Running Out of Legacy Stones

So, Grace had no intention of letting her off the hook.

The Loyal Marquis Residence.

Tenner whispered to Grace, "...Just as you predicted, she moved out in the middle of the night."

Lily Xu had plenty of enemies. After getting hurt here, she obviously felt unsafe and was bound to sneak away to a new place.

Grace smiled, "Did she move to the place you arranged?"

Tenner nodded, "The house is on Lanxi Lane, and it's under Prince Zane Tuoba's name. It was originally his old nanny's retirement home, but after she passed, he planned to rent it out. I disguised myself as a broker and rented it to Lily Xu."

Grace chuckled, "Has the news reached Prince Zane's residence?"

"It’s in. No problem at all!" Tenner grinned, flashing eight pearly whites.

Prince Zane's residence.

Princess Consort Zane, graceful and elegant, sat in the garden watching her child practice swordplay.

Her trusted maid leaned in and whispered, "We've confirmed it—she's pregnant, and the child... it's definitely our Prince Zane's."

Princess Consort Zane kept her enchanting smile, her voice calm and collected: "Where is she staying?"

"Lanxi Lane."

"Lanxi Lane... So, he's planning to keep a mistress?" Princess Consort Zane's smile grew even more dazzling, her tone playful and biting.

...

Two days later, Lily Xu was dead.

Tenner came to report to Grace, "...Her belly was sliced open, guts everywhere. It was a gruesome scene! The officials investigated for ages and finally decided Lily Xu went mad in the middle of the night and committed suicide by disembowelment!"

Grace didn't say a word.

"Was it Princess Consort Zane, or the Dowager Princess?" Tenner asked.

"Princess Consort Zane," Grace replied.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Prince Zane Tuoba is a womanizer—he has countless concubines. But in his whole residence, there are only two kids, and both are Princess Consort Zane's," Grace explained. "Duke Winston Wood is the total opposite. He only has two concubines, but eight children, all born to his concubines, all healthy and growing up just fine."

"Oh! I get it!" Tenner nodded, eyes wide.

Grace smiled.

Last time, Prince Zane Tuoba took a bunch of people to Spirit Alliance Mountain and, right in front of everyone, announced he had a thing going on with Lily Xu.

So Grace pulled some strings, making Princess Consort Zane's trusted attendant believe Lily Xu really was pregnant.

She was still living in Prince Zane Tuoba’s house.

Just like that, Lily Xu was dead.

She'd always used her beauty to climb the ladder of power.

But playing this game came with plenty of risks.

In Grace’s eyes, this was exactly the kind of ending she deserved!

...

Grace had just stepped into the President's role, and her plate was overflowing—she barely had the energy for anything else.

Ever since Lily Xu died, the whole Spirit Alliance got way quieter, and everything started making sense—life wasn't nearly as chaotic.

During this stretch, Grace fed Beanie every Celestial Spirit Jade and Earthcore Gem she could get her hands on.

She was about to run out of Spirit Jade—Beanie needed more, and fast.

That East Wilds Jade Map? Beanie's one and only hope.

According to the map, the East Wilds held more than a hundred mines, big and small.

But most of them had names written all over.

Tu Mountain, Bai, Ji, Wan... the list went on.

Grace studied the map and asked Evan Xiao, "What do all these names mean?"

Evan Xiao replied, "Those are the owners of the mines."

The names belonged to the ancient noble families of the Ten Wilds Continent.

Those mines? Usually long depleted.

And even if there was anything left, regular folks like them couldn't even get close.

The dozen or so unmarked mines meant that, when Luke Kee died, nobody had started mining them yet.

Of course, after five hundred years, odds are those unmarked mines are long gone too.

Grace stared at the map for ages, then realized—one unmarked mine was actually inside the Vermilion Kingdom!