Emperor Hizashi entered Hikar's room to see if she was sleeping. He came into the room and saw that she was covered in a blanket and her face was inside the blanket too. He came towards her to lift her blanket from her face so she wouldn't suffocate inside the blanket. When Hizashi lifted her blanket, he saw Hikar's swollen eyes but she was now sound asleep. Hizashi could see that she was weeping before she fell asleep.

I wonder what happened to her?

She is behaving like this after her tournament in the school. 

Before leaving he kissed her forehead and then left the room and closed the door with great caution so she might not wake up. 

The soft white snow was drifting and the ground was covered with a white blanket. The window of Hiroshi's room was wide open and one could see the pleasant scene of falling snow from inside the room. The branches of the cherry blossom tree have grown so long that now they are entering the room through the window. When Hiyoshi entered Hiroshi's room and saw him learning from notes late at night, he frowned a little. Hiroshi glanced at his father and then after looking at his father for a while he then again revert his attention to his notes. Seeing his Son's attitude Hiyoshi got a little angry and then calmed down and said, 

"Your teacher Qu Wei came to me today"

"He might have come to tell you that I am a half-spirit realm master and I played the song of repression at the tournament", Hiroshi said without looking at his father. 

"Yes you are right", Hiyoshi said. 

"And you also know how complex that song is. If you played even one tone wrong you might...."

Hiroshi interrupted him,

"I know but nothing will happen to me. Well if I can master a complex song then it means that I have the capability to play it well"

"Enough Hiroshi", Hiyoshi said angrily. 

"I wonder what is your problem? You can play it at the age of fifteen when you will be mature enough and I am saying this because I am worried about you and why are you so obsessed with becoming stronger? All-day long you remain in your room playing the zither, reading notes, trying to master complex songs, what's the rush? Recently you have become so crazy about becoming strong, you were not like this before"

Hiroshi listened to his father calmly and then asked him sarcastically, 

"You are asking why I am being so obsessed with becoming stronger?" 

He then answered his own question and said with clenched teeth, 

"That's because I want to kill someone" his voice was cold and dripping with endless hate. 

Hiyoshi was stupified after seeing him like this.

"What? Do you want to kill someone? Who do you..."

Hiroshi interrupted his father again and said, 

"Who do I want to kill? What a funny question. Have you ever thought about investigating your wife's murder case? All day you are busy with your clan duties. Did you ever think about your family?"

"What do you mean by that? I am investigating it. I will soon find the murderer and I will chop his head off right in front of you so you could see that I am not slacking a bit about this and didn't I promise you that I will carefully look into this matter", Hiyoshi said with a mixed feeling of sadness and anger. 

"Haa the murderer is right in front of you and you are still investigating. What are you investigating?"

"What do you mean that the killer is right in front of me. Who is the murderer? Tell me?", Hiyoshi asked with exasperation visible in his voice. 

Hiroshi didn't reply and went back to reading his notes, ignoring his father completely. Hiyoshi was so angry that he went towards him and grabbed his shoulders firmly to make him look towards him. He then asked again in a low but chilled voice,

"Now tell me, Who is the killer you are talking about?"

"It's Yu Jiang", he said in a loud voice while pushing his father away from him. 

Hiyoshi's eyes were now bulging out with shock.

"How could it be possible? She... she is your mother's best friend for so long"

"I knew you wouldn't believe my words, you are just like mother she did the same and now see what happened to her. Her acting skills are so top-notch that even you, the clan leader of zither clan are deluded by this. Instead of believing your son both of you are trusting an outsider", Hiroshi said with mixed feelings of hatred, sadness, and anger. 

"Then now tell me do you have any proof against her? If you give me a valid reason then I would definitely believe you because you are my son how could I prefer an outsider over my own son", Hiyoshi said in a soothing voice to calm his son. He never saw his son so fired up like this before in his whole life. 

