Chapter 272
Chapter 272
“I don’t have one,” Xia Zeqin said, his expression dark.
Fang Kang’s eyes widened. “You don’t have what?”
“I don’t have a quest!” Xia Zeqin snapped, finally losing his patience.
Fang Kang froze for a moment, then turned to look toward the ballroom entrance.
There were no NPCs left over, yet Xia Zeqin claimed he hadn’t triggered a quest. Confused, Fang Kang could only turn to Jian Fan.
By now, he had more or less figured out who the leader of this group was.
Jian Fan had no interest in responding, but since this concerned Xia Zeqin…
He glanced at Xia Zeqin and said, “He’s probably telling the truth.”
The moment Fang Kang heard that, he let go. Xia Zeqin crashed to the floor, his face dark as thunder. The way he stared at Fang Kang, it was as if he were looking at a corpse that couldn’t possibly get any deader.
Fang Kang remained completely oblivious.
“He doesn’t have a quest? Why?” Fang Kang asked in confusion as he walked toward Jian Fan.
Jian Fan had no intention of explaining it to him.
He was busy reading the fragments.
When Jian Fan ignored him, irritation flared inside Fang Kang. He was about to do something, but before he could act, Yang Zhen and Lu Jing stepped forward and blocked his path from either side.
Fang Kang fell silent.
There was nothing he could do.
Fine. A wise man knew when to back down. He chose to keep quiet.
Qin Weiyi glanced over, then quickly looked away and turned to Jian Fan. “Well? Did you find any clues?”
Jian Fan had finished reading the fragments and handed them straight to Qin Weiyi. “See for yourself.”
When the eleven fragments were pieced together, they formed a short story.
Before handing them over, Jian Fan had already arranged them in order from beginning to end.
The first fragment told of how the Prince owned a pot of begonia blossoms and how he met the Little Princess.
“The Prince and the Little Princess fell in love at first sight.”
That was what the fragment said.
“The two quickly fell deeply in love, and their families began preparing for their wedding.
“The Little Princess was immersed in happiness.
“But as she spent more time with the Prince and came to know him better, she gradually sensed that something was amiss.”
Qin Nan leaned closer to Qin Weiyi and happened to catch the next part.
“The Little Princess noticed something strange about the Prince.
“Then she discovered the strange pot of begonia blossoms in the Prince’s palace.”
The story itself was actually very simple.
Just like in a fairy tale, the Little Princess and the Prince fell in love at first sight. Everyone gave them their blessing, and they were about to begin their happily-ever-after. But that was only on the surface.
Behind all that happiness, the Little Princess discovered that the Prince seemed to be nurturing a strange pot of begonia blossoms with human lives.
Perhaps the Prince truly did love the Little Princess.
After all, the short story explicitly stated that the Prince had fallen in love with her.
But after the Little Princess discovered his secret, the Prince imprisoned her.
This was the scene described in the fragment they had found at the beginning.
The Little Princess said to the Prince, “In the end, you’re nothing but a failure.”
Enraged, the Prince locked the Little Princess inside the birdcage.
“Countless lives had been sacrificed in that birdcage.
“This time, it was the Little Princess’s turn.
“The Prince brought the begonia blossoms out of his palace and placed them beside the birdcage.
“As though they had come alive, the begonia blossoms rapidly twined around the birdcage.
“The Prince asked the Little Princess one last time, ‘As long as you keep this secret, I can let you go. You will still be my wife.’
“The Little Princess closed her eyes and gave no answer.”
The Little Princess chose not to become the Prince’s accomplice. In the end, as expected, she died inside the birdcage.
But the story did not end with the Little Princess’s death.
“After the Little Princess died, the birdcage claimed many more lives.
Until one day…
Begonia blossoms burst into bloom, completely enveloping the birdcage.
A soft sigh drifted from the sea of flowers.
‘What is your wish?’
A clear female voice rang out from among the begonia blossoms.
Without the slightest hesitation, the Prince answered, ‘I want supreme power.’
The voice among the begonia blossoms fell silent for a moment. Then she said, ‘I can bring the Little Princess back to life.’
But the Prince remained steadfast. ‘I want supreme power.’
The woman among the begonia blossoms sighed, then finally said, ‘Walk through that door, and you will obtain what you desire.’
The Prince left.
He became the king of the nation and gained supreme power.
But it wasn’t long before his wish backfired on him.
When the rebel army stormed the palace, the Prince returned to the birdcage.”
The fragment they had found earlier came after this section.
The birdcage had already decayed, and the begonia blossoms had withered. In the end, the Prince left with a smile.
That was how the story ended.
It never said what ultimately became of the Prince, but with the rebels invading the palace, his fate wasn’t hard to imagine.
After Qin Weiyi finished reading the entire story, he frowned. Then, seeing Mu Xin, Lin Junruo, and the others waiting eagerly beside him, he handed the fragment over to them.
“The story is complete now, but I still don’t see what it has to do with leaving this world,” Qin Weiyi said.
Jian Fan was also deep in thought.
“There’s nothing else unusual about the fragment. The answer should be somewhere in the story,” Jian Fan said.
Qin Nan began turning the story over in his mind as well.
“The story isn’t particularly complicated. The begonia blossoms must have been able to grant wishes. The Prince fed them lives and blood because he wanted supreme power. The Little Princess discovered what he was doing, and when the Prince had to choose between love and power, he chose power without the slightest hesitation. The Little Princess died, and the Prince successfully brought the begonia blossoms to maturity. But that wish…” Qin Nan paused, then continued, “Did it have a time limit? The Prince did gain power, but his wish never specified how long he would keep it. It wasn’t long before the wish backfired on him. Did he return to the begonia blossoms because he’d realized that? Or did he regret the Little Princess’s death?”
“The Prince probably went back to make another wish, but he didn’t expect the begonia blossoms to have already withered,” Qin Weiyi added.
Qin Nan nodded. “That was probably it. This fairy tale certainly isn’t much of a fairy tale, but what does it have to do with the world we’re in now?”
“The Prince,” Jian Fan said.
“What about the Prince?” Mu Xin had finished reading the fragment as well, and immediately spoke up when she heard him.
Jian Fan glanced at Qin Nan. “There’s a strange Prince in this world too.”
Everyone froze. Then all eyes turned toward Qin Nan.
Qin Nan was baffled. “Why are you all looking at me when that Prince is the one with the problem?”
That Prince was also in love with the Stepmother Queen. Qin Nan was Qin Nan, and he had already broken free of that role, thank you very much!
Mu Xin laughed, but she still helped shift the attention away from Qin Nan. “If Jian Fan is right, then there’s still one very important question. What exactly is the connection between the Prince in this story and the Prince in Snow White?”