Cui Rong lifted his eyes slightly.
He gazed at the flickering flames before him, feeling his unusually rapid heartbeat.
Suddenly, he said, "Your Highness... you should kill me now, while I'm too weak to put up a fight."
Otherwise, once he got out, he would have to help Xuan'er deal with him.
Many people had seen him fall off the cliff with the Crown Prince that day.
If he killed the Crown Prince now, His Majesty would blame the Cui Family for his death. At worst, all nine degrees of their kinship could be executed.
If the Crown Prince killed him, his death would merely be deemed an accident.
At his words, the Crown Prince stiffened slightly.
His eyes darkened.
Turning to look at him, he suddenly asked, "Youngest Uncle... must my sixth brother and I fight to the death?"
Cui Rong lowered his head without answering.
Yes, did they really have to fight to the death?
Each new sovereign brought a new set of ministers.
Refusing to fight meant standing by and watching the entire family decline.
His eyes darkened.
He parted his lips and said softly, "Perhaps this is the fate every prince is born to bear."
Because this was no longer a matter concerning the prince alone. It involved his maternal family and the thousands upon thousands who supported him.
"Fate..."
A shadow passed through the Crown Prince's eyes. "As long as it's for the Jin Kingdom and its people, what does it matter who becomes emperor?"
"If my Sixth Imperial Brother wants it, he can have it."
Hearing this, Cui Rong stared at him, his pupils trembling.
Shock covered his face.
So many people fought bitterly for that position, spilling rivers of blood and piling corpses into mountains, yet he cast it aside as easily as