As an eerie silence settled over the room, the Ninth Prince looked at the emperor in alarm.
"Father, I didn't do it! You have to believe me!"
"Of course I believe you." The emperor smiled calmly, seemingly taking none of the Second Prince's words to heart.
The Ninth Prince breathed a sigh of relief. Father still trusts me after all.
He glared angrily at the Second Prince. "You think you can drive a wedge between Father and me like this? No matter how you twist your words, it won't change the fact that you have the strongest motive and remain the prime suspect!"
"Heh! Father, you're still playing favorites. First it was our eldest brother, and now it's the Ninth Prince. What exactly are the rest of us fighting for?" The Second Prince sneered.
Though there was little familial affection left between them, being made to take the blame for something he had never done still infuriated him.
Yet the emperor shook his head, a strange smile appearing on his face.
"No, I have never favored any of you. Nor have I ever believed that any of you had a hand in what happened to me."
Everyone froze at those words.
What did that mean? If neither of those two had done it, could it have been the Fourth Prince or the Eighth Prince?
That possibility simply did not hold up!
Nie Yun watched the emperor, who had remained composed even when the Second Prince made his shocking accusation, and began to feel that something about his behavior was odd.
Could he have known who was responsible all along?
"You already knew who did it?" The Second Prince was the first to react, reaching the same conclusion as Nie Yun.
"Heh. Who said... anyone did anything to me?"
Everyone stared