Kraithong Residence
Kai had arrived at her father's chamber.
Her eyes burned with an unquenchable fire....
for she carried within her a blaze that never died.
That fire was vengeance.
Since the day her mother was killed,
she had not shed a single tear.
Not one.
Those unshed tears had turned to fuel,
feeding the flames within her heart.
And yet, despite that inferno,
she loved her father deeply.
Every command he gave...
she obeyed without hesitation,
without question.
---
Outside, Teanguan remained seated in the car.
His gaze wandered to the street before him.....
where a father carried his little boy in his arms,
the child's laughter ringing in the dusk.
The sight pierced him.
It dragged him back to his own childhood,
to the day his family had cast him out,
heartlessly,
leaving him to starve on the streets.
The memory shredded his peace.
The cigarette burning between his fingers
was crushed mercilessly in his fist.
Pain seared his palm,
but it was nothing compared to the storm in his chest....
anger, yes… but also love,
and the faint, unbearable ache of memories
that bled from his eyes like raindrops sliding down glass.
---
Inside, however, Kai's world was about to shift.
Hong sat calmly,
and upon the table before her
he placed a sheet of paper.
The original tattoo design.
Her breath faltered as she stared at it.
Hong's voice was steady, deliberate,
each word cutting deeper than the last.
"That tattoo artist…
His death was no accident.
I ended his life myself.
But before he died,
he hid something within this design."
Hong's finger tapped the parchment.
A single name stood out,
etched within the ink.
"Morwyn Noxflora."
And then, the revelation....
"All information regarding this name…
exists only within the Aurea Flora Complex.
And that complex…
is part of The Gentle Heart Institute."
The command was clear.
It was now Kai's task to infiltrate the Institute,
to uncover the secrets behind the name,
and to bring its truth to light.