@eyeless-smiles | continued from x
Several weeks had passed since the nearly fatal incident. Rashad made a great recovery, with Serret's assistance he was able to get back on his feet in no time. The security in the palace was increased, as his mother, Naseera, sent some of her best men to patrol the grounds on a daily basis. Corinthian disappeared as if he had never existed, leaving no traces of his presence in the palace behind, except for the lack of his Agni ring that vanished with Corinthian as he, assumingly, fled the palace once he realized everyone were onto his scheme.
Rashad, of course, refused to believe Corinthian was behind the entire thing. Despite all logic pointing to him as the perpetrator of the crime, there was more than logic in his familiarity with Corinthian as a person, or at least of him trying to be a person and not a mere monster driven by its bloodthirsty whims. Though he couldn't actively use the palace's resources to search for Corinthian as he was a wanted man by now, he could use it to conduct his own private investigation of signs he may leave around, if he was still in Kamasun at all. Perhaps Rashad was wrong about him all along, and the man simply fled with his tail between his legs and threw everything that had transpired between them to the trash.
Rashad had started to lose hope when nothing came up. Though still disbelieving the nightmare would do such a thing to him, he was beginning to believe he was capable of just running away and beginning another life elsewhere. Yet just as he thought about giving up the whole secret inquiry into possible leads, reports of bodies without eyes began to pop up around a certain area in Kamasun. The victims didn't really have anything in common except for being all men, but the no eyes was a clear indication to Rashad that no one else could have done it other than Corinthian himself.
And so, one chilly evening, Rashad set out to snoop around. It was a district in Kamasun known for its bathhouses and brothels, luxurious and cheap entertainment alike for all kinds of people that could spend all kinds of coin. It was a relatively small area, though Rashad knew he couldn't walk around for long without being eventually noticed. He just hoped that by then he would have found Corinthian, or at least a more solid clue as to where he was around here. With the string of murders having taken place, the guards' presence was a lot more prominent, and Rashad had to hide behind a hood and a cowl to escape curious eyes.
Entering one of the few brothels in the area, in what would probably be his third for tonight, he was prepared for another disappointment as he approached the mistress of house to ask about Corinthian's presence in the establishment. A physical description of the man he was searching for should be enough to get another confused look from the woman and move on, should she had not seen the man before.
