"Mrs. Qiu, you may now speak of everything you know."
Mrs. Qiu paused briefly before responding, her voice thick with hatred. "Your Highness, Cui Qian doesn’t just have twelve skeletons in his possession. There’s another—a male corpse—buried in my dowry estate in the outskirts of the capital."
"Mrs. Qiu, have you lost your mind?"
At her words, Cui Qian became frantic, shouting at her in fury.
But Mrs. Qiu didn’t even glance his way.
"If Your Highness doubts me, simply send someone to dig at the location I’ve described."
Song Yu gestured, and the hidden imperial guards immediately set off toward the place Mrs. Qiu had indicated.
"The greatest mistake of my life was marrying a venomous snake like you!" Cui Qian spat.
Mrs. Qiu’s sharp gaze turned toward him.
"And the greatest mistake of mine was marrying a beast like you."
"You have a preference for men, yet you married me to continue your family line. Then, because of some wandering monk’s prophecy that the Cui family must not bear daughters, you forced me to abort my unborn girl."
"When I couldn’t conceive again, and your lover refused to let you take concubines, you resorted to unspeakable evil—using little girls for rituals. The very thought makes me sick."
Her words struck everyone present like thunder.
Each syllable was beyond belief.
Cui Qian’s mouth opened and closed, but all he managed was, "You’re slandering me."
Mrs. Qiu laughed, tears streaming down her face. "You had portraits made of twenty girls and brought them to me, asking which features—eyes, brows, noses—I thought our future child should resemble..."
"It was me! I picked out those thirteen portraits."
As her darkest secret spilled out, the tears in her eyes turned red—she was crying blood.
Mrs. Qiu had completely lost control.
She lunged at Cui Qian, clawing at his throat like a madwoman. "Within a month, twelve of those girls appeared before me. You claimed their families needed money, that you pitied them and hired them as maids to give them wages."
"But you killed them. You took their heart’s blood and made me drink it."
"What else could I do but feign madness to avoid that cup of human blood?"
Cui Qian gasped for air, but Mrs. Qiu only tightened her grip.
"Mrs. Qiu, death is too merciful for him."
Song Yu’s words drained the strength from her body.
She seemed to age twenty years in an instant.
"I chose those girls. I doomed them," she murmured. "These years of pretending insanity revealed the truth—he kept them locked in my dowry estate. And his lover’s bones are buried there too."
"Your Highness, if such a man goes unpunished... then Heaven itself is unjust."
She kowtowed repeatedly, muttering her sins.
Her forehead split open, blood staining the ground.
"Take her away."
Song Yu rose slowly and approached Cui Qian. "I feared Mrs. Qiu’s testimony alone wouldn’t suffice, so I brought another witness."
As he spoke, he patted Cui Qian’s cheek.
"Don’t faint yet. The show isn’t over."
......
Just as Cui Qian regained his breath, a young man burst in and kicked him square in the chest.
"This commoner has acted rashly. I beg Your Highness to punish me."
The witness was the youth found in Luan County.
His eyes burned with fury, especially after hearing Mrs. Qiu’s account. He longed to cut down the beast before him.
"Look closely. Is this your sister in the portrait?"
The sight of the image brought fresh tears to the young man’s eyes.
"Your Highness, this is indeed my sister."
He repeated verbatim what he had told Song Yu earlier.
Then, he turned to the crowd outside the yamen.
"I heard this beast slandered the princess as his accomplice. What nonsense!"
"This peachwood charm was given to my sister by the princess herself. The princess was originally one of his targets, but she outsmarted him and knocked out his lackeys."
The youth spat in rage. "The princess isn’t an accomplice—she’s a lifesaver!"
His righteous words made the crowd bow their heads in shame.
So... the Prince of Qin’s explanation outside the Qin Prince’s Mansion that day had been true.
And what had they been doing all this time?
The families of the victims collapsed to the ground. They had mistaken their savior for a villain.
They had hurled curses for days.
And she was a royal princess...
The sound of the gavel rang out. Song Yu watched the crowd’s reactions coldly, his entire presence icy.
"Now the evidence is complete. Cui Qian, do you have anything to say?"
Lowering his voice, he added, "I’ll find your lover’s bones... and feed them to the dogs."
Cui Qian gasped, but before he could speak, Song Yu struck his neck, knocking him unconscious.
"Too noisy."
"Court adjourned."
......
As Song Yu left the yamen, the people surrounded him.
"Your Highness, we... we wronged the princess. We deserve punishment."
One person spoke first, and soon, more knelt in apology.
Song Yu glanced at a distant carriage, masking the darkness in his eyes.
"The princess saved my daughter. She is our family’s benefactor. For this great kindness, we would give our lives to protect her."
The words made the sunlight feel unbearably harsh.
"Twelve skeletons, yet the Dali Temple only received five missing reports." Song Yu’s voice silenced the weeping. "If you truly loved your daughters, you wouldn’t have so easily slandered another’s child."
With that, he strode toward the carriage, leaving the crowd kneeling in silence.
News of the trial reached the Zichendian.
Emperor Yuanyou sat on his throne, his sickly demeanor gone, replaced by imperial sharpness.
"Your Majesty, the princess’s name has been cleared."
The emperor acknowledged with a hum. This case had exposed too many monsters.
It was time to settle accounts.
An hour later, Song Yu and Song Shihuan stood before the emperor.
Father and son locked eyes as Song Yu spoke slowly:
"Father, what kind of crown prince do you wish for?"
