Chapter 104: Traitor among us
Mira’s heart dropped. It felt as if someone dug a hand in her chest and ripped it out of her.
The entire farm. . . The entire thing they worked so hard to accomplish was utterly destroy. New tills on the soil in a messy opposing direction uprooted the seeds and some of it already seemed to have sprouted.
Mira’s eyes watered. Between her legs hurt yet she was standing and on the verge of collapsing for an entire different reason than her body ache. "Who would do such a thing?" She whispered, her voice cracked. Everything about this situation was unfair. This was supposed to be something to help these people, who among them would be so evil to ruin it under a few hours?
Was it out of hate for her? They could hate her but not so much as to do something this dire that would affect them for a long time.
Ming Tao stood in front of Mira and his eyes examined the ground. He fumed. "Xie Zhi!" Ming Tao thundered. A cheetah ran to his side and bowed.
"Yes, mighty ruler?" The man called Xie Zhi said.
"Summon all the cheetahs who works on the field last night as well as those who were not asleep at the appropriate hour last night." Ming Tao ordered.
Xie Zhi’s body tensed. "Y. . . Yes, mighty ruler." He gulped. That was not a one man job. "Would you be so kind to add men to aid my delivering of your command faster, mighty ruler?" The man requested. His entire body shuddered at this. It felt like a century passed before him as he waited for Ming Tao’s final word.
"Take some men with you. And do not delay." Ming Tao worded. Xie Zhi let out a sigh of relief.
"Yes, mighty cheetah." With that, he shifted and bolted. Ming Tao’s jaw clenched. He turned to look for his wife and walked to her. Mira let her body fall on his when he was by her side.
"Ming Tao," She began, her eyes glistened with tears. It rolled down her cheeks in an endless stream. "Why is this happening to me?" Mira questioned. She felt so defeated. She invested so much into this and seeing it destroyed in such a short time shattered her. It had barely been a day, whoever did this had an ally or more and they were intentional about it.
Ming Tao wrapped his hand around her shoulder, closing her body onto his. He used his thumb to brush her cheeks lightly to dry her tears but each time he wiped, more flowed. It broke him to see her that way. This entire situation vexed Ming Tao to the bone.
"It’s not your fault." He consoled. He rubbed his had on her arm. "We will get to the bottom of this and have more security next time. Please don’t cry." He worded.
Mira sobbed. She wanted to not let this get to her but it did, and so damn much. "I can’t help it." Mira worded amidst tears. She buried her head into Ming Tao’s fur coat. "But I do not want anyone to see me this defeated either Mira added. The cheetahs would dine on her misery. Who knew what else they would do if they knew little things got her teary? Mira did not want to imagine it.
Ming Tao took his hand off her arm and placed it at the back of her head. She stroked down her hair carefully, sizing the entire farm. Whoever did this terrible thing planned this perfectly. The timing was immaculate and the destruction was done like it was calculated for every seed planted.
And then, there were missing animals. Ming Tao could not tell how many were gone but he noticed the reduction in their numbers. He did not know how Mira managed to get so many animals in such a short time but he knew hunting was no easy task and understood why this would hurt her to the point of weeping and for her sake, he wanted to find the culprit.
"Do you want to head back to my bed chambers? Have some rest and get yourself back together before coming to join me if you still want to after resting." Ming Tao suggested. He did not like seeing her this way and even though he knew she being away from the scene would not change the circumstance, maybe if she was not present to see it first hand, she may think about it less. But that was a massive maybe. "Please. I insist. I hate that you’re hurting this much." Ming Tao squeezed the back of her head gently. It was then he noticed how small her face was. His palm conveyed nearly the entire thing.
"No." Mira mumbled into his fur. She rubbed her face against the fur, drying her eyes onto it. Ming Tao did not complain, he did not mind at all. Mira pushed her face off his chest and looked at him. Her eyes were a light shade of red and still watery but her cheeks were dampened. She swallowed and sniffed. "I’ll be fine. When I am not, I will do as you say but let me stay here to see the entire verdict." Mira sobbed.
Ming Tao could not complain so he nodded and flashed her a reassuring smile. Just then, he heard the sound of numerous footsteps and averted his gaze from Mira. Xie Zhi was headed towards Ming Tao and Mira with a bunch of beast people walking behind him. Ming Tao’s face immediately hardened.
Children. He noticed a few children parading around and he could not tell if this was a purposeful scheme to make the situation less tense than it should be or a coincidence. He was about to find out.
Ming Tao waited for them to reach where he stood. His eyes rested on everyone present and he did a count in his head as he looked at each of them. The exact number of people who worked at the farm yesterday were here.
"I do not remember telling you to bring children along, Xie Zhi." Ming Tao worded first. His voice was calm yet the rage underneath that calmness was easily perceived. Xie Zhi flinched. His body shook with terror and he bowed.
"I will get them away from here at once!" The man uttered.
Ming Tao lowered his gaze to look at the cheetah. It seemed like he let children run around these parts on purpose.
"Do I need to have your ears cut off since you do not listen to orders accurately, Xie Zhi? Or is your free will getting to that head of yours? Would you rather I put you in chains?" Xie Zhi did not dare to look up to face Ming Tao. His body shivered like he was about to shit himself.
"F. . ." The man began. "Forgive . . . Me, mighty cheetah."
Ming Tao had a condescending look on his face as he stared down at the cheetah before him. Mira who was watching in silence placed a hand on Ming Tao’s chest.
"Please, don’t punish him for this. It may not have been an error but people do make mistakes sometimes. Let him off easy, darling." Mira whispered. She had never felt such pity for a grown adult before in her life but here she was sympathising with a specie who hated her guts because it looked like this one was about to let out some natural, unrefined manure onto the ground.
Ming Tao sighed. He redirected his gaze to his wife. "Only because of you." He stated.
This made Mira’s skin erupt with goosebumps. Ming Tao ruled mercilessly and it seemed like they were right to fear him. Yet, another part of him made him approachable to his people where they found it okay to communicate with him with ease. The children loved him too based on how easily they listened to him and stopped throwing rocks at her at his command but this scary part of Ming Tao was one she was getting used to. It seemed like a different man was the one who laid with her the night before.
"Thank you. You are so kind." Mira said to him. The end of Ming Tao’s lips curled slightly before he returned his attention to the man in front of him with a hardened glare.
"Begone. And undo your mistake while you are at it." Ming Tao said.
The man’s body immediately tensed and he mumbled his gratitude before scurrying away. Ming Tao shook his head slightly then faced the crowd. "All of you were present yesterday when my wife and I, your king, joined you in the making of this farm for the benefit of our coalition, and all of you were the only ones who had precise knowledge of where every seed had been planted." Mira already knew where the conversation was headed from Ming Tao’s speech. She swallowed. Ming Tao suspected his own clan and he was making it obvious that he did. This seemed bad. Mira worried if this would interfere with their trust and the last thing she wanted was for them to hate her more because of this but she just stood by his side and watched.
"Now," Ming Tao continued. "I am giving you the chance to confess with the option of mercy. How many among you were involved?"
