week passed and I felt myself getting sicker locked inside the cell. I had waited for a while now, and waited for something to change.

But would something change just because I wished for it? No.

Only that butterfly would come every night to me, its body the same black with a white shimmer around it, but nothing changed.

As annoying and unsatisfying as it was, I acknowledged that patience was virtue. In ancient world a monk would sit in one place at a mountain top for decades, just to see the light and gain knowledge. Comparing to them I was but a mere child acting petulant just because things weren't going my way.

I decided I would wait for a while, wait for a few days to see if Xi Ken would come in shining armor to save me, even if there hadn't been any development in the palace at night. I had asked those two caretakers to give me update, however that was something too difficult to attain, those two girls were too quiet and refused to answer me.

Grumbling to myself, irritated beyond belief at my own weakness, I sat up straight to look at the faint light coming from the small sealed opening at the top of the chamber wall, it was damp and dark inside but a few traces of light was able to slip in during certain time period, generally it was early morning and very late in the evening.

If it was reddish in tone, it would most probably be the dusk hour, and if it was pale, I would be certain it was dawn.

"While now it is dark again, seriously, this place needs better ventilation and lighting. Who was the master builder of this palace. They can't even make a simple palace? And yeah, didn't some of them also make those narrow stairs which I had to climb on those mountains with bare foot, thirsty and faint? I was…"

In these past few days I had learned to talk to myself. It had become a natural habit to speak out loud and hear my own voice as it echoed around this chamber.

No wonder people became crazy once they were locked away for long. I had struggled to grasp the mentality behind those thriller psychological webtoons. It was very difficult to understand the concept behind them, and like how come being tortured a person would suddenly become a ferocious or crazy beast with dual personalities?

Well now I would credit those artists and authors with platinum and diamond gifts, I was beginning to understand those characters when it hadn't even been a month being by myself.

I had no access to internet, no network, no magical things, no nothing. If I was to see Xi Ken now, I would be very angry with him, he always said I was safe with him and that I should stick with him, but why wasn't he HERE!

Argh, I almost hit my own head against the wall. It was simply sad, my life.

Night soon came and the only thing I would think of was that butterfly. Which came every day since then, fluttering its wings with a pretty flicker.

"Where are you? Will you come?"

After listening to myself, I concluded on my own in a tiny voice, "Yes I will~"

"Will you take me out of here? I don't like it here, it is very cold and unhygienic, they don't even let me bath properly."

I snickered as I mimicked the voice of the butterfly, "Yes Yes, I will take you out of here~"

"Do you have any plans on how we can leave this place? I fear we will be taken to an even worse place if we got caught."

"Why not use the power of a chanter~?"

"I want to but without any written ink, I cannot really read it out from anywhere…"

"Maybe hurting yourself would activate some hidden trick ~?"

I sighed, the idea wasn't bad, I would be honest, it had been there in my mind, since long. Lurking in the shadows like some sort of demonic ideal.

The approach may end up hurting me, but wouldn't it give me some- nah.

"I will faint before I would even try scratching my own limbs."

Just when I was thinking of other plans, the huge door to the chamber was clanged open and in came Yu Ken. His stride was rushed and his face was morphed into a very bad scowl.

"You!" he said, pointing at me. "Did you receive any news regarding your lover?"

My eyes widened before I shook my head in negative, "No, I am locked up here, how will I know more than you?"

Yu Ken huffed, circling around the chamber in his silky red robes, his beautiful silver hair frayed. "He went missing, halfway through he went missing! Senior brother is after me because of all this mess, he doesn't even want to believe me!"

Childish. I thought Yu ken was being, but that was not the main point, I was shocked hearing that Xi Ken went missing. How was it possible, wasn't he very powerful?

"Did someone attack him? How can he vanish?" It was just very odd.

"There are two situations when he would go missing. Either he was attacked by the dark forces, or he went there willingly, the reason why we can't find him."

"T-They can actually kidnap him? Xi Zuen?" My eyes were perfectly wide and I was sure my paleness was becoming severe. After such a long while I was getting news, but instead of a happy one, I was told that Xi Ken had gone missing?

Yu Ken did not add on, although his awkward face told me that something like it was really possible.

"W-What are you intending to do?" I had been so immersed in my own sadness and cursing at him, while Xi Ken had landed in trouble and was most probably in danger. I was feeling guilty for being this dependent on him, to an extent where I forgot all about his own struggles.

So what if he was powerful, he was also fragile like all living beings were.

"I will personally go with our senior brother to look for him, if you want you can accompany us, since I believe you wouldn't want to sit here in the dark all by yourself wondering whether your lover is safe or not."

"I am not his lover," I rebuked, while on the other hand accepted his proposal. "I will go with you, but isn't there some reason why you're being this sincere towards me? If I remember correctly, after that day you did not even make a small peep in my direction."

Yu Ken agreed quite easily, almost feeling proud of the fact, his chest puffing up with might and chin raising up with seriousness, "Who cares about you, even if I helped, you and I never saw eye to eye even back then, anyway, now I have decided to tug you along because Xi Ken's whereabouts are unknown, he was last seen in Raundan Village by the outskirts. He has marked you, we will use your body as a beacon and compass."

Oh, I should have known something was up, but I wasn't averse to it. If we can find Xi Ken before something happened to him, wouldn't that be very fortunate?

"He is alive right?" I was pretty sure he was, but this sentence nevertheless did slip out of my mouth, making my own heart dread the future. I couldn't imagine what I would do if he was really no more around me. Didn't he sign up the contract of becoming my sugar daddy?

I could joke around but in the end I was scared for him, what could be the reason for his disappearance? A man like him wouldn't just disappear all of a sudden.

"He is certainly alive, or else your mark would vanish as well."

Yu Ken's reason felt sound enough to ease me up a bit, because even I wouldn't believe anyone if they suddenly said he was dead, yet a slight nervousness lingered in me. Hopefully he was only captured, and wasn't tortured or something equally gruesome.

I would be very mad if something of that degree occurred. I prayed and wished for his safety.

"So when are we leaving?" I was eager to carry out my duty, only… Yu Ken didn't bother with me as he retorted with a loud, "Tomorrow morning!"

The night was going to be long. And I was really panicking.