A religious cult

Queen Ariel looked at Master Woon. She sprang up and ran to seize Master Woon's hand, drawing him a happy face towards the lovely queen. She bowed at him and called him uncle! Everyone looked at them, surprised. Why does she address him as an uncle?

Master Woon patted her shoulder. When he rolled his eyes upward, he realized everyone was giving him a weird stare. He cleared his throat, "Ariel is the daughter of the underworld lord, the princess of the moon."

All eyes rolled towards Ariel. She is the daughter of the underworld lord? He looked at the shaky smiles appearing on their faces. Pondering deeply, and it's time for him to reveal to them his real identity. "Yes, she is the daughter of the underworld lord and I am her uncle, the brother to the underworld lord. I am actually an immortal from the hell realm."

"Ariel is the princess of the moon and I am the goddess of the stars." He explained.

While everyone is still maintaining silence, trying to digest the information. He asked, "Do you have any more questions?"

In a little while, he shifted his gaze towards Yoona, Sora, and Leah. "Immortals are not supposed to reveal their identity in the mortal realm. It's strictly against the law. I do not have any intention to hide the truth."

In a quivering voice, he continued, "You brats here have a strong curiosity. Of course, I know, to all of you, not knowing is the most painful kind of suffering. Today, I decided to break the rules to reveal the truth."

His mind flashed back to the moment when he slept with a brothel name, Mei-Ling. She gave birth to triplets - Yoona, Sora, and Leah. He does not want to tarnish Mei-Ling's reputation by calling her a brothel. He made up a story, "I was caught having a relationship with a lady from the human realm. So, I am here in the mortal realm to serve my punishment. Yoona, Sora, Leah, I am your real father. The lady I had a relationship with is your mother."

Yoona, Sora, and Leah stood frozen. Tears welled up in their eyes. He walked closer to them. They hugged him and called him, "Father!" Everyone else in the room felt emotional about the reunion.

Queen Ariel knew his uncle could read the mind of a human being. She cleared her throat and thought in her mind, "Uncle, did my father really punish you to stay in the human realm?"

Master Woon looked at Queen Ariel. He could read her mind. He delivered a message into her mind, and only Queen Ariel can hear it. "Ariel, I got tricked by Melvin. He fed me a horny elixir and I had to look for a brothel to ease myself. I can't be telling my daughters that her mother is a brothel!"

Queen Ariel laughed when she realized Melvin tricked Master Woon. She finds it funny. Others were looking at her wondering why she was laughing. She gave a reason, "My uncle is a shy guy. He is afraid of getting involved in a relationship. Who would imagine that he would have three daughters?"

Yoona, Sora, and Leah chuckled. They began to pester Master Woon to find out more, "Father, I am intrigued to know. How do you meet mum and how did you get in a relationship with mum?"

Master Woon glared at Queen Ariel. Queen Ariel rolled her eyes and left the room.

The sun is glaring ferociously in the sky of Ningbo. The newly enthroned Queen Aliyah informed King Yafei about her friends from Shilla. Her beautiful friends came to visit her in Ningbo and she planned to take them around the beautiful country for a tour.

King Yafei hosted a banquet and instructed his servants to prepare a sumptuous feast for the guests. He invited Queen Aliyah and her friends from Shilla to join the banquet. Queen Aliyah persuaded the dull-witted king to invite his ministers too. She wanted to be a matchmaker. He actually preferred to check them out by himself but then, he can't refuse his queen.

The ministers appeared in the Ningbo grand palace after receiving the invitation from King Yafei. They were wondering what the banquet was all about. The attendant of King Yafei gave them a hint that beautiful ladies will join the banquet and they were excited.

The sun is setting down gracefully in the dusk of the day. The banquet begins with several dancers performing for the guests. Palace maids entered the hall, they walked toward the guest to serve them drinks and starter meals.

King Yafei lifted his cup of alcohol, to give a toast to the guests. He announced, "My lovely queen had beautiful friends and they were single!" The king chuckled and said, "If anyone is interested to have concubines, please do not be shy to voice out!" He instructed the attendant to announce for Madam Huang and her apprentices.

The palace guard opened the door. Madam Huang, Beatrice, Sarah, Jamie, Donna, and Ella step into the hall and bow to everyone to give respect to them.

While they were sipping their drinks, they spewed and spit up their drinks. They jumped in horror when they looked at Madam Huang and her apprentices. For a moment, they thought they had seen ghosts! That's because they are still having a spell on them, if they put on their makeup, they will appear to look like ghosts in the eyes of men.

