Gu Zhixing's tall figure cast a sharp shadow in the firelight, and his fingers tightened almost imperceptibly for a moment inside his sleeve.

"Gu Zhixing, do you think I'll let you have your way?" Wang Jian's hoarse voice seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of hell, his withered fingers gripping the ground tightly. "You killed my son, and you still want me to help you overthrow the Crown Prince? Keep dreaming!"

Gu Zhixing's eyelashes drooped slightly, casting a shadow on his cold and stern face.

His right index finger, clasped behind his back, gently rubbed the jade thumb ring on his thumb—the only subtle gesture that betrayed his emotions.

Wang Jian's cloudy eyes suddenly flashed with a malicious light.

He grinned, revealing his uneven teeth through his chapped lips. "What's wrong, Your Highness? You seem quite dignified these days," he deliberately drawled. "Have you forgotten your own unspeakable past?"

The sound of dripping water in the corner of the dungeon suddenly became exceptionally clear.

Gu Zhixing's upright posture stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment, a subtle change that intensified the malice in Wang Jian's eyes.

"What secret can stay hidden forever?" Wang Jian laughed hoarsely, his voice like a dull knife scraping against bone. "You killed all the palace servants who knew back then, thinking you could cover up this dirty secret forever?"

He lunged forward, the chains rattling: "I've been in the Ministry of Revenue for forty years, what despicable things haven't I seen? Don't you feel disgusted every time you call me 'Uncle'?"

Gu Zhixing's breathing paused almost imperceptibly for a moment.

Wang Jian keenly noticed this reaction, and a morbid excitement flashed in his eyes.

He licked his chapped lips, like a venomous snake spotting its prey:

"To gain power, the eldest princess even went so far as to seduce her own younger brother. Did she ever imagine that she would give birth to a bastard like you? When the late emperor saw you in your swaddling clothes, his expression..." He paused deliberately, admiring Gu Zhixing's increasingly pale face, "...like he saw something dirty."

A spark suddenly flew from the torch in the dungeon.

Gu Zhixing's slender fingers clenched tightly in his sleeve, his knuckles turning white, yet his face remained alarmingly calm.

Only in the depths of those jet-black eyes, an imperceptible undercurrent surged.

Wang Jian burst into maniacal laughter, the chains rattling with his movements: "You live a life of luxury every day, have you ever thought that you were born out of wedlock? Every time you call out 'Father Emperor,' have you ever thought about..."