Meanwhile, in my bedroom. I start to pack my things ,my vision blurry with tears. I didn't stay till the end of the conversation , cause I stomped out ,not being able to bear that part of the conversation.
Perhaps I could sell my jewelries to get settled ans get some things for my unborn babies. At least before I get something doing. If it all fails. Maybe I will return back to the brothel? Will they accept a former slave who fell from grace and have given birth? . I asked my self.
Bella's hands trembled as she threw silk robes and jewelry boxes into a large wooden trunk, her movements jerky and uncoordinated. The ruby pendant still in her neck.
In the Empress chambers, Empress Cheng Mei listened outside Chang Hao's door until she heard Physician Tanaka's footsteps retreating down the corridor. Then she slipped back inside, finding Chang Hao pacing restlessly despite his injured state.
"Still thinking about her?" she asked coolly, pouring herself a fresh cup of tea. "I thought you said you regretted meeting that little whore."
Chang Hao turned sharply, his expression darkening. "Her name is Bella, and she is my concubine. You will show her respect regardless of your personal feelings."
"Respect?" Cheng Mei laughed bitterly.
What do you want to know ? He scoffed at her.
Empress Cheng Mei's laughter died abruptly at Chang Hao's tone. She set her teacup down with a sharp clink, her own expression hardening in response to his anger.
"Of course I want to know," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I want to know why my husband, the Emperor of Japan, is more concerned about the feelings of a former prostitute than his own wife and child."
She moved closer to him, her silk robe rustling against the marble floor. "Tell me, Chang Hao. What is it about her that makes you forget your duties? Your responsibilities? The child I carry for you?"
Outside in the hallway, Physician Tanaka returned with two maids in tow. "Your Majesty?" he called through the door hesitantly.
Miss Bella is no where to be found. We have checked her room,her wing , the palace grounds, she's not there. The physician, said his voice slightly shaking. Some of her belongings are not here, perhaps she ran away?
Emperor Lee Chang Hao's face paled at the physician's words, his hands gripping the bedsheets tightly. "Ran away? She wouldn't just leave without saying goodbye." He tried to push himself up again despite Tanaka's protests. "She knows I'm injured, that I need her here."
Cheng Mei's expression shifted from annoyance to triumph. "Perhaps she realized how foolish she was being. Running away proves she's guilty of something." She poured herself another cup of tea calmly. "Maybe we should just let her go. One less problem to deal with."
"Guilty of what?" Chang Hao snapped, turning his glare on his wife. "Of loving me when you never have? Of giving me happiness when this palace feels like a tomb?" He winced as movement tugged at his stitches.
Physician Tanaka stepped forward nervously. "Your Majesty, please control your anger. Your wound cannot handle this stress."
Search every corner of the palace. Take me to her room now , he barked. Despite the protests of Mei and the physician , he insisted.
Physician Tanaka wrung his hands anxiously. "Your Majesty, you cannot! The risk of internal bleeding is too great. Your body needs rest and recovery, not this exertion."
Cheng Mei crossed her arms defiantly. "Let him go then. Maybe a collapse will finally make him see reason. It's his own foolishness that's killing him."
Ignoring them both, Chang Hao swung his legs over the side of the bed, wincing as pain shot through his abdomen. "I will find her myself if I have to crawl on my hands and knees." His voice was low and dangerous, directed at the Empress who had dared to challenge him.
Two guards entered cautiously at the sound of raised voices. "Your Majesty, we can carry you to Lady Bella's chambers if you insist."
"Don't touch me," Chang Hao growled, pushing himself upright with sheer willpower despite the dizziness swimming in his vision.
Once he painfully reached my room, he sees it. Some clothes were scattered on the floor from the way I rushed to pack, the dust marks from my box on the bed. He staggered in disbelief .
The sight of Bella's abandoned room struck Emperor Lee Chang Hao with a physical blow, worse than any sword wound. His legs gave out, and he stumbled forward, catching himself on the doorframe. The half-packed boxes, the discarded silks thrown carelessly across the floor—each detail screamed finality.
"No..." His voice was barely a whisper, raw with shock. "She wouldn't just leave. Not like this." He sank to his knees amidst her scattered belongings, his hand trembling as he picked up a small jade carving—a gift he'd given her last month.
Behind him, Physician Tanaka hurried into the room followed by Empress Cheng Mei and several servants. "Your Majesty! You're bleeding!" Tanaka exclaimed, rushing to inspect the fresh crimson stain spreading through Chang Hao's bandages.
Cheng Mei surveyed the chaotic scene with satisfaction.
"Get out! All of you!" Chang Hao's voice echoed through the chamber, raw with desperation. He shoved Tanaka's examining hands away forcefully, the physician stumbling back in surprise. "Leave me! I don't need your help."
The servants and guards hesitated, glancing nervously between their Emperor's enraged face and Empress Cheng Mei's cold expression. "Your Majesty, please consider your health," Tanaka pleaded desperately, though Chang Hao's dismissal was absolute.
Cheng Mei watched from the doorway, arms crossed with detached amusement. "He's making himself worse for nothing. Let him bleed all over the floor if it makes him feel better."
Ignoring her cruel comment, Chang Hao crawled across the marble floor toward Bella's abandoned packing boxes. His fingers fumbled with trembling hands to lift a silk dress she had left behind - one he remembered buying for her at the silk market last autumn.
Once alone, a glint caught his eyes. It was the ruby pendant, the testimony of their secret marriage. He hurriedly picks it up. The chain was broken as if forcefully removed. One wouldn't notice at first glance cause of the red ruby but looking closely at the gem there are wet traces of dried blood blood.
