578 The Emperor Knows the Truth
The Queen never dreamed that things would turn out like this. It was clearly a sure win, so how did it end up like this? On the way to the palace, she kept thinking that the identity of the Prince Consort was so hidden. Who could have exposed it?
Yan Jiuchao? He recognized the Prince Consort?
When the Prince Consort left the Great Zhou, Yan Jiuchao was only eight years old. After sixteen years, how could he still remember what happened back then?
So what if he remembered?
The Prince Consort was no longer the same as before. Moreover, the Prince Consort was wearing a mask. Yan Jiuchao could not have taken off his mask… Why should he? He had to suspect first, but he had no reason to suspect.
Taking ten thousand steps back, so what if that child really recognized the Prince Consort? Would he bear to push his father into the sea of fire to protect himself?
But if it wasn’t him, who could it be?
The Queen thought about it and felt a headache coming on.
“Your Highness, please alight from the carriage.” At the palace gate, the leader of the cavalry stopped the Queen’s carriage.
In the past, the Queen would take a carriage to enter the palace. However, she was a suspect now. On account that she was the Queen, he had already shown her mercy by not arresting her in the prison carriage. It was impossible for her to dream of receiving the same treatment as before.
The Queen also understood this logic, but although she understood, she still felt like she had been slapped in the face. Since she was young, her life had been smooth-sailing. She had never been so embarrassed. She alighted coldly from the carriage.
All the palace servants along the way looked down.
However, the Queen felt like she was walking on the edge of a knife.
In the throne room, the Emperor had been waiting for a long time. He did not sit on the throne. Instead, he walked down the high steps and slowly paced where the ministers worshiped. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around indifferently. His expression was dignified and his eyes were cold.
With just a glance, the Queen’s heart skipped a beat. The Queen walked in and bowed respectfully. “Greetings, Father.”
The Emperor looked at her with a complicated expression and said in a deep voice, “Do you know why I summoned you to the palace?”
The Queen lowered her eyes and her eyes flashed. “I was framed. Father wants to invite me into the palace for questioning.”
“Is it really framing?” The Emperor asked in a deep voice.
The Queen’s eyelashes trembled. She braced herself and said, “Of course it’s framing. The Prince Consort and I like each other. All these years, you have seen how we respect you and your mother, how we pledge our loyalty to the royal family of Nanzhao. How can we do anything to let you down?”
The Emperor was not so easily led astray. The Emperor’s gaze landed on his daughter’s face without blinking. “Are you denying that you colluded with the enemy and committed treason, or are you denying that the Prince Consort is Prince Yan of the Great Zhou?”
The Queen’s heart skipped a beat again. Her fingers, buried in her wide sleeve, clenched tightly. Although she was a Queen who could summon the wind and rain, she was not so easy to be rash in front of the dignified Emperor.
The reason why she was willful back then was most likely because she was fearless. The more she interacted with the Emperor and understood his methods after that, the more she shivered.
The Emperor did not rush her, letting her rack her brains to think of a way to answer.
The Queen composed herself and said seriously, “Father, the Prince Consort is the son of the patriarch of the Bai Calyx Tribe. Don’t you know about this? The members of the Bai Calyx Tribe have also come to Nanzhao. You’ve met them one by one. Now, you’re suspecting the Prince Consort’s identity just because of one or two groundless accusations. How will the Prince Consort feel? How will I feel?”
“Nangong Yan, I’m giving you a chance,” the Emperor said seriously with his hands behind his back.
Admitting her sin now was the last trace of mercy from the Emperor. However, there was a kind of person in the world who would not shed tears until she saw the coffin. She always felt that she was smart enough to fool everyone in the world.
The Queen took a deep breath and met the Emperor’s gaze aggrievedly. “Could it be that in your heart, I’m not as trustworthy as an outsider? I don’t know who exposed the Prince Consort to you. I only know that the other party must have ill intentions. He wants to sow discord between us, father and daughter, and wants to defeat the Prince Consort. Please investigate!”
The Prince Consort had helped her deal with many disloyal people all these years, so it was hard to guarantee that she would not be hated. She had always believed this without a doubt, but she still could not explain how an outsider could see through her background.
Of course, now was not the time to think about this. The key was how to dispel his father’s doubts.
The Emperor looked at her and said, “Nangong Yan, I’ve given you a chance, but you don’t want it. If there are any bitter consequences in the future, you have to bear them yourself.”
The Queen said fearlessly, “Father, please call out the person who reported it. I’ll confront him face to face.”
