Miss Huo Er walked to the seat next to Huo Xiaoxiao and sat down, but ended up facing Shi Tou directly.
Shi Tou stared at her blankly for a while. She couldn't be sure if the girl in front of her was really Huo Yi, because she had only met Huo Yi a few times back then, and it had been so long. So long that she had completely forgotten what Huo Yi, who was only 7 years old at the time, looked like.
"Are you Huo Yi?" Shi Tou remained silent, lost in his memories, but that didn't mean Han Shiyi would fall silent as well. After all, whether the other person was the real Huo Yi or not, she and Shi Tou didn't look alike at all.
Oh no, that's not quite right. Huo Xiaoxiao and Han Shiyi both look like they're of mixed race, Huo Xiaoxiao's being more obvious, while Han Shiyi looks more like an Asian. Shi Tou and the girl opposite him, on the other hand, are of pure Asian descent. They're essentially purebred East Asians.
Tsk tsk, even people of Asian descent have nationalities! You know, in her previous life, Stone had absolutely no liking for a certain people who painted a huge blob of menstrual blood on a white sheet as their national flag, so don't expect her to have any liking for people of Asian descent.
"Yes. I am Huo Yi." The girl opposite her raised her head slightly, but did not meet Han Shiyi's gaze, and answered softly.
"Wow! If you're Huo Yi, does that mean I'm blind or I've lost my memory too? Tsk tsk, you've only been missing for two years, and you've become like this?" Han Shiyi, always the most venomous, had already sensed something was amiss. Huo Xiaoxiao bringing her to see this so-called Huo Yi was definitely up to no good.
Ahem, this ill intention isn't directed at her, so...
"Sister, what's going on?" Hearing Han Shiyi's words, even the stupidest person would know that Huo Xiaoxiao had set her up. She completely ignored Han Shiyi and turned to question Huo Xiaoxiao.
Huo Xiaoxiao raised an eyebrow: "What's wrong? Isn't this Miss Han Shiyi your good friend? You two used to be in the same Dou Qi branch of Imperial Capital Academy, and your relationship was so good that even I, as her older sister, am jealous! Little sister, you don't even remember her?"
Upon hearing this, the girl's expression changed drastically. She bit her lip, not daring to look up at Han Shiyi. However, her gaze towards Huo Xiaoxiao was filled with malice: "Sister, I remember Dad said that I'm not allowed to see my old friends until I regain my memories!"
"Oh? Is that so? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot." Huo Xiaoxiao said without any sincerity: "By the way, the Han family and our Huo family are old friends. Just treat Miss Han Shiyi as my friend, don't mind."
The girl was trembling with anger, but couldn't think of anything to say in response. However, after a short while, she suddenly smiled and said, "Sister, since you're entertaining your friends, you don't need me to accompany you, right? Grandpa's out today, so I think I'll go to dinner with Dad instead!"
After saying that, the girl left without waiting for Huo Xiaoxiao to stop her. Huo Xiaoxiao stared blankly at her retreating figure, not even noticing that the spoon in her hand had fallen.
"Miss Huo." Han Shiyi called her softly, and Huo Xiaoxiao immediately came back to her senses. However, she did not look at Han Shiyi, but instead turned her gaze to Shi Tou.
Stone sighed inwardly. Perhaps Huo Xiaoxiao already knew who she was back in Ironforge? She wasn't actually well-liked in the Huo family back then. At least initially, only Huo Xiaoxiao truly treated her like a younger sister.
In her previous life, Shi Tou was an only child who envied children with older brothers and sisters. She never expected that after transmigrating to another world, she would first have seven brothers who doted on her, and later have an older sister who treated her like her own sister.
Regardless of how many years Huo Xiaoxiao had been planning to let her replace Huo Yi, Shi Tou could sense that Huo Xiaoxiao truly cared about her younger sister.
"elder sister."
Han Shiyi looked at the stone with a horrified expression, almost screaming out loud.
