After the incident, Dai Youheng did neither of the things everyone had expected: return to the Duke's Mansion to stage a struggle for succession, or move into the Princess's Mansion to bask in tender affection.
He still did not set foot in the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, the symbol of the Dai Family's seat of power.
By killing Zhu Shu with his own hands, he had torn away the last scrap of cloth concealing their ugliness. Between him and his legal mother, Zhu Man, his eldest brother, Dai Yueheng, and even his father, Dai Hao, the little warmth that had existed in name alone had long since vanished. All that remained was naked hatred and a rift that could not be mended.
It was not that Dai Hao had never considered exercising his authority as family head to expel this rebellious, arrogant son outright.
Once struck from the family rolls, Dai Youheng would lose his legitimate status as heir to the dukedom altogether. To the imperial family, a pawn who could no longer rightfully take command of the Western Army Group would be worth considerably less.
Yet the thought had barely circled through Dai Hao's mind before he rejected it himself.
First, the timing was wrong. Half a year earlier, he had personally elevated Bai Wanning to the status of equal wife, ending Dai Youheng's status as an illegitimate son. With Dai Youheng clearly in the right and guilty of no other wrongdoing, expelling him without cause would only make the White Tiger Duke's Mansion a laughingstock, damaging the Dai Family's ten-thousand-year reputation and prestige. Xu Jiawei's words-"Zhu Shu attacked Dai Youheng. Surely Youheng couldn't simply let her kill him"-had already nailed the matter firmly in place.
Self-defense. Not guilty!
Second, and most importantly, Dai Youheng was no longer the