Chapter 14 — Instead of Marrying His Wife, 7 Years of Supporting Him to the Throne, In Exchange for a Cup of Poisoned Wine

I don't know what he was thinking at that moment. I also don't want to know anymore. Because starting from this arrow, I suddenly completely understood one thing - I am reborn in this life, not to be entangled with him again. Not to wait for his late love. I am for myself. To reclaim your destiny. Because we protect those we want to protect. Because those who have harmed me, each and every one of us, must pay the price. And Ta Hanh. He in my previous life has ended. After returning to the Eastern Palace, I recuperated for a full month. It was also during this month that the situation in the capital suddenly changed. Before the assassination at the hunting range could subside, Ta Hanh struck like thunder. The assassins who were captured alive had not yet had time to endure several rounds of interrogation, but they confessed completely. Their testimonies were completely consistent. Layer after layer of clues were peeled off, eventually all pointing in one direction - the Third Prince's side. Collaborating with foreign ministers, secretly recruiting soldiers, secretly raising armor, and even arranging many layers of assassination just to ensure the Crown Prince's death. The story doesn't stop there. As the testimony continued to deepen, the royal hospital was also brought under investigation. The ancient remedies, the times the Crown Prince was chronically ill, the bouts of coughing up blood that seemed to be due to physical weakness - were all finally revealed, a truth that shocked the whole court. It's not a disease. Which is toxic. Someone had secretly poisoned him for many years, little by little, like a silkworm eating a mulberry, quietly gnawing away at his body, making him increasingly weak without anyone realizing the real cause. In just a few more years, I'm afraid he will really collapse in those constant illnesses, be known as having a weak body and die in a "reasonable" manner. They just didn't expect it. Since his serious illness, I have quietly changed the medicine he used before. Antidotes were mixed into each body care regimen, little by little pulling him back from the brink of exhaustion. At first it was just coughing less. After that, his mood gradually improved. Then the recurring illnesses no longer appeared. By the time everyone realized it, his body had silently recovered, and the poison that had accumulated for many years was gradually dissolved before the assassination even took place. A game of chess that had a predetermined outcome was quietly turned around by me from the shadows. As soon as this news spread, the whole court felt as if it had been doused with a basin of cold water. The Emperor was furious. The saint was only given for one night. The third prince was stripped of all his titles and imprisoned in the palace, not allowed to go out even half a step. The families that once stood by his side, received benefits from him, and secretly interacted with him were all examined house by house. Person dismissed. People whose assets are confiscated. The person was directly imprisoned. In just a few days, the capital's face changed. And Truong Ninh Marquis Palace could not escape. In previous years, his father had secretly leaned towards the Third Prince for his own benefit, and had several personal contacts with his side. Stories that were thought to have been buried by time are now being brought out piece by piece. The crime is not big. But it was enough to be purged. His father was dismissed and all his positions were revoked. The investigation order has not ended yet, he is not allowed to leave the capital, and he has no chance of being reinstated. Just overnight. In front of the Marquis Palace's door, which was always crowded with carriages and endless guests, it now became cold. People I knew in the past were avoided like the plague. The invitation card is no longer available. The relationship also broke off. Those who once bowed and flattered, now pass by as if they don't know them. The capital city is like that. When power and authority exist, everyone is a friend. When power is lost, only the most naked coldness of the human heart remains. Mother came to the East Palace to request me three times, but I stopped her. For the last time, she knelt in front of the Eastern Palace gate for two hours, crying and saying that after all, she was a mother for a while, asking me to raise her head and hit lightly to save the Marquis Palace. I stood in the tall palace gate, looking at her old and haggard face, but there was not the slightest wave in my heart. She knelt any longer and could not change her past life's Tham Thanh Vu, who was pushed into the fire pit by her own hand. I sent someone to tell you:

“Madam, you are kneeling in the wrong place.”

"I am not the fourth lady of the Tham family, I am the Crown Princess of the East Palace."

This one sentence cut off her last bit of hope. But on Tham Minh Chieu's side, it's not much better. After the assassination at the hunting range last month, Tham Minh Chieu's identity was also exposed. She was not on the list of concubines by price, but she relied on bribing the palace staff, faked the list, and secretly mixed into the crowd. The guard always stood behind her, looking like an escort, but was actually someone secretly arranged by the Third Prince's faction, in the name of protecting her so that she could conveniently approach the high platform. After a thorough investigation, although it was confirmed that she did not participate in the assassination and was only used as a cover, the mere fact that she arbitrarily mixed into the hunting grounds and accidentally got involved with the assassins was enough to make her reputation in the capital fall to the bottom. From then on, she could no longer raise her head as a human being. In the past, there were still people who looked up to the Marquis of Truong Ninh Palace and reluctantly saved her some face.