Hidden genius: Black belly snake

"Greetings, your highness." Tang Yue bowed, ignoring Charlotte who was still clutching her one hand.

It was nothing she didn't expect beforehand, so Tang Yue was not very nervous. She held a steady demeanor, neither subservient nor arrogant.

"Your highness, sister Yue has really put quite a lot of effort in picking out this gift for you." 

Charlotte excitedly mentioned, clearly intending to praise Tang Yue in front of the crowd.

Although it only ended up increasing everyone's expectations. 

Someone even scoffed and commented on her brown-nosing behavior!

"What do you mean she has put in a lot of effort?"

"Everyone had indeed put in a lot of effort. How is she any different?"

Charlotte immediately looked embarrassed and tried to smooth things over, as if she didn't intend to ruffle them in the first place.

"Ah~ Sorry. Sorry. I misspoke." She apologized on Tang Yue's behalf, making the latter look sort of frigid and haughty.

Tang Yue only sighed in response. She hadn't even uttered a word and so much theatrics was already underway.

She didn't bother indulging the crowd and bowed once again, greeting the Empress, who was the only one that mattered in this place.

The Empress as well looked impassive to the gossip amongst the crowd and smiled slightly, returning Tang Yue's greetings, though her behavior and reactions were very obviously different than how she had treated the other elven consorts.

The snake didn't dwell on the small things and quickly retrieved the amethyst bracelet she had prepared beforehand and humbly handed it to the Empress.

It was a beautiful piece of jewelry with fine craftsmanship, each gem polished to perfection.

But as the saying goes, one man's treasure is another man's trash.

The item that Tang Yue had prepared still lacked and was in a totally different class and elegance compared to the other gifts.

So when she took it out and gifted the pedestrian looking jewelry to the Empress, almost everyone gasped with unsightly expressions on their faces. Only Tang Yue had a straight face.

She really didn't have anything else to give! What was she supposed to do? 

Re-gift the mid-grade sword that she had borrowed from the palace or part with her high-grade beast?

Tang Yue refused to do either of those and shamelessly gifted whatever she had. 

After all, unlike the women here, she was neither interested in gaining the favor of the Empress nor becoming the next Queen consort.

Tang Yue didn't have a clue as to how the almighty Empress might react, but in the worst-case scenario, there will probably be a bit of humiliation and name-calling.

She was not a stranger to either of these and would gladly accept this punishment rather than parting with something precious and useful to her.

However, contrary to her expectations, the Empress still portrayed a gracious smile as she accepted even the humble gift without any sarcastic remarks or sneering comments.

Because of the Empress's reactions, the crowd was also forced to control themselves and not ridicule the penniless snake public.

Charlotte looked slightly disappointed at the outcome.

Just like she had expected, the snake had brought something ridiculous as a gift, but it must have been acceptable enough for the Empress to not get offended.

So she could only curse her bad luck.

But this was not the only preparations she had done, so she soon recovered and brought out the typical shy melancholic smile on her soft cherry red lips.

Tang Yue was also surprised for an instant. This was not something she had predicted.

Lucky her! The Empress must have been in a good mood today!

She quickly smiled and bowed, preparing to leave, before things could take a turn for the worst.

But unfortunately… she was still not fast enough…

While Tang Yue was busy paying her respects to the Empress, someone else had been equally busy as well.

"Ahhhhh!" A loud scream suddenly sounded from one corner of the garden, the place where Tang Yue was seated earlier.

"Look there, the pup is lying on the ground!Lifelessly!"

"It is still breathing but its skin and eyes are turning bluish-black."

"This definitely points to signs of poisoning."

"Who could have done something like this to an innocent mongrel?"

"Hey, wasn't the snake consort playing with it just a while back?"

"Shhhh… Not so loudly."

"But do you think it's her? We need to quickly identify the source of poison to find a cure for it. Otherwise, the pup might really die!"

Accusations directed at a certain someone started flying around in the air and steadily gained a momentum of their own.

No one knew who started it but suddenly everyone began pointing their finger at Tang Yue.

Isabella's face instantly fell. 

She loved the pup quite a bit and was only willing to part with it for the sake of her relationship with the Empress and the prospect of becoming the future queen consort.

But to watch it die like this? She would never allow for such a thing to happen!

She hurriedly stomped over to Tang Yue, who was still standing near the Empress, and raised her hand in a fit of anger.

Isabella had completely forgotten that she was in the presence of the Empress and was fully prepared to land a few dozen slaps on Tang Yue's face.

But Tang Yue was not someone to keel over that easily.

With her high agility, she casually caught the hand that was about to slap her and held it in place.

This action seemed to tick Isabella even more and she shouted furiously. 

"I have done absolutely nothing to you. Why did you have to sabotage me like this?"

"I need an explanation right now! Why would you go as far as to harm an innocent pup?"

"Couldn't you have simply spilled tea or wine on my dress to make me look bad? Did you have to be this cruel and heartless?" 

She shouted, clearly agitated and livid with anger.