"Don't ask questions you shouldn't."
Sure enough, Xue Ye grew angry at the question.
His health had declined year after year, and he felt as though his lamp was nearly out of oil.
What worried him most was still the empire's future.
The Crown Prince had yet to fully mature, and he simply could not rest easy.
Although the Crown Prince could inherit the throne after his death, peace had never reigned within the imperial family.
They seemed united on the surface, but who could guarantee that the imperial family would not trip up the new emperor after the Crown Prince ascended the throne?
If they harbored crooked intentions and stripped him of his authority, the new emperor would truly be finished.
Prince Xue Xing was his younger brother, but the question he had just asked, along with his usual attitude toward Xue Beng, stirred intense displeasure in Xue Ye as emperor.
After so many years on the throne, he would have been killed long ago if he had not had his own people and private intelligence channels.
He had known about Prince Xue Xing's concern for Xue Beng all along.
To put it generously, he was protecting Xue Beng because two princes had already died.
But was that not also a way of choosing sides?
Prince Xue Xing had sided with Xue Beng and intended to help him ascend the throne in the future.
To put Xue Beng on the throne, he would have to eliminate the Crown Prince.
Thinking back to the incident at the Execution Ground, Xue Ye even wondered whether Prince Xue Xing had instructed Xue Beng to do it.
Otherwise, how could that pig-brained Xue Beng have thought to dispose of the Crown Prince amid the chaos?
Xue Ye's single remark had left Prince Xue