Chapter 13 — I was once traded for, then became someone they couldn't reach for the rest of my life

The whole palace was immediately in chaos. Trieu Viet saw my father, at first he was happy, then he felt something was wrong.

"Father-in-music, today is your and Trieu Ca's big wedding. What do you mean by bringing soldiers into the palace?"

My father did not answer him. He just slowly drew his sword. The sound of the blade leaving its sheath echoed in the middle of the main hall, causing the previous blessings to turn into ash.

“Arresting Crown Prince Trieu Viet.”

One sentence fell, and the whole electricity seemed to explode. Trieu Viet's face changed.

“Ly Kinh Son, you dare!”

Trieu Hanh took a step forward, his voice was calm and cold:

"The royal brother colluded with the courtiers, cut off military provisions at the border, intentionally caused General Tran Quoc to be surrounded in the canyon. Then, using the rescue as a condition, forced Ly Trieu Ca to marry him, plotting to usurp the Ly family's military power."

“These evidences, item by item, have been presented before father.”

Trieu Viet's face turned pale. He took a half step back, but quickly tried to maintain his composure.

"Slander! It's all slander! You are the Crown Prince, the reserve army of Great Liang, who dares to fabricate and harm you?"

At that moment, the eunuch general helped the Emperor slowly walk in from the side door. The emperor had been seriously ill for a long time, his face was pale, but his eyes looking at Trieu Viet were terrifyingly cold.

“I dare.”

Those two words made Trieu Viet feel like he was struck by lightning. He looked at the Emperor, then at Trieu Hanh, and finally his eyes fell on him. I slowly raised my hand to lift the veil. Under the red candlelight, I calmly looked at him. At this moment, Trieu Viet finally understood. The fact that my father was besieged was not an insurmountable situation. The lack of salary is not something only he can save. The fact that I agreed to enter the Eastern Palace was not because I forgave him. All the days he was proud, all the nights he dreamed that after the wedding he would have beauty and military power, were just step by step walking into a trap that had been set. My father's siege was to make him reveal his heart. I ignored him to let him relax his guard. Trieu Hanh waited silently until today, once breaking all the claws of the Eastern Palace. Trieu Viet looked at me, his lips trembling.

“Trieu Ca, she lied to you?”

I looked at him, my voice was very light:

“Your Highness is wrong.”

“It was you who thought I would return.”

“And I, from beginning to end, am only bringing you to your doom.”

After the big wedding day turned into a big case of treason, the red color in the Eastern Palace had not yet had time to fade and was taken down overnight. The silk of joy was swept away, the lanterns were extinguished, and the golden sign in front of the main hall door was also covered with a layer of cold dust. People in the palace used to compete with each other to congratulate Trieu Viet, but now when passing by the Eastern Palace, they all bowed their heads low, as if just one more look would cause them to be implicated. The emperor issued orders that same day. Abandoned Trieu Viet's position as Crown Prince, imprisoned him in heaven, awaiting trial later. Those who once stood on the Eastern side were all investigated, of which Ta Van So was the first to be named. As for Giang Nguyet Bach, the once noble Crown Princess who once dared to stand in the middle of the royal garden and slap me, was also stripped of all her titles and taken out of the Eastern Palace amid the gossip of the palace people. The day we met them again, it was raining lightly. Thien Lao is cold and damp, the smell of moss clings to the cliffs. I put on a white coat and follow father. Trieu Hanh originally wanted to go with me, but I refused. There are some parts of the road, we have to go to the end ourselves. The iron door opened, the sound of locks hitting each other rang out dryly. In the darkness of hardship, Trieu Viet no longer had the noble appearance of the former Crown Prince. The red uniform on his body had been replaced by a gray prison shirt, his hair was messy, and his face was haggard. When he saw me, his gloomy eyes immediately lit up.

“Trieu Ca!”

He rushed forward, but the chains on his hands pulled him to the ground. He knelt before me. The person who used a single sentence to determine my fate, the person who once treated me like an object that could be freely exchanged, finally one day knelt at my feet and looked at me with pleading eyes. He said with a trembling voice:

"Trieu Ca, you're wrong. No, I'm wrong. I really know I'm wrong."

"I shouldn't have used her in exchange for Giang Nguyet Bach. I shouldn't have known how important she was until I lost her."

"If you just say one word to your father, please spare my life. From now on, I won't be the Crown Prince anymore, I won't compete for the throne anymore, I'll just be by your side, okay?"

I looked at him for a long time. There is no pleasure in my heart like I thought. It turns out that when a person truly gives up and sees the person who once made him suffer fall to the end, his heart no longer has hatred that makes him grit his teeth. Only a strange calm remained.

“Trieu Viet, what you wanted was never me.”

“You want the person in the picture, you want the power of the Ly family, you want the feeling that everything in the world is in your hands.”

“Now you kneel in front of me, not because you love me.”

“You're just afraid of losing everything.”

His face was pale.