Hana went completely silent for a second, her mind rapidly recalibrating the data. Beside her, Ren was already beginning to rant, his black-striped tail thrashing as he shouted about how other local villages had lodged the exact same complaints for months.
But Hana wasn't listening to the leopard. She was looking at the High Sovereign.
Lord Kaelen doesn't know, she realized, her internal ledger shifting. It's not an act. His knowledge is completely blank on this matter. The old fox is clean.
If the High Sovereign of the Crimson Line was entirely ignorant of an underground trafficking ring operating forty meters beneath his own throne, then the culprit had to be someone with high-level access who could warp the perimeter with high tier illusions to hide the secret.
Right on cue, a sharp rustle of crimson silk broke the silence. Celene rushed to Lord Kaelen's side, her eleven bright red tails flaring out in a frantic, dramatic wave.
