The Understated Dragon Lord novel Chapter 103

Sophia was well aware that Chris's indifference towards having another child stemmed from having Isabella as a daughter. He didn't show much interest in expanding the family.

Daniel took out the little clay pot and poured out the used Fate Seeker. Sophia burst into laughter at the sight. With a look of disdain, she mocked Daniel, “What on earth is that thing?”

“Fate Seeker,” Daniel replied simply.

“Fate Seeker?” Sophia eyed the shriveled remains of the Fate Seeker in Daniel's hand. “Its head looks like a long-horned beetle, and its body like a cicada. This insect sure is weird.”

River Yu chuckled derisively. “This so-called ‘Fate Seeker’ is not a natural creature; it's a man-made object, and this cheat is using it to deceive people.”

“Man-made?” Sophia looked at River Yu with anticipation. “Master Yu, do you know how this thing is made?”

Sophia had no sway over Isabella, but Daniel was just Isabella’s assistant, practically her underling. If she couldn't get to the master, she thought she might as well settle the score with his dog to make herself feel better.

"What high-level skill could you expect from a country bumpkin? He probably just twisted off the head of a long-horned beetle and the body of a cicada and glued them together. That’s how he made this so-called ‘Fate Seeker’,” River Yu sneered.

“The Fate Seeker isn’t glued together—it’s bred from long-horned beetles and cicadas. I may have intervened in the process, but it’s definitely a product of nature. If you use it as a medicinal ingredient, I bet it could even cure cancer. Naturally, it’d be much more expensive than a cancer drug. Just this one here could sell for at least a million!”

“What curse I've cast? Mr. Chris is not cursed at all—he's just having heart trouble. Quit spewing nonsense!”

River Yu suddenly seemed to have an epiphany and stroked his white beard thoughtfully. “I see now, you country bumpkin want to play tricks, trying to get me to acknowledge some imaginary curse!

There’s no curse on Mr. Chris to start with. Are you planning to grind that insect corpse into powder and feed it to Mr. Chris? After you feed it to him, you’ll claim that any bugs in Mr. Chris’s stomach were killed by your ‘Fate Seeker,’ so there’s nothing to show. But your Fate Seeker is useless in the first place. Of course, it shouldn’t be poisonous — if someone ate it, at most, they’d just feel a bit sick.

I've seen plenty of these old tricks. Trying to deceive me with this is futile. Even Mr. Chris has been in the business world for decades; how could you possibly fool him, you country kid?”