Chapter 113 - The Fox Is Prey

"What the fuck is a 'hunt'?" Chu Yun asked, hissing out the question at Hua Nanyi, who only shrugged and kept looking towards the front of the room.

"How am I supposed to know?"

At that same moment, Gu Wei's crystalline voice rang out, "I object to this. How is a hunt going to determine Xiao Zai's involvement in the crime? In fact, as far as I can see, no trial as been conducted. Were we gathered here merely to hear a sentencing?"

The King ignored him and turned towards the judge's panel. "This King will accept his judge's counsel. The Second Prince's honour will be determined through the sacred ritual of the hunt."

Chu Yun tried to catch a glimpse at Xiao Zai kneeling on the floor with his head lowered. He had no reaction to the revelation.

The King addressed the crowd of gathered spectators as a whole: "For the benefit of the foreign friends joining us today, this King will explain the principles that guide a hunt. For us wolves, it is both a reward and punishment. In special occasions, families, or packs, as they used to be called in less civilised times, will gather to hunt prey and strengthen their bonds," he paused for effect, and Chu Yun could have sworn his dark gaze sought out his own, "or to flush out the weak."

He understood Gu Wei's objections now. There was no way something like this would turn in Xiao Zai's favour. The King would make sure of it. If he had insisted on the execution, it would make him look unreasonable and that he was outright trying to eliminate his own son -- it might actually cause some of the ministers Chu Yun had managed to sway to rise up against him.

instead, with this stupid 'hunt', he was 'apparently' giving Xiao Zai a chance to regain his honour. Chu Yun would kneel in the snow for an entire week if all of it wasn't rigged already.

The King paced in front of his throne, as if thinking up the details of the hunt, hands folded behind his back. 

"In this hunt, the wolf members of each household should be allowed to participate," the King said, smiling slowly to himself.

Chu Yun immediately tensed. This left their household at an enormous disadvantage. The only wolves in their home were Xiao Zai himself, Fan Jiang's elderly mother, who obviously wouldn't be competing, Fan Jiang's brother whose health was severely compromised, and who also wouldn't be participating, and Fan Jiang himself, who had been planted there by the King.

Everyone else was a beta human from Su, or Chu Yun!

How long had the King been planning something like this? Or had he just taken advantage of a situation in which the stones were lining up perfectly in his board?

Even if Chu Yun's actions had managed to sway Fan Jiang's alliances, he was only one beta wolf. Xiao Yuan had two beta wolf concubines, and several beta wolf servants.

Looking at all of them lining up behind Xiao Yuan, Chu Yun realised how the King had anticipated Chu Yun to be suspicious of him, and acted accordingly.

When he and Xiao Zai first moved into the estate together, the King had gifted them all beta wolves as well. Determined to avoid spies, Chu Yun had course corrected and gotten all human betas from Su, instead, -- playing right into the King's hand.

Only now did he see how everything was closing in around him. How this trap had been laid for him and Xiao Zai since before they even got married.

And in the middle of it all, Chu Hean, sitting straight-backed next to Xiao Yuan.

As if sensing Chu Yun's gaze, his brother finally turned towards him, his expression unreadable.

"Since his Grace Chu Hean, admitted of his own volition to have acted under the Second Prince's orders, without being fully aware of what he was doing, he won't face any charges for his role in the tragic incident."

Chu Hean bowed his head demurely his expression ambiguous.

It made Chu Yun's blood boil.

"Could his Grace please recount the events of the day of the First Prince's wedding, so that all those gathered here, who didn't participate in the previous day's investigation, can be made aware of the facts?"

Chu Hean rose to his feet, the tapered tips of his fingers brushing against the tabletop. "On the day of the wedding ceremony, his Second Highness expressed his distaste at the prospect of welcoming me as a concubine into his household." He lowered his eyes, with a hint of humiliation and sadness colouring his expression.

Chu Hean was beautiful, and the effect of his performance on the enraptured audience was immediate. Chu Yun had to give it to him, he had managed to fool him perfectly. No wonder he acted so dispassionately about Xiao Zai's rejection, and lackadaisical in general, about becoming a mere concubine.

That was never his plan.

But that wasn't the picture he was painting for the crowd. He sighed in embarrassment keeping his voice low, "I've been in love with his Second Highness since our first meeting at my father's estate -- there was an immediate connection between us," he lifted his eyes shyly to glance at Xiao Zai, who kept looking resolutely ahead, "when he promised me to reconsider accepting me as a concubine if I did what he said, I'm afraid my heart spoke louder than my best judgement."

Seeing as everyone considered omegas to be highly emotional, and easily controlled by an alpha's pheromones, no one questioned his tale. 

The King kept looking at Chu Hean with a benevolent look. "And what did he ask of you?"

"All I had to do was add an expensive looking packet of tea leaves to the piles of wedding gifts," he shrugged, making himself look smaller, "I assumed some recent awkwardness prevented his Second Highness from gifting his brother directly." He bowed first towards the King and then the judges' panel. "This lowly one apologises sincerely for his mistake."

He needn't have bothered, everyone was already well and truly taken with his performance. Chu Yun could only watch this all play out from the back of the room.

The King cleared his throat, returning order to the room after Chu Hean's moving display. 

"As we all heard, the facts are clear. Therefore, I decree that for this hunt, both the injured party and the guilty party will chase the prey, from dusk today, to dawn tomorrow.

"If the injured party catches the prey first: they will be able to decide on the guilty party's sentence. If the accused party catches the prey first, all charges will be dropped, and the injured party will let the matter go and not pursue any retribution for damages suffered."

He paused, enjoying the effect of his words in the room.. "As for who the prey should be, who better than the Second Prince's only spouse?" his eyes zeroed in on Chu Yun and his corner of the room, "His Grace, Chu Miaoyan."