There was one saying on everyone’s mind that had been in that room in Sahara’s courtyard.

The thirteenth young miss! How could that be!

Talon was very much surprised, unable to move due to his shock! Spending an hour to ingest this news, Talon hadn’t really heard or seen what had happened afterwards and felt like something wasn’t right!

If she was the thirteenth young miss…Then, she’s…My sister! All this time…

As Talon tried to understand everything, he slowly became depressed into knowing what wasn’t right…He couldn’t believe the trouble his sister has had since birth!

He knew of what had been said a long time ago, about the thirteenth young miss being cursed and basically dismissed from the family…But…

We, to Sahara, we are the ones that had treated her terribly. She wasn’t a curse! We were!

He remembered when he had first met her…She had called him, ‘Big Brother.’ Sahara had even smiled at him!

When he had said that she should become part of his family, she made that strange noise…When…Her mother!

She had seen her mother at the formal gathering when she was being accepted into the family!

No wonder she had acted like that and walked away!

And her real, biological father…All this time, Sahara hadn’t opened up to him at all…

Shaking his head, to his memories, Talon couldn’t help a tear escape as he found himself growing distain for his very own family!

The Second Prince had already tried to find out who Sahara was, prior to being the daughter of Talon, yet hearing this he was indeed shocked as well!

Having only glanced on information regarding the thirteenth young miss previously, the Prince was a bit upset with himself.

Knowing the basic facts about her disappearance years ago, and that a body wasn’t found, the Prince sat back in contemplation.

This lass has endured for so long…No wonder…No wonder her eyes looked like that…How in the world did she survive!

What saddened the Prince more, was that she…Was missing…

Denial set in for many others about Sahara’s disappearance. It probably helped them overlook that Sahara was ‘gone’, by the last words that she had uttered but…What was worse, was that they saw it, they had the utmost believe that…She would probably be dead…And so they had not thought much upon the body not being here.

There is one though, one that thought more into the disappearance of Sahara, unable to think of it as ‘the end’ of Sahara Rolland…And that was the Prince, who for some unknown reason refused to believe she was completely gone…

While Talon was sitting there for an hour, the Prince was also. Even though both were thinking of Sahara’s last words, they both felt like something was now missing from their lives…

Most of all, Sahara’s words were on the Right Minister’s mind.

Thirteenth young miss…Was she really…My child? What have I done!? She, to cultivate to disappear…That…Girl, that I had disowned because…

He couldn’t believe that she had come to cultivate something that could make one disappear! Having such a fantastic thing fall from his hands, made him feel at a loss!

He should have looked after her more, he should have spoiled her more!

Once he searched for a book that reminded him of what it was that she did, he found out that it was the mediation called ‘Bending Space’…Then the Right Minister slammed his hands down on the table in rage!

How could he have lost such a good thing!

Since he couldn’t believe his misfortune, the Right Minister spent no effort into finding out what had happened to Sahara, when she had disappeared all those years ago.

In a fit of rage, to finding Sahara’s own blood brother had dragged her to the front of the estate, the Right Minister just about destroyed his son’s life. Not only did this son become a waste, in which he was unable to cultivate anymore, but he would be unable to leave the bed for quite some time, or if ever.

After the Right Minister had done this, he still felt very angry, but since some of his anger was at himself and what he had done, he let it eat at him.

It’s all my fault. She was so precious the entire time and she had been treated like this! It really was the opposite, yet we believed in her ‘bad fortune’ so…Easily…

What made him even more sad, was that he could see that the Second Prince doted on Sahara very much, making him quite an ideal ally, but, if she was…Really dead…

The Prince may treat me like an enemy…Just like the family of Isabella’s! I must placate His Highness! Which means…Celeste…

The Right Minister was not even slightly upset for his son Talon, when he stated openly to His Highness to have left Celeste in his hands to deal with as he saw fit.

He knew he had to try to quell the anger that His Highness might have as much as possible! He must prevent his family from disappearing from this world!

In a strange way, the Right Minister now started to believe that what was happening now, was the bad luck that Sahara brought to the family…Even if it wasn’t her own doing…

One could not run from fate it seems…No matter how we tried to get away from her ‘bad fortune’ that could happen to my family, it still happened anyway…

A great pawn left, he got over his regret and anger with doing what he had with his other son, who had taken Sahara to the gate of the Rolland residence…So, now, all that was left was another type of anger that was starting to rise up!

If there is some type of life after death, Sahara would probably haunt this place!

Shaking his head to his thoughts, the Right Minister just wanted to get over this as fast as possible! She was gone, and that was that!

***

Talon became so utterly sad and depressed, so much that he had not cared at all that his wife had left the estate, to never return…Becoming known to the fact that Sahara was instead his little sister, he honestly wondered why he didn’t want to give up on having her as his daughter instead. But, he knew, that in the end he hadn’t been able to protect her as either a brother or a father. He hadn’t once seen her after she had been born, he didn’t look for her after she had ‘disappeared’ all those years ago, and now was unable to stop her from being poisoned.

How could he want to be either a father or a brother, when he had failed so miserably at both!

