Empress Lu had been plotting how to steer evidence toward Xiao Yan without suspicion since sending Jin Zhi to the Lu estate. But before she could act, news arrived: Guo Shi was dead.
“How?” the Empress demanded.
“Suicide.” Jin Zhi trembled. “The Black Armor Guards raided the Lu estate. They found Qin Xin and the evidence. Lady Guo stabbed her own throat with a hairpin before everyone.”
Relief flooded the Empress. “Dead men tell no tales. With her life compensating for Prince Cheng’s crimes, this matter can finally—”
“Fourth Prince led the raid.”
*Clang!*
The teacup shattered. “*What?*”
“He commanded the Black Armor Guards. Interrogated Lady Guo personally. Her corpse… bears his marks.”
“Absurd!” The Empress’s manicured fingers burned from spilled tea, but fury overrode pain. “Since when does my son dance to that eunuch’s tune?!”
Jin Zhi whispered: “By His Majesty’s decree. The Emperor ordered it after Princess Rong’s… *righteous severance*.”
The Empress’s face contorted. Emperor Xie Tianyong had forced her son to butcher his own maternal clan. Public opinion would brand Fourth Prince a heartless opportunist, not a loyal prince.
“Summon my son!” she snarled.
——
In the imperial study, Guo Shi’s corpse lay displayed, eyes wide in eternal accusation. Emperor An dismissed it with a flick.
Fourth Prince recounted the raid, presenting letters and the jade bracelet. “Prince Cheng’s handwriting. The bracelet—his token.”
The Emperor inspected both. “Authentic.” Memories surfaced: the coveted jade denied to his lesser-born mother. “So Lu Zhinian is Prince Cheng’s bastard?”
“Yes. Xie Yin’s true parentage remains unclear.”
Amused, the Emperor turned to Lu Chongyuan. “Minister Lu? Any defense?”
The old statesman knelt, voice graveled: “I failed my household. My son’s corruption, my daughter-in-law’s depravity—all reflect my negligence.”
He removed his official cap. “This unworthy servant resigns as Grand Secretariat. Let the Lu retreat to Yuánchuān in shame.”
Silence thickened. Resignation wasn’t surrender—it was a gambit. By sacrificing himself, Lu Chongyuan aimed to preserve the Lu’s political capital.
The Emperor leaned back, savoring the irony: the mighty Lu patriarch brought low not by enemies, but his own kin.
Outside, Empress Lu stormed toward the study, her son’s fate—and the Lu dynasty’s—hanging by a thread.
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