The culprit was revealed

[Aha, found Fourth Brother.]

The next second, Jiang Nuan's gaze settled on Jiang Yehua, and she inevitably noticed the Fifth Prince, Jiang Ruihui, beside him.

A look of distaste immediately appeared on Jiang Nuan's face.

??? Jiang Yehua's head was full of question marks.

Hadn't she sounded eager just a moment ago? Why did she look so disgusted after seeing him? Did his ninth sister change her expression that quickly?

He thought Jiang Nuan's distaste was directed at him, and his heart ached for a brief moment. But the very next second, her inner voice lifted him from hell straight into heaven.

[Why is the Fifth Prince here too? So annoying. Just looking at him annoys me. Can't he disappear?]

Oh, so her distaste was directed at his fifth brother. Jiang Yehua didn't have a particularly good impression of this younger brother either. Right now, though, he was more curious about what exactly Jiang Ruihui had done to make their ninth sister hate him so much.

[He's the one who got Fourth Brother killed. My older brothers and sisters, my younger brothers and sisters—all of them ended up dead or crippled because of him. Great Xia's realm was ruined in his hands!]

Jiang Nuan's inner voice dropped an earth-shattering bombshell.

Jiang Yunsheng's expression sharpened. From Jiang Nuan's thoughts, he had learned that Great Xia's next ruler was a good-for-nothing who ruined the realm in just two short years. He had been searching for this person all along, never imagining that it would actually be Jiang Ruihui.

Jiang Ruihui usually seemed quite clever, and his temperament was indifferent, never competing or fighting for anything. Why would he pass the throne to him?

Jiang Yunsheng couldn't make sense of it.

Neither could Jiang Yehua. Jiang Ruihui usually treated him, his elder brother, with respect. How could he possibly die at his hands?

After hearing those thoughts, Jiang Ruihui's face darkened.

What was a little brat doing at court? This wasn't playing house. Could Imperial Father be thinking of deposing the Crown Prince and naming a crown princess instead?

That had been Jiang Ruihui's first thought when he saw Jiang Nuan.

After hearing Jiang Nuan's inner voice, he felt that it was no wonder he found this little brat so irritating.

Then the little brat's thoughts grew more and more outrageous, actually claiming that he had gotten his own siblings killed. What a joke. Although he did sometimes find them annoying, he hadn't done anything to them, had he? At least not yet.

And all that talk about Great Xia's realm being ruined in his hands was utterly absurd!

If Imperial Father was willing to pass the throne to him, he would surely lead Great Xia to even greater heights. The things her inner voice described could never possibly happen!

But when he looked around at the ministers, he discovered that an almost empty zone had formed around him. Many ministers looked at him with anger, and even those who had secretly been in contact with him were now giving him distinctly unfriendly looks.

Those ministers hadn't forgotten that Jiang Nuan's thoughts had once mentioned how nearly all of them would meet miserable deaths. Did they even need to ask who the culprit was now?

"No, you actually believe..." a little brat's inner voice?

Jiang Ruihui's unspoken words lodged in his throat, and a suffocating sensation swept over him.

He stared at Jiang Nuan in terror.

A monster! She was a monster!

[Imperial Father even thinks he's so clever. In reality, everything he's done was taught to him by those two teachers of his. But his teachers couldn't stay beside him every moment, so he fashioned himself a persona as someone as serene as a chrysanthemum, never competing or fighting for anything. Pah!

I've never even heard of anyone this stupid. After he finally became emperor, he favored eunuchs and obeyed his two teachers in everything. Honest officials could barely survive, treacherous ministers ruled the roost, and the common people were left with no way to live.

In Great Xia's final year, hundreds of uprisings, large and small, broke out across the realm! When the enemy finally stormed Capital City, he actually knelt before their emperor and begged for mercy. He utterly disgraced our Jiang family!

If he'd slit his own throat, I could at least have credited him with some backbone! Kneeling and begging for mercy, ha, ha, ha. Good thing the enemy killed him, or who knows what outrageous stunt he would have pulled next!]

Every minister at the Imperial Court with even a shred of backbone glared at him after hearing that he had knelt and begged the enemy for mercy. They couldn't stomach such a thing either.

The more Jiang Nuan thought about it, the angrier she became, until she couldn't help venting to Guagua in her mind:

[Guagua, do you think there's any chance he isn't my Imperial Father's biological son? Could he have been mixed up with another baby, or switched?]

She couldn't stand sharing the same blood as such an idiot!

Unfortunately, Guagua shattered that hope.

[Host, this is the imperial palace, after all. Even a successful switch like yours required the right timing, favorable circumstances, and everyone falling into place. How could it be that easy? He really is your Imperial Father's biological child.]

After hearing this, Jiang Yunsheng felt somewhat disappointed. He would rather Jiang Ruihui weren't his biological child than admit that such an idiot was his son.

Seeing that Jiang Ruihui still seemed unable to catch his breath, Jiang Yunsheng waved at the Imperial Physicians and said, "Since the Fifth Prince is unwell, take him away."

The best outcome Jiang Ruihui could hope for now was lifelong confinement.

Jiang Yunsheng still had a tiny trace of affection born of blood ties toward Jiang Ruihui. As for his two teachers, he would show them no mercy.

"Qu Weide, Han Yaou, step forward, both of you!"

After hearing Jiang Nuan's thoughts, both men's hearts had lurched, and they had felt that something was terribly wrong.

Being called out at this moment felt only to be expected.

Their faces were now as bitter as bitter melons. Teaching the Fifth Prince what to do? They had never done any such thing! The two teachers in the Ninth Princess's thoughts surely weren't them. But the entire court knew that they, two grand secretaries, were the teachers the emperor had appointed for the Fifth Prince. Even a hundred mouths couldn't clear their names.

They could only obediently step forward, considering how to defend themselves without revealing Jiang Nuan's inner voice.

[Huh? Why did Imperial Father call those two forward?] Jiang Nuan's inner voice sounded again.

[Oh, I remember those two seem to have been Jiang Ruihui's teachers too. I remember they didn't end well. What a shame. Becoming Jiang Ruihui's teachers really was a terrible stroke of bad luck!]

Both men nodded along inwardly. Wasn't that the truth!

Disaster had fallen on them out of a clear sky, and they couldn't even defend themselves. They were choking on their frustration, terrified that the emperor might order them dragged out and beheaded the very next second.

Ninth Princess! Please, let us hear more of your thoughts, quickly! At least clear us of suspicion! Both our lives and fortunes are in your hands now!

[If I remember correctly, after Jiang Ruihui ascended the throne, his first blade was aimed at those two. That was also one of the things people condemned him for. After all, killing one's teachers was despised in Great Xia, and what's more, he had them executed on fabricated charges.]

Upon hearing that they had been executed on fabricated charges, the two ministers smiled, but their smiles held a bitter undertone.