Chapter 2419: Disappeared History

Mojard didn’t make them wait for too long. He quickly returned to where he'd just been.

The Dragon King and the others’ smiles immediately froze. They saw that there wasn’t anything in Mojard’s hands, and his eyes were full of confusion too. He clearly hadn’t obtained anything useful from this trip.

Peach’s eyes now carried a bit of adoration as she looked at Zu An’s back.

The queen’s future husband is so amazing!

She'd been confused as to why he'd spent extra time getting rid of Deputy Officer Sha’s corpse when they were leaving. So he'd already anticipated that this would happen! When she then remembered how he'd made sure to change his appearance again on his way out, she was really amazed at how thoroughly he took care of matters!

The queen’s insight is extraordinary as expected! If I ran into an ordinary-looking guard like this, I probably wouldn’t give him a second look either.

The Mermaid Queen quickly reacted and said, “In the end, I am still the leader of a race. Your respected self has barged into my private quarters just like this. Could it be that you have no regard for our Ocean races at all?!”

As they looked at Mojard, many Ocean race experts had strange expressions. Even though they were unhappy that the Mermaid Queen suddenly had a lover, they were still all from the Ocean races in the end. The Mermaid Queen was someone of high prestige, and yet Mojard searched willfully as they pleased without any proof. If they had been the ones who offended the monsters, wouldn’t Mojard treat them with even less importance?

Mojard chuckled when he sensed the changes in the surrounding mood. “The queen is indeed good with words. I was the one who miscalculated this time.”

The Mermaid Queen sighed in relief. “Then please leave; I won’t be seeing you out.”

Mojard’s expression froze, and he left with a snort.

The Dragon King gave the Mermaid Queen and Zu An a look. After some hesitation, he quickly caught up to Mojard to see him off.

I’ll take my time settling the debt with this guy later.

The other experts of the Ocean races talked a bit with the Mermaid Queen and used this chance to find out some information about Zu An.

The Mermaid Queen rubbed her forehead and said apologetically, “Too many things have happened today, so I need to rest.”

Everyone else was speechless. They saw her look at that guard several times as she spoke.

What rest? She's clearly going to enjoy a world of their own with that guard!

Damn this scandalous couple!

In the end, they left with strange looks on their faces.

Zu An was happy about the sudden influx of Rage points, but he was suddenly met with the Mermaid Queen’s beautiful and puzzled gaze.

“Follow me," the Mermaid Queen said, then returned to her palace first.

Zu An was hesitating when Peach turned around and beckoned toward him, gesturing for him to hurry. The Ocean race experts outside hadn’t completely left yet, so there were many things that weren't a good idea to talk about out here. In the end, he followed them inside.

...

Meanwhile, Mojard’s group returned to the Four Way Palace. After seeing off the Dragon King, his monster subordinates asked, “King, could it be that we really have to just leave the matter at that?”

“Of course not.” A glimmer of light flashed through Mojard’s eyes. “I underestimated those two too much, so that was why we lost the initiative today.”

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Previously, he'd thought that as the other party was the prestigious Mermaid Queen, it was best to call over the Dragon King and the other Ocean races experts out of consideration for their reputation. He'd wanted them to serve as witnesses for her crimes, so that way, he would have a proper pretext to deal with her.

His plan was very thorough. He'd known that the queen would refute it, so that was why he'd bribed a hidden piece to capture and interrogate her maid while he confronted the Mermaid Queen. He'd thought that things were already in the bag, but how could he have known that a mysterious guard would suddenly appear? Even though the guard's appearance was plain, he was sure that this was the same person who had saved the Mermaid Queen previously.

As a result, the huge charade he'd started only limited his options instead. If he took someone as famous as the Mermaid Queen into custody without proof, that could end up pushing the Ocean races to side against the monsters. That was why he'd decisively withdrawn. It wasn’t because he was admitting defeat, but rather that he needed to wait until the Ocean races left before he paid the Mermaid Queen another visit personally.

