Following shadow knight two's lead, they soon arrive at a dark alley.

"Master! Please make your run!"

A familiar voice caught Xuan Di's sensitive hearing senses, following the sound of the voice, he then heard sword fighting noises.

Due to the darkness and the lack of light for Xuan Di to distinguish who is who, he close his eyes and reopen them to let them adjust to the darkness.

Just as he make one more step into the alley, a sudden attack from the back made him dodge the sword attack towards his left and he reach for his sword for retaliation.

Shadow knight two starts to prep himself for the upcoming battle by stationing close to Xuan Di. Right now, there are 2 battles going on simultaneously between the 2 groups.

"Be careful my Master!" He shouted.

Shadow knight one, who was fighting off the attack, heard his comrade's voice and turn towards Xuan Di's direction, then realise the additional company he had here.

Wait, does that mean that this new group of men who are fighting off another bunch of unknown assassin, is his master?!

Almost immediately, he forgo Jae-in's fight and head over to help his master.

"Master! Pardon your loyal subject for coming late to your rescue." The shadow knight one fight off one guy who came from the side of Xuan Di.

"Let's stop talking and concentrate to fight." Xuan Di order.

With the confusion of 2 groups of assassins, they both misunderstood that they were the backup of their mission target. Slowly the battle revolved between the assassins of Jae-in and assassins of Xuan Di.

Thanks to this misunderstanding, both groups started mercilessly attacking one another which resulted deaths and thus shifting their attention from the original targets.

As Xuan Di and the shadow knights stood in a circle to defend themselves, they are confused with the escalation of matter, while Jae-in hid along the walls.

"Let's slowly move out of the alley." Xuan Di whisper, not realising Jae-in's presence.

Jae-in's body freeze the moment she saw him enter the dark alley and she quickly retreated back to the side of the walls, camouflaging herself in the dark.

'Oh no, he is here.' Jae-in's mind spin wildly for escape routes to leave these 3 behind.

Following the lead of Xuan Di, the 3 of them slowly and quietly head towards the entrance of the alley, creeping along the walls in a row. As they stood on the same side, Jae-in join in secretly and became the last in the row.

She decided that once she leave the alley, she will run as fast as she can.

Just as they reach the entrance, one of the assassin saw their movements and swiftly head towards Jae-in's back, attempting to kill her.

However shadow knight one reacted quickly, within a heartbeat, he swap place with her, unintentionally pushed her towards shadow knight two.

Shadow knight two, who was always ready for the attack, move out of the line just as Jae-in was being pushed forward and assisted shadow knight one for the sneaky attack.

With the commotion behind, Xuan Di turn behind to see what had happened. Somehow he caught an unknown masked man who was pushed by shadow knight one, fall right into his arms.

In the midst of falling, Xuan Di accidentally tug the strings of the black mask that Jae-in was wearing. As their body fell at the entrance of the alley, their eyesight suddenly freed from the darkness.

Once again, as if the situation couldn't be worse, the firework show started the very moment Jae-in's face was revealed, right in front of Xuan Di with her being in his arms.

The brightness of the firework show totally display her beautiful face and this image is locked into Xuan Di's mind.

In the moment of shock, he did not expect to see Jae-in here in this situation, Jae-in then took advantage of this and push herself off him, let her legs take her away as fast as she could to the gates of Capital of Xuan.

'Did.. Did I see correctly? Jae-in was here in my arms, dressed in black night attire, carrying a bunch of items as though she wants to escape? Escape ... Wait why?' Xuan Di slowly absorbing the thoughts he had but soon replace it with fury.

'She wants to escape? She wants to abandon me? Why? WHERE SHE WANTS TO GO?'

In anger, he chased after the small figure dressed in black, swear to god that he will take her back and punish her heavily.

As he witness her escaping out of Capital of Xuan, he knew that his guesses are right. Indeed, she wants to escape from the palace and from him.

Ah.. This is why there are unknown changes in her for the past few months. The changes in her character, the way she react towards him, the way she stun from him as though he was a disease.

All these behaviour finally gave him answers to his unsolved question.

'But why?'

This question could only be solved by capturing her back into the palace.

Knowing that Xuan Di is pursuing her persistently behind her, she stole a horse and forcefully escape Capital of Xuan, aiming towards the forested area of the first mountain to Capital of Kai.

"STOP. I COMMAND YOU TO STOP RIGHT NOW JAE-IN." Xuan Di shouted with intense anger from behind. The anger clouded his mind and he didn't realised he address her by name.

Taking a glance behind her, the distance between their horses are decreasing. Not wanting to be caught, she took a small pin and stab into the muscles of the horse to temporarily increase her speed.

"Jae-in! YOU BETTER NOT BE CAUGHT BY ME"

Finally, the gods decided to not play tricks on Jae-in, a sudden appearance of assassins surrounded and block the path of Xuan Di. Jae-in smiled and continue her way by deserting her horse, focusing on hiking the mountains.

After hiking for 2 hours, she feel extremely tired and needed some rest. But before she could stop, a strong arm trap her from behind and instantly, she was pulled into the familiar manly scent of his.

"Where do you think you are going?" Xuan Di questioned.

"How did you manage to come so fast?" Jae-in stopped moving, knowing that she will only accelerate his anger.

"That's what all woman says." He chuckle with a dark humour in it.

"Now, it's time to..." Before he could finish his words, a sudden attack came from the back.

Once again, making him release his grip on Jae-in.

The same bunch of assassins followed Xuan Di and continued their attack. Although Xuan Di killed off at least 10 men from their group, even if they are left with 3 people, they still need to kill him to finish their mission.

As Xuan Di devote all his concentration into the battle, Jae-in intend to use this chance to escape from him.

Taking a few strides away from the fighting area, turning back for that one last look at the man, who caused so much misery to her fragile heart as a way of saying her final goodbye, and hoping that she will make her way out of here smoothly.

Just as she wanted to tear away her attention from him, she saw one of the assassin sneaking behind Xuan Di, planning a sneak attack.

Before she could stop herself, her body moved involuntarily as though it was a habit, taking in the attack on behalf of him.

The moment the sword penetrated her body, she regretted.

'Is this the last moment of my third life? Why? Why did I took the attack for him? Am I so dumb? ... I guess old habits die hard, my habit to protect him from any danger is something engraved within me for 2 lives. This is probably the last thing I will do for you. Thank you for tolerating me and goodbye eternally. Xuan Di.'

Jae-in close her eyes as she slipped into unconsciousness.

As Xuan Di felt a sudden presence at his back, he turn behind to only see Jae-in being stabbed on her left shoulder, by one of the remaining 2 assassins.

The sight of her in blood made him went insane, with the adrenaline, he chop off the assassin's head in front of him.

Then, he threw his sword that pierced through the assassin who did the sneaky attack, causing his body to hang in the air along with the sword in his chest, stuck to the tree.

You can imagine the immense strength and power for it to pierce through a person's body in one throw.

With no more distractions, he turn to focus on Jae-in and carry her into his arms. His shaky hands hover above the wound while he stare at her face losing the color of blood.

"No... No way I am letting you go. Are you stupid? Why did you block that attack for me?"

"Do you think I will forgive you by doing this? NO. I will never forgive you. You and I have a debt to settle. Don't you dare to think you can leave me alone here, even if you descend to the grounds of hell, I will break the hell gates to grab you back, stuck together with me forever."

Xuan Di shouted at the unconscious Jae-in who did not stir at the noise he is making.