Chapter 171: Revealing it to him, bit by bit
"Okay," Ming Tao let out a relieved exhale. "Tell me, what did you figure out?" He asked.
Mira swallowed. She needed a while to process these things that she was reading. In fact, she needed to write those down and ensured that she never forgot them even for a second, she needed to keep her rage towards her sister pungent so she would not even flinch for one second when Hye Yang was being punished.
Mira wanted to have the last laugh and make Hye Yang suffer little by little as she broke and revealed her evil sister to people in the beast world for who Hye Yang truly was but after reading these, she knew that that would never be the case.
In a world full of the evil queen from Snow White and so many easy villains, Hye Yang was Judge Claude Frollo from the hunch back of notre dame. Hye Yang was Ursula, she was mother Gothel, she was Hans from frozen and King Candy from wreck it Ralph. In fact, Mira could list so many other villains like Hades and the shadowman from princess of the frog and it would not even suffice. That woman was a clear definition of the godmother in shrek. Nice on the outside yet evil underneath.
"Mira?" Ming Tao called when Mira went silent. He was staring at her but her attention was directed into empty space.
"You may need to sit down to hear this, Ming Tao." Mira said softly. She looked down to face him, a worried look plastered on her face. Ming Tao’s brows furrowed and he decided to listen, he could let her pay him later.
Ming Tao brought his stool in front of Mira then sat down in front of her. "Okay, what did you find out?" He asked, staring at her ardently.
"These leaves are not from these parts." Mira said first. She was sure Ming Tao would have already caught on but she wanted to reveal the news to him little by little so he digests it slowly and would not be surprised quick to rage.
"I figured that much out." Ming Tao said to Mira with a smile. He had the, I am listening to you because I love you, honey look on his face and Mira did not know if it was just in her head.
She sighed. "Have you noticed that they are not dead despite not being connected to the source?" Mira asked.
Ming Tao’s pupils dilated. He did not notice nor think that far into it. He just saw them as leaves. "Go on." He said to Mira.
"The only way these leaves could be accessed is if the person in question who retrieved them tracked further beyond the border than we in these parts do not go to." Mira said, breaking it down.
Ming Tao’s jaw tightened as he stayed quiet to listen.
"And for someone from our parts to go to the other side without being noticed and killed or being detected and wounded or without word reaching anyone in the region ruled by you and my husbands," Mira continued.
"It must mean the person had been in contact with the other side of the beast world long enough to blend in or become one with them." Ming Tao cut Mira off.
Mira swallowed. "Yes. True. But it also means that a sacrifice must have been made to make it possible. Blood sacrifice. I could not think of anything else."
Ming Tao leaned in closer to Mira, his hands rested on his knees and he clapped his fingers together. "What are you suggesting?" He asked, there was a shift in his tone that made Mira know that what she was saying was getting to him and she had not even scratched the surface of it.
"It is possible that for someone," Mira said.
"For Hye Yang." Ming Tao corrected.
Mira swallowed, she did not want to mention her name. "For someone," she said carefully. "To be allowed to tread the parts of a land that they are forbidden from and be able to retrieve things so easily, the person may have needed to do something in exchange." Mira said.
"You are beating around the bush, darling." Ming Tao said in a calculated manner. He tried to not let his rage be obvious in his tone but he was failing at it.
"It is possible that beast people were given in exchange for her easy access. Have there been any rumours of missing beast people? Be it cubs or anyone? Possibly dead or not?" Mira asked.
Ming Tao’s eyes darkened as he understood what Mira was trying to say. "So you think that she could have given out people in exchange to acquire nothing but leaves?"
Mira blanked for a second. Well, when he put it that way, it sounded all the more awful. The law was clear, there was no truce between the regions and no one was allowed to cross the border that separated the diverse beasts. If anyone did cross, the punishment, although horrible, would be borne by the beast man or beast woman. However, certain things could be done to lighten that, certain negotiations.
But Hye Yang was neither a ruler nor someone who had power to make any sort of negotiations and Mira did not want to dive right into assumptions nor did she want any false accusations. "Maybe. But I think if that had happened, the reoccurrence of the situation would have been noticed by the beasts under all your ruling." Mira said. She tried to think of a possible explanation for this, it was then her eyes widened.
There were rumours surrounding eaten cubs, except the rumours were about her, the demon of the forest, eating beast people and beast cubs. Hye Yang started that rumour to make Mira hated by all, now Mira wondered if it was a rumour started to cover her own tracks. She did not know if she should talk about it or not.