Hailey walked on the streets, which were now starting to buzz with people and tourists. The sun had kissed the tops of the small buildings here and Hailey walked cheerfully, swaying her hands, one with sleeve and the other without. 

I turned the paper we had found a while back at Hailey’s place and no matter which angle I looked at it in, there was nothing I could decipher. “Hey, Hailey,” I called out, “Tell me again, how did you understand what is written in here. I mean, I could see some letters but nothing that makes sense.” My face lifted to see if Hailey was at least giving a reaction, but she suddenly exclaimed and ran to a shop on the left. 

Seriously! This kid is an assassin? Why did I feel like even this Warchild would be someone I will have to look after like the other two I knew. 

I rolled my eyes and stomped to her. “Hailey!” I exclaimed. 

She was quick to turn to me with wide eyes. I opened my mouth to say something when she rushed to me, covering my mouth and dragging me away from the shop, “Keep it down! People know me here, you idiot.” I made incoherent sounds to ask her to take her hand away, but she shushed me with an overly expressive hush of air, “Shh, shh, shh! You better lie low around this area, okay.” Hailey raised her eyebrows in question while I drooped my eyes. As if I could speak, with her holding her hand against my mouth.

She kept waiting for an answer, so I rolled my eyes before screaming out a muffled cry. 

Hailey was quick to let go, “What a kid! Geez, you could have just said so, no need to shout.” 

I had never seen anyone as ironic as her before. She acted like a dumb child while accusing me of being one. “Alright princess,” I mocked, trying to avoid her name, “Pry tell what is written in here. Also, isn’t it better that people recognise you so the news reaches faster to your family?”

“No, idiot. Did you not see what had happened to the clan house?” Hailey said, “It clearly looked like a huge mob attacked there. Now, unless you are dumb enough, I wouldn’t want to place my bets on checking whether that attack was a friendly one or not.” That made a lot more sense than what I was thinking of right now. She surely was smart enough to read the atmosphere. The attack on the best assassin clan, who had the backing of the throne itself, surely meant it was doing of the locals. 

If anything, I definitely did not want to be on the radar at this moment. 

“I get it,” I replied in a hushed voice, “So I hope you weren’t going to the shop at that corner to show yourself as a bull’s eyes.”

Hailey waved her right hand, and the torn sleeve frustratingly reminded me of how Hailey had dismantled my hoodie. “Selene darling, they won’t remember my face when they already celebrated my and my sister’s funeral four years back.” 

“That is not a long time,” I reminded her. 

Hailey folded her hands grumpily, “Fine, then you go buy me an ice pop from there.” My eyes shifted between her and the shop. The shopkeeper was looking at us with side-eyes and it was more irritating the way things were going. 

“I don’t have money for you,” I shrugged. 

Hailey sighed, “See, that is why I was going to get it. It’s pretty easy to take things which are out on display.” 

I squinted at her with ridicule, “How were you going to pay?” 

“Who talked anything about payment?” Hailey answered casually. “We are assassins. We practise stealth like this as a child. In fact, the shopkeepers used to encourage it by placing more and more obstacles for us. I, for the matter, have never been caught.” Hailey folded her arms over her shoulders proudly. The shopkeeper definitely did not add obstacles for her, rather build their own protection. How full of oneself can one be.

“I’ll buy one for you later,” I held her wrist to pull her to walk beside me, “First, let’s find someplace to discuss this piece of paper.” 

“Oh, I know a good place, but it is a 30-minute walk from here.” 

“That’s fine. Let’s go there,” I replied, not trying to take my own bets with finding a place here. The crowd here was building up slowly and steadily. It would be better if we headed to a secluded place before the rush hours and with what I saw around me, rush hours had already started. There were cycle trollies everywhere on the street for transport. No matter how much a person tried to bring an automobile here, it was going to be a pain in the wrong place for them. 

I was hoping Hailey would not suddenly run off in the middle of the chaos, which continued to increase. 

After a while, we entered a seemingly low life area where there weren’t even shops but vendors prowling the streets with trollies filled with cheap goods. This was truly a perfect tourist spot for anyone, irrespective of what they earned. “So how long is it?” I asked Hailey, beginning to doubt that these busy streets were where the secluded area lied. 

“Be patient, princess,” Hailey spoke casually while my face froze.

If she was looking at my face now, there was no doubt she would have figured it out just from my reaction that I was the princess of this kingdom. Luckily, that did not happen. 

After a perfect 40-minute walk, Hailey stopped in front of a large tavern. We had already crossed the cramped roads and entered the posh-looking areas of Greenlands. The crowd was less on the streets here but as far as the roads stretched, there were only bars and restaurants, some resorts and inns. “What is this place?” I took in the entire beauty of the place, which looked like it was in shade despite the scorching heat that the bright sun in the sky supplied. 

“This is the main tourist district of west Greenlands,” Hailey replied with a haughty tone, “Come on in, let’s book ourselves a lounge.” 

She put her hands around me, almost dragging me in when I resisted her, “Woah, woah, wait. Do you mean booking ourselves a PRIVATE lounge?” Hailey nodded her head casually, as if any of us had even enough pennies to eat here. “Do you forget we do not have money for that!” 

“That can be arranged for later,” Hailey waved it off while trying to pull me back inside the tavern. 

I got her hand off my shoulder, “If you are thinking we will run away when the time to pay is here, I am not doing that.” At least by now, I had come to understand a little about how Hailey’s brain worked. She was too used to her lifestyle as a famous assassin. Now she found it utterly difficult to live like a normal person. “Let’s go someplace better.” 

“Go in, just tell them minister Fang wants a VIP room,” I heard the most obnoxious, deep voice behind me. 

My head snapped back to look at Fang and there was a flattering smile on his face. So charming it would make any girl fall for him. But I knew what was behind it. He was displeased about something. It wasn’t so hard to guess what it was. The sole reason I did not want Fang to meet me was that Channing had kissed me and I had not slapped him like what Fang would expect of me. 

“Sure thing,” Hailey sent a salute with her two fingers to Fang before turning to enter the tavern. She sure easily exploited his powers and that was a little tough to digest for me. 

However, looking at Fang right now made me want to follow Hailey inside as soon as I could. 

I knew she would try to cause trouble for me but it was safer to just get my distance from Fang. I walked ahead when Fang held the strap of the sling bag I was carrying, “and where are you going? Don’t you think we have something to talk about?” 

“I-I don’t want to g-give Hailey a chance to escape, let’s talk later,” I said as I rushed ahead, not aware of the fact that Fang had not let go of the bag strap. 

He pulled me back with a jerk and I thudded against his cushioning muscles, “Don’t worry about her, she wanted to fight her sister to death since they were children.” That was a very convincing reason for me to believe that Hailey won’t run away on her own to find Zelda and kill her before I could bring Zelda as testimonial at the village. “Don’t worry, she won’t do that either. Not when she doesn’t have any leads on her family,” Fang replied to my thoughts. 

“I still don’t trust her,” I replied while trying to get him to let go of my bag handle. 

Just when I felt the grip loosen, I pulled, but Fang had already placed his hands around the curves of my waist. He bent down to whisper in my ear in his husky voice, “You better come with me quietly unless you want me to think of punishment for you.” 

“I did nothing wrong,” I gritted my teeth. 

Fang let out a breathy laugh right beside my ear, “I know that is why I just want to talk. Unless you think otherwise, then I will stop chasing and waiting for you and chain you down on my bed, till you know that fact that you choose only me!”