The Emperor said indifferently, “The news came from the commoners. When the Gu Elders of the Gu Elder Hall heard the rumors, they came to question me. Do you want me to hand them over, or do you want me to hand over those innocent commoners?”
What a cunning thought!
They even used the commoners and Gu Elders Hall!
The Queen inexplicably had a feeling that the person who spread the news that the Prince Consort was Prince Yan was the same person who spread the news that the eldest young master of the Helian family was Yan Jiuchao.
Why did the other party do this…
The Helian family and the Prince Consort had offended him?
While the Queen was thinking, the Emperor said indifferently, “Coincidentally, before the Prince Consort was reported, the State Preceptor had reported the young master of the Helian family, saying that he was the heir of the Prince Yan Manor of the Great Zhou. Won’t they know if the Prince Consort is Prince Yan?”
The Queen’s temples throbbed. “No, Father!”
“Why not?” The Emperor looked over with a sharp gaze.
She had spoken too quickly just now and had not thought of how to break it. The Queen’s eyes flashed as she suppressed her panic and said, “Prince Consort doesn’t remember the past.”
The Emperor said, “It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t remember. It’s fine as long as that child remembers. Prince Yan is his biological father. It’s not like he doesn’t even know his biological father.”
The Queen said anxiously, “He was only eight years old when Prince Yan passed away. What does he remember?”
The Emperor said with a sharp gaze, “You know Prince Yan well.”
The Queen lowered her eyes. “I’m the Princess of Nanzhao. I know the situation in the neighboring countries very well.”
However, the Emperor had long made up his mind to let the two of them meet. “Wang Dequan, bring him over.”
“Yes!” Outside the throne room, Eunuch Wang replied respectfully and left.
Before the Queen met the Emperor, Yan Jiuchao had been invited into the palace by the cavalry of the palace. However, he was arranged to be in a different side hall from the Prince Consort.
At this moment, the Emperor gave the order and Eunuch Wang brought him over without a word.
Yan Jiuchao was wearing a black brocade robe. He was tall and slender. His facial features were exquisite and his face was like unpolished jade. He was even more outstanding than all the women in the world. His temperament was cold and his eyebrows were arrogant. He exuded an innate royal nobility.
The moment he appeared, the entire throne room seemed to light up.
The Queen’s gaze landed on this face that was so similar to the Prince Consort. She had mixed feelings and a trace of panic flashed across her heart.
However, the Emperor felt that he had seen this face somewhere before.
“Your Majesty, Helian…” Just as Eunuch Wang was about to report, Yan Jiuchao had already calmly stepped into the throne room. He did not seem to have been captured for questioning with that awe-inspiring aura. Instead, he seemed to have come to ascend the throne.
The corners of the Emperor’s mouth twitched.
“Why is there only one?” He asked the eunuch.
Eunuch Wang said, “Your Majesty, the Prince Consort has fainted.”
The Queen turned pale. “What did you do to the Prince Consort?!”
Eunuch Wang said in confusion, “I didn’t do anything!” Who knew why he fainted? Was the Prince Consort’s body so weak? Did you empty his body? Hmph!
The Prince Consort had been eating Soul Devouring Grass for the past few days. The Soul Devouring Grass had side effects that made it difficult to fall asleep, so the imperial physicians added herbs to calm himself down. The Prince Consort did not faint, but he fell asleep.
At this thought, the Queen calmed down. It was not a bad thing for the Prince Consort to faint. In that case, the father and son could not confront each other.
Unexpectedly, before the Queen could heave a sigh of relief, the Emperor spoke again. “Carry him up!”
The Queen was stunned.
“…Yes!” Eunuch Wang braced himself and left. He found a stretcher and asked two strong guards to carry the unconscious Prince Consort to the throne room.
The Prince Consort’s fingers were fair and his figure was thin. He lay unconscious on the stretcher, making one pity him.
However, there was no pity in the Emperor’s eyes. “Take off his mask!”
The Queen’s face turned pale. Eunuch Wang gently took off the Prince Consort’s mask. A scarred face entered everyone’s vision without warning. However, if one did not look at his left face, this was undoubtedly a face that could move all the women in the world.
“Aiya.” Eunuch Wang was slightly surprised in his heart. Why did the Prince Consort’s face look so similar to the eldest young master of the Helian family? Even that scar could not stop the similarity between the two of them.
Not only did Eunuch Wang discover it, but everyone in the hall could tell as long as they were not blind.
No one would believe that he was not their biological son.
