What the Second Prince refused to believe, was that the lass was dead. Even though they had told the capital that she had died, he had been ordered to do that by the Emperor himself. With the royal physician telling him three different times and the Emperor once, that the lass could not survive such a poison, and that was enough for the Emperor to decree her death.

The royal physician was indeed very intrigued on how the young miss had lasted for so long, and that even before she had ‘gone’, she was still able to smile and talk.

As much as he saw it so miraculous, he could not see any other way but death, to those who taken this poison. That was why it was deemed a death penalty, for the ‘Two Faced Poison’ was found to have no cure, among the fact that it was also very sneaky. It was told that it could have been also a death sentence because the Golden Haven Emperor, who had deemed it forbidden, had someone close to him that had to go through it…This was just a rumor though.

 

Yet, Matthew could feel something…Whatever it was, he felt it.

Since meeting her, he felt…Somewhat connected.

When she was laying there, so helplessly on the bed, he watched her and felt her. And when she had disappeared, he had not had his spiritual essence returned to him…

She was alive! There was no way he would think otherwise…

He knew, that over time, his spiritual essence inside of her would diminish into nothing, but it hadn’t gone yet. He could…Feel her out there…Somewhere…

It was a strange feeling, he didn’t tell anyone about it, and he hardly knew what to make of it himself, as he had never had it happen before. He just felt like all he had to do was find her. In fact, he felt very fortunate that she had ‘stolen’ his spiritual essence. He was only a bit upset that he couldn’t find where she was by locating her through his spiritual essence, he could just faintly feel that it still lingered.

 

With such a big event happening, suddenly, the reputation of the Rolland Estate plummeted, and the Emperor had no choice but to punish the Right Minister, to stay at his Estate until further notice. Having the Right Minister related to the person who had used a forbidden poison, was something that couldn’t be overlooked! It just so happened that someone talked about it openly, and so another did and so everyone did and this open talking about the poison and knowing which family the female was from eventually got to the Emperor’s ears. He had no choice now, he can’t have his people thinking that you’ll get away with using a poison that was classed as against the law from a golden Emperor! Punishment must be met! Talon had too been punished but it made no difference, Talon rarely went out of the estate anyway…

 

It did sadden the Emperor, as he knew the Right Minister didn’t have a black heart, but he could not dismiss this issue.

As time went passed and regrets stayed, the Right Minister and Talon were not expecting even more drastic measures would be taken at all. With no opportunity to counteract or to take a breath, to think about what was happening, they fell into a trap and another power began to rise!

So, through the poison event, someone took advantage of it! It was a power that was known of already by the Right Minister and Sahara, yet nothing was ever done about it…

A new master had taken the Rolland Estate!

 

***

 

Months went by, yet the Second Prince’s people couldn’t find the lass, even outside of the capital. In worry, he commanded to widen his search and to use more people at his disposable. But having them gone from his side, and at this precise moment, he too fell into peril…Not only was he being falsely accused of murder, but what he was getting accused for, was ludicrous!

His own mother and sister were involved in a tragic fire and both of them were deemed as fatalities, as they weren’t found anywhere else and were last seen within the place that had burnt down!

It was a stupid ploy to do to him, when many people knew that his mother and sister were very important to him…

The power behind this wasn’t even the same as who the new master is at Rolland Estate became, it was another power altogether! Sahara could laugh at the drama that was starting to unfold here if she were here! There was just way too many bad guys, and the good guys had been in shock and feel into traps so easily! She’d wanna shake her head! She probably would have also thought that it was a perfect time to get away from this mess!

 

Despite the people of Green Haven not believing in these affairs, the Second Prince was still put into prison. The false evidence was unable to be disputed because it was a letter that his ‘mother’ had apparently ‘written to him’, but the writings that he could find to state that it was false, had conveniently ‘disappeared’ from his own estate.

So, with the response from this false letter from his mother, he was apparently unhappy because his mother didn’t do what he had ‘asked’ her to do, and then there was this ‘fire’ and their vanished bodies.

He was already sure who was behind it, taking advantage of this incident…Even though the consort had gone into the cold palace, her family was still here, most likely they themselves, were the ones behind the fire. But he felt it was strange that they wanted to use this to get rid of him, even when he had already given up his right to the throne…

There must be something else to it…

What worried him though, was that he had no news himself over his mother and sister. Even his own people couldn’t find them…They looked in the family estate of the consort, in the cold palace and the other parts of the palace, but there was no trace of them to be found anywhere…

 

All Matthew could do for now, was gain more time…Giving him a chance to think.

And what he thought about? Strangely, it wasn’t about his predicament, as he wasn’t too worried about it…

Then, with his mother and sister missing, he’d already gotten whoever was left to search the capital and other areas, so there wasn’t anything else he could do there…I mean…His mother and sister would be a bad loss, but he didn’t believe them to be dead, especially when there was no evidence of a corpse, which made his escape from here much easier too. If there were no charge upon a murder, due to no bodies being found, there, well it’s more like how long it would take to gather this information…

It was more about the difference of emotions and how he feels towards the lass…

He had gotten along well with Isabella, but with Sahara, from the moment he had met her…It seems not just his heart has troubles, his eyes followed her, his legs followed her, his thoughts…

 

Having seen Isabella for the same amount of time as Sahara, in the past, they had felt uncomfortable and uneasy. With Sahara, he felt like he could be himself, and he was strangely curious about her. He was sure, as well, that she too was being herself and open with him, making him feel even better about her.

