"You're all lying!" Jenna Summers' face was twisted in fury. "Why are you trying to pin this on me? I didn't do it! My illness really was cured by Luna Lian!"
She rushed over to Sean Shaw, grabbing his arm. "Fifth Highness! Please, see the truth! Make them clear my name!"
"Pffft!" Snow Yuan yanked her hand away. "Shouldn't it be Ian Yan asking to clear his name? You're always acting—still putting on a show now? Shameless!"
Jenna Summers was always pestering Sean Shaw with endless questions. Snow Yuan had been annoyed with her for ages.
"Fifth Highness! I'm truly innocent..." Jenna sobbed, her tears falling like rain-soaked pear blossoms. "I really didn't do it. If you don't believe me, check the handwriting on that note—see if it's mine!"
"Yeah, that's right! That doesn't look like Jenna's handwriting at all," Ian Yan chimed in. "I know her script—it's elegant and way prettier than this!"
"Maybe she wrote it with her left hand?" Snow Yuan said. "Jenna's clever—she wouldn't leave any evidence behind!"
"It really wasn't me! Why are you all treating me like this?" Jenna clutched her chest, face pale, looking ready to collapse. "Are you picking on me because the Summers Clan is weak? Because the Southern Realm has no one to stand up for us?"
Lucia Lu frowned as she watched her.
Even now, with things this far gone, Jenna still refused to admit the truth.
Just then, Sean Shaw suddenly spoke up: "No need to drag in the Summers Clan or the Southern Realm. Ian Yan has more than just that note—he has this."
He raised his hand.
Everyone stared—it was a single hair.
"This is the hair you left behind when you stole his Yin Core," Sean said. "Anyone from the Phoenix Clan can use an Ancestral Locator Spell to trace it straight to its owner. That's even more convincing than a Rune Master's result."
Jenna felt as if she'd been dropped into an ice pit.
She knew the Ancestral Locator Spell herself.
The moment she saw that hair, she secretly traced it—and sure enough, it was hers!
It was all because she'd been so nervous—she actually left a hair behind...
Her face went deathly pale, clutching her chest—this time, her heart really did feel like it was about to give out.
Sean fixed his cold gaze on her. "If you come clean today, maybe everyone will remember we're comrades and settle it quietly. If you refuse to admit it, we'll have to send this hair to my Royal Father—then the Celestial Emperor can give Lord Hades a proper explanation!"
She said nothing.
"Looks like Jenna Summers doesn't want to settle this quietly," Lucia Lu said. "Then let's go! It's rest day, but His Majesty the Celestial Emperor is probably reviewing papers right now—he should be at the Palace Guard Barracks!"
"No!" Jenna covered her face. "Fine, I admit it—it was me!"
"You!" Ian Yan's face turned red with rage. "How could you? Do you know how long it took me—ten thousand years to form that Yin Core, so I could inherit my father's title as Lord Hades! Now you've stolen it, I'll never be able to succeed him! You even made my father so angry he's bedridden!"
"I'm sorry... I just wanted to get better so badly... I couldn't stand the pain of heartfire burning me every day!" Jenna said, looking genuinely remorseful.
"Your illness is cured now! Hurry and give me back my Yin Core!" Ian Yan demanded.
"The Yin Core was used for alchemy—it's gone now..." Jenna replied.
"That can't be! A Yin Core cultivated for ten thousand years—even if you used the formula, it should only lose some of its yin energy, not just be refined away, right?" Lucia Lu asked, puzzled.