After making sure Marik was out of her sight, she turned around and went in the opposite direction, to the west, where she needed to search for the mushroom to treat herself.
She had actually detected so mushrooms in the sa direction Marik fled, but she didn’t want Kael or the eagle beastn to track him down. She had to make sure Marik was far enough not to get detected by them, and that she herself didn’t want to look too suspicious.
Sisi scoffed as she plucked a mushroom from the bark of a tree. "As if I could do that. I’m sure Kael will bla the mont he finds out Marik escaped."
But Sisi wasn’t scared at all.
She had already prepared an argunt that would make the Beast King unable to bla her—unless he chose to be unreasonable.
’But he is unreasonable,’ Sisi thought, then shrugged. ’Oh well. If I die because of this, at least I won’t have any regrets. Let’s just hope he won’t kill in front of Jojo.’
**
Kael was watching his son sleep. He should have felt at peace, because Jojo was safe and sound by his side.
Yet he kept glancing toward the cave entrance, restlessly waiting for that witch to return.
She had said the mushroom she needed wasn’t far from the cave, but an hour had passed, and she was nowhere to be seen.
’I should’ve told Grishaw to watch over her... or maybe I should’ve gone with her myself,’ Kael thought as he looked at his son. ’But Jojo is sleeping. I can’t just leave him alone.’
Jojo finally woke after an hour. He wriggled like a caterpillar, yawned several tis, then opened his eyes.
As he looked around, he realized Sisi was missing.
"Daddy, where is Sisi?" he asked.
"She’s still out searching for whatever mushroom she needs."
Jojo’s eyes widened. "Daddy, Sisi usually doesn’t take this long just to find plants. She can find all kinds of plants easily with her power!"
Kael frowned. "Maybe the one she’s looking for is hard to find. Why are you panicking? She can protect herself."
"But what if she gets eaten by a bear?!" Jojo raised a ridiculous question.
"A bear?" Kael scoffed. "They’re hibernating. And why a bear? You should be more worried she might leave you forever."
"Sisi would never leave !" Jojo snapped angrily. His confidence startled Kael.
"And what makes you so sure?" Kael sneered. "Jojo, you should know humans aren’t as trustworthy as they appear. They’re greedy and opportunistic. Since I allowed her to go that far alone, it’s possible she wants to escape, especially since she has powers to protect herself."
Jojo was on the verge of tears when Kael ntioned Sisi leaving. In his mind, ’leaving’ and ’Sisi’ were two words that could never belong together in a sentence. He had seen how many tis she risked her life just to protect him.
"Daddy, you don’t understand," Jojo said desperately. "Sisi and I were living in a cave once when a huge bear suddenly barged in and attacked! She almost died fighting it! That’s why I’m scared of bears—Sisi nearly lost her life because of one!"
Kael’s breath hitched.
If Jojo wasn’t lying, that ant Sisi had truly risked her own life for Jojo, sothing that only those with genuine love could do.
To be honest, Kael was unsettled as well. Letting her go so far without supervision felt wrong. It wasn’t even about her escaping, it was more like an instinct.
An instinct to watch over her every move, like a predator stalking its prey.
Yet another instinct told him she wasn’t prey. She was far more than that.
Then what was she?
Kael frowned at his own thoughts and pushed them aside before standing up.
"You’re right. She’s been gone too long," he said. "Since you care about her so much, I won’t let her wander alone. Let’s go check on her."
"Okay!"
As Kael and Jojo walked out of the cave, his eyes narrowed toward the tree where Marik should have been hanging upside down.
Then, his eyes widened.
That damned tiger was gone!
Kael picked Jojo up and carried him as he rushed toward the tree.
The ropes had been cut neatly, it was definitely done by soone skilled with a dagger.
His thoughts imdiately jumped to the mory of Sisi stabbing him in the chest last night, th way she used that dagger showed her skill and prowess, despite unable to injure him.
Kael gritted his teeth, though he didn’t want to accuse her without proof.
Looking up, he saw Grishaw and his subordinate fast asleep in the tree.
It was a strange sight for Kael, knowing that the eagle corps were trained soldiers. Kael had never seen them sleep so deeply unless they were—
Drugged.
"Grishaw! Get down here!"
...
No response, it seed they were in a really deep slumber.
Kael scoffed. It was obvious now.
The Beast King kicked the tree trunk with full force, creating a deep crack. In a matter of seconds, the tree tilted, then collapsed with a thunderous crash that echoed through the forest.
The two eagle beastn tumbled down and rolled across the ground.
They woke instantly, but their minds were delirious after such a long forced sleep. They stared around in confusion.
When Grishaw finally saw his King’s grim expression, his body stiffened and his mind went on full alert. He rushed forward and dropped to one knee.
"M-My King! My apologies! I—I don’t know what happened!" Grishaw said truthfully.
As he glanced around, he noticed the missing tiger beastman and the severed ropes.
His face went pale.
His body trembled as he realized he had failed his mission, and what that failure ant.
"M-My King," Grishaw said shakily, "I don’t know what happened. I didn’t expect to fall asleep so deeply and lose our captive. P-Please punish !"
Grishaw waited for his punishnt, but Kael didn’t strike him down.
The Beast King simply stood there, surveying the scene, and noticed that Grishaw’s subordinate was still dazed, barely aware of his surroundings.
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