One of Shi Tou's strengths is that once she's made up her mind, she won't hesitate any longer. Looking around, she belatedly realized there wasn't a single servant in the small dining room. It seemed Huo Xiaoxiao had intended to be frank from the start.
"So you finally admit it?" Huo Xiaoxiao looked at Shi Tou calmly. "What should I call you? Miss Shi? Serena? Xiao Yi?"
"Sister, you know everything? In that case, you should also know that I'm currently a wanted person." Shi Tou pursed her lips, not wanting to answer Huo Xiaoxiao's question. She also found Huo Xiaoxiao's calmness somewhat unacceptable. Once upon a time, the two sisters had such a close relationship, so close that they could talk about anything and even sleep in the same bed.
But what about now?
Shi Tou felt that whether she admitted it or not didn't matter much anymore. Some things, once lost, can never be regained. But when exactly did it all begin? After thinking back, Shi Tou suddenly remembered the communicator Huo Xiaoxiao had slipped into her hand before she left.
The communicator was still there. Stone took it out of the ring's storage space. It was exactly the same as it had been two years ago, except that it would never light up again.
At that time, Huo Xiaoxiao actually wanted her to come back, right? The danger had been eliminated, and the royal family never announced that the sixth princess, Doragar, had been abducted. They only claimed that the sixth princess, Doragar, had passed away due to illness, and that the royal family no longer had her.
The reason she was looking for the stone was not because she had abducted the sixth princess of the royal family, but because her identity had been exposed and the royal family finally discovered that she was the real sixth princess who had been sent away all those years ago!
“You don’t believe me.” Huo Xiaoxiao’s gaze also fell on the communicator in Shi Tou’s hand. Her expression was somewhat moved, but she held back. “At that time, you must have seen the royal family searching for you elsewhere, right? So, you suspected me. You thought that I might have betrayed you and reported you.”
The stone did not open.
"You even think that the communicator was a trap, and that I deliberately lured you back, right?" Huo Xiaoxiao's speech slowed down, and by the end, she was choking up.
Stone remained silent, but her expression didn't look much better.
"What's wrong? Aren't you going to explain?" Huo Xiaoxiao stared intently at Shi Tou: "Explain? I'm listening!"
Han Shiyi felt like the superfluous person at that moment, while Huo Xiaoxiao was like a wife who had caught her husband cheating. Of course, Shi Tou was the... cough cough, the cheating... husband!
With a sigh, Stone finally spoke: "There's nothing to explain. Everything you just said is correct. You... you've hit the nail on the head."
Huo Xiaoxiao choked on her own blood, staring at Shi Tou in disbelief. She hadn't expected him to admit it without even struggling. What was she supposed to say next?
"Sister, I'm the fake Huo Yi. Wasn't that the real one? Don't worry, I'll definitely help you, but I'll never pretend to be Huo Yi again." Shi Tou hesitated for a moment, then decided to be frank with Huo Xiaoxiao: "Now, can you tell me what exactly happened in the past two years?"
☆, Chapter 263 The Three Kingdoms in the Imperial Capital
Huo Xiaoxiao hesitated for a while, but finally told Shi Tou everything. Actually, she had originally wanted to tell him everything, otherwise she wouldn't have deliberately sent the servants away.
However, it must be said that what Huo Xiaoxiao told was quite shocking. Not to mention Shi Tou, who had been away from the capital for two years, even Han Shiyi was stunned.
The six major families of the East have certainly been busy these past two years. The Qin family, in particular, has close ties to the royal family!
The current Queen is from the Qin family, and she is the biological daughter of the current head of the Qin family. It is said that before her marriage, the Queen was extremely favored at home. And indeed, after becoming Queen, she has greatly benefited the Qin family.
The whole thing started with Shi Tou. Two years ago, she abducted the sixth princess, Doragar. Actually, before she took action, Ishiyu had already told Ishizuki everything. At first, Ishizuki didn't want to get involved. Everyone in the royal family knew that the sixth princess, Doragar, wasn't the real princess. But at that time, no one expected that Shi Tou was the real princess.
