"Mother, will Enoch take Father"s place as the chieftain soon?" The highest Princess Tang opened to her mother while they were together doing embroidery in their room."Don"t worry my dear, I had everything under control. Even if he takes your father"s place, he will not be a burden to us" The Chieftana replied as she was delicately running her fingers to make st.i.tches.
"But what if he will figure out what I did to princess Song and the fact that—"
"Shhhhh!" The Chieftana glared immediately to her daughter. "Highest Princess you should not mention anything like that carelessly"
"I"m just asking because it bothers me so much. I had not been able to sleep well these few months since Enoch came" She confessed very upset.
"So that"s the reason why your once beautiful face is already fading away like a petal blown by the wind" Princess w.a.n.g chuckled. Her words. .h.i.t something in Princess Tang and she abruptly halted her st.i.tches and reached for her mirrors.
"Is that true?" Princess Tang said worried. She was quietly chiding herself for worrying to much and scrutinized her face thoroughly looking for some wrinkled skin as she stared at the mirror.
"Princess Tang, you should always care for yourself and not worry about the palace politics and affairs" The Chieftana reprimanded her once again. Indeed, the past few months she noticed that Princess Tang had been losing colors and brightness on her face.
"I just can"t help but get worried. Enoch would surely punish me if he finds out what happened to Princess Song" She wailed again, looking too tired and helpless about her predicaments.
"Enoch cannot harm you under my watch. The boy values me a lot like I"m his own mother and even if time will come that he will discover everything I did, I"ll get rid of him before he can harm us. It"s just a matter of time, the only thing I can a.s.sure you is that here in this palace, the Nan people are the one who controls everything" The mother a.s.sured her daughters thoroughly. She had been through h.e.l.l to become the Chieftana and waited for more than twenty years to get what she wanted. A concubine"s child cannot and will not be able to take down everything she worked hard for to get.
"Chieftana," A handmaid came in hurriedly as if there"s something she needed to tell the three immediately.
"What is it? It must be very important since you dared to disturb my leisure time with my daughters" The Chieftana said slightly annoyed, but she knew that something was up because her handmaids feared her so much that they would not dare to despise all her orders.
"The palace is in chaos, you are needed in the hall right now," the servant relayed to her. "The Chieftain"s heir had called for you"
"Why?" She asked curios as to what was going on."
"The Chieftain…" The servant settled some lump in her throat before she added "The Chieftain disappeared from his chambers,"
"What?" A full shock registered in the Chieftana"s face and without wasting time she stood, threw her embroidery away and ran to the hall. Princess Tang and w.a.n.g who was also left astounded by the servant"s news followed their mother right away.
***
Xhemin didn"t move at all at the old man"s touch. She let him caress her face as the man cried and held her tight. The man was calling her his child over and over and although she was feeling a little bit awkward of how he was crying relentlessly, she didn"t dare disturbed him. Upon careful examination, Xhemin understood that something was wrong with him, it was like he was not himself and had been lost drowned on a dream. Was he on that state before he reached Princess Song"s household?
"Healer! What"s going on?" Handmaid Lin ran hurriedly from the kitchen. She heard Xhemin"s loud shout earlier and she knew something wrong came up. When she found an old man hugging Xhemin tight, she frowned and flushed a questioning look at Xhemin.
Xhemin only made hand signs to the Handmaid to be quiet while the man was still on the break down. Curios as to who the man was, Handmaid Lin came closer and tried to get a glimpse of his face. When she had a careful look, another shock came to her as she recognized who he was, she ended up running away calling Princess Song"s name.
"Princess! Princess! Come you must see this!" The handmaid hollered on her way to Princess Song"s room.
With Handmaid Lin"s reaction, Xhemin realized that the servant knew this person and perhaps Princess Song too as she called for her as if the matter was of prime importance. Just a minute after, Xhemin saw handmaid Lin together with the Princess, who unexpectedly, after few months of not wanting to step outside, came out for the first time. The girl was still hesitant for few minutes as she looked at the man that had wrapped his arms around the healer but when she had fully taken a good look, her face brightened, and her eyes turned watery.
"Father!" She called and ran to old man. The princess" loud cry got the man"s attention and he turned to her as and stop crying as if he had fully awakened from whatever deep dream that had caught him earlier.
"My little flower?" He spoke gently, as if shock and confused as to what was happening. He let go of Xhemin and welcomed the small princess in his arms.
"Father what took you so long to get me?" She asked crying in his arms "I"m six now please ask the highest princess to allow me to come home?"
"What are you talking about my little flower?" The man was still oblivious to what was happening "We are already home, and you are still four"
"No father I am not. We are in the deep mountains where the highest princess sent me" She told him, and more tears flooded the backyard after that.