Chapter 60.2

“My soul, half of it slumbers within the castle, and the other half is sealed within the magic gemstone. In the 105th year, you summoned me, but only half of my soul couldn’t awaken.”

“So, you…” Xin Nuo nodded.

The Pearl Dragon truly revived only after the prince of the 105th year passed away.

“I sense my power, but I’m not sure among you,” Xu Heran said, “I’ll give it a try.”

“One lock at a time.”

Ji Songyu rolled her eyes.

“My wealth and castle fell into human hands, but the dragon’s anger couldn’t be quelled. While my soul was forced to slumber, I cast a curse. Those who covet my wealth will all die. I dripped dragon’s blood into the gemstone and threw it into the king’s treasury,” Xu Heran said, “Only the human who brings back my other half of the soul can earn my forgiveness.”

“So, as I said yesterday, I admire you,” Xu Heran suddenly said to Xin Nuo. Her golden eyes radiated a honey-like light, enveloping the woman’s body.

“My other half of the soul was awakened by you. This dragon personally witnessed how you manipulated humans, how you made that wretched Fairy Godmother die at your feet. Your methods and courage exceed those of ordinary humans. I’ll gift you half of the throne and invite you to join my castle, ruling this world together with me. How about it?”

“Not interested. Please don’t drag me into this, thank you,” Xin Nuo said expressionlessly, “Apart from these, I found crystal balls in both Miss Ti and the Dragon’s rooms. The crystal ball in Miss Ti’s room is one-way, it only receives sound. I suspect that among us, besides Miss Ti, someone else possesses a crystal ball. Today’s premeditated murder of the king was orchestrated, guided by this dragon!”

Xin Nuo pointed at Xu Heran’s nose.

Xu Heran elegantly leaned back, her face showing a gentle expression, as if saying, “Believe what you want.”

After Xin Nuo finished sharing, it was Xu Heran’s turn.

As the tall girl walked to her station, everyone raised their hands and covered their eyes.

“Oh my, it’s so bright!”

“Don’t hold back your words, feel free to flatter me, thank you,” Xu Heran said modestly.

Xin Nuo pursed her lips, a smile in her eyes.

“Don’t laugh. This dragon searched for you. You’re a dangerous woman!” Xu Heran placed both hands on the table and lowered her head to speak to Xin Nuo. She found evidence on Xin Nuo. The princess discovered she had returned twenty years in the past. To prevent her future tragedy, she intended to directly kill the king.

“My curse, if the castle keeps having heirs, then the curse will continue. The king wants to marry and have an heir soon,” Xu Heran said, “His heir, of course, would be the prince, but not necessarily our world’s prince. Even though the two fantasy kingdoms are twenty years apart, many things are different.”

Xin Nuo said in a serious tone, “I’m trying to prevent another girl’s tragedy.”

“You’re doing well,” Long Long praised, the detective blocking the Dragon’s speech.

“I also found a complete guide to potions. It clearly records the methods for preparing all kinds of poisons. Among them, the record for the Fairy Flower Poison spans two pages. Only the page for preparation is intact, but the other page is torn off!” Xu Heran said.

Xin Nuo shook her head, “I don’t know who tore it off, and I usually only focus on the recipes, not other introductions. I can’t remember what was on that torn-off page.”

Everyone nodded.

Finally, the detective took the stage to share the knight’s evidence. The knight had a deep bond with Miss Ti, and his motive for killing the king was to protect Miss Ti.

With that, everyone had finished sharing their evidence, and the detective began the voting.

Mona Lisa Li entered the room.

“There should be accomplices among us today, accomplices choosing the killer’s side,” Mona Lisa Li said, “I have some suspicion about the dragon. She came with revenge, and she can manipulate everything. Could she be the accomplice?”

“Then who would be the one to take action?”

The detective sighed and pinned the wanted posters of the two suspects on the wall.

The second round of searching began.

Ji Songyu turned her head. Beside her, Xu Heran wanted to hold Xin Nuo’s hand, but was rejected by Xin Nuo.

