Chapter 608: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 608: Rewards (2)
Even though Chu Heng had only seen the gentle and loving Empress Chunyi in portraits, no one could surpass the place his birth mother held in his heart. So, ten years ago, when a palace concubine, attempting to use him against Consort Lin for her own gain, "accidentally" revealed that Consort Lin was the real culprit behind Empress Chunyi's death, a seed of hatred was planted in his heart.
Later, when Emperor Huian secretly entrusted him with a team of secret guards, Chu Heng had them investigate the truth behind Empress Chunyi's death, hoping to gather enough evidence to expose Consort Lin and the Lin family's crimes to the emperor, avenging his mother and himself.
However, he never imagined that this matter would involve his most respected father. After painstakingly gathering evidence proving Consort Lin's guilt in Empress Chunyi's murder, he chose not to present it to Emperor Huian. He discovered that Emperor Huian had known the truth all along but chose to protect Consort Lin, merely confining her invisibly to the Cold Palace while allowing her to retain her noble status.
From that moment, Chu Heng inwardly refused to trust Emperor Huian. As he sensed that his time was running out, he took advantage of Prince Heng's trap set for Xiao Ruiyuan to strike against Prince Heng, also eliminating Prince Qi, Prince An, and others to completely remove any threats to Xiao Ruiyuan!
Chu Heng did not want his cousin to be implicated, so he concealed the underlying reasons. Seeing Emperor Huian's pale face, Chu Heng suppressed his discomfort and continued, "No matter what reason Father had for hiding the truth for that woman, I will not forgive them, mother and son! Oh, by the way, around nightfall, news should come from the palace. If I guess correctly, that woman will have been disfigured by the cat she keeps. Heh, that woman and Prince Heng are indeed deeply connected as mother and son; just as the son is disfigured, the mother accompanies him in kind. Whether this will be seen as a touching story or as divine retribution, who can say?"
At this moment, Emperor Huian's face no longer showed anger; his eyes were filled with complex emotions—helplessness, sadness, guilt... For the first time, he was not the imposing emperor but simply a father who didn't know how to handle a child's mistake.
Seeing the cold and distant look on his son's face, Emperor Huian felt a pang in his heart, wanting to explain that he had his reasons, but he swallowed his words and finally said weakly, "The guilty party must pay for their crimes, but your third brother was still in his mother's womb at the time and knew nothing. Moreover, your fourth brother's mothers had nothing to do with your mother's death. You shouldn't have taken such extreme measures against them!"
Hearing this, Chu Heng sneered and coldly replied, "Do you want to say that Prince Heng is innocent? Ha, that woman probably knew she was carrying a male child, so she dared to poison Mother, aiming to kill two birds with one stone! Even if Prince Heng was truly innocent then, can you say he has been innocent in his actions since?"
He paused briefly before continuing, "Even without my intervention today, do you think anyone other than Prince Heng could have escaped this ordeal? Father should be grateful for having a loyal and responsible general like Xiao Ruiyuan and that brave girl who rushed into the hunting ground to save them; otherwise, you would have seen the corpses of Prince An and the others earlier!"
He wouldn't tell this man, who had shielded the true culprit, that even if Prince Heng hadn't targeted his cousin today, he wouldn't have spared those who had repeatedly tried to harm his cousin! His cousin had always protected him, going to the battlefield at a young age to secure his position as crown prince, building military prestige and influence. Now that his time was short, this was the only thing he could do for his cousin!
Emperor Huian was unaware of Chu Heng's thoughts. From Xiao Ruiyuan's words, he had already learned that Prince Heng's schemes had backfired. If mishandled, this incident could become a scandal that would make the royal family a laughingstock throughout the land. He was at a loss for how to handle the situation.
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