The sight of dried blood streaking the ruby sent a fresh wave of panic through Emperor Lee Chang Hao. His hands shook uncontrollably as he examined the broken chain, the delicate gold links twisted and snapped as if ripped from her neck with force.
"This isn't right," he muttered to himself, his voice cracking with emotion. "She wouldn't leave without this necklace. Not voluntarily."
He stared at the ruby, remembering the day he'd placed it around her neck during their private ceremony—the same day she'd sworn eternal loyalty to him and their future together. To see it broken and stained with her blood felt like losing a piece of his own soul.
Physician Tanaka reappeared cautiously at the doorway, having disregarded Chang Hao's order to leave. "Your Majesty, forgive my intrusion but your bleeding has worsened considerably. Please allow me to examine you properly."
Ignoring them he rushed out the room and headed towards the secret passage that led to our private gorge. As he enters , he starts to call out my name in hopes that I was just there taking a break, waiting for him.
The secret passage through the palace walls opened into the familiar stone corridor leading to their hidden sanctuary. Emperor Lee Chang Hao's bare feet slapped against the cool rock as he hurried forward, calling Bella's name repeatedly.
"Bella! Little dragon! Are you here? Answer me!" His voice bounced off the narrow walls, echoing through the underground tunnel. Despite his weakened state and bleeding wound, adrenaline fueled his desperate search.
Chang Hao stumble ahead recklessly.
The grotto came into view at the end of the tunnel - bathed in sunlight streaming through cracks in the cavern ceiling. Empty. Completely deserted except for water trickling down moss-covered stones and birds chirping outside.The empty grotto felt more desolate than ever without Bella's presence to fill its quiet spaces. Chang Hao sank onto the familiar stone bench where they'd shared so many secret moments, his hands trembling as he clutched the broken ruby necklace.
"Bella? Where are you?" His voice broke completely now, echoing hollowly against the cavern walls. "I know you didn't just leave me like this. Something must have happened."
He pressed his forehead against the cool stone of the bench, trying to will away the panic threatening to consume him. Physician Tanaka's warnings about internal bleeding seemed distant compared to this new terror - losing the one person who made his life worth living.
"Come back to me," he whispered into the silence, his voice barely audible. "Please don't be gone forever."
After a few moments , he got him self back together now determined. He rushed out the gorge back into the palace and start to back out orders to his guards to look for me in the palace and city.
Emperor Lee Chang Hao burst back into the palace corridors, his face set with a dangerous resolve that made servants and guards scurry out of his path. "Guards! To me!" he bellowed, his voice echoing through the marble halls.
Two imperial guards sprinted toward him, dropping to one knee. "Your Majesty!"
"Seal the palace gates immediately," Chang Hao commanded, pacing agitatedly despite the pain in his abdomen. "No one enters or leaves without my direct authorization. Check every room, every cellar, every courtyard. Find Lady Bella!"
His hands shook as he gestured wildly. "Search the city as well - markets, temples, any place she might have gone. She's heavily pregnant and may be disoriented."
Physician Tanaka appeared again at a safe distance, shouting warnings about Chang Hao's health but the Emperor was beyond listening. "She cannot have gone far! She wouldn't abandon me like this!"Cheng Mei emerged from her chambers as the palace erupted into chaos under Chang Hao's frantic orders. She watched him bark commands at guards twice his size, blood staining his silk robes.
"Look at you," she said coolly, crossing her arms. "Making yourself sicker over that girl while your own wife carries your heir. How pathetic."
Chang Hao whirled on her, his face contorted with rage. "Shut your mouth! This is your fault! If you hadn't poisoned her mind with your jealousy..."
"Me? I'm the one who's been patient for years while you chase after that common whore!" Cheng Mei's voice rose sharply. "Maybe if you'd shown me half the devotion she gets, I wouldn't have had to resort to poisons!"
The argument drew a crowd of curious servants and concubines, their whispers growing louder as they watched their Emperor lose control over a woman who was no longer even present.
Cheng Mei's voice grew shriller, her own frustration boiling over. "Maybe if you'd spent one night with me in the last year instead of running off to your secret hideaway, you wouldn't be bleeding all over the floor for her!"
She gestured dismissively at his blood-soaked robes. "Look at yourself! You're dying for someone who ran away at the first sign of trouble. She doesn't love you, Chang Hao. She never did. She was just waiting for the right moment to leave you behind."
The Empress's words struck a nerve, and Chang Hao's face contorted with pain - both physical and emotional. He gripped the stone balustrade for support, his knuckles white. "She didn't run," he insisted through gritted teeth. "She wouldn't leave me like this. Something happened."
Physician Tanaka approached cautiously, risking a glance between the arguing couple.
Physician Tanaka's apprentice stepped forward carefully, placing a hand on Chang Hao's shoulder. "Your Majesty, please. Your wound is bleeding severely. You cannot continue this argument in your condition."
Cheng Mei's expression shifted to one of calculated concern, seeing an opportunity to regain control. "Theis right, my husband. You're collapsing before our very eyes." She motioned to servants. "Help him back to his chambers. This discussion is clearly too much for him."
Guards hesitated, glancing between their Emperor's furious face and the Empress's commanding tone. Meanwhile, servants began whispering excitedly about the drama unfolding in the main courtyard - the Emperor collapsing over a missing concubine while his wife stood by watching.
Chang Hao shook off the apprentice hand roughly. "I will not rest until she is found!" His voice cracked with desperation. "Search the entire city! Every brothel, every alleyway! Someone must have seen her!"