“Is it the two of you again?” Ji Songyu said with suspicion.

“What do you mean ‘again’? It wasn’t us yesterday either!” Xu Heran said with a sense of grievance.

In turn, Xin Nuo looked at Ji Songyu with suspicion, sizing her up.

“What are you looking at me for?” Ji Songyu whispered.

“Songyu, if we can’t find the crystal ball in someone else’s room, you two could be in trouble,” Xin Nuo raised a finger, pointing at Xu Heran, then pointing at Ji Songyu. “Be careful~”

“It’s definitely not me! I am the great dragon, and I wouldn’t stoop to being companions with foolish humans!” Xu Heran shouted loudly, “If I were to choose, I’d pick you! I don’t have any interest in the others!”

Ji Songyu immediately went to grab Xu Heran and said with a smile, “Long Long, come here. I’m a princess, you know.”

“You’re a fake princess!”

Chen Yue put down her water glass and happily ran into the recording studio, “I am a real princess, choose me, choose me!”

“Long Long, I’m willing to be your princess~”

“No, you’re not ruthless enough!” Xu Heran said, “I only like ruthless princesses!”

Xin Nuo stopped in her tracks, plucked a flower from the railing, and threw it down onto Xu Heran’s head.

“In the words of a ruthless princess, this dragon won’t survive the night.”

“Help me!” Xu Heran said mournfully.

Everyone began searching for evidence.

In the second round of evidence gathering, everyone found crystal balls in Maid Rose’s room. This indicated that the three girls who had lived in the castle had all been tempted by half of the Dragon’s soul. All three of them admitted they had initially intended to kill the king, and Long Long’s persuasion only strengthened their determination.

“Are all of you planning to take action?” the detective asked the three girls.

Everyone nodded.

“How are you planning to do it?”

They began to search each other. From Maid Rose, they discovered Fairy Flower Poison, and from both Rose and Black Rose potions. Princess Ti also had a Black Rose potion.

Xin Nuo said, “I have a vial of Black Rose poison on me. I intended to use it on the king.”

The butler, who was the first to have poison found on her, said, “Xin Nuo-ella is an alchemist. I hosted her during her visit to the castle. When I was delivering her meals, I secretly glanced at her notes and only saw the recipe for Fairy Flower Poison… so I took a vial while I was at it.”

Xin Nuo chuckled lightly, “Quite the opportunist, I must say. Please reimburse me for that, thank you.”

“Doing business with the open door, you can just tell me, and I wouldn’t refuse,” Xin Nuo put on a fake smile. She turned to Rose and Princess Ti, and the two girls who had also stolen potions trembled in fear.

“This is really… tsk.” The alchemist tapped her bag.

Others were shaking even more intensely.

“The missing page from the book must have been torn by one of you!” Xu Heran waved her hand dramatically, “Search them!”

The group began a thorough search of the maid and butler’s rooms as well as Ji Songyu’s. Finally, Xu Heran discovered a bundle of paper in the bottom of a vase in Ji Songyu’s room.

“Over here.”

Xu Heran unfolded it and read, “Fairy Flower, a beautiful but highly toxic flower found in the Fantasy Kingdom’s forest. When turned into a potion, it can instantly kill an adult with no remedy. Note: The thorn of the Fairy Flower contains the highest concentration of poison. The person stabbed by it can survive only as long as the time from when the flower is picked. The maximum time is one hour. Additionally, the thorn is incredibly tough. It must be removed with a sharp blade or a great amount of force… Huh?”

“What does that mean?” Most of the group didn’t understand.

Ji Songyu explained, “It means that after the Fairy Flower is freshly picked, its thorn can cause death within an hour. If the flower is picked for a minute, then the person stabbed by the thorn can only survive for a minute. If it’s picked for ten minutes, then they can survive for ten minutes, and so on. But after an hour, the thorn becomes ineffective.”

“Wait! Does that mean the king was killed by the thorn?” Xu Heran said in confusion, “Then why does she have a rose pattern on her hand?”

She dropped the booklet and hurriedly went to the garden to see the king’s body. The king’s hands were marked with black rose patterns. Xu Heran rubbed her hand, “Is there any water?”

