Li Longji fell silent.
He knew what his father was saying.
"For imperial power, there are no fathers and sons, no brothers."
Li Dan's voice was soft, as though he were speaking to himself. "I knew that from childhood. I watched your grandmother kill one person after another, watched your uncles' sons die one after another, watched your aunt marry again and again-I once told myself not to want that throne, not to contend, not to fight. Staying alive was enough."
"But I hid all my life, and that throne still fell back into my lap."
Li Longji raised his head and looked at his father.
Li Dan looked back at him. "But I am not your third uncle. I cannot watch the two of you slaughter each other over power one day. Without her and Lu Changfeng tonight, things would not have turned out this way. For that alone, we both owe them. Since that is so, if someone must suffer an injustice, it cannot be her. It can only be you."
Li Longji opened his mouth to speak.
Li Dan raised a hand to stop him.
"Let me finish."
He looked at the lamp. "When Anle was selling offices and titles, your aunt did not wallow in the same mire. When Empress Wei was manipulating power, she did not wallow in the same mire. When the court was in chaos, superfluous officials were everywhere, and Side-Sealed Officials ran rampant, she still did not wallow in the same mire."
He turned to his son. "Your aunt has always been cautious and restrained. That is no pretense; she forged it over decades. If she remains as she has always been, you must respect her."
The words were quiet, but they drew a line.
Li Longji understood.
As long as his