All schemes and tricks were insignificant before an absolute disparity in strength. As long as he captured the Mermaid Queen and that guard, would he really need to be scared about proof?

...

Inside the Mermaid Queen’s chambers, the Mermaid Queen suddenly looked at the maid next to her. “Are you really that close to him?”

Her maid's smallestmovements hadn’t escaped her notice. She found this really strange. Peach had clearly only met him not too long ago. She also saw just how disappointed Peach had been when she first saw that he was just an ordinary lesser guard. Just how much time had passed since then? And yet they both seemed quite close.

Did something happen that I don’t know about?

Peach was given a fright. She quickly waved her hands and said, “No way, no way. Too many things happened just now, and I felt that the queen’s future... ahem. I felt that he was pretty strong.”

What if the queen misunderstands and thinks I’m trying to steal her food?

“Oh? Then what happened just now? I’m very interested.” The Mermaid Queen sat down casually on a soft seat and gestured for Zu An to sit as well.

Zu An was startled and quickly changed the topic. “Queen, can I ask where Suyin is right now?”

Peach was just about to respond to the queen’s question. When she heard that, she blinked, dazed.

What the heck are you two playing at?

Oh, right. The queen’s future husband doesn’t seem to know that Suyin is the queen. But the queen knows who he is. Are they roleplaying on purpose?

Heh, the queen really is a bit bad.

The Mermaid Queen’s face heated up. She coughed lightly and said, “Suyin was injured from the Four Way Palace mission and is resting in a secret room. The two of you can meet again after she recovers a bit.” She gave Peach a look as she spoke, silently warning her not to say anything.

Peach immediately sulked.

I’m done for! I seem to have accidentally blurted out 'queen’s future husband' before! Will he be able to guess something from that?

But even if he finds out, it'll be because the queen’s future husband is smart. That only proves the queen’s insight. I can’t admit to it even if I’m beaten to death!

Zu An was feeling a bit annoyed.

Queen, you already blew your cover a long time ago, but look at how into the act you are.

He wanted to remind her a bit, but she was too serious in her act. If she ended up getting really angry when the truth was exposed, he could end up making an enemy for no reason.

I have to obtain the information I need before everything is exposed.

“By the way, queen, is there anyone in the Mermaid race with the surname Shang who is rather well known?”

Ever since he saw just how similar the Mermaid Queen and the Shang sisters were, he had always been puzzled. He really wanted to get to the bottom of this.

The queen voiced her surprise. “Could it be that you actually know someone from our Mermaid race surnamed Shang?”

Zu An was surprised. He'd received two pieces of information from her response. One was that there was someone surnamed Shang in the Mermaid race, and their status seemed to be quite special too. He naturally wouldn’t dare to speak the Shang sisters’ names and accidentally influence future history, however. Instead, he said, “I don’t know them myself, but I have a friend who knew two individuals who were surnamed Shang. They said the two were from the Mermaid race and I didn’t really believe it this entire time.”

“You have a friend?” The Mermaid Queen harrumphed and didn’t bother exposing his lie. “The Mermaid Queen has always had high affinity for music. That is why the Mermaid race is divided into five ancient surnames according to the notes: Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, and Yu[1]. The Mermaid Queens throughout history have come from these five surnames throughout history in succession, but our Gong surname has always been the strongest. We have had the most queens.”

Even though this was Mermaid race history, there were many strong individuals in the Ocean races who knew about it, so she didn’t have to deliberately hide it.

Zu An was quite surprised. Why was it that in the Mermaid Race history he knew, it was actually the Shang clan who had the most queens? He had never heard of the Mermaid race having a Gong surname either.

1. These 'notes' refer to the five musical notes that rise in pitch, from

gong

(宫),

shang

(商),

jue

(角),

zhi

(徵), to

yu

(羽), which correspond roughly to the notes of 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 in today's numbered musical notation. ☜