Chapter 17

The aloof crown prince's nemesis (Chapter 17)

Daylight flooded the sky, and the bells announcing morning court resounded through the Golden Throne Hall.

After a sleepless night, word of the turmoil at the Eastern Palace's Quiet Reflection Pavilion had yet to spread, while hidden currents still surged through the court.

Civil and military officials stood solemnly in orderly ranks, their robes immaculate. The controversy surrounding the Shen Family's old case had raged for days. Many officials still clung to their convictions that a disgraced minister's daughter could not be allowed to remain, privately speculating about how the crown prince would resolve matters today.

No one knew that, in a single night, every plot that turned truth on its head and every poisonous scheme buried beneath layers of concealment had been exposed.

The emperor sat upright on his dragon throne, his expression grave and imposing.

"Rumors concerning the Shen Family's old case have run rampant of late. The suspected forged evidence has been submitted to the Three Judicial Offices for examination. Have you reached a conclusion?"

As his words fell, officials from the Three Judicial Offices stepped forward together and bowed to deliver their report.

"Your Majesty, our examination has confirmed that the handwriting in the Shen Family's previously submitted confessions was deliberately imitated, the age of the paper falsified, and the seals forged. The evidence was fraudulent from beginning to end!"

An uproar instantly swept through the assembled officials!

Their expressions changed sharply as they whispered among themselves, cries of astonishment rising on all sides.

The Shen Family treason case, which had caused days of upheaval and shaken both court and country, had been an elaborately fabricated frame-up from start to finish!

Every gaze turned toward the crown prince standing below the throne, filled with shock and uncertainty.

Before anyone could recover, Xiao Heng had already stepped forward.

He stood tall in his black court robes, his features cold and austere. The commanding presence of the heir apparent swept through the entire Golden Throne Hall.

"Father."

His voice was clear and strong, every word ringing with weight throughout the hall.

"The forged evidence is not the only matter. While confined to the Quiet Reflection Pavilion, Shen Zhiwei repeatedly suffered covert attacks. Palace servants administered poison, and a slow-acting Bone-Eroding Poison was concealed in the well water. Every incident was deliberately planned with the intent to kill her."

Dead silence followed his words.

Plotting to murder a woman under confinement, and repeatedly placing her in mortal danger, had crossed both the imperial family's bottom line and the boundaries of the law!

Xiao Heng raised a hand. Behind him, hidden guards escorted the servant who had confessed the previous night into the hall, presenting poison samples, witness statements, records of dealings with intermediaries from the Su Residence, and proof of the bribe payments.

Layer upon layer of irrefutable evidence was laid before the imperial desk.

The servant knelt in the center of the hall, trembling all over as he recounted the truth before everyone.

"Spare my life, Your Majesty! Miss Su Wan of the Su Residence ordered me to do it! She promised me a hundred taels of gold to sneak into the Eastern Palace's Quiet Reflection Pavilion and put slow-acting poison into the drinking well, intending to kill Miss Shen! The frame-up at the palace banquet and the attempt to overturn the case with forged evidence were all planned by Su Wan!"

Each sentence tore apart the mask of a gentle noblewoman that Su Wan had maintained for years.

The court erupted!

No one had imagined that the woman long known for her virtue and distinguished birth, whom everyone regarded as the future crown princess, could be such a vicious, ruthless creature, a woman with the heart of a snake and scorpion who would stop at nothing!

The emperor's face turned livid. Imperial fury flared as his hands clenched hard around the armrests of his dragon throne.

"Su Wan!"

His furious voice thundered through the Golden Throne Hall.

The guards outside immediately summoned her. Moments later, Su Wan was brought into the hall, dressed in simple, elegant robes and feigning dignified fragility.

As she entered, her eyes still held a timid look. She pretended innocence, her expression meek, as though she knew nothing at all.

But when she looked up and saw the evidence spread before her, the servant kneeling in confession, and the officials' shocked, contemptuous gazes, it was as though lightning had struck her. The blood froze in her veins.

Impossible!

The trails she had kept separated, the traces she had so carefully erased, her supposedly flawless arrangements-how could they all have been exposed?

Xiao Heng looked down at her panic and loss of composure with indifference. Not a trace of former affection remained in his eyes, only cold disgust.

"Su Wan, you repeatedly framed an innocent woman, forged official records, secretly administered deadly poison, and treated human life as worthless. Do you admit your crimes?"

Su Wan trembled violently. The dignity and composure she had maintained for years shattered completely.

She abruptly raised her head, her eyes brimming with tears, and shook it wildly, crying shrilly, "I didn't! Your Highness! They're framing me! Shen Zhiwei bewitched everyone and framed me! I've never harmed anyone!"