Queen Aliyah wondered why the men jumped in fear and maintained a distance from them. King Yafei explained to Queen Aliyah "They ain't no beauty, my queen. They all looked like ghosts! I thought I was in hell." The ministers nodded repetitively in agreeing to the king.

Ella, Sarah, Donna, Jamie, and Beatrice felt humiliated. They explained to Queen Aliyah, "Sister, you have to help us! The men in Shilla jumped in fear too when they looked at us." Queen Aliyah invited them to sit close to her. They sat around Queen Aliyah and told her everything that was happening in the Shilla.

King Yafei was utterly disappointed. He imagined beautiful fairies coming down from heaven to perform a dance for them. But what he just saw is just a bunch of horrible looking ghosts haunting them down in the banquet hall.

He looked at Queen Aliyah, "If these are beauties, I think you need to get a royal physician to check your eyesight." She felt humiliated. In her mind, she was thinking that someone had cursed them.

"Your majesty! My eyes are fine! I believe they must have been cursed! Maybe witchcraft." Aliyah declared.

To prove that her words are right, she instructed all the servants to come forward. She requested the servants to describe honestly the appearance of her apprentices.

The male servants responded, "They looked spooky, horrifying and ugly looking ghosts."

But the female servants responded, "They were beautiful ladies."

Queen Aliyah looked at King Yafei, "The male looked at them as ugly, but the female looked at them as beautiful. Don't you feel weird?"

They found it awkward too and started to believe Queen Aliyah. Many questions appeared on their mind, who is cursing the ladies? Are they really beautiful? Is this for real?

Queen Aliyah asked, "Does anyone know any powerful shaman in Ningbo that can help to break the curse?" A moment of silence. Practising witchcraft is strictly prohibited. Ministers do not dare to discuss shaman in the presence of the king.

Out of a sudden, King Yafei voices out, "There is a religious cult in this country. I was investigating them not long ago. A few of my concubines have put some blood into my drink, they were hoping to get more affection from me. When I yelled at them, they confessed that they had consulted the leader."

Queen Aliyah raised her eyebrow. "Interesting. Maybe I should go visit and find out from them if they could break the spell."

The prime minister spoke out to defend the king and the queen, "We have concluded that the religious cult is just a team of people gathered to perform a ritual together with great devotion. It was nothing against the law."

Queen Aliyah smiled at the Prime minister. That's what she was hoping to hear. An idea came into her mind, she thought that this is an opportunity for her to earn money.

After the banquet, she met one of King Yafei's concubines, Nora. She asked Nora about the religious cult. How can she find them? Where are they? She tried to find out more from Nora.

Nora is not willing to tell her, "It has been a long time, I forgot." Her response drives Queen Aliyah mad. She knew that she was not willing to tell her.

The fact is, not only Nora but all other concubines were not happy with Queen Aliyah. They have been waiting for a long time to be the queen of Ningbo. After many years of marriage to King Yafei, the king has never promoted them to higher ranking consorts. But he made Aliyah the queen instantly at the wedding.

Aliyah took the jug of alcohol from the table. She poured it on her head and threw the jug to the floor. Nora gasped in shock, "What are you doing?" Queen Aliyah slapped Nora.

Nora exploded and fought back against Queen Aliyah. She slapped Queen Aliyah and pulled her hair. Nora had long fingernails, it scratched on Queen Aliyah's face.

Queen Aliyah screamed for King Yafei and complained to him that Nora was bullying her. King Yafei summoned Nora. When Nora appeared, he slapped Nora hard. Nora fell to the ground. King Yafei stepped on her face and said, "If you will hurt my queen again, I will release an instruction to behead you and your family in public."

Nora cried in grief. She was the favourite consort of King Yafei. Now, he demoted her to be a slave and instructed her to be working for Queen Aliyah as her maid.

When King Yafei and Queen Aliyah left the chamber, she groaned in tears. Not long after, Aliyah's servant approached Nora. She informed Nora that Aliyah is waiting for her in her chamber. Worried that King Yafei will behead her, Nora rubbed the tears from her face, walked toward Aliyah's

Queen Aliyah instructed Nora to clean the floor. While Nora is using damp clothes to clean the floor, Aliyah asked Nora, "Do you remember now the location of the religious cult?"

Nora realized why she was punished by Queen Aliyah. It is because she told the queen that she had forgotten. To her dismay, she reveals the location to Queen Aliyah. She drew a map and gave it to her.