Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Truth

Inside the secret room, Mu Lian's gaze fell upon an ebony box. With a light touch of her slender fingers, she unlocked the heavy mechanism and lifted the lid. Inside, there were no gold or silver jewels, only a neatly folded piece of bright yellow cloth.

Mu Lian's heart sank. She reached out, with an almost numb resolve, and unfolded the fabric—

The five-clawed golden dragon pattern gleamed fiercely in the candlelight, as if it were about to soar out and circle the universe at any moment. Upon closer inspection, it was clearly an unfinished but already complete dragon robe!

Good, good, good, you traitor Li! You truly harbor wolfish ambitions and plot rebellion!

Beneath the dragon robe lay several lists, densely filled with the names of court officials and local dignitaries, many marked with phrases like "already submitted," "available," or "awaiting investigation." Beside them was a privately carved white jade dragon seal, identical in design to the one used by the Empress. Nearby were even several meticulously drawn border defense maps, clearly marking the weaknesses in troop deployments.

Forming cliques for personal gain, colluding with enemy states, secretly possessing imperial robes, forging imperial seals, spying on military secrets… each and every one of these acts is irrefutable. The intentions of Prince Ruyang, Li Chong, to rebel have long been blatantly obvious. He is a venomous dragon coiled beside the Empress, constantly coveting the supreme throne.

The hatred for her father's murder, the annihilation of her entire family, and the wolfish ambition to overthrow the state and divide the land—old and new grudges, family feuds and national hatred—all clashed and merged wildly in Mu Lian's chest like boiling magma. The portrait of her mother, her father's tearful secret report, the chilling order to exterminate her family, the usurped imperial robes and seal… all the evidence weighed heavily in her hands, yet burned like fire.

That's enough!

Mu Lian abruptly raised her hand, fiercely wiping away the tears on her face with her sleeve. Her phoenix eyes, washed clean by tears, now held no trace of hesitation or weakness, only a coldness and resolve forged in the flames of hell. The flames of revenge burned fiercely in her eyes, incinerating all sorrow and weakness.

Carefully and meticulously, she carefully and orderly put away her father's secret letter, the cold and cruel order to exterminate the entire family, the several deadly lists, the unauthorized imperial seal sample, and most importantly, the border defense maps. As for the dragon robe, it was too conspicuous, so Mu Lian only tore off a corner with a clear dragon pattern as evidence.

Looking around the room, her gaze returned to the portrait of her mother. Her mother in the painting remained gentle, her eyes filled with sorrow, gazing quietly at her. Mu Lian reached out, her fingertips, brimming with longing and a deep, aching pain, and gently brushed her mother's cheek in the portrait. The silk felt cold to the touch; the person was still there, yet ultimately untouchable.

“Mother…” Her swollen eyes welled up with tears again. Mu Lian moved her lips silently, each word spitting blood, “Daughter… will take you home, will take you… to avenge the blood debt!”

In the darkness of night, the ghostly figure vanished in an instant, as ethereal as a wisp of smoke.

Through the window, Li Peixuan gazed for a long time in the direction where she had disappeared, letting out a long sigh. Little did he know what her departure would mean for the entire Ruyang Prince's Mansion. He tightened his grip on the cool, warm object he hadn't yet given her—a lustrous, warm-colored jade ring, the only keepsake his birth mother had left him, which was originally meant to be given to…

"That's enough." Li Peixuan carefully tucked the exquisite jade ring, which appeared even more delicate and translucent under the moonlight, into his bosom and waved his hand. A guard quickly emerged from the shadows, knelt down, and bowed: "Master, it's all been cleaned up, and our men have replaced them."

"Okay." With his slender fingers lightly tapping the table, Li Peixuan instructed in a low voice, "Proceed according to plan."

"Yes." The guard accepted the order and then turned and left.

Staring at the books on the table, Li Peixuan's lips curled into a faint, bitter smile. If he hadn't revealed his family's wealth and gone with the flow, his beloved father might have remained a powerful figure for many more years. Even though the Empress wanted to suppress him, she ultimately had her reservations. Now that her unfilial son had dug his father's grave, it gave the Empress a legitimate opportunity to strike.

The wound on his chest, which was difficult to heal, seemed to ache again, and Li Peixuan curled up and rubbed it. It is said that the wounds left by this kind of mother gu are never truly healed. Even if one looks no different from an ordinary person on the surface, the pain will be unbearable on the full moon. The excruciating pain is so intense that even a seven-foot-tall, burly man would find it hard to endure.

He picked up a specially made pill from the magistrate's office, which the man said was specially formulated to remove the poison from him. The small brown pill swirled on the man's tongue, first with a slightly bitter taste, then a faint, refreshing fragrance, just like that seemingly cold but actually passionate woman. Sitting up slightly, Li Peixuan let out another long sigh. In the end, his beloved father, to whom he was bound by blood, only treated him as a pawn. No outsider treated him like a human being, so he couldn't blame him for siding with outsiders.

As the eastern sky gradually turned a pale white, it was probably around 3 PM. High in the pavilion, the man gazed longingly towards the imperial city, his robes fluttering and his hair dancing lightly, like an immortal.

Tomorrow will be a new day.

That night, the lights in the Empress's palace remained on all night.

Unbeknownst to the sleeping crowd, several senior ministers were secretly summoned from their homes in the middle of the night by imperial envoys and then escorted to the palace in a sedan chair by palace guards, without even the women in their families knowing. The hearts of the senior ministers, all nearing sixty, skipped a beat, but fortunately, they were seasoned veterans and quickly regained their composure. Only one man secretly wiped the sweat from his brow.

Ever since Liu Zhang, the military governor of Luocheng, was involved in an incident, he knew things were not going well. He had dealt with the complicated relationship between his subordinates and the Ruyang Prince's faction, but he never expected the Empress to act so quickly. He wondered if his subordinates had been dealt with properly.

Inside the imperial study, the Empress had been waiting for some time. Just as everyone finished their greetings, several secret letters were thrown down, landing squarely on the head of the agitated old minister. Startled, he trembled and immediately knelt again, weeping bitterly, "This old minister deserves to die! This old minister deserves to die! Please forgive me, Your Majesty..."

"Damn it? You deserve to die!" The Empress slightly swayed the wide sleeves of her gold-embroidered dragon robe, bowed slightly, and looked down at the kneeling minister. Her cold eyes were full of pressure: "I have always treated you well, yet you dare to help such a villain, disrupt my court, and ruin my country. Do you not know that this is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family?"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me! Your Majesty, please forgive me..." The old minister kowtowed repeatedly in shock, his forehead instantly stained with a layer of bright red blood, mixed with his pale face and white hair, exuding an indescribable misery and sorrow: "How dare this old minister have any intention of treason? It's just that this old minister is old and too muddled, which allowed those wicked people to take advantage of the situation. This old minister deserves to die ten thousand times, deserves to die ten thousand times..."

The long night passed in complete silence in the empty imperial study, save for the incessant thumping of the old minister's head as his official robes were stripped off, and his heart-wrenching sobs...