Chapter 54: Where Did They Get the Nerve to Come Looking?

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Where Did They Get the Nerve to Come Looking?

A smile hung on Mu Silin’s handsome face.

His eyes watched him leisurely as he slowly began to speak, his words laden with hidden meaning.

"How could I possibly break off the engagement? This general is not like some people—fickle and flighty, falling for every new person they see. They act on hearsay, disregard their fiancée’s feelings, and break off engagements on a whim. I despise such scumbags. That’s why I could never bring myself to break off this engagement!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Ziyue frowned.

The tension in his heart stretched even tighter.

He had a feeling the Black Panther’s words were confirming his suspicions!

Ye Lüqi, however, failed to catch the underlying meaning. With a look of surprise, he jeered:

"You haven’t broken the engagement, yet you’re here trying to steal a woman from me? Hurry up and get back to your Muxue City and marry that female you’re politically engaged to! Or, you can compete with this king after you’ve broken it off."

"But then again, you’ve never been a match for me, not since we were kids. And when it comes to winning a woman, you have even less of a chance!"

His boastful confidence was so impressive that his three subordinates behind him couldn’t help but applaud.

Well said, Your Majesty!

This is the spirit! We have to fight for Miss A Yue to the very end!

We can’t back down!

We must crush the Black Panther Royal Family’s arrogance!

Ye Lüqi smoothed his sleeves, radiating the aura of a king, and added:

"But I have to tell you, breaking an engagement isn’t so easy these days. It took me quite some time to break things off with that ugly female from the Duke Mansion."

"If you want to compete with me after you break your engagement, it’ll be tough. It’ll probably take you some time, and by then, Miss A Yue and I might already be inseparable."

Shen Yue, who had been awake for some time:

"..."

’What a scene.’

’Maybe I should just go back to sleep.’

After someone pinched her waist, which had hurt, she had wanted to keep sleeping, but their voices were simply too loud.

They had woken her right up.

Once fully awake, she realized she was surrounded by so many men.

She was even being held in someone’s arms. She figured that staying perfectly still and feigning sleep was her best option.

Although she couldn’t open her eyes, she didn’t miss a single irritating word of their conversation.

She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold back from rushing over and landing a couple of solid punches on that arrogant, conceited man.

’I’ll teach him a thing or two about a female’s status.’

’Inseparable with me?’

’He must be dreaming.’

Moreover, she could tell from the Black Panther General’s words that he had likely been here for some time.

’He even overheard what I said to Si Muye and knows the word ’scumbag’. He uses it quite well, too.’

’Judging by how long he’s been here, it seems this Black Panther General is the one who secretly saved me and Er Bao.’

Shen Yue tried to quiet her breathing, keeping perfectly still as she continued to eavesdrop on the men tearing each other apart.

At this moment, Lan Cangyue’s eyes showed a flicker of shock as he listened to Ye Lüqi.

He wondered, ’He must have successfully broken off his engagement with that ugly female, right?’

’Otherwise, with an existing engagement, he wouldn’t necessarily be able to compete against these other men.’

Meanwhile, Mu Silin listened, looking at Ye Lüqi as if he were an idiot.

Then, as the others were lost in their own varied thoughts, he almost laughed out loud.

"I’d say you haven’t been the Golden Lion King for nothing."

"You’ve just gotten stupider the longer you’ve held the title!"

Ye Lüqi’s face darkened.

’This brat can’t win against me, so now he’s resorting to personal attacks, is he?’

Mu Silin continued with a smile:

"You really did a good thing, breaking off that engagement. I almost want to applaud you."

"In fact, I should really thank you for clearing the way for me."

Ye Lüqi stared at him, his tone turning cold:

"What do you mean?"

"It means nothing. I’m just giving you a little tip. Why don’t you go and properly investigate just who the Duchess you broke your engagement with really is?"

As soon as he said this, the other three men turned to look at him.

After all, they were all engaged to the Duchess.

’But who the Duchess is... what does that have to do with anything?’

Ye Lüqi snorted coldly.

"Who is she? Just some notoriously infertile and incredibly hideous female. Compared to Miss A Yue, she’s worlds apart—one is heaven, the other is earth!"

Hearing this, Mu Silin wanted nothing more than to burst out laughing.

He didn’t beat around the bush. He went straight for the killing blow, shattering Ye Lüqi’s beautiful dream:

"Is that so? Then what if I were to tell you that the ugly female you speak of is none other than the Miss A Yue right in front of you? They’re the same person. Now tell me, wasn’t breaking off that engagement a ’brilliant’ move!"

Ye Lüqi, who had just been wearing a proud and arrogant expression, looked as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head.

The expression on his face froze. In disbelief, he asked:

"What did you say?"

Afraid he hadn’t heard clearly, Mu Silin enunciated every single word:

"I said, Miss A Yue is the Duchess, Shen Yue. She’s the ’ugly female’ you were talking about."

The color drained from Ye Lüqi’s face, his composure cracking inch by inch.

Listening in, Shen Yue was secretly impressed.

’This general is something else. He doesn’t just kill, he destroys the will to live.’

’Not only has he figured out my background completely, but he also landed a critical hit on this Golden Lion King!’

’As expected, arrogant and conceited people are best served with a public face-slapping.’

’That’s the only way they’ll learn their lesson.’

Mu Silin felt that this moment was incredibly satisfying.

He never thought Ye Lüqi would see the day he’d be so viciously slapped in the face by his own words!

And with his words...

Lan Cangyue and Bai Chaosi also froze on the spot.

The taut string in Huang Ziyue’s heart finally snapped.

At this moment, even the air seemed to stand still!

The men were rooted to the spot, frozen in the wind!

Mu Silin’s gaze swept over each of them. As sharp as he was, he had already guessed the truth:

"I’d heard before that Miss Shen Yue of the Duke Mansion was engaged to seven prominent males of the royal family. It seems the five of us here are all among them!"

"But, as it stands, all of you have broken off the engagement with her—all except me. Congratulations are in order, I suppose!"

He felt a great deal of pressure lift off his shoulders!

Shen Yue processed this massive influx of information.

’So all five of these men were the original owner’s fiancés.’

’I thought it was just that Golden Lion King. Does this mean the general is one, too?’

’No wonder he used the broken engagement to stab the Golden Lion King where it hurts. It turns out that out of everyone, only this Black Panther General never broke off the engagement with the original owner.’

’In that case, this guy might actually be decent!’

’In her memory, the original owner had never met any of her seven fiancés. She had only heard of them but never seen them in person.’

And when Shen Yue tried to recall the identities of these seven men, her memories of them were hazy. She could vaguely recall which Beast Clan they belonged to, but it seemed the original owner didn’t know their specific identities either.

This made Shen Yue suspicious. She was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with the original owner’s mind, as many useful memories were unclear or simply blank.

Although Shen Yue couldn’t open her eyes to see what the men looked like right now...

...she memorized each of their voices. She hadn’t expected five of the original owner’s seven fiancés to come looking for her.

’But why?’

’The engagements were broken, and they despised the original owner. What were they doing here, looking for her?’

’Besides, they were largely to thank for the original owner being stripped of her noble status and exiled to the Wilderness.’

’Where did they get the nerve to show up here?’

’Unless... they were all looking for the current her, not the Duchess.’

’And they didn’t know that the current her *is* the Duchess.’

’But the current her has had no contact or connection with them. Why would they travel thousands of miles to find her?’