More daring moves

Another Scream came from the shrine again and Tobin became very agitated. He wondered what they might be doing to her to make her scream like that, twice now. By this time he was already sweating alot. He reminded himself that he was not suppose to be very worried about her but the fact she was being accused for his change of behavior made him for her.

He decided he would bang on the door. As he was about to do that he stopped. He reasoned that people would suspect him if he could not pass through the door like he have seen others do.

"I will find an excuse for that, for now I need to save her life " He said as he made to bang on the door but this time he saw a servant walking in his direction so he stopped to observe. The servant bowed and was about ti enter the shrine through the door like the others have done. An idea suddenly occured to him.

"Stop right there, open the door " Tobin ordered him with a stern look on his face.

The servant looked at him eyes wide open wondering why Lord Harold would ask him to open the shrine door when he could easily pass through. Elder Zeko had made it a rule for the shrine door not to be opened by anyone. He insists that people pass through the door.

"My Lord, your father..

"Keep quiet and opened the door" Tobin yelled at him raising his hand at the same time.

The servant immediately did as he was told when he saw Tobin raise his hand. Tobin never knew that raising his hand in such manner would have an effect like that. After opening the door the servant ran away without entering the shrine. He obviously was scared of the consequences of his actions.

Tobin didn't care as he entered the shrine. Immediately he pass through the door, it closed on its own and he came face to face with everyone in the shrine.

First was his father, with a very dark expression on his face as he longed to see who dared open thr shrine door. Naomi was on the bare floor kneeing close to a large pot of boiling water. Funny thing was that Tobin could not see the source of fire on the pot yet it the water inside was boiling with its steam filling everywhere in the shrine. There was barely any good source of ventilation in the shrine . The atmosphere was thick and everyone was sweating. He could count about five servants inside the shrine with Madam Tochi standing close to Naomi with a sword in her hand . See the sword in her hand made Tobin more agitated. Are they planning to kill her? He asked himself

"What are you doing? What is happening here? Tobin asked looking at everyone of them with a suspicious look.

He immediately went to help Naomi back to her feet without waiting for a response from anyone. He noticed she was reluctant to stand up but he made sure she was in her feet.

"How dare you open the door to the shrine? You know it is against the rules that I made. " Elder Zeko challenged him instead of giving an answer..

"I would have used the door like other people but the moment you decided to subject my betrothed to such an ordeal without informing me, you crossed the line and I thought I should do something to get your attention first" Tobin replied looking at Elder Zeko without blinking. He ha learnt that he was not suppose to show fear hence he tries to keep eye contact

"It is this kind of your recent behaviors that make us think this woman is manipulating you. If not you will never talk to your father like that" Madam Tochi blurted out making Tobin give her a hard stare without saying a word. The stare he gave was enough to make her keep quiet. Tobin marveled again at the sought of power Harold controlled.

He returned his gaze to his father who kept a steady look at him too. Probably observing to see how much his son as changed.

"She is not manipulating me, I have only decided to change because I think if I will be getting married to her, I will need to treat her right " Tobin explained more to Elder Zeko than anyone else, hoping he would understand.

"She will still have to pass through the test for the third time for us to ascertain if she is not the one manipulating you " Elder Zeko replied him without an expression on his face.

"This is an insult and a slap on my face. Do you mean to say, I can be manipulated by just anybody?

"She cooked the food you ate recently " Madam Tochi pointed out

And so what? Tobin fired at Madam Tochi

"She is not going through an test again and that is final" Tobin declared daring anyone to move towards her. He could tell from the corners of his eyes that Naomi was looking at him with admiration.

At that moment a servant came through the door. It was the same servant that opened the door for Tobin.

"Elder Zeko sir, We have a problem in the main mansion " He reported with his face bowed deeply