Unicorn Cleared of Guilt!?

"You're insane! Yinfei! You're completely insane!" Lanmo's eyes widened in anger, his dragon teeth grinding together in fury.

"Although you were fortunate enough to awaken fire-type powers," Yinfei's voice carried a cruel sense of superiority. She unfurled her enormous dragon wings, covered in magnificent silver-white scales, and slashed through the air with her Dragon Claw—

Buzz!

A sound like shattering glass echoed throughout the cave! Countless magical prism barriers appeared out of thin air! They were not physical objects, but like giant transparent glass walls, they divided and cut the spacious cave into independent compartments of varying sizes, like a mirrored maze!

Arcane Prism!

Yinfei hovered in the center of the prism field, its voice piercing through layers of magical mirrors, carrying an all-encompassing declaration. "Under my Arcane Prism, any magic will be distorted, reflected, attenuated, and ultimately annihilated! I am the bane of spellcasters!"

She let out a shrill, maniacal laugh, "Give up the resistance, Lanmo! Offer your neck for slaughter, and I'll grant you a quick death!"

****

Inside the Pansy Command Center.

The four sat around, racking their brains, but still couldn't figure out the "real culprit." On the ceiling, Qiluo remained hanging upside down.

"Waaah... Why won't you put me down yet!" Qiluo swayed in mid-air, kicking her bound hooves in grievance and dissatisfaction.

"The problem is, there aren't any other suspects at all," Su Ming rubbed his temples, replying with a hint of helplessness. "So our current focus is on examining these clues that point to your innocence, looking for any loopholes we've overlooked."

"..." Qiluo was speechless. This couldn't go on!

A thought flashed through her mind, and a figure suddenly appeared! "Wait!" she cried out, turning to the crowd with a start. "There are still people! There are!"

"Oh?" Zijin's voice carried a chilling undertone, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Tell me, who is it?"

"It's... it's Princess Dafulin!" Qiluo's voice trailed off, and she herself felt a lack of confidence.

Princess Dafulin? Su Ming quickly tallied up the possibilities in his mind:

Objectively speaking, the princess did indeed come into contact with us during the White Bone Train journey.

She either personally witnessed or was nearby in many of the scenes. As the person in charge of the aftermath of the battle in the Northern Lands, she had a very detailed understanding of the battlefield, directly arranging for people to clean up the traces and handle the aftermath.

Dafulin herself possesses extremely strong connections and financial resources, enough to hire many master painters.

Therefore, the logical chain seems to hold up to a minimum: Princess Dafulin secretly commissioned Master Rank painters, including "The Melancholy Cavalryman," to create this exquisite picture book by combining on-site information and descriptions with reasonable imagination—and it was not created by the poorly drawn "trainee" Qiluo.

The only question is, why would the esteemed Second Princess of Cold Mountain create a picture book with such content—did she have a motive!?

Su Ming didn't hesitate and chose a direct approach. He immediately sent an inquiry letter to Princess Dafulin of the Northern Lands Bubing City via a magical communication array.

About half an hour later, Dafulin's reply arrived.

In the communication, Princess Dafulin did not make any excuses and readily admitted that she was in charge of the matter, and expressed her sincere apologies for the trouble caused!

Along with the one hanging upside down from the ceiling, the five people and one beast looked at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief.

Qiluo... so after all this time, she really was wronged?!

"It really wasn't me?" Qiluo felt more and more aggrieved as she thought about it, and large tears welled up in her eyes.

Regarding the details of this matter," Princess Dafulin stated in her correspondence, "I arranged for the creation of this picture book. The original purpose was to use His Majesty Bone King Gown and the Scholar Bay Owl's exploration of the Northern Lands as a promotional starting point, to launch an official picture book showcasing the magnificent scenery of the Northern Lands — 'Northern Country Landscape Inscription' —to promote the development of tourism in the Northern Lands and add a unique topic of conversation and appeal."

"To this end, I specially hired the renowned mainland illustrator ' Melancholy Cavalryman ' to create the artwork, and entrusted the experienced publisher ' Sang River Illustration ' to be fully responsible for the project's execution and publication. However, it is very regrettable that I failed to discover and effectively intervene in the stylistic deviations that occurred during the creation of the album. I personally take full responsibility for the failure to strictly control the final content of the book."

"We sincerely apologize for the infringement caused by this negligence and are willing to provide compensation. We also promise to immediately recall all copies of this catalogue circulating in the market."

"Davlin!" Zijin pronounced the name slowly and deliberately, her teeth grinding together. "I don't want any compensation from her! After this is over, I'll deal with her myself!"

Su Ming frowned slightly; he still felt something was amiss. But since the princess had so readily admitted everything, there was no reason to doubt the innocent Qiluo any further.

He immediately put down the unicorn.

As soon as Qiluo's four hooves touched the ground, she cried even louder. Su Ming had no choice but to comfort the wronged unicorn, promising to immediately deliver the hawthorn cake she had promised some time ago, before she finally calmed down.

"Where can I get hawthorns?" Su Ming sighed in distress, watching Qiluo run away.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the unicorn, which was clearly whimpering, had a light, quick gait.

"When Hansite left Grodno port, he bought a lot of dried fruit, including hawthorns," Jielusi told Su Ming.

"Dried hawthorn berries will do too," Su Ming said.

****

The Princess's Office in Bubing City.

Princess Dafulin leaned back in a high-backed velvet armchair, her slender fingers holding a cup of steaming black tea.

Outside the window, the cold wave had finally receded, and warm sunlight poured onto the rooftops of the buildings in Bubing City, which were arranged at varying heights. The thick snow slid off, revealing the outlines of the eaves and various colors below. The whole city seemed to awaken from its deep winter slumber, and once again radiated a vibrant array of colors.

"Your Highness," the secretary standing by reported, "Regarding that album... I'm afraid the plan to retrieve it will be very difficult to implement."

"Hmm?" Dafulin took a sip of her black tea, her delicate brows furrowing slightly with a hint of confusion. "Didn't they only sell a couple hundred copies? That should be easy to manage, right?"

The secretary gave a knowing, wry smile. "Collectors and enthusiasts in the market... are as shrewd as foxes. If a recall order were actually issued, it would immediately ignite their buying enthusiasm, even leading to a frenzy of hoarding!"

"... Does this mean that the more we try to reclaim it, the worse things will get?" Princess Dafulin said helplessly, putting down her teacup.