Empress Dowager, This Is Bad!

The shackles binding Xiao Qianyu's hands were struck apart by lightning, splitting in two with a cracking groan of unbearable strain before turning to wood chips and falling away.

Heaven seemed to have a spirit, and it appeared to favor this Crown Prince blessed by fate. The terrifying lightning had not harmed him in the slightest.

Xiao Qianyu calmly rubbed his newly freed wrists. His gaze seemed to drift downward casually, yet everyone it touched trembled involuntarily. Then, like heavy ears of rice ripened in the tenth month, the Imperial Guards patrolling with spears in hand, the soldiers guarding the Execution Grounds, and the commoners who had come to witness the "False Crown Prince" lose his head all lowered their heads and fell to their knees in waves.

"Heaven has shown its power! The Crown Prince is real—he's real!"

"Good heavens, the court nearly killed the True Crown Prince! This is utterly absurd!"

"Greetings, Crown Prince! This lowly one didn't mean it—please spare me, Crown Prince!" This came from someone who had thrown things onto the platform earlier.

A dense black mass knelt beneath the platform. The executioner, who had nearly used the Executioner's Blade to behead the Crown Prince, trembled like a sieve as he dropped to his knees and slammed his head against the ground again and again, until his forehead was split and bloodied.

Xiao Qianyu's cool gaze cut through the uproar and shot straight at the three Execution Supervisors nearby. Tsk. He did not recognize a single one of them.

He had experienced quite a few ancient worlds and knew that, here and now, these three Execution Supervisors carried the most weight. It depended on whether they would acknowledge this divine sign.

"Heaven has shown mercy, and the ancestors bear witness. This Crown Prince is innocent and unstained. What more do you have to say?" he said mildly.

The True Crown Prince was him, and he was the True Crown Prince. Calling himself "this Crown Prince" was not a problem at all. His composure was simply that steady.

"Impossible! This is impossible!" Yu Miao, Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, looked distraught, his face full of disbelief. He muttered to himself, "Where did it go wrong? The False Crown Prince was clearly a Traitorous Official and Rebel, with irrefutable evidence against him. How could Heaven shelter such a villain?"

"Prince, Minister Wang, say something! What do we do now?" he asked the other two for help.

Minister Wang Shangshu and Prince Gong were equally shaken. A divine miracle—something one might not witness once in an entire lifetime—was unfolding vividly before their eyes. How could their hearts not be thrown into turmoil?

Prince Gong exchanged a look with Minister Wang Shangshu, and a decision had already formed in his heart. He looked at Xiao Qianyu and said, "Your Highness, please remain calm. This matter is of great importance and not for us to decide. I will immediately dispatch someone at full gallop to report the situation to His Majesty and await His Majesty's ruling."

Xiao Qianyu nodded in assent. "Very well. This Crown Prince shall wait for Father Emperor to restore my innocence."

At the same time, he considered Prince Gong's identity. Someone who dared call himself "this prince" had to be an Imperial Prince. Too bad he could not recognize him.

It was settled. Once he got his hands on the system, he would tear it into eight pieces with his bare hands.

He stood there so casually, clad in nothing but a thin prisoner's robe. The bloodstains on it proclaimed the cruel torment and abuse he had suffered.

His hair was black, his eyes cold, and his features exquisite. They only made his complexion appear more deathly pale, without the slightest trace of blood, as though he were so shattered that he might crack apart the next instant.

Yet his back remained straight, as if nothing in this world could grind him down or crush him.

From the Position of Crown Prince, beneath one man and above ten thousand, he had fallen into the mire of the Imperial Prison. What a cruel purgatory that must have been for him—and how had he endured it?

Prince Gong could not help letting out a sigh. The Crown Prince had once been innocent and kind, but now he had become profound and unfathomable. No one could see through him anymore.

He ordered, "Someone, bring a seat for the Crown Prince."

Though the imperial decree had not yet arrived, Prince Gong had already unconsciously begun to address him as "Crown Prince."

An alert Imperial Guard immediately brought over a chair and carefully placed it behind Xiao Qianyu.

Xiao Qianyu happened to be a little tired. The pain throughout his body assailed him without pause, so he sat down without ceremony, broad and commanding, as though he were not on the Execution Platform but seated in a grand and solemn court hall.

Even without a shred of this body's memories, even while standing at the Execution Grounds with life and death uncertain and his future unknown, Xiao Qianyu remained utterly composed.

Inside the imperial palace of the Great Xi Dynasty.

Renshou Palace, where the Empress Dowager resided, was silent as a grave. The palace maids and eunuchs stood with lowered heads, holding their breaths and not daring to make the faintest sound.

Smoke curled through the hall. A Buddha statue was enshrined above, kind-eyed and benevolent, looking down upon all living beings.

The Empress Dowager knelt on the cushion before it, dressed in plain, clean garments. Her hands were pressed together, her lips moving as she murmured something unknown, tears brimming in her eyes.

Her personal nanny stood behind her, looking at her mistress with a face full of sorrow, wishing she could take her place.

Before the "False Crown Prince" Xiao Qianyu's identity had been exposed, he had been raised for several years under the Empress Dowager's care. She had shown this Legitimate Eldest Grandson every concern and affection, and the bond between grandmother and grandson had run deep.

Xiao Qianyu, too, had adored the Empress Dowager like a child longing for his mother. He had always been exceedingly filial to her; everyone from high to low had witnessed it, and none failed to praise the Crown Prince's pure filial devotion.

Who could have expected that, once revealed, the Crown Prince would turn out to be a fake? Xiao Qianyu had been thrown into the Imperial Prison, and with the evidence conclusive, His Majesty had decreed that he would be beheaded today as a warning to others.

Though she knew Xiao Qianyu was not of her own blood, how could years of grandmother-grandson affection be severed in a single day?

National Law could not tolerate it, but people had private feelings. Today, the Empress Dowager burned incense and prayed for Xiao Qianyu, hoping only that in his next life, he might be born into a good family and no longer into the household of a Traitorous Official and Rebel.

Nanny Feng glanced at the Empress Dowager, then quietly walked to the palace entrance and looked at the time. It was already past noon. The False Crown Prince had probably been executed by beheading by now.