Chapter 23 — Changed the entire Inheritance Lineage to Choose the Wolf King

Silent.

No one dared to breathe loudly. The entire Silver Lang Hall held their breath waiting for Tieu Yen's answer.

She stood there, her shoulders shaking every now and then. Then, slowly, she raised her head. And when she spoke, it was no longer the sweet, gentle voice that everyone had become accustomed to over the years.

It was a cold voice, sharp as a knife.

“Okay,” she said. "You want the truth. I will give you the truth."

She took a step forward, her eyes swept over Yen Chi, over Thiet Phong, over the patriarch Quach Bach Hai who was standing dumbfounded.

"Yes. I used Huyen Huong. Yes. I wrote those fake letters. Yes. I ordered the detention of Thiet Phong." She smiled, a cold smile that no longer had any pretense. "You want to know why? I'll tell you why."

"Three years ago, I entered this patriarch's mansion as an orphan, without a father, without a mother, without an inch of land. I was despised. I was ordered around. I was treated like an insignificant item." Her voice trembled, not from fear, but from years of suppressed anger. "Meanwhile, Lu Yen Chi - a child of unknown origin, picked up and raised just like me - is pampered by the entire clan leader, loved by five sons, and enjoys all the privileges that I have been unable to have all my life."

The remaining four younger siblings stood dumbfounded, Tieu Yen's words were like hammer blows hitting the last remaining layer of fog in their minds. The fourth brother staggered, holding his head with one hand as if enduring severe pain. The third brother held the Fifth brother's shoulder tightly, both trembling at the truth that had just been revealed.

"You're jealous," Yen Chi said, her voice calm even though her heart was churning.

"Jealous?" Tieu Yen burst out laughing, a harsh, bitter laugh. "No. This is not jealousy. This is justice. I have decided, if fate does not allow me to be born in luxury, I will take it myself. I learned how to prepare Huyen Huong from an old physician who was banished by his own clan for the same crime as what I am doing now. I used it, little by little, to make all five of the clan leader's sons only see me, only trust me."

She turned to look at Quach Bach Hai, her eyes without any regret. "And you, respected chief, have also been drinking the tonic I brewed every day for nearly a year. You thought it was a health tonic. In fact, it was a diluted dose of Illusion, enough to cloud your clarity, enough to make you no longer realize what was happening right before your eyes."

Quach Bach Hai staggered and had to hold on to a chair to steady himself.

"What is your purpose?" Lang Phong asked directly, his voice cold as ice.

"Purpose?" Tieu Yen raised her head high, her eyes flashing with a ray of madness. "I want to be the mother of the entire Stormwolf Clan. Not the wife of one son — but the one behind it, the one who truly controls the entire clan, through whichever of those five brothers ends up as chief. I just need to remove Yen Chi from the equation, so no one can compete with me for that position."

"You intend to kill an entire person, destroy an entire family, just to satisfy your own ambition for power," Thiet Phong said, his voice full of anger and pain. "I once trusted you like a sister, Tieu Yen. I protected you from the defamation of other servants in the palace. Yet you considered all of that just a tool to take advantage of."

"Your trust," Tieu Yen replied, her voice filled with contempt, "was never something I needed by its very nature. I only needed it enough to serve my plans. Don't mistake my feigned obedience for any genuine affection, big brother—if you dare call me that after all you've just learned."

"I don't see anything wrong," Tieu Yen replied, without hesitation. "The strong survive. I'm just doing what's necessary so I don't have to live my whole life in darkness like I did."

The entire hall was plunged into horrified silence at that bare confession.

At that moment, a warm light began to spread from Yen Chi's hand, which was holding Lang Phong's hand tightly.

All eyes turned to them.

The crescent-shaped streak of light, once only faintly visible in the rainy night in Black Forest, now flared brightly, clearly, irrefutably, on both clasped hands.

“Wolf Seal,” one of the oldest elders of the Council whispered, his voice shaking with surprise. "I've only heard about it through my ancestors. I've never seen it with my own eyes in my life."

Cung Bach Uy stood up, his eyes wide open in disbelief. "This is proof that cannot be faked. The Wolf Seal only appears when the mate connection is absolutely genuine, from the bottom of both people's hearts."

That light shines throughout the Silver Lang Hall, warm and brilliant, like an affirmation from nature itself that the love between Yen Chi and Lang Phong is not a lie, not a political calculation like what Tieu Yen tried to portray.

"And you," Cung Bach Uy turned to Tieu Yen, his voice cold, "during nearly three years of manipulating the patriarch's five sons, has this light ever appeared between you and any of them?"

Tieu Yen was silent. The answer was obvious, right on her face — a blankness that couldn't be hidden.

"No," she finally admitted, her voice fading. "Never."

"Because there's nothing to show for it," Yen Chi said, her voice gentle but heavy. "You have used tricks to capture the hearts of others, but you can never fake the truth. Love is not something that can be forced with medicine or cunning."

She stepped closer to Tieu Yen, her eyes did not show any gloating, only an unusual calmness. "I used to love you like a sister, even though you never treated me like that. I wish you had chosen another path to find your own value, instead of choosing to destroy others."

Tieu Yen stood there, for the first time during the entire trial, without any response. Her eyes were wild, as if only at this moment did she truly realize that no matter how much power she gained, no matter how many lives she destroyed, she would never have what Yen Chi had - a true love, without lies, without manipulation.

"Arrest her," Cung Bach Uy ordered, his voice sharp. "Tru Tieu Yen, you have confessed before the entire Council of Elders and the Bach Lang court to the crime of mind manipulation, evidence tampering, and plotting to harm the future princess. You will be subject to the most severe punishment according to the laws of both lands."

The soldiers immediately approached and chained Tieu Yen's hands. She didn't resist, just stood there, her eyes blankly looking towards Yen Chi and Lang Phong standing next to each other, her hands still lingered with a bit of the Wolf Seal's warm light.

"You win," she said, her voice so low that only the wind could hear it. "But I don't regret it."

Yen Chi looked at her, not with eyes of gloating victory, but with a mixture of pity and remaining pain. "I hope, one day, you will understand that power gained through lies can never bring you what you truly desire."

Tieu Yen was escorted out of the hall, the sound of iron chains dragging on the stone floor echoed throughout the silent space. Just before crossing the threshold, she turned her head one last time, her eyes glanced over her four younger brothers standing silently, past Quach Bach Hai with a face etched with the deep pain of a father who had just woken up from a long coma, and then stopped at Yen Chi and Lang Phong.

"Three years," she said, her voice hoarse. "Three years we built our dream brick by brick. And it collapsed in just one morning." She laughed, a broken laugh that sounded almost like crying. "Perhaps that is true justice — faster and crueler than I have ever inflicted on anyone."

No one responded. The soldiers dragged her away, and the big door slammed shut behind her.

The Silver Lang Hall exploded in cheers, applause, and sighs of relief from hundreds of people who had just witnessed the truth finally triumph.