Free Web NovelChapter 60: Tales of incompetence
(Thirty minutes after Anning went missing)
Wanqing’s pov.
I was beginning to lose my patience, Anning had walked out of this room to go get me food and for the past hour or so, she was nowhere to be seen.
The brush I had in my hand snapped with a loud crack, The sound echoed through the room as I stared down at it and frowned. So, much for remaining calm.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Several feet away from me stood Han Luo with his head lowered while two guards knelt beside him. Neither of them dared to look up.
I dropped the brush back where it was supposed to be and ran a hand through my hair.
"Repeat what you just said." I said coldly.
I kept my gaze fixed on the guard nearest to me through the bronze mirror. When I saw him swallow hard, I knew something was wrong.
"Young miss, we searched the entire east courtyard. We..." He paused, staring down at his hands.
"You what?!" I demanded.
"We couldn’t find her." He said, his voice barely above a whisper.
I closed my eyes at his words. No one had seen her, they had no freaking idea where she was.
They couldn’t explain how a living person had somehow disappeared from the residence. The urge to behead someone was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress.
Han Luo stepped forward slightly, then said, "We also searched the servant quarters."
I snapped my eyes open, allowing my gaze to shift to him, "And?"
"We didn’t find anything." He responded and I almost fainted.
"If you didn’t find anything, why are you telling me that?" I half yelled, pressing a hand onto my forehead.
I didn’t want to hear their stories that reminded me of their incompetence. I leaned back against my chair but instantly regretted it because the wound across my back throbbed slightly.
The movement seemed to only make the cuts stretch. I sucked in a sharp breath, the pain shooting through my body.
Nobody commented on the sound. Nobody was stupid enough to.
The room fell silent again and although I liked my room peaceful. I hated this kind of silence.
The kind of silence that gave me too much time to think and none to act.
For some reason unknown to me, I could still remember the look on her face when she walked out of this room.
That ridiculous expression on hers that mirrored her disappointment, anger and hurt.
Just remembering all that irritated me, why was I even thinking about it?
She was just a slave. An annoying slave and one who talked too much.
A slave I kissed, an action I had come to regret.
A slave who somehow found new ways to challenge my patience every single day.
And yet, I found myself wondering if she was still alive. She couldn’t die, at least not now.
I froze, almost laughing at my own thoughts. What nonsense.
I knew she had gone somewhere to hide, maybe even sulk a bit. Or maybe she found someone to complain to and lost track of time.
Something along those lines.
Anning had an incredible talent for causing trouble and then would act all defensive when trouble found her in return. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I became. I pushed myself to my feet.
The movement immediately pulled against my injuries, making pain shoot across my back. My hand beside my body curled into fists.
Han Luo was staring right at me, I know he noticed. Of course, he did.
"Young miss." He called out firmly but I held a hand up to stop him.
"I’m fine."
"I think you should rest."
The moment those words left her mouth, I snapped my head in his direction. The second our eyes met, he wisely lowered his head.
The room remained quiet for a few seconds as I tugged my outer robe closer to my body and straightened my posture.
Before one of the guards spoke, "What if she ran away?"
Every person inside the room froze. I slowly turned around, facing him directly.
The guard’s face instantly turned pale, but his assumption wasn’t wrong.
Interesting. It wasn’t as though the possibility of her running away hadn’t crossed my mind.
And for reasons I didn’t want to explain, I had dismissed those thoughts.
Anning wanted her freedom, yes.
She didn’t exactly like this place. She didn’t want to be a slave.
Not to forget the fact that she hated me, or at least she claimed she did.
I could still remember the time she had gotten drunk and said she had died once. It was absolute bullshit, but deep down, I knew it could be possible.
By all logic, she would have seized the first opportunity to escape. But something about all this felt wrong.
I knew she asked for her own room so she could stay away from me, to be able to leave her life here without everything revolving around me.
But if tiger wanted to leave, she would’ve told me first. Or at least drop some kind of hint.
I probably sounded insane now, but it didn’t matter.
But come to think of it, since when did I start thinking like this?
I frowned. Across the room, Han Luo was watching me carefully. He knew something was bothering me, but it wasn’t in his place to ask.
Suddenly, the door slid open. A guard hurried into the room, before dropping on one knee.
"Young miss." He greeted me.
"What is it?"
His breathing was uneven and I was sure he had been running. But why?
"We found someone who was present when she disappeared." He said finally.
I raised a brow at his words, every muscle in my body twitched slightly.
"Explain." I ordered.
"The girl said a little accident happened in the kitchen and Anning left. When the girl followed Anning, she watched her get knocked out by one of the resident guards." He said.
He just said resident guards, so Anning could still be here. I thought about it for a while and just one person appeared in my mind.
General Gu, my father, had gotten his fill with what he did to me today. Yufang knew better than to touch what is mine.
And that left only one person, my mother.
"Head to my mother’s chamber. Search the whole place till you find Anning, if anyone tries to stop you. Cut them down." I pause before adding. "If you don’t find her, just do me a favor and get rid of yourselves before I do it."
