Book 19: Chapter 1
Liu Yue looked left and right to check that there was nobody and then dashed the lawn as fast as a flash. Nobody was permitted into the flower garden in the Imperial Palace’s inner section. The gardeners worked hard to amend the flowers. Liu Yue was aware that she was doing something she shouldn’t, but it was the only way through at the time.
Liu Yue’s father was in a meeting in the inner sections of the palace. If she went to the conference hall from the main door, guards would discover her. However, Liu Yue, who had a detailed grasp of the entire Imperial Palace’s terrain, knew there was a secret passageway in the conference hall that led outside. To reach the conference hall, she, therefore, just had to get into the secret passageway. Needless to say, Liu Yue wasn’t interested in the meeting whatsoever. She merely wanted to know what her father was doing. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that she just wanted to see her father.
Her father didn’t get angry the last time Daisy and her sisters barged into the conference hall, but when she got home, boy, did she cop an earful. And so, Liu Yue didn’t intend to see her father using such moronic means.
“That idiot is probably waiting at the door. I’ll get a step ahead. This is my secret passageway,” assumed Liu Yue.
Liu Yue liked her three sisters, but her father was a one and only. She wasn’t willing to share him.
Liu Yue briskly crossed the lawn and circled around the palace to reach the rear. The rear of the Imperial Palace was the imperial family’s garden. Usually, nobody approached the forest of trees. Nobody was permitted entry into the area in order to avoid letting anybody discover emergency exit. The guards didn’t stop Liu Yue. After all, it was her family’s forest. Therefore, it was easy for Ling Yue to get in.
The emergency exit was actually behind the small timber building that was easily mistaken for a cleaning storage room located in the forest. Liu Yue raced across the path of withered leaves to reach the back of the building. She used her enhanced sight as a fox to scan her surroundings. The forest was as quiet and peaceful as always. Her footprints were left on the dead leaves on the sun-dappled path. Additionally, the leaves rustled due to the winds, while the frightened birds fled from their nests…
“Wait, wait, something’s wrong…” thought Liu Yue, stopping in her tracks. In her mind, she reasoned, “I should be the only person in this place, so what frightened the birds? I never startled the birds when I came here in the past. What scared them off? There’s someone else in this forest!”
Ling Yue vigorously looked over her shoulder. Nevertheless, it was the same as when she arrived. She narrowed her eyes. She carefully checked to see if she could spot the clothing of one of her sisters. If there was somebody who entered the forest from the door up ahead, the only possible people who could do that would be her sisters. If anybody else entered, the guards would stop them. Consequently, she concluded that her sisters were tailing her.