Xia Wanwan carefully sensed the Empress Dowager's mood. She asked Father to put her down, walked to the Empress Dowager's side, and gently took her hand in her little one.
The Empress Dowager looked down, utterly charmed by the sweet little girl.
Her expression softened. She picked Xia Wanwan up and sat in the seat of honor nearby.
Xia Siheng's brow relaxed. He understood how the Empress Dowager felt at that moment.
Though half his blood came from East Lin, he had devoted himself to Great Xia all these years, supporting it wholeheartedly.
Yet those old ministers, who had served the Late Emperor and now enjoyed boundless glory and wealth bestowed by the Imperial Court...
They still...
Colluded with East Lin and coveted the position of Empress!
If they truly succeeded, would the little Crown Prince be murdered in the end, too, and someone else named heir?
East Lin had already used this scheme twice.
Originally, Xia Siheng's birth mother had borne him as a pawn in the struggle for the position of heir.
But East Lin had never expected his birth mother to truly fall in love with the Late Emperor, or for Xia Siheng himself to find healing among Great Xia's current Imperial House.
The members of the Imperial House were people he would protect for the rest of his life!
"This still isn't enough to convict them." Xia Siheng glanced at the evidence laid out on the table. It read:
Duke Yan had two sons and one daughter. His legitimate daughter, Yan Xiurong, was already in her twenties and still unmarried. When she was three, she had accompanied her birth mother on a trip to offer incense. They encountered bandits and fell from a cliff.
The young daughter was found the following day, but the duchess had