By the time Yi Siyue realized what was happening, it was too late. With Huo Xiaoxiao's help, Shi Tou successfully left the capital. Originally, after Yi Siyue told Huo Xiaoxiao the truth, Huo Xiaoxiao wanted to call Shi Tou back. However, because Shi Tou saw the so-called wanted notice, he didn't choose to return to the capital at all, but instead left the Luo Ming Empire without hesitation.
Little did they know that with the disappearance of the stone, the capital city had already descended into chaos.
It turned out that while the king and queen were preoccupied with the matter of the stone, Ishizuki had secretly entered the forbidden area, a place only the king was allowed to roam. And it was there that Ishizuki learned of the will of Princess Irene, the goddess of magic.
"I may come back, and if I do, I will return to the baby with the same blood."
Huo Xiaoxiao read out Irene's will, word by word, which startled Shi Tou so much that he jumped up: "You're saying this is Irene's will?!"
"Yes. I know you may not understand. But that's how the will is. After the Fourth Prince broke into the forbidden area, he took the will out with him. He even made it public when the six great families of the East gathered at the palace."
"This..." It seems Yi Siyue wasn't lying to her; the royal family abandoned her precisely because they knew she was the reincarnation of Yilin. Or rather, all babies who could potentially be Yilin's reincarnation were abandoned: "But... how do we determine that?"
Reincarnation is something Stone still finds unbelievable. She time-traveled, not reincarnated. And, even now, she has no memories of Irene. Unless... including Baozi.
"Birthday." Huo Xiaoxiao stared straight at Shi Tou: "Eileen's birthday is the same as yours."
"Are you crazy? No, are they crazy?" Shi Tou stared at Huo Xiaoxiao in disbelief. "It's just a coincidence! Besides, how many people in this world are born on the same day of the same month?!"
My goodness! If they were born on the same day, month, and year, the number might be smaller, but if they were born on the same day, month, and year, the number would be enormous!
"Princess Irene's will stated that she would return, and that she would return to an infant with the same bloodline. In other words, Princess Irene's reincarnation can only occur in a descendant of the royal family."
"So what?" Stone rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Where's the evidence?"
Huo Xiaoxiao sighed and gestured for Shi Tou to sit down and explain properly: "The royal family doesn't need evidence at all; they just need to be absolutely certain."
Shi Tou stared blankly at Huo Xiaoxiao, as if flowers had suddenly bloomed on her face: "So, before me, all the children born on the same day of the same month were abandoned?"
"To be precise, they were all killed." As if she felt her words weren't provocative enough, Huo Xiaoxiao dropped another bombshell.
"Kill?"
"The Crimson Forest! Do you really think everyone is as lucky as you to be adopted by the dwarves? Of course not! Those children were all thrown into the Crimson Forest! Do you think an infant with no ability to resist could survive in the perilous Crimson Forest?"
Shi Tou gasped, while Han Shiyi, sitting next to her, was completely terrified.
“You really are an exception. The way the royal family used to deal with these unfortunate children who were born on the same day and month as Princess Irene was to throw them all into the Crimson Forest! But you, because the Queen’s status was very special at the time, before that, she had given birth to two sons, one of whom died and the other was seriously ill. She simply couldn’t bear to send you away.”
"No, something's not right!" Stone abruptly interrupted Huo Xiaoxiao. "I remember very clearly, my mother... I mean, my mother in the dwarf kingdom once told me that at that time, she met a pregnant woman. That is to say, the date wasn't set at all. How did they know I would definitely be born at that moment?"
“There are midwives.” Huo Xiaoxiao looked at Shi Tou with a pained expression. “As long as the approximate time is determined, then you can just wait for the child to be born. The queen at that time was afraid that when she gave birth, it would happen to be that terrible day, so she took the initiative to go to the Crimson Forest before she gave birth.”
The stone fell silent.
