“Your mother is not that kind of person, and you should not look down on yourself.”
What the emperor feared most was his son looking down on his mother and feeling inferior because of his background.
Xie Tingzhou sat back down in his chair and nodded.
The emperor then said, "Your mother and I have known each other since childhood, and we developed feelings for each other when we were young."
However, the late emperor, who was still the crown prince at the time, valued your maternal family's power, and your maternal grandfather also hoped that your mother could enter the Eastern Palace.
The two hit it off immediately, and your mother became the late emperor's wife. After the marriage, the late emperor somehow found out about your mother and me. He began to suspect your mother in every way and left me in the capital.
Before you, your mother had a child, but the late emperor suspected her and believed that the child was not his, so he kicked it away.
Your mother narrowly escaped death, but the late emperor refused to allow anyone to treat her. I couldn't bear to see her suffer, so I could only secretly arrange for someone to treat her, which further angered the late emperor..."
He carefully observed Xie Tingzhou's expression before continuing, "Your mother became pregnant with you because the late emperor drugged her with a drug he himself concocted. There is no antidote except through sexual relations."
Your mother was dignified and proper. Before this, we had never overstepped the bounds. At that time, your mother was prepared to commit suicide, but I couldn't bear to..."
In reality, the empress had no ability to kill herself. Her hands and feet were bound by chains, and her mouth was stuffed with a wad of cloth, so she couldn't even bite her tongue.
Beside her was a large dog that had also been drugged.
When he arrived, he saw the Empress with bloodshot eyes, rubbing her wrists with iron chains, trying to maintain her sanity with the pain, and she was naked.
This is an utter disgrace!
It was a shadow that the Empress could never forget, and even now, more than twenty years later, she still occasionally suffers from nightmares.
Even though the Crown Prince has now guessed his true parentage, he cannot reveal the whole truth.
The empress had such an experience; once it was discovered, she would only face death, and her parents would kill her without anyone else even lifting a finger.
He sighed and said, "This is a trap. If I enter the trap, I will die. If I don't enter the trap, your mother will die."
The late emperor believed that I would disregard your mother's life in order to survive, and he wanted your mother to die with hatred for me…
But the late emperor did not expect that he would pass away.
However, with the help of the Prince of Liang's mother, he was able to leave the palace in time, and the late emperor was unable to find any fault with him.
They wouldn't let him off the hook either.
That night, the late emperor summoned him to the palace and whispered many of the empress's foul words in his ear.
He vividly remembered the late emperor, who seemed to be in a frenzy, asking him, "Do you think the empress will get pregnant? I'm curious whether it will be a person or a dog."
If I don't conceive this time, it's alright, I have plenty of medicine..."
Thinking of the past, the emperor clenched his fists tightly. "To save my life, and to prevent the empress from being humiliated again, I have no choice but to rebel."
However, some things cannot be kept absolutely secret. Since it concerns your mother's reputation, I cannot acknowledge you; in fact, I must distance myself from you.
The fact that the late emperor's posthumous son was chosen as the crown prince already aroused suspicion. If he were to show further affection for the crown prince, it would surely raise suspicions that the crown prince was his own son, prompting a deeper investigation.
However, if this child is not made crown prince, without the protection of the crown prince status, it will be difficult for him to survive. At the very least, those who persecuted him by the late emperor will not spare his life.
He faced a difficult choice, but he chose the former, for nothing was more important than survival.
However, the eldest son did suffer a great deal. "Now that you know the truth, I have wronged you."
But I hope you won't go to your mother; just let her think you know nothing about it, okay?
The Empress was always ashamed of her past and even more afraid of her son finding out, so that she would be unable to face him.
The noble emperor's tone carried a hint of pleading, and Xie Tingzhou knew that what his mother had experienced back then was far more than what the emperor had described.
He nodded and held up his little finger. "Okay, I won't let Mother know."
The emperor stared at his hand for a moment, then hooked his fingers together and made a pinky promise.
When Prince Yun and Prince Ning made mistakes as children, they were afraid of being scolded by the Empress, so they would always secretly seek the Emperor's help to cover it up. They were also afraid that the Emperor would betray them, so they would always make a pinky promise to each other to feel at ease.
The emperor did this action countless times with his other two sons, but never with his eldest son.
Thinking of this, he pulled Xie Tingzhou closer and hugged him, saying, "This is a secret between you and me, father and son. We will protect your mother together."
The eldest son has been steady since childhood. Now that he's grown up, he still wants to make a pinky promise with his younger brothers. It seems that he envied his two younger brothers when he was young and has always kept this in mind.
He, as a father, owes a great deal.
Xie Tingzhou had indeed envied the emperor before, but now that he was an adult, he didn't care much. He did this to evoke the emperor's guilt.
He knew very well how much the emperor cared about Prince Yun and Prince Ning, and that he and the masked man were destined to be mortal enemies.
"Father, your son will have a father from now on, won't he?"
These words immediately broke the emperor's guard.
He buried his head in Xie Tingzhou's shoulder, tears streaming down his face, and after a long while he finally said, "You've always had a father, sob sob sob..."
Xie Tingzhou felt he had gone too far, making a perfectly good emperor cry, but the pent-up frustration in his heart for many years was swept away, and he felt a sense of peace and joy that he couldn't quite explain.
He longed to see Ye Zhen and share his feelings with her.
But Ye Zhen was busy with important matters, and so was he. He sniffed and empathized with the emperor.
"Father, I am very happy. I hope that you will protect me more. Please take good care of yourself."
Upon hearing this, the emperor felt even more like crying.
What a good son! He cares for him so much.
"Alright, Father, I will try to live a few more years."
I'll be your father for a few more years.
Then Xie Tingzhou said again, "Please be careful with everything you eat and use. I'm afraid that Prince Liang Kangle still has some remnants of his faction. I only have a father now..."
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