Chapter #26: Investigation and relaxation

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Aria POV

The same night, we moved to the inn. Lili got medicine and a doctor to help Jea-ha. She told me that Jea-ha would be well by tomorrow.

"I see, thank you" I smiled and sat down.

"Hey Aria, we should get ready for bed. I can show you to our room" Lili said and stood up. I looked at her confused.

"I thought I was going to sleep here with Hak and everyone" I stood up next to Lili. She looked at me dumbfounded.

"Y-you can't sleep alone with six men! What if they do something?" She dragged me away to another room, leaving Hak and the others very confused.

-Timeskip-

"Ahh, it was such a long time since I got to sleep in a bed!" I giggled and rolled around on the bed, almost rolling over Lili.

"Where do you usually sleep?" She asked me.

"On the ground" I answer while I take of my tiny earrings and put them in a small box. I need to wear them sometimes so that the holes in my ears don't disappear. Lili slowly nodded and looked at my earrings.

"Did King Soo won give you those?" Lili asked me. I smiled and took of my necklace.

"Nah, my mom gave me them. My dad gave me this" I answered and showed Lili my necklace. She gasped and looked at closely.

"That looks really expensive! Are you from a rich family?" She asked me. I chuckled and put  it next to my earrings on a nearby table.

"Not really" I answered.

"Are you with Soo won?" She asked me and I turned to her. That was...unexpected.

"What do you mean? We're friends, I guess"

"No, I mean like, are you engaged?" I almost laughed out loud.

"No, we're barely even friends. We just keep bumping into each other"

"Bumping into each other? How many times have you met him?"

I counted all the times we've met in my head. In that forest, in Awa, at the castle, on the battlefield and in that village in the fire tribe.

"About five times" I answered. We kept talking about Soo won and the generals until we fell asleep.

- The next day -

I woke up to the sunlight from a window. Since it was to light for me to be able to sleep, I got up and changed into some other clothes. I put on my necklace and grabbed a hairbrush from my bag. I sat next to the window and brushed my hair until a worker came in.

"Miss Aria, your friend has woken up and is requesting your presence" She told me.

Jea-ha?!

I bolted up and threw my hairbrush into my bag.

"Please lead me to him"

We walked through the corridors and stopped in front of a room. I could hear Hak and Jea-ha's voices. The worker excused herself and walked away. I knocked on the door and heard someone say "come in". I threw open the door and walked inside.

"Jea-ha!" I exclaimed and smiled. I walked up to him and sat down.

"Are you feeling better now?" I asked him and put one hand on his forehead and the other on mine to check if he had a fever. He chuckled and nodded.

"Good, Lili invited us to stay here. Me and the others are going out later to try and find where the Nadai came from" I explained. Jea-ha stopped chuckling and his expression turned serious.

"Aria, don't look for the Nadai. This isn't something small like the Kumji situation in Awa" Jea-ha said. I looked down.

"Alright" I said and stood up.

"Aria, listen to me. Do not try to look for the dealers" He tried to grab my hand but since he still was a bit weak, his arm just fell down.

"...Fine" I said and walked out of the room, closing the door behind me. I walked down the hall towards where Lili and her bodyguards are staying.

Like hell I'll just sit back and do nothing.

-Timeskip-

I looked around at the different people passing by. We were trying to find any of the workers of the place that Jea-ha walked into.

"What about him?" Lili said and pointed to a man. He had the description we gave to Lili, but it wasn't him.

"Unfortunately no" Lili looked down and sighed. I smiled and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Look, we'll find them, okay?" I said and she looked up at me with a smile.

"Yeah"

I saw Kija and Hak coming up behind Lili and I turned to look at them.

"Anything?" I asked them and Kija shook his head with a sad expression. I started to walk away when I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard someone panting.

"Aria...I told you not to look for them" Said the one behind me. I turned around and gasped.

"Jea-ha! What are you doing here?" I asked him and he looked at me with anger in his eyes.

"That's what I wanna know. I told you not to look for them because you could get hurt. So will you go back now?" He was almost shouting at this point. Stubborn as I am, I shook my head.

Big mistake

"Aria! Don't you understand? These people aren't like Kumji and the merchants! They don't show any mercy, they kill without hesitation! What do you think they will do with a little girl like you?!" He shouted at me. I was shocked but quickly felt anger rise up inside of me. But also something else.

"Not like Kumji?! These people not only ruin the lives of the people of Kouka, they also ruin the lives of the people I care about! I don't care if they don't show any mercy! And...I...—" I didn't even realize that tears had started streaming down my face before Jea-ha hugged me. I felt the fabric of his clothes absorb my tears, but that didn't stop them from coming. I wrapped my hands around his back.

"I understand, Aria dear. You wanted to find the source of the Nadai and stop it" Jea-ha said and I nodded, still hiding my face in his chest. You could hear the smile on his lips and I felt one of my own smiles form.

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I'm not good at writing emotional stuff, so I always end up laughing or smiling like the Cheshire Cat. Right now I'm smiling really big, but that's probably because I'm rewatching Arslan Senki and Narsus is on and yeah.

Oh and also yesterday I read the new Akatsuki no yona chapter and gUYS ITS SO GOOD BUT IM SO MAD LIKE ITS INSANE

I want to stab someone and save yona, I feel so bad for her like if I was in her situation I wouldn't know what to do at all

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