The butler immediately said, “There’s a cleaning solution in the cart by the garden, bought from a magic shop. It can remove stains that aren’t naturally formed!”

They found this during the first round of evidence gathering, but didn’t know its purpose.

“This was bought from the Fairy Godmother’s magic shop, used to remove oil stains accidentally dropped on esteemed guests during their meals,” the butler said. Everyone watched as she poured the water on the back of the king’s hand and wiped it with a tissue.

“It came off! It’s fake!”

“Somebody deliberately drew it on!” Xu Heran exclaimed excitedly. “So the wound on his neck is from the thorn?”

“So the king was stabbed by the thorn. Who knew?” Xu Heran pointed at Ji Songyu. “You should know, it was the paper found in your room.”

Rose raised her hand. “I know too. I stole the potion while cleaning the princess’s room. I saw this page.”

“Also, in the broken flower pot, there’s a Fairy Flower planted, which was His Majesty’s ornamental flower,” Rose said. “Everyone who lives in the castle knows this.”

Xu Heran said, “So you all knew.”

Discussion continued.

After everyone had their say, the detective said, “We can’t confirm the time of the king’s death right now. I need you all to honestly tell me, did any of you harm the king?”

Xin Nuo spoke up first, “I didn’t. When I got there, the king was already dead. The way you saw him lying in the flowers, I arranged him like that.”

The detective immediately asked, “What time?”

“I saw him dead at 9:40, took me five minutes to handle his body, and I left at fifty past.” The black-haired girl spoke calmly, looking into the detective’s eyes.

The detective nodded, “She’s so certain about her timing and none of you have challenged her. I believe her words.”

“Then how did the rest of you harm him?”

The butler said, “When I was delivering wine to the king, I planned to poison him, but there were too many people around him today, and it wasn’t convenient for me to do it. If I put the poison in the wine bottle, if someone accidentally drinks it…”

The detective nodded, looking at Rose and Miss Ti.

“Both of you know that the thorns of the Fairy Flower can kill and know how to use the thorns to kill. Please honestly tell us how you did it. Don’t lie. Only the killer can lie.”

Rose sighed and said, “I did it at 9:25. When I was serving wine to His Majesty, I pretended not to be steady and pricked his arm.”

“My flower was picked by Mont Li at 9:30, and he also cut the thorn off with a dagger and gave it to me. The poison takes twenty minutes to take effect. His Majesty will die at 9:45.”

Ji Songyu frowned and raised her hand, saying, “My flower was picked by the knight at 9:15. At 12:30 noon today, when His Majesty wanted to shake hands with me, I hid the thorn in my fingers. So at 12:30, His Majesty got furious and kicked us out.”

“My poison takes fifteen minutes to take effect. The king will die at 9:45.”

“All at 9:45?” Everyone said in surprise.

“Wait, so one of you pricked his arm and the other pricked his finger? And it shouldn’t be the back of the neck, right?” the detective said. “And all your timings are at 9:45. There must be someone lying.”

Rose and Ji Songyu exchanged a glance.

At this moment, the knight approached the king’s body, lifted his clothes, and examined his fingers and arms.

“Ah!” The knight exclaimed, “His fingers have black marks, but his arms don’t!”

The knight pointed excitedly at Mont Li and Rose, saying, “It’s them!”

Rose immediately stood up. “It’s impossible. I pricked his arm!”

Everyone gathered around and found that the king’s arms indeed had no marks.

Rose became anxious, and her suspicion suddenly grew.

“Wait a minute, if it was me, how could I have drawn patterns on his hand? Dragon, like you, can’t be this clean, right?” Rose suddenly looked at Xu Heran.

“And what about the fallen flower pot on the ground?”

Rose turned to the detective and said, “I have a suspicion that Miss Ti and the dragon worked together. Miss Ti is the king’s fiancée, and they’re getting married tomorrow. She could easily use this excuse to come back and chat with the king. She’s the king’s chosen fiancée. Even if she sneaks up behind the king and pricks his neck, it’s possible!”

