Detective Ghost Empress

She blinked her eyes and her mouth fell open in shock because the place where she was standing was not at the centre of the forest, No instead she was standing at the edge of the forest that was overlooking the cliff that had a small arc made of wood standing in the middle of the cliff, the wooden arc was standing in the middle of the cliff was supported by the pillars that surrounded the entire place.

And on the left of the space that was used by the Emperor to spend time with his ministers and drink was a moon gate. The moon gate was not something wonderful, it was simply two stone pillars that overlooked the moon, the space between the two pillars showed the half-moon that was shining brightly in the sky.

When Liu Hui Ying saw that she was actually standing where she intended to come, a laugh escaped her lips as she looked at the cliff and shook her head slowly before she muttered, ” What is going on?” The orb of the flames actually brought her where she wanted to come but why? Why was that orb helping her so much?

” I don’t know,” Jia Li too was surprised upon seeing that they were standing on the cliff, she looked around but she did not sense the presence of the orb like she was earlier. She turned to look at Liu Hui Ying and relayed this information as it was, and then said, ” That orb is gone, I can’t feel it anymore ...why is that?”

“I can’t be certain but there are many reasons for this to happen,” Liu Hui Ying answered with a subtle frown as she stepped out of the forest and brushed off the leaves and many other things that were sticking to her clothes and hair. ” Maybe the orb is an essence of the soul of a being or maybe it knows how to hide its presence.”

As she walked out of the forest and headed towards the moon gate, the cold wind that was blowing in the forest fluttered past her causing her hair to flutter behind her. She came to a stop in front of the moon gate and then surveyed the entire thing before her eyes fell on the marks of at the bottom of the gate. Those marks seemed like they have been made by someone’s sword, with a frown she stepped into the middle of the gate and peered down at the chasm that led to the river that was flowing like a violent storm underneath the chasm. Its currents were violent and unstoppable.

The second her gaze fell on the river, a sort of longing and heart-crushing feeling rose in her heart as if she has lost something really important to her.

“Ouch,” Liu Hui Ying covered her chest as she stumbled forward, her hand slipping past the pillar that she was holding. She was in no danger of falling down the cliff given that she was still a good distance away from the tip of the cliff but if someone was to look at her, they would definitely think that she was trying to jump off the cliff.

.....

” What are you doing?” A voice shouted at her as she was pulled back from the edge of the cliff and then dragged behind the cliff. Liu Hui Ying was still recovering from the pain that shot through her heart and didn’t even realise that she was dragged by someone.

” Are you mad?” Zhai Tianyu only came here because he wanted to confirm that he really misheard, never did he think that he will see something like this happening. As he looked at Liu Hui Ying who was looking rather pale and with her lips trembling as if she was going to cry any moment now, he could not help but worry about the what-ifs that came into his head, if he hadn’t come here looking then the Queen —

His heart ached a little at the thought, no scratch that– his heart was hurting a lot at the thought, he could not think about the death of Liu Hui Ying, nor did he want to think of losing Liu Hui Ying either.

” Say, what were you doing?” Zhai Tianyu asked again, this time his voice more forceful than it was before.

“I...I wanted to go back,” Liu Hui Ying gasped out loud after a short while, her heart aching as she nursed her chest. What was that? Why was she feeling like this? Why was it that she was feeling so lost and hurt?

” Wanted to go back?” These words brought a chill to Zhai Tianyu’s spine, he thought about how Liu Hui Ying told him that she was a soul that belonged to another world and wanted to go back home. Back then he did not feel anything but now that he was listening to Liu Hui Ying the same thing all over again, his heart throbbed under his skin.

For some reason, he did not like the idea of her leaving and going somewhere he could not see her.

” How can you leave? I haven’t...you still haven’t helped my aunt, I still need you!” Zhai Tianyu ended up blurting out but because Liu Hui Ying was lost in her thoughts, she did not hear what he said but she did hear someone scream at her, she frowned and looked at Zhai Tianyu who was holding her arm.

She flung his hand away from her arm and nursed her head as she looked at the man and asked, “What did you say?”

” I...I said you cannot leave right now, you haven’t found out who is the culprit behind my aunt’s death,” Zhai Tianyu too snapped out of his daze as he realised what he just said and amended his words.

” You don’t need to worry about it, I am just checking around and it’s not like I am going to leave right now, I am just looking for a way out.” Liu Hui Ying stated with a scrunched-up look on her face.

‘I hope you never find that way out,’ Zhai Tianyu thought inwardly when he heard Liu Hui Ying say that she was looking for a way to return home and no sooner did this thought come into his head, he slapped himself.