CHAPTER 169 **Second Wind**

“What’s going on here!? Why is it that suddenly everyone is here!”

Christian walked up to Sahara, automatically thinking that it was her fault.

…With those red eyes of Sahara’s, Christian stopped and suddenly felt uneasy. He wasn’t one to be spooked easily but…He had never seen eye’s like those before!

“Who are you, mmm? You seem like a man that knows things!”

Gabriella walked towards Christian, flirtingly moving her hips.

Frowning at the newcomer, Christian looked at Sahara, “Get her away from me!”

Now standing in front of Christian, Gabriella put out a handout towards Christian, but he stepped away from her.

“Ah, another who seems to have taken Sahara’s side…” Gabriella looked at Sahara in disappointment.

Matthew had had enough!

He picked up Sahara, then turned to Steven, who was just getting out of meditation, and said, “Detain her, Steven!”

Steven was confused but did not question Matthew at all, especially when he didn’t know what was going on with Sahara.

“What’s wrong with her?” Christian asked Matthew, looking at Sahara. This was a side of her that he hadn’t seen before…

Matthew sighed, “I am not sure of the specifics, but Sahara is one to feel a lot and if she’s like this…I wouldn’t be surprised if she found a reason to blame herself over the death of her father and brother.”

Christian was silent for a moment, and then said, “You mean her brother? The one that became her father…That one?”

Matthew looked at Christian in surprise, “You know?”

Christian shrugged and then folded his arms, “I thought she was stronger than this, it’s a pity.”

“Father!” Matthew scolded, not happy with those words!

‘Father’?

As Gabriella barely dodged a sword and then an earth ball directed at her, she turned towards Matthew and that other man beside him.

Did he just call him father?

With no time to continue questioning for the moment, Gabriella continued to run, knowing that she was out of her league with the guy who seemed to be chasing her.

As…He was stronger than her!

Getting hit by an earth ball, Gabriella wiped the blood off her face and started to really panic about her situation.

She didn’t even know where she was at the moment, she was getting attacked and…She really had to get back to Prince Liam and tell him what she had just heard! She also needed to tell him that Felix seemed to be alive still, though she wasn’t entirely sure…

If Matthew was not the Emperor’s son…What a commotion that would bring!

It really was something to look forward to…But…

A big boulder smashed into her then and Gabriella fought from losing consciousness.

“To have a daughter in law so weak, what is there to be grateful about that!?”

So, it was true…Matthew was not the son of the Emperor!

…Prince Liam…He, will be thrilled…I wonder if the plan has succeeded yet or not? Or…Hasn’t it started yet?

Coughing up some blood, Gabriella then lost consciousness.

Matthew turned to Steven, too angry at his father to continue to fight with him, and said, “Watch her for now.”

Then, he walked off, with Sahara hiding herself in his arms.

Walking for a few minutes, Matthew then sat down and tried to find the face of the woman in his arms. “Sahara?”

“She wanted the pills, Matthew. She heard me telling Zeus what they did. She…”

“Shh, it’s not your fault.” Matthew stated, caressing her face.

Sahara let out a small sob, “What if I never gave them the pills!? Would they still be alive now?”

Matthew brought her up, closer to him, and cuddled her tight, “Hush, my dear. Just focus on breathing and calming down. You will know then that Gabriella is the bad person and not you.”

Sahara grabbed onto Matthew’s sleeve and sobbed again. “They died…”

Quickly interrupting her, Matthew said, “They died, yes, but even if she wanted the pills, did she have to kill them!? Please, my dear, think! Don’t just get upset and blame yourself! I won’t have it!”

Sahara blinked and looked at him, a bit startled.

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Matthew lost his fierce face, to a gentle one, as he watched his beloved staring at him.

Putting her hair out of her face, he then kissed her forehead, “Do you see now?”

Sahara just stared at him…

After a stunned silence, Sahara finally thought about Matthew’s words and seemed calm enough to think them through.

He’s right…Gabriella could have just stolen the pills, but instead she had killed them.

Perhaps, without the pills, she might have killed them anyway?

Now that Sahara thought this far, she was keen to try and find out more. More through Gabriella’s spiritual essence.

Why had she been there at the residence in the first place?

“That’s my girl.” Matthew stated, seeing Sahara go quiet in thought.

Smiling softly at Matthew, Sahara sat up and hugged the man that was forever by her side.

It’s like he knew how to handle her, he knew what she must have been feeling just by the look on her face and how she had acted.

“Thank you.” Sahara mumbled into his neck.

Matthew hugged her tighter and kissed Sahara’s head, “As long as you don’t leave me, there’s nothing to say thank you for, my dear.”

“Mmm.” Sahara stated, nuzzling into him.

For a few minutes, Sahara and Matthew cuddled, as she calmed down and wiped her eyes and face.

“I want to see what happened before that. Maybe I can get some answers.” Sahara said, pulling away from Matthew.

Matthew smiled, “Then let’s do that, Steven should have detained her completely by now.”

Sahara went to stand on her own, but Matthew picked her up, wanting to carry her instead.

Cuddling into him, Sahara let him be.

She was starting to see that Matthew carried her for not just the reason of being closer to her but perhaps because he felt slightly insecure.

After all, it wasn’t the first time that she had blamed herself and…She had run away last time…

Maybe he didn’t want to let her go at the moment…

Thinking of this, Sahara put her arms around his neck, and said, “I’m not going anywhere, Matthew.”

