âNiece, might I have a look at your pendant?â
Hu Mei didnât reject the request and readily handed the item over. Unfortunately, this was a huge mistake on her part. The moment Yu Xiang got his hands on the pendant, he immediately sent his energy into the jade to verify its authenticity.
This jade pendant⦠Itâs fake!
âNiece, forgive my rush but I still have business to attend to. Hereâs your pendant back.â Giving the little ornament back to the fox lady, the eagle chief didnât waste another second and turned away after getting no reaction from said item.
Watching from behind with narrowed eyes, Hu Meiâs mouth inexplicably turned into a snarling sneer after the group was out of sight. âI didnât think that woman would be so lucky to be able to save the king by mishap. To bad for her though, she didnât know who His Majesty was, otherwise she wouldâve already attached herself to him.â
âMiss, are we going to be exposed for impersonating that woman? After all, she also has a pendant in handâ¦.â
âExpose?â Hu Mei cackles a laugh at the notion, âDid you not see her enter the demonic mountain range? The Wing Clan hates humanity to the core, thereâs no way they would allow a wandering woman free after they get their hands on her. Whatâs more, by the time she does make it back out alive, I wouldâve already become the kingâs consort. Removing an obstacle before they show themselves will be easy once I get that post!â
âBut milady, what if the eagle chief doesnât report this to the king?â The maid called Hu Qi cautiously reminds her about this possibility.
âStupid! The members of the Eagle Clan are opportunists, thereâs way that Yu Xiang would give up this great chance to look good in front of the king. He will want the credit of finding the kingâs benefactor, thatâs something you donât have to fret. It will just be a matter of time before the king gets wind of my existence and come find me.â
Hu Mei was laughing now. How could she not? The glorious future that she so dearly wanted was now within reach!
â¦â¦
While the fox demoness was having her delusionary dreams of becoming the mistress of her kind, Yu Xiang had stopped walking by now after making some distance. When he saw thereâs no one trailing them, he immediately gave the command for his real plan. âQuick, go have some of our clansmen spy on the Fox Clanâs estate, especially that Hu Mei too. Iâm going to report what has happened to the king himself.â
âEagle Chief? That pendantâ¦.â One of the guards asks with confusion in his voice.
âThatâs a fake.â
âFake?â exclaims another guard, âis it possible that weâve made a mistake? It could just be like the lady says, she made it out of admiration for the kingâ¦â
âNo, thereâs no mistake in my judgement. Itâs true that pendant is fake, but the details on the fox insignia are depicted too similar to the real thing. If I didnât have a surefire way of confirming its authenticity, itâs very difficult for others to confirm its fakeness. She mustâve seen the real thing at one point to create such a close replica!ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Rattled by the implication of their chiefâs word, most of the guards had gone mute, too afraid of what heâs implying.
âThen shouldnât we go capture her this instant for interrogation?â One of the braver ones finally suggests.
âWe cannot do that either,â Yu Xiang shot the idea down with a shake of his head. âThe fact that Hu Mei would dare try something like this meant sheâs already done something threatening to the queen. Even if we did tie her up, thereâs no way she would tell us the truth, nor would she admit to the crime. We must report this to the king directly and get the palace involved.â
This fox family really got some nerve, how dare they touch the queen. Once the king learns of this matter, he will skin them alive for the transgression.
âLetâs go, I need to send a letter to the king right away.â Darkening in his face after saying that, Yu Xiangâs true nature of being a chief has come out: âIn addition, increase our search effort for the queen in the area. She must be somewhere around here so we must find her.â
The king has a contractual relationship with the queen, so⦠if Her Highness dies then His Majesty would become aware of her death. The fact that he doesnât is proof sheâs still alive! We can still make up for this blunder as long as we find her before anyone else!