Searching For You

The investigator group lead Mua Kong to the burnt site before giving him the hairpin and Chue Yi's sword. Although Hli Ja had more than one hairpins, he recognized the one that was found. It was the very first item he bought for her while he was at a shop by the ocean shore during one of his trips. The hairpin was of real assorted pearls glued together in a leaf shape. Real pearls doesn't burn in fire so it survived. Hli Ja also wore that hairpin most of the time as it was a gift he given her early on when he was courting her, before when she knew of his real identity.

Mua Kong's hand trembled as he took the hairpin and held it tight in his palm like the hairpin was his own heart. He pulled the hairpin close to his chest feeling his heartaches in pain as his mouth trembled unable to utter a single word. He remember every image of her wearing this hairpins from the first time he gift it to her.

It was not long before Mua Kong's eyes widened with a frozen facial expression. His gazed searched for the investigators and commanded, "Lined up all the corpses and see if any of them has a pregnant belly."

"Yes!" The investigators did another search and lined up the corpses before Mua Kong. He looked and studied them one by one, but none of them had a pregnant belly. Even if the corpse was burned, there would still be some evidence if one was pregnant, especially for someone who was around 7-8 months.

Prince Mua Kong was able to identify the two maids, two servants and Chue Yi because they all carried a pendant close to their body. The pendant was a symbol of his that he gave to those who served under him at his palace. It was a custom set by him that all the maids and guards was to be given a pendant when they started working at his palace. After inspecting the body one by one, Hli Ja's body was missing. Could it be she's not dead? Could the enemy took Hli Ja with them so they could use her against him?

Though it has been a few days since the accident, he would never give up if there is still a slight hope. With her body missing, he prayed and hoped that she is alive somewhere. Mua Kong composed himself and commanded, "Yee Len! Send more guards and expand the search area!" The next thing he has to do is find out if this was the work from inside or outside.

The inn is a little isolated from the town. How could so many people be burned down with the inn? At least, a few people had to smell and wake up to the fire but from the amount of dead bodies, most likely, not a single one escaped.

The two maids, servants and Chue Yi all have evidence of sword wounds on their body making Mua Kong believe that this is not a random act of crime but premeditated crime. They probably did not die from the fire but was killed, intentionally killed. Whoever the enemy was, the enemy burned down everything including all the guests and the owner to make sure there is not a single evidence left behind.


Mua Kong turned to Yee Len, "I'll leave the investigation for you to handle. Find out if all the corpses carried any items that could identify them and track down their family members. Report the news of loss to the family."

Yee Len bowed down, "Yes, My Lord."

Mua Kong turned around and left. He's leaving the investigation for Yee Len to handle while he headed to the main Royal Palace. He hopped onto the horse with an empty gaze in his eyes, his heart burning in rage looking for a place to strike down the anger in his heart.

Mua Kong doesn't want to think of the worse because if he does, it would mean that he admitted that his dear wife was truly gone.

When Mua Kong arrived in the main palace, he kicked the gate door before the guards had the chance to open the door for him. The door broke into pieces as it flew inside the yard. The only thing Mua Kong could do was investigate the King first because the King was the one who voiced his dislike opinion of Hli Ja and then the Prime Minister. He remembered the report Chue Yi sent the first time he left Hli Ja, the Prime Minister tried barging into his Palace while he was away, thus making the Prime Minister the next suspect. Those are his only two clues to start with.

One of the guards ran to notify the King of second Prince's arrival. A few minutes later, Mua Kong arrived in the King's chamber with a fierce killing intent airs around him.

The King wasn't sure of what happened, but he could guess that it must be something that is related to Hli Ja to cause his son to lose control. The King sat on his work chair reading reports when Mua Kong barged inside. Mua Kong looked intently at the King who also returned the same look before asking sternly, "What is it?"

Glaring at the King before him, Mua Kong uttered in an angry challenging tone, "My people was attacked and killed. My wife had gone missing. Regular civilians had died. It is a premeditated murder, I would like to know what my King think of this issue."