Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Ginko looked at his partner Gale with a solemn expression.

"I am also concerned about the same thing."

"Hmm…"

"But that is just one more reason why we need to kill the snake as soon as possible and destroy all shreds of evidence linking us to her."

"Wait. Do you mean…"

"Yes. We need to finish off that elf as well."

"But isn't she a daughter of one of the Crown Prince's Generals? And not to mention the Queen Consort, whom the Crown Prince is expected to wed?"

"Hmm… We don't have to worry about that. The princess herself gave a wonderful idea for explaining all of this."

"Huh? Are you serious?"

"Yes. We will tie it all to the dwarven emissary murders."

"We have to slit their throats in the same way and naturally the blame will fall on the same suspect as well."

Gale nodded. 

No matter how much he thought about this, he as well couldn't comprehend any other way out of this mess.

Once you have dared to enter a lion's cave, you don't have any other option but to fight the lion head on!

While these two goblins were busy updating their plan, Tang Yue continued weaving through the tree branches in the forest, searching for the familiar cave entrance.

Since she was somewhat closer to the cave she had used on her previous trip, she decided to take shelter inside it this time as well.

The snake searched around for a while before locating the familiar mess of shrubs and thickets, and the cave hidden well within them.

But once she slithered towards its entrance, Tang Yue hesitated slightly. "Hmm…"

Previously, the cave was very well hidden covered by numerous plants and creepers.

In fact, she could only enter inside and exit the cave using her serpentine form.

But this time around, something felt different. 

The cave was still sufficiently hidden, but there was a huge gaping hole on one corner.

After hesitating for a while, Tang Yue decided to at least check what was inside.

At the first signs of danger, she could always disappear into the notorious thicket surrounding the cave. 

So she cautiously slithered on one of the creepers wound against the cave and peeked inside using her small head.

The cave was luckily completely empty and even looked untouched.

"Hmmm? As long as it's empty!" She shrugged and entered inside.

Her entire body was aching and she desperately wanted to rest a bit before heading out again.

So she didn't think too much about it and snuck in.

Once inside, she reverted back to her human form and took out her mid-grade sword, prepared to slash down any intruder stepping into the cave.

She then cozily leaned against a corner of that small cave and took out a blanket from her space pearl, wrapping herself with it.

"This will do!"

The pale blue snake lazily yawned and settled comfortably in the damp dusty corner.

Watching Tang Yue's actions from a distance, the two goblins huddled together on another inconspicuous tree branch.

"Shall we attack now?" Gale asked. There was a sense of urgency in his voice.

After all, among the two royal consorts, this was the easier kill!

"Her body is fully covered with injuries. On top of that, she is quite weak to begin with." 

"It is definitely not necessary to spend any further time here." 

All said and done, Gale hated working with Ginko the most, even though the man was his good friend and he had known him for a long time.

This friend of his was always just a bit too cautious for his own good!

"Shhhh. Not yet. Did you see those tracks around the cave?"

Ginko's sharpened eyes darted here and there as if they were seriously searching for something.

"Oh! I almost didn't notice." Gale wiped his sweating forehead and exclaimed.

To call them tracks was actually going overboard. 

In the vicinity of that small inconspicuous cave, there was a small inundation on the ground.

Within that small hole, that too half covered by a dried-up leaf, was hidden a small paw print.

Though the footprint itself was well hidden, once found, it could easily be traced to a wild bristle wolf.

"Mmm. That's why it's always better to be cautious before jumping into things." Ginko tossed out his famous pearl of wisdom. 

The goblin loved to advise everyone in the association using this single statement as the main basis. 

Sometimes even to the point of annoying the other person. But since he was quite strong, no one dared to beat him up.

"Ok. Ok. You are the boss. We can attack whenever you want." Gale immediately agreed with him, mostly to shut him up.

Even though there was a paw print, it was still just a mere bristle wolf's footprint, a low-grade beast! 

There was really no need to be this cautious. But he didn't want to argue with the mad man.

And hence, the two goblins ended up waiting again, patiently eyeing Tang Yue and the cave entrance.

Meanwhile…

"Achoo." The beautiful and enchanting elven lady Charlotte sneezed loudly.

"He He. It looks like his highness is thinking about you." Charlotte's friend Rosalinda nudged her playfully and chuckled.

"Oh! Stop teasing me, you dufus." Charlotte coyly smiled. Her pale cheeks however had a lovely pink hue on them.

The two elven ladies, along with their other three friends chatted and relaxed, while the servants accompanying them pitched the tents and set up the campsite for the night.

Unlike Tang Yue and the goblins who were spending the night like beggars, using elements of nature to take shelter within the forest, the elves traveled in style.

They had an elaborate set up for their convenience.

Charlotte had thoroughly arranged for everything.

She had specifically picked these four experts to accompany her on this trip since they were all her distant cousins and close friends.

But more importantly, they were accomplished hunters who have participated multiple times in the beast horde purging battles that occur every lunar cycle.

So even if Tang Yue used all of her tricks, there was simply no way she could escape her fate this time around. 

The queen consort was absolutely sure of this!