Under the Veil of Night

Seeing the building in front of her, Kanae's heart tightened a bit. Still, her steps didn't falter even one bit as she approached the entrance. They tried to push her, and when one of the men's hands just barely nudged her back, she intentionally fell down.

"Miss?"

"I'm fine," Kanae felt the pain in her back increase slightly due to her sudden movement. Feeling the pain, her brow creased slightly.

"Can you walk?"

"I'm okay."

From her expression, the men could guess that there must be something wrong. They could faintly sense the smell of blood on her, so it was not hard to guess that she was hurt. Still, they were unable to make decisions on their own account.

The man behind her called his superior. He spoke for a few seconds before looking towards the others. "Take her to hospital. We're going to ask the questions at the hospital."

"Miss, come with us."

Kanae nodded her head. She silently followed them to the nearby hospital. As she walked inside, she wondered how much money she had to spend if she ever had to be hospitalized? In the next second, she quickly erased those thoughts. It would be better for her if she didn't think about it as she might faint at the large number of zeros.

They brought her to a single room. Seeing how fast they got a room reserved for only one patient, she wondered what they said to the hospital. Probably, they used government connections. After all, in public spaces, the government was highly respected.

After the doctor redressed her wounds, she sat on the bed patiently. The person from the government should come in anytime now.

"Miss Kanae?"

"Yes?" She answered as she saw a man walk in with light steps. Her brain worked at unimaginable speed as she analyzed the man before her. From the way he walked, she could easily guess that this man should have practiced martial arts too and was quite strong at that.

Well, it was easy to guess that much as she already saw him in the forest months ago. However, at that time, this man didn't know that she was there.

Ferdinand inspected the girl before him. In truth, he didn't want to waste time interrogating all these people. However, her surname made him rather curious since she was related to Sakura. Especially since she had a bad relationship with Sakura. She has more than enough reason to sell out Sakura.

Of course, if it turned out to not be Kanae, he wouldn't make things difficult for her. The complicated matter of the four big families was something the government always stayed away from. He didn't want to get dragged into unnecessary troubles.

"I need to ask you some questions," Ferdinand said calmly.

Kanae eyed him suspiciously. She tried her best to look as natural as possible. "Who are you?"

"I'm an employee of the government. That's all you need to know."

"Can you prove it?"

Ferdinand took out a badge and placed it on the table in front of Kanae. Seeing the familiar emblem on the badge, Kanae nodded her head. Almost everyone knew about the government's emblem, so she just admitted that she recognized it.

"What is it that you want to ask?"

"First of all, how did you get your wound?" Ferdinand pointed to his back.

"Well, I wasn't careful enough and happened to be near a falling chandelier during the party yesterday," Kanae answered calmly. She controlled her facial expression as she knew that observing a person's facial expression was the best way to determine if that person was lying. This was the reason she tried her best to not seem out of the ordinary.

Ferdinand watched Kanae's face as he asked the next question, "Why did you go to the party? I heard that your relationship with Sakura isn't good."

"I have to go. It's the rule in the family."

As a branch member, unless she was out of the city or was hospitalized, she had to go. This was one of the most well-known rules of the four big families. After all, the one who hosted the party was a core member of the Nali Family.

Ferdinand nodded his head. "How well do you know Sakura?"

"Well, I'm not sure myself. I already knew her from my childhood because we meet in school occasionally. Aside from that, I think we rarely see each other."

"Have you heard about the letter from the government?"

"Yes, I have."

"When?"

"During the party last night," Kanae answered back.

Ferdinand nodded his head. "Before the party, have you ever heard about the letter from Sakura?"

"Yes."

"What do you know about it?"

"That she got a special letter from the government because she's awesome," Kanae answered the last part in a mutter as if she couldn't bear to say the words. It was apparent from her tone that she didn't believe a word that Sakura said.

That kind of annoying girl got a recommendation letter from the government? Even if the world ended, she would never believe it.

"Aside from that, what do you know?"

Kanae tilted her head. "I only know what she bragged to me in the past."

Ferdinand scrutinized Kanae's face carefully. He was confident in his skills and this girl seemed rather normal. However, his instinct told him that there was something wrong with this girl. Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything strange from what she had said to him so far.

Facing this man, Kanae kept a cool face and expression. She didn't even dare to speak too much in fear of him finding out what she actually knew. From his way of observing her, she knew that Ferdinand was trying to catch her lying. He should be very skillful interrogator, so Kanae didn't dare to try say anything she knew.

"Anything else?"

"I think that's all."

Ferdinand nodded his head. "You can stay here for as long as you want. The incident last night was our fault, so we'll pay for your stay here."

"Thank you," Kanae bowed her head.

"You're welcome. Have a good rest, Miss Kanae."

Walking out from the room, Ferdinand shook his head as he looked at the list in his hand. From this list alone, there were three names that caught his interest. Of course, his search was still far from over since he had to make sure that he weeded out the right one.

"Sir Ferdinand, the car is ready."

"Let's go."

"Yes, Sir."

Inside the room, Kanae heaved a sigh of relief, yet she didn't make any other noise. Because this was a room that the government prepared for her, she could already guess that they must have bugged this place with hidden cameras or listening devices. There was no way they would leave this place unguarded.

Sighing once again, she lay back on the bed. Since she could stay here, she would just rest for now. There was no need for her to worry about her sister since Laura already said that she would stay at Misae's place. Tomorrow morning, she would return back to the apartment.

Right when she was about to close her eyes, she overheard a conversation outside.. Her eyes narrowed when she heard the people talking. Why did he come here?