Prince Ling saw the Emperor staring at him with a dark expression.
Inside, Prince Ling was furious at his subordinates for bungling the mission.
Hadn’t he ordered them clearly? If they didn’t act, they were to remain still. But once they made their move, they were to leave no one alive.
So how had three of them managed to escape?
Prince Ling hurriedly fell to his knees.
“Father, there must be some misunderstanding!”
“Your son would never do anything that would cause brothers to turn against one another!”
“Someone must be taking advantage of this situation to frame me!” Prince Ling quickly shifted the blame.
“Ever since your son ascended to the position of Crown Prince, there have been people in court who refused to accept me!”
“A few days ago, I was suddenly attacked. Yesterday, An'er and Ning'er encountered the same thing.”
“Father, all of this proves that someone is deliberately targeting me!”
“Father, I’ll investigate the matter immediately and give you an explanation!”
Prince Ling wore an expression that seemed to say, “I’m terribly wronged—but I won’t say a word about it.”
Prince Rui was unwilling to let it go.
“Father, Second Brother keeps claiming that he was attacked, but did anyone actually see it?”
“Fourth Brother, you and your wife suffered an undeserved calamity, and Second Brother feels terrible about it.”
“But An'er and Ning'er are your nephew and niece as well.”
“They’ve gone missing. Would I really lie about their safety?” Prince Ling said, his face filled with anguish.
Disdain appeared on Prince Rui’s face.
“Second Brother, your Imperial Guards practically turned the entire capital upside down yesterday, didn’t they?”
“So? Did you find them? No, you didn’t!”
“It was obviously you who deliberately had people disguise themselves as assassins and abduct Xiao Yun'an and the others.”
“Then you deliberately spread the news that they had been kidnapped by villains.”
“After that, you searched the entire city on a massive scale, using the opportunity to send troops against us!”
“Second Brother, Second Brother… What a ruthless game you’ve been playing!”
“We’re all your biological brothers! As the saying goes, ‘Though born of the same roots, why should we destroy one another?’”
Prince Rui’s eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like a trapped beast.
“Yesterday, the Imperial Guards fired flaming arrows into Prince Rui’s Residence and even brought people over the walls.”
“Your sister-in-law’s health was already poor, and the fright caused her to miscarry last night!”
“That was my son! In just a few more months, he would have been born and called me ‘Father’!”
As Prince Rui spoke, he clenched his fists tightly. His voice choked with emotion, and his entire body trembled.
“Father! Father, you must give your son justice!”
“And your unborn grandson, whom you never even got to meet—he died an unjust death!”
After shouting those words, Prince Rui collapsed onto the floor and wept bitterly.
The ministers outside the hall all wore sympathetic expressions.
Prince Rui had only one daughter and no legitimate son.
He had finally been expecting a legitimate son, only to lose him!
The enmity of having one’s child killed… Tsk, tsk, tsk…
Prince Ling froze for a moment.
When he had heard that Xiao Yun'an and his sister had disappeared yesterday, he had been extremely anxious.
Just as Prince Rui had said, he had indeed taken advantage of the search for his children to make his move.
So what? They might suspect him, but they had no evidence.
“Father! Your son absolutely could never do such a thing!”
“I spent all of yesterday in the palace handling official business. I only learned about An'er and Ning'er’s disappearance when the guards came to report it to me.”
“Fourth Brother must have misunderstood! I absolutely did not send people disguised as assassins to take An'er away!”
Prince Ling felt extremely fortunate. Luckily, he had not left the palace yesterday.
Otherwise, he would have found today’s situation much harder to handle.
“Someone, go to the Crown Prince’s residence and take a look,” the Emperor ordered calmly.
An Imperial Guard quickly vanished outside the hall.
There were blocks of ice in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, making the floor cold.
Prince Ling had injured his lower back in the past. After kneeling for a while, the old injury began to ache faintly.
The chill from the floor crept steadily upward, as though it could freeze a person solid.
It had been a long time since he had knelt.
He couldn’t understand it. Yesterday, he had clearly ordered his most trusted men to carry out the mission. How had they failed?
According to his plan, the younger brothers gathered in the hall today should all have been dead.
Where exactly had things gone wrong?
Could one of his trusted aides have betrayed him?
Prince Ling’s face shifted from green to white and then back again. He looked absolutely dreadful.
The Imperial Guard soon returned and knelt outside the hall to make his report.
“Your Majesty, this subordinate went to the Crown Prince’s residence. The heir and Commandery Princess Anning are sleeping soundly inside.”
“What? Impossible!” Prince Ling was utterly shocked.
“I questioned the servants. They said that the heir and Commandery Princess Anning returned to the Crown Prince’s residence last night.”
After saying this, the Imperial Guard hesitated.
The Emperor saw it clearly.
“Speak! What else is there?” he barked.
The Imperial Guard lowered his head.
“On the way back, this subordinate encountered people from Prince Pingyang’s Residence.”
“They said Princess Changle was pursued by assassins and has disappeared. Her life or death is unknown!”
A commotion broke out as the ministers began whispering among themselves.
The heir and Commandery Princess Anning, who had supposedly gone missing, were safe and sound, sleeping at home.
Yet Princess Changle had disappeared!
Compared to Prince Ling, who had mobilized large numbers of people to search for the heir, Prince Pingyang had neither power nor influence and could only send servants out to search in every direction.
What a miserable situation!
The Imperial Guard saluted and stepped aside.
Prince Ling felt a fierce killing intent pressing down on him from above.
Cold sweat broke out across his back.
“Second Son, you’ve truly disappointed me!” the Emperor said, his voice ominous.
“I made you Crown Prince because I hoped you would secure the empire and lead our dynasty to greater glory!”
“But look at what you’ve done since becoming Crown Prince. What contributions have you made to the court? What have you done for the common people?”
“First, you lost the hearts of the ministers. Then you harmed your own brothers!”
“Second Son, is murdering your father your next step?!”
The Emperor’s shout made Prince Ling flatten himself against the floor in terror.
“Father, your son has never had such intentions!”
“Father, your son has been wronged!”
Prince Ling clenched his fists tightly, forcing himself to remain calm.
“Father, your son has not done well enough. I will certainly mend my ways!”
“I have only just become Crown Prince, and I wanted everything to be perfect. That is why I was especially strict with the ministers.”
“As for what happened yesterday, I was too occupied with official duties and neglected the matter.”
“Someone below must have misunderstood my orders, which led to this irreparable situation.”
“I will certainly make amends to everyone. Even if I have to visit them personally and kneel to apologize, I will do so without complaint!”
After Prince Ling finished speaking, he clenched his back teeth tightly.
The most important thing for him now was to preserve his position as Crown Prince.
As long as he remained Crown Prince, there was still hope.
“Second Brother, you make it sound so easy!”
“Sixth Brother was slashed three times, and Seventh Brother’s leg has been crippled. Do you think kneeling and apologizing can make up for that?”
Prince Rui immediately shot back.
“And what about my unborn son? How are you going to make amends for him?”
“Right—and Princess Changle. She is Big Brother’s most precious treasure.”
“If she has died as well, Second Brother, what could you possibly offer to make up for that?”
Prince Rui’s voice grew louder with every sentence until his words echoed throughout the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
