"Guest?" Diana moved her eyes vengefully on Harper from head to toe and sneered at her. "What kind of a guest would destroy the host's palace in this way?"
Harper remained unmoved by Diana's disrespectful remark. Rather, she refuted, "In fact, it is me who should be asking this to you. I was invited to attend the Worship Ceremony in your country. However, during the ceremony, I was framed to assassinate Prince Kile of the Wonder Kingdom. Later somehow I got locked up in the library where I was almost about to lose consciousness out of starvation. As if that was not enough, even the library collapsed. Had it not been for my luck being by my side, I would have died and crushed under your palace. Don't you think the South Kingdom should explain everything that I have suffered to me?" Harper reasoned with the two eminent ladies. She had always been very smart in proving her point. Since neither side had any evidence of what really had happened, she could very conveniently narrate her version of the story.
Catherine took a step forward and said, "Lady Harper, please give the Holy Article of our country back to me."
Looking straight at Catherine with meaningful eyes, Harper said, "Your Grace, haven't you used the Holy Article of the South Kingdom as a gift? Look, I haven't received any gift from you. Why are you expecting to take the Holy Article back from me?"
"Lady Harper, please stop beating around the bush. If you hadn't touched the Holy Article of the South Kingdom, the library would not have collapsed in the first place," Catherine said, narrowing her eyes on Harper. Her face hardened and her eyes exuded a lethal stillness. For the first time, she was so exasperated to see how shameless Harper could be.
"Your Grace, could you please tell me how the Holy Article looks like."
"It's a jade pendant," Catherine answered calmly, staring at Harper. "Lady Harper, please give the jade pendant back to me now."
Harper gave an impish smile at Catherine and took out several jade pendants from her clothes. Then she went on introducing the jade pendants to Catherine and Diana one by one. "This is the jade pendant I was given by the royal family on my wedding day. This one is a gift from my husband when he was in a good mood one day. This is the one that my mother left to me. This one, I bought from a store. Which one do you want, please?"
Catherine narrowed her eyes and replied in a colder voice, "Lady Harper, I don't want to fight with you."
Seemingly helplessly, Harper put away all the jade pendants and looked at Catherine with a rather bemused expression. "Your Grace, you're too unreasonable. I was accidentally sucked into the library in your South Kingdom for some unknown reason. Then the library collapsed, which almost killed me. I had a hard time getting back my life, but you're questioning me about something that I have absolutely no clue about. Don't you think you're going too far?"
"Going too far?" Diana opened her mouth at this point. "I don't think so!"
Taking a step forward, Diana warned, "Harper, get one thing very straight and clear. Today, if you don't give the Holy Article back to us, you will not be able to step out of the Starry Palace!"
Harper's eyes flickered for once. At a lightning speed, she made a swift move and grabbed Diana's neck. Then she pricked Diana at her acupuncture point with a needle. Immediately, Diana could not move her limbs. She just stared at Harper in utter disbelief.
"Princess Diana, don't move. I know you are deft at using poisons on others. Pardon me for using this little trick on you. Your Grace, could you please tell your people to step aside?" Harper said, seizing Diana as a hostage. "Otherwise, your beloved younger sister might have to lose her life."
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