On the way to the palace, the sixth prince belatedly realized that he was in tears.
The palace guards assumed he was acting out of fear and remorse because his scheme had been exposed, and offered no words of comfort.
But only the Sixth Prince himself knew that, sitting in the carriage on his way to the palace, everything he saw reminded him of blood and severed limbs.
His princess consort—his lawfully wedded princess consort—was scattered haphazardly on the ground, blood everywhere, the endless blood stretching to his feet.
He saw her eyes, still wide open, looking at him innocently, blankly, and fearfully, as if she didn't know why she had suffered such a misfortune, as if she was begging him for help!
The Sixth Prince never considered himself a clean person; if asked to kill, he could easily pick up a knife.
But he thought that only he was qualified to take up the butcher's knife, and that no one else had the chance or dared to point their butcher's knife at him.
Even not long ago, he had pledged his loyalty at the Prince Ding's residence!
He thought that by offering a plan to eliminate the enemy, he could make Empress Shen and Prince Ding realize that he was useful, of great use, and indispensable!
But now, his "assumptions" have been completely shattered.
The tragic death of the princess and the dismemberment of her body suddenly awakened him to the fact that he was not the one playing the game.
Grief made his eyes sting and tears stream down his face. He wanted to cry out loud, but instead he kept gagging.
What chilled him to the bone was that his trusted servant, Ah Zhuo, was actually an assassin—Ah Zhuo had been with him for over a decade, and he had never known it!
And that nanny was also a capable nanny by the side of the prince's wife, a nanny who came from her maiden family as part of her dowry!
The sixth prince abruptly closed his eyes, his fingernails digging into his palms, almost drawing blood.
...Therefore, he never had anyone of his own.
He thought the person who was loyal and trustworthy was actually never one of his people!
The princess's tragic death was not only a warning to him, but also a threat.
—If you don't do as I say, the princess's fate will be your fate, or perhaps even worse.
He is unafraid of death; when he sees a dead person killed or tortured by him, he feels no fear whatsoever.
But when the possibility of torture and murder befalling him came true... the Sixth Prince completely broke down.
He also knew that now that he had been brought into the palace by the palace guards, he would be held responsible for everything: Shen Jiefeng's actions last night, the pursuit of Yun Zhuo in Zhuhaijian, the massacre of Taoxi Village, and the annihilation of the loyal ministers and generals of the Great Zhou.
His crimes will be murdering the crown prince, killing his own siblings, and vying for power... His father will order his execution.
Life imprisonment is considered the lightest punishment.
However, he had no choice but to obediently follow the guards into the palace.
Even though he was far away from the prince's residence, the images of the prince's wife's tragic death still lingered in his mind.
There was sadness, there was heartache, but there was even more fear.
The old woman said that as long as he did as she said, he could still live...
"Live on!" The sixth prince clenched his fists tightly.
Inside the Zichen Palace.
The sixth prince was pushed in, and the guards on both sides pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him to kneel down.
The emperor sat on his high throne, his face as cold as frost. The aura of imperial wrath permeated the entire palace, and the vast Zichen Palace was utterly silent.
Yun Zhuo was also in the hall. Because he had just woken up from serious injuries, the emperor, to show his benevolence, gave him a chair.
Although he was sitting in a chair, he still looked very weak.
The most prominent ministers of the Great Zhou Dynasty were all here, some heartbroken, others glaring indignantly at the Sixth Prince.
"Sixth Prince, why did you send the assassin A Zhuo to assassinate the First Prince?" General Lan asked angrily.
Pan Yuanzhou then asked, "Did you frame the Crown Prince for being deposed? Now that the Crown Prince has returned, are you afraid that your secret will be exposed, so you want to kill him to silence him?"
Ning Hongxi asked, "Sixth Prince, was Azhuo really sent by you to assassinate the First Prince?"
Both General Lan and Pan Yuanzhou were filled with righteous indignation, but Ning Hongxi was clearly uncertain!
Even now, Ning Hongxi still refused to believe that Yun Zhuo had been wronged.
When he learned that Yun Zhuo had committed such a heinous crime and had been deposed, he was the first person to capture Yun Zhuo and the one who worked the hardest to do so!
Just because he was Yun Zhuo's maternal uncle, he could not allow Yun Zhuo to defile the late Empress and disgrace his Ning family!
Now he was told that Yun Zhuo was likely innocent. If that was true, then all his efforts to capture Yun Zhuo over the past two weeks would have been a joke.
As the prime minister, how will he maintain his position in the court?
As the head of the Ning family, how will he face his many relatives in the future?
As the late empress's elder brother, how could he say to his sister a hundred years later, "I almost killed your child"?
Therefore, Ning Hongxi hoped that all of this was a misunderstanding and that the Sixth Prince had not sent anyone to assassinate Yun Zhuo!
He also hoped that everything last night was just a conspiracy by Yun Zhuo!
However, the sixth prince gave a bitter smile, kowtowed to the emperor on the high platform, and said, "Father, it is true that A-Zhuo was sent by your son to assassinate the eldest prince."
Everyone gasped, especially Ning Hongxi, who even staggered back a little before being supported by General Lan.
General Lan said, "When the First Prince got into trouble, Lord Ning, in order to protect himself, not only severed ties with the First Prince, but also offered to personally arrest him. Now that the First Prince can clear his name, you, as his uncle, should stand firm."
Ning Hongxi snorted coldly: "General Lan is far too confident in the First Prince. The Sixth Prince only said that he sent someone to assassinate the First Prince. This statement does not prove that the First Prince was wronged!"
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