Chapter 27 — Sacrificed by the Heir: Reborn as Yue Zhaoyue to Avenge Sixteen Years of Injustice

The Emperor gazed down at him, his expression unreadable.

"Do you recognize the person standing before you?"

The old eunuch’s voice trembled as he replied, "I do."

"It was the Noble Consort who commanded me to deliver a secret missive to the chamberlain, Tran Thuan, that year. I saw her seal it with the imperial crest with my own eyes."

A flurry of whispers erupted throughout the great hall. The Minister of the Supreme Court produced a letter that had been more than half consumed by fire—a relic recovered from the ruins of the underground cellar in Qingzhou. After painstaking restoration, several lines remained legible. "...must not survive..." "...wooden plaque..." "...the child..."

At the bottom of the letter sat the partial imprint of a vermillion seal. It matched the jade signet of Noble Consort To’s palace perfectly. The Minister placed the two seals side by side; they were identical in every detail. For the first time, the composure of Noble Consort To flickered. She gripped her sleeves until her knuckles turned white.

"Forgeries," she spat. "All of this is a fabrication. Someone is conspiring to frame me."

At that exact moment, Co Nghien stepped forward, holding a wooden box aloft with both hands. "Your Majesty, this is the remaining ash of that secret decree. The ink used is of the purple variety supplied exclusively to the Imperial Household Department. Furthermore, the edges of the paper contain traces of the same aromatic powder used in the incense once gifted to Shen Hang. This proves that after obtaining the secret decree, the perpetrator brought it back into the palace before it was destroyed."

The hall fell into a suffocating silence. The Emperor looked down slowly. "Consort, what else do you have to say for yourself?"

For the first time, Noble Consort To did not respond immediately. She bowed her head for a long time, then began to laugh. It was a soft, jagged sound that sent chills down the spines of all present.

"What does Your Majesty wish to hear? Do you wish for me to confess?"

The Emperor remained silent. She lifted her head, the usual veneer of gentleness vanished from her eyes. "Very well. I confess. It is true that I sent people to Qingzhou. It is true that I stole the secret decree. I burned the relay station, I ordered the hunt for the newborn, and I used Shen Hang to raise the child so that I could keep her under surveillance. It was also I who fabricated the charges of treason against the Yue family."

With every word, the faces of the officials turned paler. Even the Grand Princess tightened her grip on her armrest. The Emperor stared at her, his voice low. "Why?"

Noble Consort To slowly closed her eyes. "Because Yue Zhongshan could not be allowed to live. He had uncovered too much. He held evidence in his hands sufficient to decapitate half the court. Had he stepped foot into the capital, this entire administration would have been stained with blood."

The Minister of the Supreme Court immediately interjected, "Who was the person behind this?"

She laughed. "If I told you, would you dare to arrest them?"

The Emperor’s voice deepened. "Speak."

Noble Consort To’s gaze swept across the hall, finally resting on the dragon throne. "Your Majesty, did you truly believe that I, alone, could command the internal palace staff, the imperial guards, forge secret decrees, sabotage military rations, frame loyal subjects for treason, and cover it all up for sixteen years?"

She let out a sharp, mirthless laugh. "I do not have such grand ambitions. I was merely... a pawn."

A collective gasp echoed through the hall. The Minister roared, "Who is the mastermind?"

Noble Consort To looked the Emperor straight in the eye, each word falling like lead. "The one who had the authority to mobilize the Northern Border forces. The one who once held power over the supervision of military rations. The one who is the true master of the five-clawed dragon ring. It was not the Prince. It was not me. It was... your imperial uncle. The current... Prince Ninh."

The revelation that Prince Ninh was the architect behind the chaos sent shockwaves through the capital. Yet, before the Emperor could issue orders for further investigation, another summons was issued.

"Bring Shen Hang to the hall."

The great hall went deathly silent. The man who had once been a high-ranking minister, respected by his peers, now stood in coarse grey robes. His hands were bound in heavy iron shackles, and his hair had turned mostly white during his short confinement in the Supreme Court. He knelt in the center of the hall. "Your subject... pays respects to Your Majesty."

The Emperor observed him for a long, heavy silence. "Do you still remember Yue Zhongshan?"

Shen Hang’s frame shuddered. He bowed his head low. "I... remember."

The Emperor placed the copper plate found in Qingzhou upon his desk. "Then do you remember the promise you made that year?"

The air in the hall seemed to freeze. After a long pause, Shen Hang replied, his voice raspy, "I... remember."

The Emperor slammed his hand against the desk. "You remember! And yet you dared to break your word! You remember, yet you dared to hide the orphan of a loyal subject for sixteen years! You remember, yet you allowed the daughter of the man who saved this empire to suffer such grievous injustice!"

The Emperor’s voice reverberated against the stone walls. No one dared to lift their head. I stood behind the Grand Princess, watching the man I had called 'Father' for sixteen years. There had been a time when I thought that if I were only more obedient, more sensible, he would look at me with affection. There had been a time when I believed that if I endured a little more, the Shen family would truly see me as one of their own. Only today did I realize that some people, from beginning to end, never viewed me as kin.

Shen Hang knelt on the cold stone, his eyes bloodshot. "Your Majesty... I am guilty. But I truly played no part in the murder of Yue Zhongshan. That night, I was merely passing by. The lady of the Yue household entrusted the child to me, begging me to bring her to the capital to seek justice. I... I accepted."

He paused, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "But after I returned to the capital, I discovered that the entire Yue clan had been charged with treason. If I had brought the child forward, the entire Shen family would have been implicated. I... I was afraid."