Hiroshi looked at his father for a moment and then started to talk, 

"When you were gone to the dark seas Yu Jiang often used to come to my mother and you know that my mother has an interest in teas. She likes to try every kind of herbal tea. Yu Jiang gave my mother a rare herb called an 'Everlasting herb' as a gift. She gave a lot of that herb to my mother. It is a very rare herb and it takes a very long time to grow and it grows in the most difficult to find places. I often watched my mother having a tea party with Yu Jiang and I noticed that her mother used that herb in her tea but Yu Jiang does not use it. I became curious and I asked my mother why Yu Jiang does not drink the same tea as her's. So my mother told me that Yu Jiang is allergic to everlasting herb so that's why she does not use it and mother said that she does not like to drink teas but to accompany me in the tea party she drink tea with me." Hiroshi was calmly narrating the whole story. 

"Father you don't know this but I like to study plants and I have read many books on plants especially poisonous ones"

So that was his book, I thought it was Sakura who kept it in my library, Hiyoshi thought after listening to his son. 

"In those days I read a book and found something interesting. In that book, there was information about the Everlasting herb that is used for making tea, there is a herb named Senecio that has a similar appearance to this Everlasting herb. This Senecio is a very poisonous herb. This herb can corrode a person's core and also damage the heart and lungs. An ordinary mortal can die in a day after being exposed to this herb but it kills an immortal in a slow process, one of its main things is that its symptoms don't appear until the person's core has been almost completely corroded"

Hiyoshi couldn't see any kind of expression on Hiroshi's face but when his gaze fell on his hands he saw that he was clenching them so hard that they seemed so white, deprived of any blood. 

Hiroshi then continued, 

"The only thing that can distinguish these two herbs are their flowers but if the flowers are not bloomed then it is impossible to tell the difference between them. When I was studying this I became tense because my mother was drinking the everlasting herbal tea for almost two weeks. So I went to take a look at the herb that mother has placed in her cabinet and I saw that in that bunch only some herbs had flowers. I told my mother about this but she ignored me saying that I am being overly cautious about little things. But I was still so worried so I sneakily threw the herbs that were without flowers but it was still too late because she was drinking them for so long. After some time the symptoms started to appear on her and then I knew that she has reached the last stage of her disease"

The more Hiyoshi listened to this his face became ashen grey and cold sweat started to appear on his face. 

"At that time I started to read more and more books in search of its cure but the cure that I found was a hopeless one. Its cure is a herb named sickly nightshade that is grown in the underworld and it's only effective when the disease is at its initial stage"

Hiyoshi thought a large lump was stuck in his throat and when he took a glance towards Hiroshi he could see some wetness in his eyes in the light of a lamp. Hiyoshi couldn't imagine how such a small child has faced all this alone and his heart felt like it has been stabbed repeatedly with a knife. 

After listening to all this Hiyoshi went silent and was deep in thoughts thinking Yu Jiang was like a sister to Sakura, he himself had seen them and they were so close. Could it be that someone was trying to frame her? It is very hard to believe but no matter who it is whether it's Yu Jiang or someone else I voe to avenge the death of my wife. 

Hiroshi stared at his father's face for a while and Hiyoshi was completely unaware that Hiroshi was looking at him. Some lines appeared on Hiyoshi's forehead and his eyes were malice with anger. Hiroshi had a flashback when he told his mother about Yu Jiang and she didn't believe him, denying every fact that he presented in front of her. She had the same expression of disbelief at that time that his father is now carrying. He stared at his father for a moment and then he got up in anger. Hiyoshi instantly came out of his thoughts and said, 

"Wait Hiro..." before he could say anything he heard a loud voice slamming the door shut. Before Hiyoshi completed his sentence Hiroshi left the room in anger.

Hiyoshi did not follow him. He sat there for a while to comprehend his thoughts. 

He might have thought that I didn't believe him just like his mother. That's why he didn't tell me before and kept all the pain in his heart and was bearing it alone all this time. He might have been angry at me that I left him and his mother for so long. 

Hiyoshi left the room and saw a maid, he asked, 

"Where is Hiroshi? Have you seen him?"

The maid said respectfully, 

"Yes, Clan Leader. I saw him, he went towards the Pavilion"

He nodded his head and then started to walk in that direction. He saw Hiroshi standing at the pavilion near the water, his back was facing him. The night was foggy and no stars could be seen in the sky. A cold wind was blowing, touching his pale face. Hiyoshi silently walked in his direction and from behind gently patted his head. Hiroshi didn't turn his head back and continued to look ahead.