I Live on the Land in Global Games

Chapter 487: 470 EavesdroppingChapter 487: Chapter 470 Eavesdropping

“Can you really take me in? Can you really provide shelter for me?” Shirley exclaimed with joy.

Having walked for several days, she realized that she had underestimated the vastness of Sunset Forest. A forest that seemed small enough to be covered with one hand on the map, yet she had walked for so many days without seeing the end.

“Of course, we can! You’ll sleep in Laoqi’s bed tonight, and Laoqi, you can squeeze in with Laoliu. We’ll make a new bed for you tomorrow,” the lead dwarf declared, thumping his chest.

The other dwarfs just nodded without saying a word.

“That’s wonderful, I can help you with some simple household chores,” Shirley said.

Living in the forest might also be a good choice, she now realized. Escaping from the Royal Palace and hoping to cross the forest by herself had been a bit too rash.

She needed to learn how to find food in the forest to survive first, and then make further plans.

Compared to the Royal Palace, a place full of indifference and scheming, she preferred the calm and harmony of the forest.

Shirley reached an agreement with the seven dwarfs.

That very day, Shirley moved into the wooden house of the dwarfs.

After she fell asleep, the seven dwarfs tiptoed out of bed and gathered outside the house.

“Boss, why did you agree to let her stay? Although she’s pretty, she is a pampered princess with a big appetite. How much food will we have to share to sustain her?” Laoqi, who gave up his bed, spoke first.

“But she is naive and kind-hearted! She didn’t have a bad impression of us because of our looks,” the boss said.

“What’s the use of being naive and kind-hearted?”

“If she’s naive and kind-hearted, as long as we treat her well, help her, and gain her trust, maybe she’ll be moved and truly kiss our foreheads?” the boss said, “Do you guys really want to hide in the forest forever, living on with these cursed appearances?”

The rest of the dwarfs fell silent.

On the roof, Mu Ying, who had seen it all, also fell silent.

This world, which seemed built on the blueprint of a fairy tale filled with truth, goodness, and beauty, was brimming with reality. It was actually the most evil witch who seemed naive.

It was normal for the dwarfs to help Shirley in order to break the curse.

Mu Ying’s Flying Carpet had been parked on the roof of the cottage for two days. Shirley’s life in the forest, with the dwarfs’ unlimited concessions and eagerness to please, was going quite well.

Mu Ying knew she couldn’t just stay here waiting for the next stage of the plot to arrive, especially now when her mission progress had stalled.

She flew towards Trebia to see if there had been any movement at the Royal Palace since Shirley had disappeared several days ago. Most importantly, she wanted to check on that magical mirror.

When she arrived in Trebia, Mu Ying flew through the streets and alleys, inspecting various bulletin boards, but she found no news about Shirley. It was as if the princess had never gone missing.

The princess was nowhere to be found, and no one seemed to be searching. Mu Ying was unsure whether the Queen was a wicked stepmother, but it seemed the King had little love for Shirley!

In such an environment, for Shirley to have developed such a naive disposition, Mu Ying felt that the stepmother might not be all that bad.

If even her own father was like this, wouldn’t it have been easy for a stepmother to do something nefarious? Look at Cinderella next door; she had suffered so much at the hands of her stepmother. That’s what a wicked stepmother really looked like!

Shirley’s temperament clearly showed she hadn’t faced much hardship in her life.

To know the specifics, one would have to visit the Royal Palace.

But this time, it was a bit more troublesome; the story was still in progress, and it wasn’t appropriate to just grab the King and Queen and interrogate them at the start. If they lied, she might not be able to detect it.

So Mu Ying thought of that golden mirror, which played a decisive role in this story.

And it was also a treasured object that knew everything, she wondered if it could tell her the story?

However, the golden mirror was said to be the treasure of the Rose Kingdom, yet very few people knew what it actually looked like.

With no other options, Mu Ying started by looking through various windows of the Royal Palace Castle to find the Queen’s bedroom.

Then she kept watch outside the window of the Queen’s bedroom.

After all, in the original story, the Queen was particularly vain, always asking the mirror who was the fairest of them all.

But after observing for two days, and even sneaking in when the room was empty to check, all things that could be called mirrors, like the dressing mirror, the makeup mirror, and so on, were all very ordinary, showing no signs of anomaly.

Mu Ying didn’t think it was because the mirror was well hidden that she couldn’t find any clues.

Ninety percent of the supernatural phenomena in this world were related to witches; the remaining ten percent were mermaids, werewolves, and a few naturally magic plants.

This golden mirror was probably no exception and was likely an alchemical product of a witch.

So there was only one possibility, the golden mirror was not with the Queen.

Putting aside the story she originally knew, according to what Shirley said, the golden mirror was originally her mother’s, but it was only after it prophesied the location of a Gold Mine that brought immense wealth to the Rose Kingdom, that it was revered as a treasure.

In that case, it would be normal for it not to be in the Queen’s bedroom.

Apart from a few large balconies at a high location, the windows in other parts of the castle were very small, making it inconvenient for Mu Ying to gather information.

Directly flying into the castle interior on a Flying Carpet was also not feasible—the internal space was too small and it would be too easy to expose herself.

In the end, with no other options, she ran to her Portable Medicine Garden and promptly cultivated some ear beans.

These beans were smaller than green beans, and after being specially processed with magic power, they could be used as eavesdropping devices, with the ear beans serving as little ears, transmitting surrounding sounds directly to their master’s ears through magic power.

But this “eavesdropping device” had a very short shelf life, and only ear beans that had been freshly harvested for less than a month were effective, they always needed to be freshly planted and hastened to grow, which also took some time.

Once the ear beans were ready and specially treated, she hid them in the personal belongings of the King and Queen while they were asleep.

After she finished all these preparations, and was ready to start eavesdropping, almost a month had passed since Shirley’s escape.

The first day after hiding the ear beans brought good news to Mu Ying.

When the King and Queen woke up in the morning, the King asked the Queen, “Is the thing you mentioned ready? We can’t delay any longer.”

“I’ve already made contact, and the goods will arrive soon, no more than three days,” the Queen said.

“Thank you for your efforts!” The King seemed to console her with a sentence, “Call them in now!”

When she heard these things, Mu Ying felt a bit bewildered, not knowing what they were preparing to discuss so early in the morning, before the maids came in.

However, not long after the Queen finished her breakfast, she heard the voice of the legendary golden mirror.

“Golden mirror, is Shirley doing well in the forest?”

“Better than ever, her beauty and kindness have won the favor of the dwarfs, and she is now living with them.”