My heart raced and I could feel its raging strength pounding at my chest. It got harder for me to breath, and it felt like my heart tried to escape from my throat.

I swallowed my saliva down and forced my heart into steadiness; but to no avail. My chest heaved heavily up and down, making me look like a savage.

I shot my eyes close and clenched them so hard that it started to ache. With my teeth pressing together, veins budged on my neck.

I strengthen my grip on the spear and my knuckles made popping noises; my tendons jutted out. My entire arm couldn't stand the pressure; uncontrollably, it shook, it trembled.

I raised my spear higher and it began to tremble from my flexed muscles. Not only was my heart against it, even my body was against it.

I lowered my head, turned it aside, and shot my spear downward.

"Ahhhhhhh~" a high pitched screech drilled into my ears and left them aching.

A sudden pain jolted into me and left my mouth wide open, screaming noiseless at the air. Only a ghastly breath rolled over my lips.

A shudder ran over my skin and sent me goose bumps all over, leaving my hair standing up. I breathed but no air would enter my lungs. My heart raced at high speeds, starving for salvation.

As my muscles loosened up, I slowly open my eyes and peeked.

The spearhead was deeply buried in my foot and blood oozed out from the wound. The trembling of my hand stopped, and my heart calmed down a little.

'*sigh~~~* The prince should have heard her scream,' I thought and pulled the bloodied spear out from my foot.

I lifted my gaze and looked at the girl. She had her eyes shut and sat in the mud. Her body was turned to the side, putting her back before the tiger cub as if she wanted to protect it.

Her entire body quivered and shook in fear.

Now she opened her eyes too and looked with her wet eyes at me. Her eyebrows were knitted and made her look miserable.

With a quivering jaw, she tried to talk to me, but it was hard to understand her. "Why… Why didn't you k- *sniff* Why… didn't you kill Bai Mei?"

I squatted in front of her, looking deeply into her glassy eyes. They were forest-green and seemed to contain a tinge of pride buried in the innocence.

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I sighed deeply from the bottom of my heart and set up a weak smile. Putting my spear aside, I stretched my hands towards her tear-stained face.

When my thumb touched her cheek, she flinched a little but didn't retreat. I wiped the tears from her cheeks and shook my head. I didn't want to see her crying.

Bai Mei sniffled once and explained in a feeble and trembling voice, "I can't stop crying." With an even weaker voice, she repeat, "I can't stop crying…"

Even though I was a man and have seen many things which strengthened my heart, I wasn't immune to a little girl crying her heart out.

'Maybe food will soothe her a little,' I thought and retrieved the silver-circled bread card from my phone. The silver circle shimmered in the light and looked in contrast to the muddy alley like a treasure.

Stretching my hand with the card out, I offered her the bread.

Bai Mei blankly stared towards me, and her pupils shifted between me and the card. The tears stopped coming out from her eyes and she looked frozen.

Seeing that she had no intention to grab the card, I laid it onto her lap. Grabbing my spear, I stood back up and straightened my back.

She continued looking in a daze at the card on her lap and didn't move; not a tiny bit. Only the tiger cub in her arms looked at me and raised its paws.

I turned around and walked out of the dark alley, leaving the small girl in her daze.

As I stepped out from the alley, all eyes focused on me. When the shopping women and the children saw the blood on the tip of my spear, a soft cry escaped their mouths. Everyone held their hands before their mouth in shock.

Hushed whispers floated into my ears, which I couldn't understand. The gazes of the people stared at me as if they were looking at a bloodthirsty monster.

*whump . . whump-whump*

A sudden noise in the deadly silence made me turn my head to its source. A ball bounced before a kid who still held his hands before his body and wide apart, as if he held the ball a short moment ago.

His mouth was agape and his skin looked pale. He was clearly frightened and shocked from seeing me coming out of the alley with a bloodied spear.

I swallowed. Turning my head back and looking at the prince, a wide grin stretched over his round face and he said in joy, "You did well. Let's go to the Palace of Cards and get you equipped like a real guard of mine. "

The prince, Li Fu, laughed heavily and broke the silence in the street. He patted his massive belly and grabbed a few more nuts from the servant's bowl.

He broke the nuts with his bare hands and stuffed the inner part into his mouth, letting saliva dripping down his mouth, which he wiped away shortly after.

Li Fu and the servants started walking further along the street. Bao Lie and the red-haired guard shortly followed while I lined up behind them.

As we walked through the street, the people continued staring at us and pointing fingers. Children ran away from us and hid behind barrels or in alleys. Women covered their heads with hoods and whispered.

'Why are the women hiding their appearance?' I asked myself.

It seemed rather normal to me that they whispered between them and that the kids ran away. The prince's reputation seemed bad after all. But why hide their faces?

Still deep in thought, I saw that Bao Lie turned his head toward me. He swung his pupils to the side, pointing at the alley.

'Are you really asking me if I killed the both of them?' I was stunned.

'What are you thinking of me? I would never do that!' I thought and shook my head.

A genuine smile blossomed onto his lips. His sleepy eyes looked a little more awake now and it seemed to me that he was truly happy.

He turned his head back around, and we continued our walk towards the Palace of Cards while people stalked our every move.