Matthew stopped and looked at her, his eyes changed in the next second and he started walking again, “I wasn’t worried.”

Sahara giggled and stared at him, “Yes you were! Fess up!”

Matthew frowned, not speaking a word. He wasn’t going to admit it but yes, it was one of his fears, that she would run away from him again.

“Ok, I’ll stop.” Sahara leaned into him and could not help but feel that she had let him down if he still fears that she’d run away.

“Oh, you’re back.”

Looking at Christian, Sahara then found Gabriella.

Taking a deep breath, Sahara then turned to Matthew.

Matthew sat beside Gabriella, still not willing to let Sahara go, and Sahara touched Gabriella, giving her a direct link to her spiritual essence.

She could have done this as soon as she thought of it but perhaps, she was still trying to get herself prepared for it…

Whatever, she had to do it now…She wanted answers…

Yet…After all that, Sahara found that preparing herself was all for nothing.

Prior to the deaths of Talon, Samuel and Zeus, Gabriella didn’t have a shocking past that had connections to her. Sahara had seen quick flashes of what she had been through and felt that Gabriella really was used and abused wrongfully but...There was nothing else that had made her own life worse that she didn’t already know about.

She thought it would be horrifying but it wasn’t, and Sahara could only sigh as she took her hand away. “I guess she just wanted to be strong, putting it into words…She then got some courage, considering her experiences, and started to feel like she really was strong. I don’t know but…She…She really…”

Scratching her head, Sahara couldn’t pinpoint why Gabriella had always bullied her and had come to be the person she had become, especially one that killed her own father and brother…

Her father was a good man, so it can’t have been him, making Gabriella as she was…

Her mother…Well there were similarities but…

Gabriella seemed to become the person she was through other means besides on how she grew up.

It was sort of sad how she had been detained, only to be taken and used as she had been but, did she really go as far as not caring about killing her own father and brother? There didn’t seem to be any remorse or guilt, like Gabriella had either completely forgotten what she had done or just really didn’t care.

Sahara couldn’t understand it, most of the time it was how someone grows up, is why they act the way they act when they really do grow up, well it was a good place to start at least…But Gabriella seemed to be someone completely different from her parents.

Celeste, Gabriella’s mother, might have gone as far as trying to kill her, but…Something seemed off…

Taking an irritated breath in, Sahara then thought it somewhat useless to find out.

She didn’t want to understand Gabriella, she just wanted…Well she would prefer to have Talon, Samuel and Zeus back instead…

With that, Sahara finally wondered something…Something that even…The Empress Dowager had said something about!

I…Wonder if it would work…

Sahara was lost in thought, to remember the memories of the spiritual essence on how humans had come to be and wanted to see how much spiritual essence she had left but was interrupted by Christian.

“…Here all day!”

“Then what has kept you here till now? After all this, do you still want a pill? Is that what it is?”

Sahara looked at Matthew, who seemed to be trying to make holes into his father’s head, and then she looked at Christian, who looked at her.

“Don’t deny it father, go on, ask her!” Matthew probed further, wondering where he had gotten the courage to speak like this to his own father.

But it can’t be helped, Christian had turned into a child upon looking at Sahara and he’s gone all shy now!

Sahara suddenly burst out into laughter and Christian frowned.

Getting up and walking away, he left some words behind, “Don’t worry about it!”

Sahara giggled and sighed, looking at Matthew, “He’s a strange one!”

“He says that about you!” Matthew said back.

Sahara chuckled and turned back to Gabriella, “What to do with you…”

Gabriella was clamped down by hard earth, impressing Sahara, making her look towards Steven.

He smiled proudly, just because she did that.

Her arms and legs were hidden by this hard earth, but her hands and feet were seen. She looked…Rather comical and Sahara stopped herself from laughing.

“There’s nothing left to find out?” Matthew asked.

Sahara frowned and put her hand towards Gabriella again. She skims through a lot of it, so it would probably be worth checking a second time…

And so, it came to pass that Sahara found out the little secret between Gabriella, Prince Liam and their men.

The secret was that…The Emperor’s life was in danger!

Through the memories of Gabriella, there was a plan to happen, yet she didn’t know everything about this plan, except for the fact that Prince Liam was going to do something to the Emperor.

The sudden disappearance of Felix seemed to have led Prince Liam to step up on his plan and claim the throne, well that’s what it seemed like to Sahara.

But…There was nothing about what time or how the plan would be carried out.

“Shit!”

Matthew was quiet to the word but was sure that something was wrong.

“The Emperor…” Sahara looked at Matthew and then looked at Felix, whom was still sleeping.

So, it’s certain now, Felix would have had to perish first.

Now that Felix had disappeared, it wouldn’t be hard to state that Felix had run away from his duties, easily claiming Prince Liam as the only person for the throne because…Matthew was no longer there…And if the Emperor was also no longer…

“What’s wrong with Imperial Father, my dear, tell me.” Matthew asked, seeing the worried look on Sahara’s face.

He did care about his Imperial Father and did not want him to die…Not just because he cared but because it would cause too many troubles!

“It seems Prince Liam is aiming for the throne still, to this day…” Sahara stated, quickly getting out a star and sitting in a more comfortable position.

She had to find out what was going on!

Why was drama always happening! I can’t even build three walls without having to find people killing each other!