# Chapter 1453: The Story of Moon City
The young king tried his best to maintain his dignity, but his voice trembled slightly. After he spoke, the guards stationed in the hall became even more tense.
"Why would I do that?" Xu Huo countered. "I made it very clear when I came—I'm here on behalf of the Gem City king to retrieve the Most Beautiful Gem. If you don't want to return it, I can't do anything about it. Why would I kill someone over a stone?"
"But that's no ordinary gem—it's the Most Beautiful Gem." The king retorted, then had a guard pass over a document. "The Most Beautiful Gem we borrowed back then has already been returned. This is Gem City's signed acknowledgment."
The once-torn document of diplomatic correspondence between the two nations was now crumpled and sealed inside a glass frame. The guard cautiously maintained a certain distance from Xu Huo, as if extremely afraid he might damage the already tattered paper.
"This document is genuine." The king said with slight urgency. "Since you were sent by Gem City, you should be able to verify the signature."
"Signatures are easy to forge," Xu Huo said. "This doesn't prove you've returned the Most Beautiful Gem."
"We really did return it!" The king couldn't help but stand up. "Besides this return document, we also have all the correspondence between the Fifth King and Gem City, including the thank-you letter attached when the gem was returned. It was made in duplicate—one copy sent to Gem City, one kept in Moon City. If you don't believe me, I can show you everything!"
Xu Huo thought for a moment after hearing this. "Letters are indeed harder to forge. Especially if you have a reply letter from the Gem City king."
The king immediately ordered the guards to fetch them, but a man dressed like a duke stopped him. "Your Majesty, we've already shown these letters to outsiders many times. No one believes them."
The young king held onto great hope. "What if he believes this time?"
Then he lowered his voice, "Uncle, I don't want to die..."
The guards quickly retrieved the letters and brought over a table and chairs. Xu Huo began reading through these documents right at the entrance.
Although Moon City had now reached its Tenth King, that didn't mean the Fifth King's reign was so long ago. In fact, the Fifth King's term had only lasted a few years. It was in the final stage of his reign that he borrowed the Most Beautiful Gem from Gem City to view, leading to the refusal to return it.
However, judging from these letters, the process of borrowing and returning the Most Beautiful Gem had gone quite smoothly. There was no conflict between the two sides.
"Since you say you've already returned the Most Beautiful Gem, then what is being displayed tomorrow at noon?" Xu Huo looked up and asked.
"That is Moon City's gem." The king said. "This is a story from long ago. Would our guest like to hear it?"
Since he was already here, of course he wanted to hear it.
Thus Xu Huo learned the background of the Most Beautiful Gem borrowing and returning incident.
This matter actually began with Moon City's Third King. This king had no interest in government affairs and couldn't stand staying in the castle. He pushed all administrative matters onto his younger brother and became obsessed with searching for gems, often running around outside the city. After one period of three months with no news at all, he suddenly sent back a box. Inside the box was a white flowing-light gem the size of half a fist, along with a letter.
The letter mentioned that he and his companions had found this type of gem in a remote, rarely-visited deep mountain. This gem was different from others—it was perfect from any angle and could emit a stronger, more dazzling light than other gems, especially when placed in sunlight.
He decided to make this gem the symbol of Moon City and informed his brother that he would gradually send the other gems back.
Over the following months, the Third King sent back a white gem every so often. When he sent the last gem, his letter mentioned discovering an unprecedented white gem—the most beautiful white gem ever seen. He also included a drawing and said he would personally bring this gem back to the city.
However, a month later, one of the Third King's attendants brought back tragic news. On the journey, someone coveted the Most Beautiful Gem, got them drunk, and stole it. When the king woke up and learned the gem was gone, he became possessed, searching everywhere for it. After searching fruitlessly for a long time, he returned to the deep mountain where he had originally discovered the gem, hoping to find another one. Unexpectedly, he was attacked and killed by a wild beast, and his body was never fully recovered.
This dealt a heavy blow to Moon City. However, as a nation surrounded by forests, Moon City frequently experienced wild beast attacks. It could only be called a tragedy.
Later, the king's younger brother succeeded the throne, becoming the Fourth King. Grieving his elder brother's death, he sealed away those white gems and did not follow his brother's wish to make them the symbol of Moon City.
But by chance, a merchant from Gem City mentioned seeing an exceptionally beautiful white gem in the king's castle—one that could emit light in the darkness.
Thus the Fourth King began trying every possible way to gather information about Gem City. However, the Gem City king kept that gem tightly hidden, and since that gem was the remainder after equal distribution among the entire city's population, he wasn't sure of its origin and couldn't make inquiries to Gem City.
During this time, he also sent people to Gem City, but none succeeded in seeing that white gem. It wasn't until relations between the two nations gradually improved that the Fifth King's borrowing of the gem came about.
The Gem City king agreed and even took the initiative to send people to deliver the gem to Moon City. However, after seeing it, the Fifth King found nothing remarkable about it. That white gem was similar to the white gems sealed in their warehouse and didn't achieve the beauty described by the Third King.
After long deliberation, Moon City ultimately concluded that it was merely a white gem from the same source—perhaps someone else had found it in the deep mountains, not the one stolen from the Third King.
However, after Gem City's escort team left, rumors spread through the castle that the Gem City king had stolen the Most Beautiful Gem. Some guards who had seen the white gems in the warehouse and knew about the Third King's story insisted that since no second white gem of that kind had appeared anywhere else in such a long time, the Gem City king must have stolen the Most Beautiful Gem.
Although the Fifth King strictly ordered everyone in the castle not to mention this matter again after returning the Most Beautiful Gem, the guards and maids still passed the story by word of mouth.
The rumors caused no real impact. Just as the Fifth King thought this matter could be put to rest, rumors suddenly spread from Gem City that Moon City had borrowed the Most Beautiful Gem and never returned it. Before the king could investigate, a group of outsiders arrived in the city, took him hostage, and demanded the Most Beautiful Gem.
The king talked until his mouth was dry and presented mountains of evidence, but still couldn't convince the outsiders. He had no choice but to take out a white gem and hand it over.
Unexpectedly, the outsiders returned just two days later and began a massacre within the castle.
(Chapter End)