Ji Songyu immediately retorted, “How could I have removed the thorn?”

Rose pointed at Xu Heran, “Because of the dragon!”

“A strong force!”

Xu Heran raised an eyebrow.

Ji Songyu asked Rose, “I already pricked the king’s finger once, why would I come back for another attempt?”

Rose immediately said, “Because you’re marrying the king tomorrow. Among the gifts he gave you, besides gold and silver jewelry, there are also two rubies! You’re not only going to bear his children, but you’ll also share his curse. After tomorrow, you’ll live every day in fear. And I no longer have any relationship with the king. Just because I broke up with him, should I kill him?”

“What if the previous prick wasn’t deep enough or the poison wasn’t strong enough to kill the king?”

Ji Songyu hesitated for a moment, and everyone’s suspicions grew stronger as they looked at her.

At this moment, Xu Heran suddenly said, “What about the introduction of the Fairy Flower earlier?”

“The introduction mentioned that when the Fairy Flower is picked and its thorn pricks, death will occur. There was no mention of dosages. I think it could be one of you, but the accomplice isn’t me,” Xu Heran said. “The fallen flowerpot could be the poisoned king’s attempt to seek help, accidentally knocked over, right?”

Rose immediately signaled the detective with her eyes.

She was trying to clear her name.

Everyone sighed, feeling their minds in chaos, nothing seemed right no matter how they thought about it.

“Let’s vote, my friends,” the detective sighed, “I hope you all have good luck!”

“Go for it!”

Xu Heran shook her head and headed to the voting area.

Ten minutes later, after casting their votes, the participants gathered in the garden set of the grand hall, feeling a mixture of relief and heaviness.

Rose and the detective dragged over a large iron cage.

“Hey, this is the cage they locked me in yesterday in the dungeon. Today, I’m going to put the culprit in it!” the detective exclaimed loudly.

Xu Heran leaned in and asked, “So are you going in as well?”

“Let’s see, let’s see,” the detective waved playfully.

“Please announce the votes!” the guests shouted together.

A staff member raised a microphone.

“In the finale of 《Crazy Interpretation》 in the case of the king’s death in the Fantasy Castle, the players who received 0 votes are—”

Everyone looked at the production team with anticipation.

“Maid Rose, Noble Mont Li.”

“Huh?” the butler said in surprise, “No one voted for the two of them?”

“Yeah!” Rose and Mont Li high-fived.

Xu Heran grabbed Xin Nuo’s hand, pointed at herself, then at Xin Nuo, and her excited expression vanished once again.

“Seriously! It’s us again!”

“Detective!” Xu Heran looked at the detective.

The detective quickly waved, “I didn’t vote for Xin Nuo!”

Ji Songyu shook her head, “I voted. I voted for the dragon and Xin Nuo-ella.”

The others showed surprised expressions.

“Why?” they asked.

“Because I thought of something,” Ji Songyu sighed, “but I want to hear the votes first.”

The staff continued, “In this round of voting, the detective’s first vote goes to Miss Ti and the dragon.”

“Rose’s vote goes to Miss Ti and the dragon.”

“Mont Li’s vote goes to Miss Ti and the knight.”

The knight shook his head after hearing that.

“The butler’s vote goes to Miss Ti and the knight.”

“Xin Nuo-ella’s vote goes to Miss Ti and the dragon.”

“The knight’s vote goes to Miss Ti and the knight.”

“It’s tied at 3 to 3,” the knight counted on his fingers.

The staff continued, “The detective’s second vote goes to Miss Ti and the dragon.”

Ji Songyu looked at the detective, “You’re really fixated on me, aren’t you?”

The detective laughed and said, “Who made you vote for me in the previous round? Forget about everything else, just get inside for now!”

The detective held Ji Songyu’s hand and opened the cage door, letting her step inside.

The knight immediately raised his hand and said, “Now it’s 4 to 3, will it be a tie?”

“Ji Songyu voted for Xin Nuo and Heran, so it’s possible to tie.”

