Fourth update today: Chapter 3164! 4/4!
Now that the Crocodile Race's ill-intentioned "ransom" had been mentioned, one key figure could not be avoided—Ting Sha Piaoliang.
This also raised a question: Erh's hatred for his legal mother was no less than his hatred for his father, the Eight Wise Kings. In fact, because she had directly suppressed him for years, it ran even deeper.
Why, after the Eight Wise Kings fell from power, had he not only humiliated her to the utmost in public, but also committed an act that seemed to defy all human ethics by "inheriting his father's legacy" and forcibly keeping her by his side?
After all, no matter how much the Eight Wise Kings looked down on his illegitimate son, the fact that they were bound by blood could not be changed.
Erh had, after all, risen through his own efforts and been granted the position of Crown Prince. Even if he ultimately could not inherit the throne, he could still become a powerful Tortoise Prince in the future and serve as Si's solid support.
Yet throughout the years, the Eight Wise Kings' repeated suppression and neglect of Erh had mostly stemmed from Ting Sha Piaoliang, the principal consort who had been born a Crocodile Race princess!
Her thinking had been simple and cruel: she neither wanted Erh to take away the paternal affection and resources that should have been concentrated on her own son, Si, nor would she allow any potential obstacle to remain in Si's future struggle for succession.
As for whether Erh might one day become Si's support?
Ting Sha Piaoliang had never even considered it.
She had seen too many cases of brothers within the Black Tortoise Race turning against one another and blood relatives slaughtering each other. Rather than place her