Even the silence they had, was strangely comfortable to him, as he felt like he was able to relax…Giving him peace.

Then he could see that he valued what she did, not wanting her to loss anything and feel sad. He could feel himself protective over her and even slightly possessive, as he remembered his thoughts on when he thought she was going to get married.

And then…When she was on that bed…

Closing his eyes, he couldn’t help but feel some kind of dread flow through him once again. Having seen her that way was quite an experience for him…

It still haunted his thoughts, even though it’s been weeks since it had happened…

 

When Isabella was dying, Matthew felt like he was losing something precious, yet…When he saw Sahara, and watching her slip away every now and again, he felt like he was losing some part of himself…

He still felt like that now…

All he could do was stare at her, holding her hand, not wanting her to go and feeling useless.

It really did drive him crazy, that he could do absolutely nothing to help…

Why had I felt like that there was no future without her here?

He couldn’t help it though, since Sahara’s disappearance, his days were bland…

Matthew even found himself not caring so much about his mother and sister’s disappearance, as much as he thought he would. The fact that he was in prison didn’t seem to matter much at all either.

Here or there…What does it matter?

All Matthew could do, was sigh to his new-found weakness…

 

After a week, he still couldn’t believe that he felt this way towards such a small girl, who he’d only really seen three times!

But there was no need to think further, he accepted his feelings and felt himself want to act them out. He even started to think of her age and how long it could be before he could finally make her his. There just was no other thought for Matthew but that they would end up together. They were…

Yet, through this thought, he suddenly wanted to have everything…He didn’t want things like Isabella, where they were only friends, feeling like they were together because of a decree from the Emperor.

Matthew felt determined, he found that he wanted to forget the decree and gain her heart and be together through mutual affection…He wanted her by his side!

Possibly by his side, laying on the bed, smiling up at him cheekily. Or…

Feeling like he was becoming a bit too excited, Matthew tried not to think of his feelings more and continued to strategize on maximizing his time and finding the culprits behind his missing mother and sister.

Yet, through doing this instead, there wasn’t much excitement for him at all…

 

***

 

Sahara’s survival was on the line for a long time…

She would always run out of spiritual essence before she was ready for it to run out!

She needed it both for detoxifying herself and to teleporting herself. Before, back in the Rolland Estate, Sahara hadn’t really used any kind of plan to force the poison out. But, when she was alone, she managed to come up with an idea!

Sahara used her sweat and poured her spiritual essence into it and cleaned it. Then she used that small amount of liquid, to re-enter her body and become somewhat of a net, to catch the poison.

Ever since starting to flush the poison out, she’d always protected her organs first, hence why she still couldn’t hear or see properly anymore. Sahara was too busy making sure her heart was still untouched, and her lungs, so she was unable to see or hear properly for at least two weeks…

 

Luckily, Sahara had already seen these areas that she had teleported to, previously. Two areas were caves, that looked abandoned from mining some kind of ore. Another area, was an abandoned house, it really didn’t provide much safety, so she had to maximise her hearing and sight while she was there…

Another place that Sahara had teleported to, was next to the far wall, outside of the capital, as there were some old and broken-down crates, that helped protect her against the sun, rain or being spotted by others.

All these places, she had found them when she did her cultivating training, through all these years. If people were lucky enough, they may have been able to see a little green star flying through these areas quite a number of times.

As early as four, Sahara already started searching for these places. She knew of her family being ‘crazy’ then, wouldn’t she be stupid if she didn’t find places that she could take shelter in, just in case? To add to that, her own knowledge of the cruelty of ancient times, made her all the more determined to look for an escape route!

 

Call her paranoid but historical times had so many reasons to be worried about. At those times there weren’t as many vaccines, so there was more sickness. Then, some technologies hadn’t been done, like washing machines. If you were homeless, you can’t just go wash ya clothes and dry them just in a couple of hours! Can you imagine wanting to pee? There are some toilets that are open nearly all the time, so you can be homeless near one of those and never have to worry about the smell of pee waking you up because you had to pee behind the bush that you are sleeping next too…

Anyway, Sahara may be paranoid and looking for places, but she was just thinking ahead, for just in case…But, as you see, it came in handy to know these things now!

 

Sahara knew she had trust issues but…Look where that got her, considering she had stayed in the estate all this time…

She had hoped and tried to make things work, she had stayed in the estate and acted out the young lady that she was but that was it now, Celeste had ruined the trust she had gained…Well at least for now…

Yes, Sahara was still angry to the way that she was treated! She might be thinking harsh thoughts right now but in time, of course, she does calm down…

But now she was…Well would ya believe it…She was homeless…Again!

Fan fucking tastic! Did I ever say I hated historical ages?

But she couldn’t think how ‘awesome’ her predicament was for too long because…Because she simply needed to concentrate on surviving.

Think about all that stupid crap later, it’s fine…It’s dandy…I got reincarnated into a shithole but it’s fine! Focus!