Chapter 186: Clan Scorpion?

Zyra was about to what clan when Spice leaped into her arms. The snake had gained some weight, which was noticeable. "Getting fat, are we?" She asked.

Spice looked at her indignantly. "Fat? Fat? I coil with elegance; I glide with precision. I am growing up. Watch your words human, or I will squeeze the insult right out of you."

Zyra snorted. "Spending too much time around Snowy, are we?"

"I will be in the pavilion when you are ready to apologize." Spice hissed and crawled away.

Meanwhile, Malia gave Zyra an estimate of the number of people that would be coming. It would be no less than one hundred. She also slipped Zyra a cup of hot vanilla milk. In response, Zyra smiled and approved the numbers.

Achilles took another sip of water and chuckled, shaking his head at Zyra. "So generous. Careful now, you’re earning so much loyalty from my men that pretty soon they’re going to treat you as the real boss, not me."

"They already do," Bianca chimed in with a sweet, fake smile.

Zyra ignored their teasing and cleared her throat. "Actually, there’s one more person I want to invite here."

Everyone paused. "Who?" Achilles asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Aunt Denea." She replied with a stealthy smile.

The moment the name left Zyra’s lips, Bianca’s eyes went wide. She let out a loud, high-pitched scream of pure joy, leaped over her chair, and threw her arms around Zyra’s neck, hugging her tightly. "Thank you! Thank you, divine maiden! You’re the best! You are awesome."

Hunter leaned closer to his screen, his tone instantly shifting back to business. "If we’re bringing Aunt Denea here, we need to do it cleanly. To avoid suspicion, we should fake her death. Make it look like she fell into the sea or vanished in the flood."

Bianca pulled back from the hug, nodding eagerly. "Yes! We can’t let anyone come looking for her. Oh_ Aunt Denea gets taken to the Smiling children’s park every Saturday morning to play."

Achilles tapped his chin, his eyes flashing with a tactical spark. "Saturday at the park_ perfect. That’s the easiest place to make her disappear. It’s crowded. By the time anyone notices that she is gone, it will be too late. We can even make it seem like she was kidnapped and smuggled over the border into the Aurora Dominion."

Malia hesitated, her face wincing slightly. "Wait_ what about the border security? The security is extremely tight last I heard."

Achilles smirked, waving his hand offhand. "Don’t worry about that. Rocket told me earlier that the border patrols are relaxing their guard because of the upcoming tournament. Nero can easily slip her past the gates and take another path through the wild lands, delivering her here."

Malia sighed in relief, leaning back against the table. A sudden look of inspiration crossed her face. "You know_ seeing all of us like this makes me wish we could form our own clan for all humans, with no class specifications. If we all united, those arrogant high-borns wouldn’t stand a single chance against us." She paused, looking around the room at the high-borns present, and added with a timid wave, "No offense, of course."

Achilles shrugged. Bianca clapped once and nodded. Even Hunter on the screen just took another casual sip of his wine. None of them took offense_ they all knew how unfair the world was to those born in the lower class.

"I’m serious!" Malia’s eyes brightened with excitement. "We could form our very own legendary faction! The_ Scorpion Clan!"

Bianca clapped her hands together enthusiastically this time. "Or! Scorpio Clan sounds way cooler! There are too many Scorpion clans in every nation."

Zyra shook her head, thoroughly amused by the sudden shift in atmosphere. She turned toward the kitchen corner where Nanny Rosita was calmly pouring tea into small porcelain cups.

"Nanny," Zyra asked, raising a brow, "what on earth did you put in the tea today to make these women think crazy?"

Nanny Rosita merely smiled peacefully, handing Zyra a plate of freshly baked scones. "You are a powerful Soul maiden. You deserve a clan."

Hunter’s voice broke through the laughter on the screen, his tone dropping several degrees into something much darker. "Zyra. Did you see the news footage of Ocean’s team earlier?"

The playful mood in the room vanished in an instant. Zyra’s face twisted into a glare. "I saw it. My uncle and my dear brother were part of the group. It seems, they’ve officially joined hands with the mayor to hunt me down."

Hunter’s expression turned icy cold through the projection. "Keep your guard up at all times. Give me a little time, and I’ll find a clean way to take them all out for you."

Bianca stopped mid-chew, looking back and forth between Hunter’s dark expression and Zyra’s calm face. "Wait_ Hunter_ even her uncle and her brother? You’re going to eliminate them too?"

Zyra picked up her teacup, took a slow, cold sip, and looked straight ahead.

"I don’t care what happens to them," Zyra said flatly. "They are not my family."

On the screen, Hunter’s lips curved into a sharp, uncompromising smile. "Got it." He took that as the ultimate green light. He would not hurt Ian if he didn’t have to but, he would let him know that Zyra had someone to protect her and not afraid to kill.

Bianca leaned forward, tapping her fingers against the table, and abruptly changed the subject. "Alright, enough with the bad people. What’s your other plan for the dew fruit Divine maiden? We have to continue the search." If they found it, Zyra could give her some rewards and she would continue her job as Mother Christmas. After the flood, low-borns would need all the help they could get.

Zyra let out a heavy, bone-weary sigh. She glanced at Achilles, then shifted her gaze to Hunter, before leaning back."Which of you," She asked calmly, "has actually been to the Bandaris Honey Farm?"

A thick silence fell over the room. Everyone stopped what they were doing, their eyes locking onto her like she had suddenly grown horns on the head.

Unbothered by the stares, Zyra took her time before speaking again. "If I fail to find a mid-level venomous python, I’ll just replace it with a venomous queen bee."

For a second, nobody moved. Then Bianca burst out laughing, followed closely by Achilles. The two of them laughed so hard they looked like they were listening to total gibberish.

Bianca waved her hand wildly in the air, trying to catch her breath. "Okay, okay! Let’s just pretend for a second that you somehow sneak in without triggering their high-level security. How, in the heavens, are you planning to carry a venomous queen bee out of there?"

Zyra didn’t want to share the secret of her Beast domain, so she had to pretend to be confused.

Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Zyra_ you haven’t actually seen these bees, have you?"

Zyra shook her head honestly.

A collective groan echoed through the room. Now they understood why she was talking like sneaking out a venomous queen bee was as easy as picking apples from an orchard.

Malia raised her hand. "Why? What’s with the bees. I haven’t seen them either."

"They aren’t normal bees," Achilles deadpanned, crossing his arms. "They measure about 682 meters. You can’t make one disappear without someone noticing. You can’t carry it out. Forget it."