The Prince of the Water Country choked on his words. Only after a long pause did he manage to squeeze out, "You must have already known that the Princess often wore that ring, so you secretly had someone make a similar one and pretended they were matching engagement rings!"
"You really are bending over backward to make things up about me!" The Prince of the Mountain Country rolled his eyes. "Compared to your feather fan and dagger, which don't match at all, at least my rings actually look like something a couple would wear!"
Just as the two Princes were locked in a heated argument, the players suddenly heard crows cawing in the distance outside the window.
Then the flutter of wings drew closer, and several crows landed on the windowsill outside.
In the dim light, the crows' red eyes stood out sharply.
They all stared into the study, then suddenly let out several more caws.
Twin-Tails was so frightened that she immediately clutched Slightly Plump Woman's arm, keeping her voice very low. "Th-they aren't trying to get in, are they?"
At the same time, Zhao Xun raised his hand and pointed at the two Princes, who were still arguing. "Shut up."
Both Princes fell silent instantly.
As the entire study quieted down, everyone heard another sound.
It was much fainter, yet far more skin-crawling.
It sounded like countless tiny insects crawling across the floor, rustling and skittering.
To make that much noise, there had to be thousands upon thousands of them.
Both Twin-Tails and Slightly Plump Woman turned pale.
Even Earring Woman looked uneasy.
"What do we do?" Twin-Tails was too frightened to make a sound and could only mouth the words.
"Go into the secret chamber," Zhao Xun said decisively. "It's the only place the vines haven't invaded.