I Live on the Land in Global Games

Chapter 492: 475: The Fabricated StoryChapter 492: Chapter 475: The Fabricated Story

Catching up with Shirley and the others, Mu Ying hesitated for a moment before deciding there was no need for beating around the bush.

The remaining thirty percent of the mission progress lay with this Prince and Shirley. The disguise of the evil witch had worked well before, so it wouldn’t be impossible to replicate the method.

By now, she had grasped seventy percent of the story’s content, discerning the roles and nature—good or bad—of each character; she wasn’t worried about causing any adverse consequences, so being a bit forceful was no big deal.

But she still had some reservations.

This Prince was indeed from the Green Wall Kingdom. The timing of his arrival, along with his speed, was too perfect, definitely not something simple!

The conspiracy behind this, if lucky, she might unveil by threatening methods, possibly pushing the mission progress to 100%, but if unlucky, even after interrogating, the progress might still be under 100%, and that would be troublesome.

Regarding the story, she could verify the truth through increasing mission progress, but whether the others were hiding something or if deeper connections remained uncovered, that she couldn’t confirm.

Then, her interrogation might startle the snake in the grass, causing the matters behind the scenes to be concealed deeper and become more difficult to clarify.

That would be problematic.

After much thought, Mu Ying decided to wait and watch for now.

Only when they think their schemes are proceeding smoothly, will they let down their guard and expose more.

Conveniently, she had taken the golden mirror of the Rose Kingdom and was hiding it wrapped in black cloth in the Space Ring.

The person holding the Mother Mirror might get suspicious due to the lack of activity on the child mirror’s side and eventually take some action, right? As long as they moved, they would slip up.

Following this Prince might lead to some clues.

As long as she figured out who was behind the golden mirror prophecy and the conspiracy, she could conduct the final interrogation and avoid any omissions that might increase the difficulty of her later investigations.

With all this in mind, Mu Ying was no longer in a hurry to act, but she did put a Magic Mark on the Prince to keep him monitored.

After observing for a few days, this Prince did not seem to use any mirror to check on things, but rather she noticed that his attentiveness to Shirley appeared genuine, as if he truly fell in love with Shirley at first sight, the two behaving like a couple freshly in love.

Shirley had already fallen deep into love.

To accommodate Shirley, the caravan did not travel quickly. They would stop for meals in the morning, at noon, and in the evening, reminiscent of a leisurely tour.

Seeing all this, Mu Ying almost believed that the Prince had truly fallen in love with Shirley at first sight.

However, after following for a few more days, she sensed something amiss.

During these days, almost every time the caravan rested, the conversation would gradually shift to Shirley’s origins and her past experiences.

Shirley truly was a princess without airs, treating every person in the caravan with respect and engaging easily in conversation.

So today one person would recount how pitiful Shirley was, tomorrow another would curse the evil of Shirley’s stepmother, and then they would inquire about other deeds the Queen had done, prompting Shirley to repeat the story of her stepmother’s torment and pursuit every day, occasionally adding new details.

Not only Prince Dumiso, but also the cavalry in the convoy, the coachmen, and even the kitchen maids and maidservants, all felt deep sympathy for the tragic fate of Princess Shirley, heaping various condemnations and curses on the evil Queen who envied her stepdaughter’s beauty.

In Shirley’s repeated recounting, her hatred for her stepmother deepened time and again, until there was nothing left but loathing.

In fact, in Mu Ying’s view, apart from the certain wickedness of being poisoned by the Queen, the rest of her grievances didn’t amount to much.

She was well aware that the one who wanted to kill Shirley was the King, and the poisoned pear from the Queen actually saved her life.

If they truly wanted to kill her, why bother giving her a pear that only made her fall into a deep sleep?

It was laughable that Shirley and Prince Dumiso attributed her resurrection to the power of love, claiming she had been awakened by the Prince’s kiss.

Unless, when the Prince kissed Shirley’s “corpse,” he stuck out his tongue and hooked out the piece of pear lodged in Shirley’s throat, there was no way she could have awakened.

The truth was clearly not so; the Prince’s tongue wasn’t that long, and Mu Ying felt sure that he must have accidentally dislodged the pear while moving Shirley.

This suspicion brought her mission progress to a 1% advancement, suggesting this was indeed the fact.

The Prince and his people concealed this incident and told Shirley he had fallen in love with her at first sight, couldn’t resist kissing her, and that true love moved the Grim Reaper, bringing her back to life.

Anyone with a clear head would never believe such a story, but Shirley clearly wasn’t thinking straight, and not only did she believe it, she also saw the Prince as her savior and wasn’t the least bit angry about him spontaneously kissing her “corpse”; she quickly fell in love with him.

By now, Mu Ying was almost certain there was something wrong with this Prince; he definitely was up to no good.

But she didn’t understand what use he had for a Princess with little importance, even declared dead in her own country.

She also had no idea whether the matter of Jin Jing had anything to do with him since she hadn’t seen him produce anything related to the mirror during this time.

It was unclear if it was because Jin Jing wasn’t in his possession, or because he had taken Shirley away and achieved some goal, temporarily caring less about Jin Jing, or perhaps there were others involved behind the scenes, with Jin Jing in someone else’s hands.

Amidst the thick fog of mystery, it was certain that the Prince had concealed some truths and deceived Shirley; he definitely wasn’t acting out of true love but possessed unspeakable secrets, only they just weren’t ready to be revealed.

Mu Ying wondered whether the overly naïve Princess Shirley could handle the truth when it finally came out.

However, Mu Ying felt no sympathy for her; Shirley might be naive, but it wasn’t certain she was as kind as she appeared.

Because it was odd how she narrated her own experiences; at first, she focused on the tale from Jin Jing that the Queen envied her beauty and poisoned her dessert to ruin her looks, and later, when she ran away, the Queen pretended to be a pear seller and poisoned her to death.

However, as others brought up these topics time and again, Shirley’s stories grew, turning the Queen into someone who disliked her from childhood, tried to drive a wedge between her and her father, cut her clothing and food allowance, and devised various methods to torment her.

Each grievance was supported by an incident.

What was strange was that these incidents weren’t fully explained all at once but became more substantial with more malicious details added each time they were mentioned, slowly taking shape.

It was as if these people fervently sided with Shirley against the Queen for some ulterior motive.

The events Shirley spoke of clearly lacked authenticity; they seemed like exaggerations or fabrications that unconsciously found their way into her memories due to digging for the Queen’s misdeeds repeatedly, and with each retelling, the stories became more elaborate and realistic, almost as if that’s how her memories were; eventually, even Shirley herself might come to believe them.