"I think at that time, the Queen was probably thinking that if it wasn't that day, she could safely bring the child back. And if it was that day, she would find a way to protect her child."
"So she chose to switch me with Dora Gard?"
"Yes. Doragar is a dwarf; anyone skilled in medicine could tell at a glance. More importantly, dwarves are kind; they won't take their anger out on a baby who knows nothing. And it's quite possible that the dwarves will even think that the humans accidentally switched the babies."
really……
Stone pursed his lips mockingly. Of course, Steel Hammer Daddy and Fat Mommy had always raised her like a precious treasure. They had never suspected that humans had deliberately taken their child away.
"To put it simply, your biological mother never intended to harm you. She just hoped that you could live a good life, even if you weren't by her side," Huo Xiaoxiao couldn't help but comfort her.
Stone almost rolled his eyes: "So you're saying the person you want to harm is His Majesty the King?"
"This..." The only person who could force the Queen is that person, right?
"I just don't understand. Even if I am the reincarnation of Irene, what does that mean? Why do they have to kill me? Why would they rather kill a hundred innocent people than let one go? You know, those children are all the royal family's own flesh and blood!"
Huo Xiaoxiao sighed heavily: "I really didn't know that all of this was the truth revealed by Yi Siyue. Moreover, all the signs indicate that the royal family did this on purpose; they just don't want Yilin's reincarnation to appear again!"
"Well... why don't you two talk slowly, and I'll go out and avoid this for a while?" After hearing what Huo Xiaoxiao had to say, Han Shiyi felt like she couldn't hold on any longer.
Huo Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes: "You've heard so much already, isn't it too late to avoid it now?"
Han Shiyi was on the verge of tears. "You, Miss, didn't say anything beforehand!"
"The Han family is also an ally of the Huo family, so just listen to what I have to say." Huo Xiaoxiao gestured for Han Shiyi to sit down, and then she continued, "The problem now is that Yi Siyue wants to usurp the throne! Moreover, he hopes that the six major families of the East can help him!"
"The six major families of the East should be divided into two factions, right?" Shi Tou suddenly spoke up. This must be why Huo Xiaoxiao said that the Han family and the Huo family are allies, right?
"Yes!" Huo Xiaoxiao nodded firmly: "Now, the Huo family, the Shui family, the Chu family, and the Han family have formed an alliance. Then the Qin family and the Lin family have also formed an alliance."
"This is bad!" The power of the six major families in the East is not equal. In fact, the Qin family alone is as powerful as the other five, and the Lin family is not so easy to deal with either.
"The most crucial thing right now is you!"
"What do you mean?" Stone indicated that she had absolutely no interest in plotting to usurp the throne.
"Now, the king has formed an alliance with the major Western noble powers, while we are divided into two factions. The situation is not good."
Stone was even more confused: "Aren't the king and queen together?"
"Of course not. The king wants to maintain his throne, while the queen and the Qin and Lin families want to support their own third prince as king. Our four families hope to find the reincarnation of Princess Irene, the real sixth princess, and make her queen."
Seeing Huo Xiaoxiao's suddenly fiery gaze, Shi Tou felt a chill run down his spine, his hair standing on end. "Are you... are you kidding me?"
"How could that be?!" Huo Xiaoxiao grabbed Shi Tou's hand and said eagerly, "Xiao Yi, my dear Xiao Yi, you've seen it yourself, my father doesn't like me at all. He only cares about that little vixen who came from a slave background! Please help me!"
Shi Tou struggled to pull his hand out of Huo Xiaoxiao's clutches: "If you want me to help you fight for the position of family head, that's absolutely no problem! But, fighting for the throne..." He shuddered violently: "That's impossible!"
"Why? Once you become queen, no matter how much that little vixen is favored, Grandpa won't let her become the head of the family!"
Stone was about to vomit blood. Queen, oh Queen, besides knowing S*M, what else about her is like a queen?!
"I absolutely will not agree! Absolutely not!"