Talon felt horribly regretful and never felt so depressed in his life. He felt even worse when he thought that both his child and wife had wanted to hurt Sahara and wished that he hadn’t had a family!

It really did make him ponder on the idea on if Sahara had been better off without ever meeting him in the first place! How she had survived until he met him, she would probably still survive…And her being alive was what mattered to Talon right now, so he really did regret meeting her, only making him sadder because of the memories with her and how he shouldn’t have had them!

​

He had wanted to go and find her, already knowing he didn’t want to stay still, but the Second Prince stopped him. Talon had wanted to fight to the bitter end, not caring who the person was that was stopping him…But the Prince stated that he’ll definitely find Sahara and that he, Talon himself, had to keep her courtyard clean, for when she was to return.

Matthew, His Highness the Second Prince, could easily tell that Talon was in a stage where he could do harm upon himself, so, knowing Sahara cared for him, he made these conditions to keep him safe. If he was to give the man a goal, perhaps he’ll slowly become a little better…

…And that was what Talon did, he stayed in his sweet Sahara’s courtyard, drank and slept, not leaving at all.

At first, he had wanted to write to her, to tell her how sorry he was. But after several attempts, he dismissed the idea, as it made him feel like she wouldn’t accept it anyway.

It was not surprising that Talon thought this but it was actually wrong, because Sahara would have felt special to receive something like that upon her return…It was just because Talon felt so…Small to Sahara right now that he felt like it wouldn’t achieve anything…

What frightened him more so, was the idea that she could not receive any letter, because her probability of death...

On the other hand, Samuel would go see Talon and sit with him, making Talon slowly realize that his son was still here. Seeing his son still so honest and innocent, Talon accepted his occasional presence and talked to him more openly than before.

Being able to see someone else that treasured and cared as much as he did, Talon found himself being able to hold himself together, as Samuel stayed by his side.

Strangely, through the bad occurrence of Sahara’s disappearance, Samuel’s and Talon’s relationship got closer…

***

A few weeks after the event of Sahara’s disappearance, news became public within the Green Haven Capital city. A female was tied to a pole by her hands and feet, looking very dirty and far from the looking like the first wife of a son of the Right Minister. Her hair was knotted and all over the place, her clothes were that of a commoner and she had dried blood showing on places that the light clothes on her weren’t covering. Her pale skin, looking as though she hadn’t done hard labour in her entire life, didn’t match her overall look as she rocked along with the cart that she was on.

“This lady wanted to kill another of her kin just because she didn’t want to send her daughter away to marry…In her vengeance, she used the ‘Two Faced Poison’ that is absolutely forbidden in all Haven’s! It is known by all, that using this poison means death!”

This same verse rang throughout the entire capital, as the lady was transported towards the place where they beheaded people.

The Green Haven Emperor had willingly approved of the Second Prince in making this news public, he wanted to remind the people that not only can the poison still not be used, but that the people should abide by the laws. With that kind of verse, he wanted people to know that doing something like this was utterly shameless and would not be forgiven!

He was a strict ruler, always making sure that punishment was met! Having heard that the ‘Two Faced Poison’ had been used, he decreed that the punishment would commence as soon as the investigation was completed!

The Right Minister knew that the Emperor was indeed like this, knowing that begging to keep things as a secret was futile!

All that the Right Minister was able to accomplish, being someone that was needed to the Emperor and using that to his advantage, was that the family upon the lady who used the ‘Two Faced Poison’ was not said.

A problem with the Green Haven Emperor, was that he wasn’t strong himself, finding out from young that he had a problem with his meridians. Since he wasn’t as strong as one would like an Emperor, he became strict because of this. Throughout his life, he had to take at least four or five times longer than that the normal cultivator to advance, only making him a third ranked cultivator, at the age of 55.

With a lot of hard work and luck, he had been able to survive till this age and become the Emperor. He hadn’t initially been the Crowned Prince beforehand, but he was favoured due to showing how much work he willingly put forth towards the capital and its people. Sadly, his elder brother had tried to kill him, and it was a life and death situation…It became a very big secret that the present Emperor had been the one to kill his very own brother, who was supposed to have taken the throne. Due to having allies and true friends, this Emperor was able to succeed where his brother had not. His other brothers and sisters had either passed away now, and the few that remained seemed docile. It is believed that they are being bought with treasures or money, so that they could continue to live without conflict.

The Green Haven Emperor had quite a substantial number of children, but most of them ended up as females, and there was quite a gap in between the males.

The Crowned Prince was already thirty and learning from his father, yet he himself was also at third rank. Sadly, the Crowned Prince suffered from the same problem as the Emperor, but it wasn’t as bad, only having to do twice the work instead of three or four times the work to advance.

The Second Prince was eighteen and it was known that he has a great foundation, as he was a sixth rank cultivator at present. When he had reached fourth rank, two years ago, he had deemed himself forever giving up the position for the throne of Green Haven!

The Emperor hadn’t wanted him to do this, as he silently thought it was because of the death of Matthew’s late wife, Isabella, and his unborn child, that had made him feel this way…