Xue Beng dropped to his knees with a thud, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
"Father! Father, please give your son justice!"
Emperor Xue Ye furrowed his brows. "Xue Beng, we're in court. What's with all this crying and blubbering? What happened?"
Xue Beng jerked his head up and pointed at Ye Yang, his face twisted with grief and indignation.
"It was him! Crown Prince, my eldest brother! Yesterday... yesterday he barged into my bedchamber and, without a word, used a thorn-covered branch to... to beat me black and blue!"
"Father, look!" He made as if to lift his outer robe and show his wounds, but Xue Ye stopped him with a raised hand.
A wave of hushed murmurs immediately swept through the hall.
The Crown Prince had whipped the Fourth Prince? This was simply unheard of! Countless gazes shot toward Ye Yang in unison.
Emperor Xue Ye's gaze sharpened as it settled on Ye Yang. "Qinghe, is this true?"
Ye Yang sneered inwardly, but his face was filled with sorrow and helplessness. He stepped forward, bowed to Xue Ye, and answered in a clear, steady voice, "Your Majesty, it is true."
The moment the words left his mouth, an even louder uproar erupted in the hall! The Crown Prince had actually... admitted it?!
A flicker of surprise and delight passed through Xue Beng's eyes. He hadn't expected Xue Qinghe to admit it so readily! Now let's see how he got himself out of this!
Emperor Xue Ye's expression darkened completely. "Qinghe! You're the Crown Prince, the heir to the throne, yet you took the law into your own hands and punished your own brother?! Do you know how utterly unvirtuous that is? Give me an explanation!"
Ye Yang raised his head. There was not a trace of panic on his face; instead, it was filled with sorrow and helplessness. His voice suddenly rose.
"Father! Honored ministers! Your son admits to whipping the Fourth Prince. That is a fact! But I did not attack him without cause, nor was I acting without virtue!"
He spun around, his gaze flashing like lightning as it swept over Xue Beng, still kneeling on the ground. His eyes were so sharp that Xue Beng instinctively shrank back.
[Ding! Intimidated Xue Beng. Authority +1]
"Father! Honored ministers, have you ever wondered why I hit him?!" Ye Yang's voice rang through the hall.
"It was because my younger brother Xue Beng, a prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, is spoiled and overbearing. He bullies the weak, treats the Palace Regulations as nothing, and shows no regard for the dignity of the Imperial Family!"
He stepped forward and pointed at Xue Beng, describing what he had witnessed the previous day with heartfelt anguish. "Yesterday, worried about my younger brother, I went personally to visit him in his bedchamber."
"But I found him beating a defenseless palace maid! All because she had accidentally knocked over a basin of water and dirtied his new robe!"
"Father! A basin of water, a robe! Was that really enough for a prince to punch and kick a servant who had waited on him for years, and hurl insults at her?!"
"How is that any different from the behavior of a street thug?! If word of this got out, what would the people of the realm think of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family? What would they think of Father's teachings?!"
[Ding! Rousing speech. Authority +1, Persuasiveness +1]
The ministers whispered among themselves, their gazes on Xue Beng tinged with scrutiny and disdain.
Xue Beng's bullying of palace servants was no secret among the nobility, but for the Crown Prince to expose him in open court changed the nature of the matter entirely.
Xue Beng's face flushed red as he tried to protest. "I... I..."
"What about you?!" Ye Yang cut him off, his momentum surging like a rainbow.
"You twisted the truth and pinned all the blame on that innocent maid! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, wouldn't she have become the scapegoat for your anger?! You're a prince with no sense of responsibility. That is your first offense!"
"What pains me even more!" Ye Yang turned to Emperor Xue Ye, his voice heavy with sorrow. "As the Crown Prince and his elder brother, how could I stand by and do nothing after seeing my younger brother behave this way?"
"If I showed favoritism and let him off simply because he is a prince—if the law could not touch the nobility—then where would the Palace Regulations and the laws of the realm be? Where would the dignity of the Imperial Family be?! Would the other princes and imperial descendants all be free to follow his example and treat human lives like weeds?!"
"Father! I whipped Xue Beng not to vent a personal grudge!" Ye Yang's voice rang with unshakable conviction, carrying the resolve to punish even his own family for the sake of justice.
"I did it to protect the good name of the Imperial Family! To set the palace in order! To make him remember this searing pain, mend his ways, and understand the responsibilities of a prince! To understand the path of benevolence and virtue!"
He drew a deep breath and bowed solemnly to Emperor Xue Ye. "Father! Your son knows that whipping his own brother was excessive and hardly befitting a reputation for benevolence. I am willing to accept any punishment you see fit!"
"But I have a clear conscience! Everything I did was for my younger brother's future and for the lasting reputation of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family! Heaven and earth can bear witness to my intentions!"
[Ding! Rousing speech. Authority +1, Persuasiveness +1, Acting +1]
At the last sentence, he looked at Xue Beng again, his gaze complex. It held sternness, but also seemed to carry an elder brother's pain at seeing a younger sibling fail to live up to his potential.
The entire hall fell utterly silent.
Ye Yang's speech had been righteous and forceful, placing him firmly on the side of justice.
The anger had long since faded from Emperor Xue Ye's face, replaced by deep conflict.
He looked at "Xue Qinghe," who had spoken with such passion, sorrow, and resolve, then glanced at Xue Beng on the floor, pale-faced and disheveled, with the blame clearly resting on his shoulders. The balance in his heart had already tipped.
The ministers, too, gazed at the Crown Prince with admiration and approval.
The Crown Prince was willing to shoulder the blame of "mistreating his brother" in order to teach the spoiled Fourth Prince a lesson and uphold the dignity of the Imperial Family. That was the bearing of a true heir to the realm!
By comparison, the Fourth Prince Xue Beng was utterly hopeless!
Xue Beng was completely stunned.
He had meant to complain to his father and get Xue Qinghe punished, but somehow he had become the target of everyone's criticism!
Seeing the disappointment in his father's eyes, hearing the ministers' faintly disdainful whispers, and feeling the searing pain of the wounds across his back, he was instantly swallowed by immense humiliation and helplessness.
He opened his mouth, only to find that he couldn't refute a single word.
"My eldest brother's painstaking intentions... painstaking intentions..." All that remained in Xue Beng's heart was endless resentment and icy hatred. "Some painstaking intentions! Xue Qinghe, you're vicious!"
[Ding! Xue Beng's resentment deepens. Intimidation effect significant. Authority +1]
Emperor Xue Ye remained silent for a long while before finally speaking, his voice low and weary. "Qinghe... rise."
His gaze held less reproach now, but was all the more difficult to read.
"What you did... though your methods were excessive, your intentions were worthy of sympathy, and your reasons understandable," Emperor Xue Ye said slowly.
"As Crown Prince, you kept the bigger picture in mind, set the palace in order, and taught your brother a lesson. I... am greatly comforted."
"Father!" Xue Beng cried out in despair.
"Silence!" Emperor Xue Ye barked, then shot Xue Beng a sharp look. "You bullied a palace servant, twisted the truth, and showed no sense of responsibility as a prince. You are the one who truly acted without virtue! Qinghe was right to beat you! Let it teach you a lesson!"
"Effective immediately, the Fourth Prince, Xue Beng, is confined to his bedchamber for one month! He will copy the Etiquette Teachings and the Palace Regulations one hundred times! He will reflect properly on his mistakes! If you misbehave again, I will show you no mercy!"
Xue Beng was struck as if by lightning. He collapsed onto the floor, his face ashen.
He had lost completely—so completely, and so humiliatingly.
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