Under the Veil of Night

*warning: the content below might be a bit unsuitable for young readers (under the age of 13) because it involves slight gore*

Street

On the street, several people were walking out as usual. They were used to wake up very early in the morning to do their job, so coming out a bit early was nothing unusual.

"Today is a bit warm," a man yawned. Even thought it was quite early, the season has started to change to summer, making morning become slightly warmer.

"You're correct," the other man beside him nodded his head in agreement.

They were walking along the sidewalk when they saw someone lying on the street. Although it was warmer, sleeping on the street was certainly not recommended. They could get killed if they were not careful enough.

"Who's that?"

"Let's wake her up."

The person was wearing torn dress, so it was easy for them to know that it was a female. Seeing the condition of the dress, they could guess what might happen. Since this was the Black Street, none of them felt that it was weird.

"Miss, wake… Aaaaahhhhh!" the man who approached her saw the woman's face and immediately backed off. It was a scary face that one wouldn't see so often as scars, blood and horrible gash filled the entire face. Not only her face, her skin was covered in deep wounds as her stomach was pierced with its content came out in messy appearance. The blood hadn't even dried as it fell on the side of her stomach, staining the snow below the woman.

"What the…" The man beside him vomited. Now that he saw her at close range, he finally realized that this was not a person sleeping on the street, but a corpse. Seeing how badly the condition of her skin was, he couldn't stand it and vomited again on the side.

"What is it?" another man walked towards them.

"Let's call police," the first man said as he tried to hold back his nausea. This was simply a murder out of hate seeing how badly her skin was torn. Aside from bruises, it was clear that there were many wounds made from sharp blades.

"This is the Black Street, why are you bother calling the police?"

The man pointed to the corpse. "It's better than letting the women see this scene. This place will be filled with numerous screams when that happens."

The newcomer sneaked a glance towards the corpse. He immediately nodded his head in approval. "I'll call the police now."

The other two followed suit as they didn't want to stay close with the corpse any longer. Whoever she was, the one who murdered her should be someone who hated her very much that this person let her rot on the street at this condition.

…

Kanae Nali's Mansion

"Sis, wake up," Laura knocked the door.

Kanae frowned when she heard the knock on the door. She barely has any sleep last night because she was busy hacking into the prison's security camera in the secluded place that Jason prepared for her. Since there was no school today, she planned to sleep through the day and continued her work later.

"What is it, Laura," Kanae answered as she sat down on her bed.

"There's a piece of news that you should see."

"What news?"

"Sakura is dead."

Kanae's eyes immediately shot open when she heard that Sakura was dead. It has been quite some time since the last time she saw Sakura, but it didn't mean that she didn't know anything about this woman. After all, Sakura was trying so hard to make her presence known through many places.

She opened the door as fast as possible, startling Laura who stood in front of the door.

"Are you telling the truth?"

"You scare me, Sis," Laura pouted. "Yes, every television channel is telling the same news. You can see them in the living room while I finish making the breakfast."

"Okay."

Kanae immediately headed to the living room and looked at the television. Laura had purposely left the television on to allow Kanae saw the news. Upon seeing the familiar street, she frowned.

'Why is Sakura roaming on the street at night?'

"…This morning, several men found the corpse of Sakura Nali, the Princess of Nali Family, on the street during their way towards their work. The body was left on the open with numerous wounds filled her entire body, making everyone who see her feel nausea. Based on the police report, it's known that she died around yesterday afternoon because of the wounds on her body…"

The television didn't dare to show the entirety of the picture because the sight of Sakura was simply too horrifying. They wouldn't want to scare off the people who watch television, so they only showed the picture of Sakura in her uniform and also the street.

'It's not far from here.'

Kanae knew that Frank would make the relation between her and Sakura's death. Since this street was rather familiar for them, it was extremely easy to deduce that. Added with the fact that their relation was extremely bad, it would be impossible for Frank to not make the relation.

The end result of that would be: she got imprisoned.

Even though it was not her doing, there was no way Frank would listen to reason the very first thing in the morning. That man would surely make the most plausible scenario which involved her. Also, she could guess that he would send her to the most dangerous prison considering how much he hated her.

There was not enough proof to kill her, but there would be more than enough reason for him to send her to prison.

"Sis, have you seen the news?" Laura peeked from the kitchen.

Kanae nodded her head. "I see it. Laura, can you work overtime in your office again?"

Laura frowned. She already stayed over in the company for days that it had become her second home. She finally managed to get home last night, but now Kanae asked her to stay over in the company again?

"Why are you asking so suddenly, Sis?"

Kanae didn't want Laura to be present when the men took her away. It would be close to impossible to stop the men that her uncle ordered to take her to the prison. Not wanting to worry Laura, it would be for the best that Laura only heard about that and not present at the scene.

"The house will be empty for a long time, I don't want you to be so lonely here."

"Oh," Laura felt suspicious, but she would do what her sister said. She nodded her head. "Alright, I'll do that."

"Good girl."

Laura shifted her gaze back to the television. Her eyes showed doubts. "Sis, you don't have anything to do with this incident, right?"

"No, I don't have any," Kanae smiled wryly. "Do you doubt me now?"

"It's not that!" Laura immediately answered. It was just that, their relationship with Sakura was not the best. They repeatedly clashed with each other a few times that Laura couldn't help but think about it. Although she didn't think that her sister would do something like that, a certain part in her heart still thought about the possibilities.

After all, she too had thoughts of killing Sakura in the past. As she didn't have the capabilities, it only remained as thoughts in her head.

Kanae shook her head. "Silly girl, I will never do something like this. You should hurry and go to the office if you don't want to be late."

"Okay Sis."

Kanae watched as Laura went back to the kitchen as a wry smile appeared on her lips. If not because she still has someone she cared about, she would surely take the road of a big criminal and killed her uncle in the past when she had a chance. The oppression she felt from them was more than enough to make her wanted to kill them using her own hand.

But she couldn't do that. If she did that, she would leave Laura alone in this cruel world and knowing that little girl, Kanae knew that it would be difficult. So, she had to survive and fought against the Nali Family using a different mean. She had to protect her sister and stayed alive. It was the means of survival no matter what happened.

Perhaps, the path she picked was not the best way, but it was already the best option she could think off.

And she would never regret this decision of hers.

She would see through this path she picked until the very end.