Suddenly, Ji Songyu’s hand gripped the railing, and she exclaimed, “How could it possibly be a tie! You two little tricksters!”

“Ah—”

Ji Songyu collapsed, shaking the railing.

Xin Nuo widened her eyes, pointing at herself, her pitch-black eyes revealing a hint of disbelief, as if asking, “Are you talking about me?”

Then she pointed at Xu Heran, wrinkling her brow, displaying an expression that seemed to say, “Could it be her?”

Xu Heran furrowed her brow, her expression conveying, “Well, how could I possibly be a trickster?” Xin Nuo appeared even more bewildered, tilting her head in confusion.

Both of them exchanged puzzled glances with Ji Songyu inside the iron cage, their black and gold eyes showing innocence. Ji Songyu glared at them angrily.

The voice of the staff was steady.

“The dragon’s votes go to Miss Ti— and the dragon.”

Everyone: “……..????”

“The reported suspect in this case is the dragon.”

“You come in!” Ji Songyu opened the cage door.

Xu Heran muttered, “How did it end up like this?” as she entered the iron cage. She leaned against the railing and sighed.

“You voted for yourself?” the detective said, “So, the culprits are the dragon and someone else?”

“You’ve all misunderstood one thing!” Ji Songyu said solemnly, “Accomplices cannot lie!”

“Which means, the time the knight and Mont Li gave us for handling the flower thorns is absolutely correct!”

“So, it’s you, you went back and pricked the king!” Rose said.

“Why would I go back and prick him? I was done, and I definitely wanted to escape!” Ji Songyu shook her head, wearing an expression of exhaustion, “I won’t say more, I’m already in.”

Xu Heran tugged at Ji Songyu’s clothes and chuckled, “Stop pretending, Sis Ji Ji , how about I treat you to hotpot?”

“Go away,” Ji Songyu whined, feigning tears.

Everyone was baffled, looking at the staff below.

The staff member smiled and said, “Miss Ti and the Pearl Dragon have been reported as the true culprits in this case. Now, I announce the suspects—”

On the field, aside from the people in the cage, everyone’s sparkling eyes were fixed on the staff member.

“Failed!”

“Yay—huh?” Rose’s cheer took a turn, her eyes widened in disbelief.

Ji Songyu wore an expression of “See, I told you,” shaking her head.

“Who’s the real culprit?” the detective exclaimed in surprise. “Not you two? Then it must be—”

She looked at Rose and the knight.

“Not us!” Rose and the knight frantically waved their hands.

Amidst the confusion, Xin Nuo-ella chuckled softly. She lifted her skirt and walked towards the iron cage under the amazed gazes of the others.

The iron cage was somewhat tall. The silver dragon lowered its gaze, staring into the girl’s pitch-black eyes through the gaps in the cage bars.

“Nice new home,” Xin Nuo complimented in a hushed tone.

“Thanks, wanna come in and try it?” Xu Heran tilted her head.

“No, but I appreciate the offer.” Xin Nuo-ella raised her head, her palm resting on the straight railing of the iron cage. “As a complete dragon, a mere iron cage shouldn’t be able to hold you, right?”

“Of course.” The silver dragon’s tone was proud, but it couldn’t help raising its hand, gently placing its palm over the girl’s hand above.

“Do you remember what we once promised?”

Xin Nuo-ella squinted her eyes.

“Even if my soul is imprisoned,”

“My heart will never be conquered.”

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The author has something to say:

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, my darlings~ I wrote the script with so much joy that I didn’t pay attention to the length (I just can’t control these hands!). Ah Mu is sorry! The script ends here, oh~ Tomorrow, Zhuzhu and Nuo Nuo will return~ The next time I write, it’ll probably be after Zhuzhu comes of age, and I’ll pay attention to the length! (Hehehe)

And tomorrow is Qixi Festival~ To bless everyone with a happy Qixi Festival, this chapter will drop 100 red envelopes~ They will be distributed tomorrow~ You can click on them~ First come, first served~~ Love you all! Muah muah muah muah! 

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Translator: Glariosa
Editor: Sinensis

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