"It was always her! She seduced Your Highness! She stole everything that belonged to me!"

She could no longer muster even a semblance of gentleness. Years of suppressed jealousy, obsession, and madness burst from her eyes, twisting her face into a hideous grimace.

"Your Highness and I grew up together! My family has served the court faithfully for generations! Shen Zhiwei is nothing but a disgraced minister's orphaned daughter! Why should she receive all your affection? Why?"

Her crazed screams echoed through the solemn Golden Throne Hall, grating and wretched.

The officials looked aside in silence, inwardly sighing.

So every upheaval, every disturbance in court, and every underhanded scheme had sprung from nothing more than an absurd, obsessive blaze of jealousy.

Xiao Heng's gaze was icy. Watching her deranged display, he spoke with ringing firmness, publicly severing every last hope she held.

"Growing up together never meant there was affection between us."

"I have never shown you the slightest favor or behaved toward you with anything beyond propriety. Your obsession and unscrupulous actions were born of your own imagined affection. You brought this upon yourself."

He paused, then stopped looking at the sobbing, broken Su Wan. Turning toward the dragon throne and the assembled officials, he spoke solemnly and openly, concealing nothing as he declared before the court the feelings he had suppressed for years.

"Father, today I will speak honestly of my heart."

"From beginning to end, the only woman I have loved is Shen Zhiwei."

That declaration of love split the heavens like a thunderclap!

The entire Golden Throne Hall fell so silent that a falling pin could have been heard. Everyone stared, tongue-tied.

The aloof, seemingly heartless crown prince, who had always kept his desires restrained and shown no interest in women, had actually confessed his love in public!

Xiao Heng's gaze remained unwavering. Every word was sincere, ringing across mountains and rivers:

"Shen Zhiwei is innocent, steadfast, and pure of heart, yet she has endured countless baseless accusations. I protect her not out of passing pity, but because my love has taken deep root. She is the woman I have chosen for this lifetime."

"Once the Shen Family's old case has been fully overturned, I beseech you, Father-to grant our marriage."

Boom!

Those final words shattered everything they thought they knew.

Grant their marriage!

He intended to marry Shen Zhiwei!

Su Wan, who had been sobbing uncontrollably in the hall, froze as though struck by five bolts of heavenly thunder.

She had fought for so long, acted so ruthlessly, and staked her reputation and family standing on schemes and attempted murder. In the end, she had pushed the crown prince toward Shen Zhiwei with her own hands, forcing him to declare his love and ask to marry her before the entire court!

She had lost.

She had suffered a crushing defeat, battered beyond all recognition.

Every gentle mask, every lovesick vigil, and every shred of confidence drawn from her noble lineage had become an enormous joke.

Su Wan's legs gave way, and she collapsed to her knees. The light in her eyes went out completely, leaving only endless desolation and madness.

"Why... Xiao Heng... how dare you..."

The emperor looked at the mountain of irrefutable evidence before him, then at his son's open, resolute expression. After a long silence, he spoke gravely.

"Su Wan harbored jealousy and malicious intent, framed the loyal and innocent, secretly plotted murder by poison, and disrupted the court. Her crimes are unforgivable. Strip her of her noble status and revoke every honor. Her father and brothers failed to restrain her and indulged their family member's wrongdoing. Dock their salaries, demote them, and confine them to their residence! Send Su Wan to the family convent. She shall never leave it for the rest of her life!"

With that imperial judgment, the dust settled.

Every conspiracy was brought to account.

Every storm finally came to an end.

Palace servants stepped forward and dragged away Su Wan, who had already sunk into a dazed madness.

The once radiant, pampered daughter of a noble family was condemned to lifelong seclusion, never again to see the light of day.

Court dispersed, and the daylight shone warm and gentle.

Xiao Heng hurried back to the Eastern Palace at once.

Every restriction on the Quiet Reflection Pavilion had been lifted, and all its guards withdrawn.

Shen Zhiwei stood beneath the veranda in the rising morning light, quietly watching the direction from which he would come.

The chill and terror of the previous night had faded completely, leaving only a gentle, shimmering light in her eyes.

Xiao Heng strode up and clasped both her hands firmly in his. His palms were warm, almost burning, and his eyes held a love and tenderness he no longer tried to restrain.

"Zhiwei."

He bent toward her, his gaze soft and lingering, every word heartfelt.

"The storms have scattered, and the injustice has been cleared."

"From this day forward, no one will frame you or drive us apart."

"I love you, and now the whole world knows."

The young woman lifted her eyes, starlight sparkling within them, and a gentle smile slowly curved her lips.

After countless hardships, they had finally emerged beneath a clear, bright moon.

The aloof crown prince's long-held love had finally reached the gentleness of the years, finding its way to a perfect homecoming.