Of course, the reasoning wasn’t actually just that simple. He had actually tested out the fake Dragon King several times along the way. He'd made sure to ask him about the events in the capital. After all, that was the first time he really had interacted with the Dragon King.
There wasn’t anything really wrong about the other things he said, but the reason for why the matter had been left unsettled was wrong. At the time, the Dragon King really had been planning to fight, but because the queen next to him said something, and because of Zu An's relationship with Shang Liuyu, the Dragon King had ultimately decided not to.
Of course, he hadn't really been able to voice that reason publicly, and so the excuse he'd provided was that he didn’t want to ruin the two races’ morale and cause them to go to war. The truth was something only he, the real Dragon King, and the queen knew about. Sure enough, the fake Dragon King had exposed himself there.
Later, Zu An had tried to confirm it again. He'd used the Kawaii Waifu Voice Changer to pretend to be Shang Hongyu in order to call him an imposter. Sure enough, the imposter immediately had a guilty conscience and attacked to silence him, the one who knew the truth.
What else was there to say then? Zu An just had to kill him after that. Of course, explaining all of that would be too complicated, so he just casually responded instead.
However, Shang Hongyu was stunned when she heard that. Then, she stared at him in a daze, her expression turning blank.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Zu An showed off his clothes after they were properly put on. “So? Is there anything weird?”
“No... Nothing is wrong?” Shang Hongyu’s face was red. She looked down, feeling slightly alarmed. Then, she snapped out of her daze and came over to examine it for him. “Alright, it’s pretty much perfect. Later, just act like how I taught you, and no one else will be able to tell that you’re a fake.”
“Then let’s go out now.” Zu An held her hand.
Shang Hongyu took a deep breath. She voiced her agreement, and after sorting out her emotions, she then started to walk out.
...
When the two of them left the cave, the guards noticed the activity and turned around. “We greet the Dragon...”
When they saw Shang Hongyu, they were completely stunned.
What is going on?
“She has already recognized her wrongs and is willing to serve this ruler. The Ocean races cannot lack a queen,” Zu An said curtly.
The reason these individuals had been chosen by the fake Dragon King to come here meant that they were his true trusted aides. They could have come from the same place.
The guards exchanged a look. The guard leader said hesitantly, “But...”
Zu An raised his hand. “Don’t worry, she is already under my control. Nothing will happen.”
He made sure to remember this individual’s face. It seemed there was indeed something wrong with these people.
A group of people flew over toward them, and the one in the lead was none other than Ao Yong. He just hadn't been able to hold back his worry, and in the end, he decided to come over and take a look. The others had also noticed that the Dragon King’s aura seemed to have activated twice, which seemed a bit strange, so they'd also come over to see what happened.
The suspicious leader of the guards thus shut his mouth and swallowed his words.
But when Ao Yong saw Shang Hongyu at Zu An’s side, joy immediately burst from his eyes. He exclaimed, “Queen, did anything bad happen to you?”
Zu An gave him a surprised look.
This guy really does have some feelings for his sister-in-law!
Shang Hongyu forced a smile. She shook her head.
Ao Yong’s eyes then landed on Zu An’s hand that was holding Shang Hongyu’s. His expression immediately became extremely complicated.
Zu An was about to laugh from how ridiculous this was. He hadn’t expected Shang Hongyu to be so charming that she would have a brother-in-law who liked her this much all this time.
Why didn’t she tell me ahead of time?
Zu An then said, “There was a bit of a misunderstanding between me and the queen before. The reason the bounty was placed on her was so that we could find her as quickly as possible. Now that the misunderstanding has already been cleared, the bounty naturally needs to be removed. My queen, if you had explained everything properly earlier, I wouldn’t have had to go this far.”
Shang Hongyu’s face turned a bit pale. She said, “I’ve troubled your majesty deeply.”
Everyone listening had strange expression.
What are you two playing at right now?
Back then, you ordered for her arrest as if you wanted to kill her as soon as possible, but now it was all just a misunderstanding?
Are we all just actors in your marriage play?
But this was still a good thing. Because of this arrest order, the Ocean races had almost been turned on their head. After all, the queen was beautiful and gentle, so she had accumulated a lot of prestige over the years. She had many loyal supporters too. Now that everyone was happy, there was naturally nothing better.
The Ocean race officials looked around and asked, “Is your majesty alright? We sensed that your respected self seemed to have experienced a battle.”
“Where is that human?”
...
Zu An said indifferently, “That human arranged many formations inside and plotted against this ruler. He has already been killed.”
The subjects looked at each other in dismay, wondering if that human had gone mad. Why would he try to fight against the powerful Dragon King single-handedly? Even if he had prepared formations, that would still be no different from seeking his own destruction!
But everyone present was intelligent. They realized that this affair was full of suspicious points, so that human had probably already been silenced by the Dragon King.
What really happened between the Dragon King and the queen? Why are the things that have happened recently so confusing?
When he saw their expressions, Zu An pointed at the cut by his clothes. “That human hid his strength, and he used the power of the formations. This ruler really was almost injured.”
Sure enough, most of their attention was drawn to that.
“Hm? He was actually able to harm your majesty’s clothes? His cultivation is already quite impressive.”
“For him to be so good at formations, could he be someone from the human side’s academy?”
“Hmph, the humans are getting more and more out of hand. Last time, they killed a Great Golden Dragon, and this time, they tried to assassinate his majesty. Do they really think that we of the Ocean races are pushovers?”
...
When he saw that their attention was successfully diverted, Zu An sighed in relief and said, “You should return to the palace first. I am going to spend some time with the queen nearby.”
He definitely couldn't return with these guys. After all, he couldn't just sweep everyone around him right to the Dragon Palace with the power of the sea like the real Dragon King. Even though he could achieve a similar result with his power and the Blue Mallard skill, there were so many strong cultivators here. They would definitely sense that the skill was different. He couldn't take that risk.