“Niece, might I have a look at your pendant?”


  Hu Mei didn’t 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.

  “Niece, forgive my rush but I still have business to attend to. Here’s your pendant back.” Giving the little ornament back to the fox lady, the eagle chief didn’t waste another second and turned away after getting no reaction from said item.

  Watching from behind with narrowed eyes, Hu Mei’s mouth inexplicably turned into a snarling sneer after the group was out of sight. “I didn’t think that woman would be so lucky to be able to save the king by mishap. To bad for her though, she didn’t know who His Majesty was, otherwise she would’ve already attached herself to him.”


  “Miss, are we going to be exposed for impersonating that woman? After all, she also has a pendant in hand….”


  “Expose?” Hu Mei cackles a laugh at the notion, “Did you not see her enter the demonic mountain range? The Wing Clan hates humanity to the core, there’s no way they would allow a wandering woman free after they get their hands on her. What’s more, by the time she does make it back out alive, I would’ve already become the king’s consort. Removing an obstacle before they show themselves will be easy once I get that post!”


  “But milady, what if the eagle chief doesn’t report this to the king?” The maid called Hu Qi cautiously reminds her about this possibility.

  “Stupid! The members of the Eagle Clan are opportunists, there’s 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 king’s benefactor, that’s something you don’t have to fret. It will just be a matter of time before the king gets wind of my existence and come find me.”


  Hu Mei was laughing now. How could she not? The glorious future that she so dearly wanted was now within reach!

  ……


  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 there’s no one trailing them, he immediately gave the command for his real plan. “Quick, go have some of our clansmen spy on the Fox Clan’s estate, especially that Hu Mei too. I’m going to report what has happened to the king himself.”


  “Eagle Chief? That pendant….” One of the guards asks with confusion in his voice.

  “That’s a fake.”


  “Fake?” exclaims another guard, “is it possible that we’ve made a mistake? It could just be like the lady says, she made it out of admiration for the king…”


  “No, there’s no mistake in my judgement. It’s true that pendant is fake, but the details on the fox insignia are depicted too similar to the real thing. If I didn’t have a surefire way of confirming its authenticity, it’s very difficult for others to confirm its fakeness. She must’ve seen the real thing at one point to create such a close replica!”


  Rattled by the implication of their chief’s word, most of the guards had gone mute, too afraid of what he’s implying.

  “Then shouldn’t we go capture her this instant for interrogation?” One of the braver ones finally suggests.

  “We cannot do that either,” Yu Xiang shot the idea down with a shake of his head. “The fact that Hu Mei would dare try something like this meant she’s already done something threatening to the queen. Even if we did tie her up, there’s 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.”


  “Let’s go, I need to send a letter to the king right away.” Darkening in his face after saying that, Yu Xiang’s true nature of being a chief has come out: “In addition, increase our search effort for the queen in the area. She must be somewhere around here so we must find her.”