The rousing of his heart was far from stagnating..He inhaled in deeply and promptly defied his objective.He rotated his entire body and stormed off the stairs with his breath still held in.His steps then unexpectedly ceased to move after a few feet. he exhaled and that's when the streams of tears fell down his eyes.He closed his eyes and took several more deep breaths and more tears seemed to find a way out his eyes..He promised himself that he would handle these surge of emotions maturely but he didn't think it would be this hard.He never thought for a second that should he experience these emotions once more, that he would feel this overwhelmed

He feels like he is in mourning .The way is in which he tries to prove to himself that he is strong is failing him tremendously.How can he be feeling like he had lost someone yet that person still alive. The sparkle in Adrian s eyes has become like an extinguished flame, one that Reed can't stand to believe that it no longer exists. The way in which Adrian s eyes used to dance to the beating of Reed's heart is replaced by a void. All that is left is a surreal nothingness..In the eight years that he has been at the palace,never had he felt so empty yet overwhelmed.His emotions seem like they are surfing on a wave with its own mindset.The king was nice to him for the first three years but things became different for the last five years..And in these five years all he has ever felt was like his heart is going to blow up.Never had he thought that on day all of that would defleate and he would feel worse than before.All he had ever wanted before was to be free from the gnawing claws of his restless heart, and now that he feels absolutely nothing. So this pulpitation he is experiencing now reminds him of the void in his heart that he tried so much to ignore.

He took several deep breaths and exhaled but the channels came from his eyes.It is almost like he had been holding back these tears by today they have decided to just overflow.He bent his entire upper body and held his knees and at this point his tears were starting to feel like hot lava.he didn't stop exhaling heavily.He hung his head loosely whilst closing his eyes and as he raised his face he placed his hand on his heart and pressed firmly.His chest hurt so much that it physically burned.He hit his chest several times and exhaled.. How much he wishes he could just rip out his heart and bury it far away.

Adrian opened his eyes after feeling that Reed was no longer climbing up the stairs.He was confused as to why Reed didn't come and see him..He rotated his upper body for a fraction of a second to peek and then retracted it.As soon as he returned his body, he wrinkled his eyebrows,He couldn't believe what he thinks he saw.He could check again and that he did

He slowly turned his head to peek at Reed and that's when he spotted one of those moments .Adrian saw that Reed was crying inspite of Reed having his back towards him, he didn't need to b told twice .He turned his whole body and pressed his hands on the pillar and he watched Reed s vulnerable display of emotions.Adrain has seen Reed cry so many times but all those times Reed had his back turned to Adrian.Adrain knows that Reed doesn't open up to anybody so he just bears the suffering alone and sometimes it's too much to swallow.The only thing he ever does is watch him cry.. Adrian laid his head softly on the pillar and witnessed all this.. Sometimes he wishes he could see into Adrian s heart but what's the point,Reed would never let him especially not now.

Reed raised his face and wiped it of tears.Its not that the emotions have subsided,just that he can't go on being this way so the best thing is to pretend that he didn't hurt, that is by drowning all his feelings.He stood up straight and he walked in the direction that everyone else went..He managed to pick up the pieces of his shattering self atleast for now..

Adrian watched him leave and he comforted himself with the lie that Reed is feeling much better.He waited until Reed was two blocks away and that's when heemerged from behind the pillar.There was not a single person on site, they had all raced to the scream.He descended the stairs and walked about a sizeable distance behind Reed. Reed was so bent over taming the wild fire erupting Inside that he didn't notice Adrian .

By the time he got to the corridor, the whole town seemed to have gathered there.By the looks of things,who ever is in the middle must have quite the reputation for them to attract such crowd. As soon as one person saw Reed , he shifted out of the way and everyone else followed en suite.He straddled all the way to the center , where the body was encircled by the imperial guard.Reed had his head up the entire time looking like a gallant statue of liberty.He stopped a few centimeters from one guard, to which the guard immediately jumped out of the way.

Another one!!

Reed closed his eyes for a brief few seconds before opening them again. He squatted next to the corpse which the medical examiner was already attending.

"The deceased is Mrs Lee.She is very popular here.Her time of death is hard to tell due to the condition of the body but her daughter, the female who is balling her eyes over there, says that her mother was alive two to three hours ago.She says her mother chased a man outside because he was rude.Thats the last she saw of her.", reported the examiner after his eyes went to the corpse after acknowledging Reed s presence.

"Where is the daughter",asked Reed while taking his eyes off the corpse and landing them on the examiner.The examiner signaled with his head to a girl who was leaning her head in an elderly woman.The girl did seem really torn up..Her mother jutt got murdered and this is a brutal way to lose a parent..

Reed signaled that the girl be questioned.An imperial guard nodded and walked over to the girl.

"Miss, excuse me but we have to as you several things if we are to uncover the culprit.Please take your time to recall what exactly happened", The guard spoke really softly and he could tell his method was effective because the girl calm down a little bit.Youden has that effect on people too bad Reed can see through it

" I don't know okay",she said impatiently

"Please try to remember.Every moment we waste the culprit could disappear and your mother will not get the justify she deserves",he replied calmly in such a reassuring manner.

She sniffed in and wiped her already reddened out face

" Mother followed a man out of inn.", before she could continue she sobbed once more.The elderly lady next to her patted her back but this only made the crying worse.

" Can you describe the man", urged Youden secretly getting bored of this over the top display of vulnerability.

Ming sniffed and started to speak and at this point her voice was getting even more inaudible

"The man was wearing a large cloth and he had a young lady with him.It was at around day time when they arrived.She was hanging on to him like she was asleep so her hair hung over her beautiful face like feathers.It was very odd but it appeared so white.",she cried once more because Mrs Lee also had hints of white hair.The elderly lady continued to pat Ming gently.

"Miss, where is the lady",asked Youden

"I don't know but I think she is still in her room back at the inn because the man in the cloak had been there for three days with the sleeping beauty"

Youden turned his head to Reed and Reed nodded at him.Youden immediately set off to the sky and headed towards the inn..This created such a swirl of wind that the dust blinded everyone..Just as everyone shielded their eyes and lowered their bodies to the ground, Ming blast off towards the corridor entry..Reed saw her sudden motion and followed her.

Out of nowhere Adrian felt a hot fist land on his shoulder as he was crouched up..Just as Ming was about to land the next blow Reed caught her fist mid air and sent her backwards.He stood between Ming and Adrian who was on the ground with his head lowered.Two imperial guard ran towards Ming and restricted.

"You irrevocable witch!Where is your husband?Look what he did to my mother!!", barked Ming with tears welling up her eyes.

" Miss , assault is a punishable crime", calmly declared Reed.He stood so magistically protecting the 'woman' on the ground..Ming lost her strength and just collided to the floor crying.She cried so badly that she started to run breathless..

Reed turned around and found the said woman kneeling on the ground..

"Stand up",comanded Reed

Adrian felt a tsunami erupt in his mind but nonetheless he rose his body from the floor still keeping his head lowered.He raised up with his gaze buried to the ground until he was standing upright in front of Reed.