[ DISCONTINUED ] Reborn: Runaway Bride

Chapter 14: Conflicts

Ai sighed tiredly as she rounded a corner in the alleyway. Thank goodness, she managed to lose that lunatic. She didn't know what he wanted but she also didn't want to wait to find out either.

After telling Hayama that she needed to go to the restroom, Ai made a full sprint and left the restaurant. Hopefully, he had some money on him?

Ai immediately shook away her thoughts. Why was she feeling sorry for that lunatic? Deciding not to dwell on the matter any longer, she made her way back home steadily.

Out of a sudden, a commotion caught her eyes. Many groups of military men were rushing about on the streets as they went around the shops asking for something. They were holding some sort of scroll and asking the shopkeepers if they had seen the person on the scroll.

Ai took a look at their military insignia. It showed a red dragon on a black shield. Wait! Isn't that the emblem of Omaru Defence?! Why are the defence forces in the city?!

In Shinto, there were two types of military services. One was used for internal affairs and acted as police for people of Shinto and they were led by Yamato Magistrate. The other one, which was led by Omaru household, was called Omaru Defence and they were the external defence forces of Shinto.

Gnawing her teeth, Ai wondered. The defence forces rarely appeared in the city and were often assigned to guarding the borders. Yet here they were. Something fishy is going on.

As Ai pondered on that thought, a wind blew and she caught a glimpse of what was on the scroll. Holy smoke, it was a painting of herself!

Being shocked silly, Ai wondered why were they looking for her. Was it because she disappeared last night? Or did she somehow offend the Omaru household? But employing the army to look for a missing girl? That seemed a bit... extravagant. Ai is not a criminal! (Author: But she is a smooth criminal! Annie are you okay?)

Though curious, Ai wanted to find out what was going on before getting caught so she made a move to walk away. Just as she was about to, her eyes collided with a pair of familiar cyan blue eyes.

"Where are you running off again, Ai?" Akiyo asked with slight amusement in his voice. He just found her and the lady was trying to escape once more.

Hearing that, Ai had no choice but to face the reality so she slowly turned around. Akiyo was looking at her with an amused expression while the rest of the soldiers ceased their actions and turned to look at them.

With every eye on her, Ai felt sweats forming on her forehead as she desperately racked her brain on what she had done wrong. Yet she wasn't able to come up with anything so she decided to ask Akiyo helplessly, "Akiyo, what's going on?"

Akiyo smiled softly at the vexed girl and gently reached out to smoothen her brows. Ai was subconsciously frowning.

"Well, since you disappeared last night, things turned chaotic at the ball so we had been out looking for you. So where did you go?" Akiyo asked as he held Ai's hands in his, while subtly checking out her body if she had sustained any injuries.

Even though Akiyo had said this, the truth was that there was almost a bloodbath last night. A few hours after Ai had left the ballroom, Kit went out to check on her. Yet the boy had come back empty-handed with almost a crazed look on his face. He mumbled continuously that "Ai is gone" while his eyes frantically looked around the room as if looking for something or someone.

Seeing that, Shion Hozaka immediately walked over to Jin's table, flipped it and grabbed his brother by the throat until the latter was dangling in the air. The scene was downright brutal and even a trained general like him got the chills. Though he and his brothers were especially skilled in martial arts, being generals of an army, they were caught off guard by surprise and Shion Hozaka was a large man with substantial inner strength.