His Personal Goddess

"I'm not sure if she's ready for that."

While he was in the right age to get married and have children, Ririna was eleven years younger than him. The huge difference in their age made him wonder if she had changed her preference in men. Did she like men who were around the same age as hers? Or did she prefer younger men?

Ririna was currently at her peak in terms of beauty and career. While being known as a woman who made a living with paintings and sculptures, her undeniable beauty was also known to wealthy families. While she was abroad, he had heard several young masters from different families seeking after her.

These thoughts made his mood sour. Whenever he thought that she would leave him for another man, it made him feel like someone had stabbed him in his chest. If only he could keep her by his side—but no, she's like a tiger who would fight for her freedom if someone tried to cage her. She wasn't the same woman who used to follow him around.

She was not the same girl who was excited to see him whenever he visited their training camp to check how she's fairing. Not the same girl who loved to laugh and play with the bears in the Eastern Provinces' wild forests. She's not even the same woman he took as a lover for months before her untimely departure.

She was like the Greek goddess of the moon and the huntress who refused to be tied down by any potential suitors. She would rather kill them than get forced to be possessed by anyone.

Just like how Artemis ruthlessly killed Actaeon when he tried to rape her. Would he end up like Actaeon, or would he end like Orion who was the only one who managed to capture the heart of the moon goddess?

He was a fool to believe that she didn't matter in his life. A fool who believed that everything would work out to his liking. These mistakes he made in the past were what drove her away from him. He refused to believe that he loved her, that he needed her.

If only had he realized sooner that he indeed loved her and needed her, he probably wouldn't have hurt her while she was with him.

When he took her to his bed, she cried. He assumed that she cried because she didn't want him, and this idea made him angry at himself. His frustration that she would leave him for another man and his anger to himself for taking her innocence without her consent.

For the first time in his life, Eli felt ashamed and disappointed towards himself. In his mind, he had raped her. It wasn't lovemaking. One wouldn't call something like that love making if neither party felt love for the other, right? He had treated her like other women he had before. He had sex with her in the most primal and wild way—until she screamed his name in unadulterated pleasure again and again.

When he found out that she had an accident on the last night they were together, he felt fear for the first time. This woman had made him feel emotions that he didn't know he was capable of feeling. Emotions that weren't needed by someone like him.

He was trained to grow up as an assassin, a mercenary for the government. Many a life had he ended with his bare hands. With her, he started to question himself. He was being indecisive when it came to everything about her. When he found her in a hospital bed—injured and terrified in front of him, he blamed himself for making her fear him. He had pushed her to her limits.

Filled with guilt, he let her go even if he had doubts that she didn't remember him or any memory of her past.

She deserved someone better than him. Someone who wouldn't hurt her and would love her unconditionally. Something that he believed he could not be and refused to give her. Eli thought by letting her go, everything would fall back into their right places. He kept his engagement with Karissa even if his hand really itched to kill her.

He thought he would be the same as before as long as she wasn't around, but he was wrong.

Her absence drove him mad. There wasn't a single day that he wouldn't think about her or miss her. She even haunted his dreams frequently.

Ririna was his personal goddess. He would worship and protect her this time with everything he had.

"Right, she's still young, but you aren't. You should keep her on your side from now on. A little bird told me Hattori Ikeda is eyeing her." His mother's words made his whole body tensed up.

Why would Hattori Ikeda target her? It wasn't likely she had inherited the skills and knowledge of her deceased mother.

Hattori Ikeda was an enigma within the underworld community. He had arms and webs like a spider in the black market. Almost all the crimes and problems within the underworld had something to do with him. What's more, no one knew his real name, age, or appearance. He never showed himself to anyone, but he was able to pull all the strings in the background.

"Why? What's his motive?" Eli asked his mother.

Yuna shrugged her shoulders and served the cup of tea she prepared for her son.

"No one really knows what he really wants from her, but judging from the coincidence that she suddenly returned, I'm sure she was lured out by someone."

Eli was in deep thought. He tried to think a reasonable and logical explanation for this. Why Ririna? She had left the Park Family for years. She had lived her life as a normal person for years. Was it because he's courting her that Hattori Ikeda thought that he could use her against him and the Park Family?

When he called Ririna yesterday, he found out that someone was following her. It might not mean she's in grave danger yet, but it was a clear warning that she was their target. Would it be better if he let her go once again?

NO.

He couldn't live another day without her. These five years had proven that he was nothing without her. His team suffered a big loss when they lost her, but they eventually survived after three years. They couldn't rely on her skills forever.

He was considered one of the best in his field. One of the best, one of the strongest. Being strongest would be useless if he couldn't even protect his woman. If these morons think that they could threaten his woman while he was around, they were gravely mistaken. They had chosen the wrong person to mess with. As if the devil himself would allow someone to hurt and bully his wife.

"I think he isn't after her because of you. While, of course, getting rid of you will be a good advantage on his part. The Park Family has been on his neck for ages."

"What do you mean, he isn't after her because of me?"

"Hmm… you know that she's Yelan Han's only daughter. After Yelan's divorce to the Zhou Family, only Ririna had stayed on her side until she was murdered. He shouldn't bother with her… unless my dear friend, Yelan, had left something to her little princess…"

Eli got what her mother meant. Yelan Han had previously worked as a clinical researcher at one of his mother's hospital. She was known as an inventor of antidotes and had discovered new poisons during her time as a researcher. Her findings were very confidential, even the government eyed and funded her researches. She was even a good friend of his mother.

At one time, Yelan Han saved his life when he was infected with a severe poison that refused to heal his wounds. She was the only one who managed to find out what it was and made an antidote. Yuna had once joked that since he owed his life to Yelan, he should marry her little princess to repay his debt.

He snorted at the idea. Eli was only thirteen years old at the time, and the little princess they were talking about was still walking with her diapers on. His mother really had a weird sense of humor, pairing him with a little girl. Only after he had saved Ririna from that orphanage that he found out she's Yelan Han's little princess.

Fate really was a mysterious one who loved to joke. The little princess he'd picked up from the orphanage became the witch instead.

They weren't able to find out the identity of her stalker yesterday. The CCTV cameras within the area didn't help that much. The man was able to disguise himself and slip from the sharp eyes of his men. At least, Ririna was able to find out another lead. There was another person who was following her throughout the day. The man she claimed was the one who left her in the orphanage sixteen years ago.