Golden Bead

"Oh my God!" several people said at once as they stood in front of the body of the maid.

Her eyes were open wide staring up at the ceiling of the run-down house, shock clear in her final expression.

"Based on her expression looks like it was a surprise blow," Joon Wo said rubbing his chin with two fingers. "Either she was wasn't expecting the culprit to do this or the culprit appeared out of nowhere, giving her no time to react."

"You knew all that from looking at a corpse?" Yu Jun said mind blown.

"I've been through a lot these past years, you've no idea what the Wangs are capable of." Joon Wo said as he circled around the corpse scanning for anything that might speed up this investigation.

Yu Jun stared at his brother as he scanned the surroundings, the fact that he doesn't know anything anymore about him came crashing down on him which made feel a little sad at that. But from what they heard from Jae I it was a misunderstanding, for some unknown reason none of their letters reached him and the same with his letters as well.

She did say that it was suspicious and that there must be more to it than she knows and Yu Jun was having that same feeling.

But why would anyone want them to be cut off from each other? It didn't make any sense to him what so ever.

"Take the corpse away to the physicians to examine it further, there must be something that we don't see," Joon Wo ordered the guards that were standing beside the door of this run-down place.

"This place looks like it was abandoned for years," Yu Jun said as he walked around the tiny space. "I think she must have just moved here, I mean, look at the dust that is covering everything, this whole thing looks like it will collapse at any moment."

Joon Wo agreed with his brother, this place was not something a human can live in without renovating the whole thing, something that a mere maid can't afford.

"What if she was told to hide here and was promised that she would be moved away later?" Joon Wo said.

"And the mastermind decided to end her life?" Yu Jun puzzled as he completed his brother's hypothesis.

"That's what I think, but it's all just my theory. Let's go back to the palace and report to the king." Joon Wo said sighing thinking that there isn't anything here that helps them.

Yu Jun agreed with his brother and was the first to leave through the door, Joon Wo walked to follow his brother until a tiny sparkle on the ground caught his attention.

"Everything okay?" Yu Jun asked over his shoulder as he saw Joon Wo kneel down.

"Yeah, go ahead I'll follow you in a second," Joon Wo reassured. Yu Jun nodded trusting that if he found something, he would show it to him.

Taking a closer look at the cause of that sparkle, Joon Wo found a small golden bead on the floor. It looked like it has fallen out of some sort of jewelry or clothing, either way, it wasn't something a maid can afford. This bead was made of pure gold.

Joon Wo pulled it closer and he was sure that this pure gold, gold you would only find in the imperial palace. He sighed, at least he was now certain that the culprit is someone from within the palace, a royalty to be exact.

"Great this is all so great," Joon Wo scoffed. Securing the bead in the pocket inside his clothes and went to follow his brother.

"Did you find anything?" Yu Jun asked from atop his horse.

"Kind of," Joon Wo said without much interest as he climbed up his horse. "I'll say everything once we are in front of His Majesty."

Yu Jun nodded, trusting his brother's words, and soon after that, the horses were heading back to the imperial palace.

~~~~

"You think they found something?" Tari questioned as she took a bit of the biscuit in her hand.

"Most probably they did, I mean the culprit must've left something," Ashkan said tilting his head giving it some thought.

Tari hummed in response as she mushed on her biscuit taking the last bite. "Yah, Jin Wo why didn't you go with them?" Tari asked.

"Well, I wanted to go but they kept telling me that the crime scene is no place for a minor," Jin Wo said pouting.

"Hmm," Ashkan said. "He has a point."

"Look who is talking," Tari murmured forgetting for a moment that Ashkan is still 18 years old. He has grown up so much already that it's common to mistake him for a fully grown man. But he was still the same gentle soul he is inside, especially when his face turns red from being teased by Tari, she adored teasing the young man till his freckled face is all covered with a red tint.

"Eh? You don't think I'm still the same boy from before?" Ashkan said narrowing his eyes as if he was able to read Tari's mind.

"You've got no idea what I'm thinking." She mumbled with a smirk avoiding his gaze. "Anyway, where is Min-ah? I haven't seen him all day."

Jin Wo sighed raising his shoulders. "Don't ask me he has been disappearing for hours these days." He paused. "And here we thought that we will all have fun like how we used to." He pouted making Nefertari aw in cuteness not helping herself from ruffling his silk-soft hair, she noticed that it was a couple of shades lighter than Joon Wo's raven-black hair.

"You have a point there," Ashkan said breaking Tari's line of thinking. "How about tomorrow we have a picnic by the lake as we did before?" the memory of the events that circled around that lake still fresh in his mind. How it was the reason that he almost lost his head by the pharaoh's sword a night after that he went crawling to the pharaoh's chambers to ask for his help to save his father.

He couldn't help but grin at all the adventures he shared with all of them here.

"From earth to Ashkan," Tari said knocking on the table in front of him. "Are you with us?" she waved her other hand in front of him bringing him back from the daydream that he is having.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm with you, just blanked out for a moment," he smiled at her.

"I was saying that it's a good idea! We should share it with the others when they return and Min-ah when he reappears." Tari said clapping her hands in excitement.

"The ambassador of Kemet sure has a lot of time up her sleeves," Jin Wo said teasingly only to be smacked on the head by Tari's fist.

~~~~

The Queen's private dining room was quiet except for the clattering of the silverware with the plates. Min Jun for the first time in a long time is sharing a meal with his mother and sister, Jae I was just as surprised and dumbfounded like her younger brother.

The awkwardness in the atmosphere around them was enough to make a hungry bear lose its appetite, but they had no other choice but to force the food down their throats.

"You did a great job with my quest, dear son," said the queen breaking the silence.

���It's an honor that I was able to be of an assistant, Your Majesty," he said bowing his head at his mother, his sister puzzled over the sudden intimation that her mother was having to the son she did nothing for other than giving birth to him and throwing him in the hands of court maids to raise. Yet she was thankful for how warm and gentle he grew up to be.

Was she going to make him into one of her pawns as well? Jae I thought as she sipped on her soup quietly.

"Jae I, don't you think that your brother has grown up to be such a wonderful young man?" she smiled at her daughter.

"That's true, Your Majesty," Jae I brought her spoon down and looked at her mother with a fake smile.

"You both honor me with your kind words," Min Jun said with no emotions behind his thanks, it was pure emptiness that even his sister noticed.

The lively young boy he was is gone leaving nothing behind it other a hallow gap. It was bothering his sister greatly.

"May I ask what is this quest you asked of my brother, Your Majesty?" Jae I didn't cease to fake a smile on her face, she can't afford to lose her mother's favor.

"Oh, I haven't told you?" The queen faked ignorance.

"I'm afraid you haven't," Jae I continued to grin. Min Jun on the other hand was dumping the food quietly down his throat paying them no heed.

"I had your brother clean up after Joon Wo's mess,"