34 The Legend Part 16 (1/2)

Sweat beads covered his forehead as the uncomfortable feeling crept up closer. His heart trembled almost as his soul and mind resonated with the character in the play. However, the scene ended with no fire burning anywhere.

Back on the stage, Mua Kong had left for the war. Hli Ja's morning sickness had gotten better as she entered the third trimester. She wanted to go visit her grandma's grave to tell grandma about the news of her baby before her belly became too big for long trips.

Chue Yi, two guards, and two maids accompanied Hli Ja to visit her grandma's gravesite that would take several days.

When they passed through the first city, Hli Ja witnessed a little boy being beaten with a large stick. He just lay on the ground silently while an older woman landed multiple hits on his small and fragile body. The boy looked lifeless; the wilts were bleeding through his ragged torn clothes.

Hli Ja yelled for the servants to stop the carriage to which they complied. She rushed out and ran to cover the little boy and pulled him onto her arms. At the same time, Chue Yi slashed the stick into pieces. The older woman was startled of the strangers' action but quickly composed herself and screamed at them, ”Who are you people? Let that brat go. I have to teach him a lesson!”

Hli Ja at that point was feeling furious. She glared at the older woman and shouted coldly, ”No matter what a child has done, he doesn't deserve to be punished to this extent!”

The older woman was overpowered by the response. She backed off a little and replied stuttering her words, ”This... this... is not related to you people at all. Don't meddle in others' affairs.”

After assessing the situation and deducing that the little boy was not the birth child of the woman, Hli Ja asked icily, ”Did you give birth to him?”

The woman took a step back feeling pressured. She avoided Hli Ja's glared and muttered, ”No.”

”Then what right do you have as a person not related to him to beat him to this extent?”

The two guards and maids were so awed at their madam highness. They had never seen her that angry, never seen her lose her composure, and this time it was to save a child. They had been very lucky to serve her. She had been kind to them. She had never belittled them, threatened them, or bribed them. She treated them as humans who had pride and integrity. They would follow her to the end of the earth even if she did not ask them to.

Inside the carriage, Hli Ja leaned down and spoke softly, coaxing the little boy. She asked for his name and how he ended up in the situation they saw him in, but he remained silent with no desire to continue living. She pulled him in her warm embrace.  ”Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you. I will protect and take care of you. All you need to do is just live.”