Chapter 1184: Image
Kovishik cast Lu Qi Zhen a cold glance and was about to turn away when she spoke softly behind him. "You said you were a duke?"
Kovishik turned back and saw Lu Qi Zhen staring at the emblem on his chest.
"Is that your family crest?" Lu Qi Zhen asked.
"None of your business."
"Just curious," Lu Qi Zhen said softly. "I almost thought it was some prop crew's replica. It looks like an imitation of the Darwi Principality's national emblem, but that family from District 3 died out before it even lasted three generations—I was just wondering, when did this become fashionable in District 12?"
"A replica prop..." Kovishik caught the mockery in her words and sneered. "And which noble family's young lady are you?"
"Ha, what noble young lady? I'm not one... If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd never have known people still took such outdated titles seriously," Lu Qi Zhen said teasingly. "Only District 12 still treats District 3 as its cultural motherland. You can't learn its advanced systems, but you've picked up that obsolete servile mentality with such pride. It's hilarious, worshipping the stinking foot-binding cloth from colonial narratives as some sacred relic... Have you people ever bothered to look at the world outside? Whether it's District 14 or District 1, no one cares about this stuff anymore."
Kovishik choked on his breath. "What nerve... Where the hell did you come from—"
"I have a doctorate from Arent University," Lu Qi Zhen said. "You may call me Dr. Lu."
"...Get out." Kovishik trembled with rage. "Some woman who crawled out of nowhere thinks reading a few books gives her the right to stand here and judge me!?"
Lu Qi Zhen curled her lip and linked arms with Chloe. "The