After a pause, Guagua continued:
[Prince Cheng conquered much of the Night Central Kingdom's territory at the head of his troops.
During the struggle for the throne back then, Prince Cheng had been a strong favorite, with many ministers supporting him.
On the other side, plenty of ministers supported Qi Yanzhen too. Neither of them would yield.
As it happened, unrest broke out at the frontier around that time, and Prince Cheng had no choice but to take his men there.
That left only Qi Yanzhen in the Capital.
The old emperor suddenly fell ill, and his condition kept worsening. Before long, he died, leaving the throne to Qi Yanzhen.
By the time Prince Cheng returned to the Capital, the dust had already settled.]
Song Yaoyao: [That was far too much of a coincidence, wasn't it?
How did the old emperor fall ill the moment Prince Cheng left the Capital? And then his illness kept getting worse until he finally kicked the bucket.
The throne even went to Qi Yanzhen. Who wouldn't have suspicions?]
Guagua: [Prince Cheng thought the same as you. He felt it was all far too coincidental.
He suspected Qi Yanzhen had colluded with an enemy kingdom to lure him to the frontier, then taken the opportunity to tamper with things in the Capital.
He never believed his father had died of illness. He always suspected Qi Yanzhen had murdered his father, then forged an imperial edict to claim that position.
Qi Yanzhen had already dealt with many of the ministers who supported Prince Cheng.
Aside from the troops at the frontier, Prince Cheng no longer had anyone on his side at court.
Even then, Qi Yanzhen refused to leave him alone. He threatened Prince Cheng with his mother's life to force him to hand over the