Chapter 28: Doubts-Quando a concubina diz que eu não mereço? A filha legítima renascida, abalando a corte e conquistando o posto de fênix(Chuva intensa)

Since the imperial physicians were at their wit’s end, the only hope for survival lay in identifying the source of the poison. The palace was soon plunged into a frenzy of investigation, with the Imperial Guard dispatched in full force to scour every corner for clues.

Yet, after a full day, the investigation remained stalled, as if mired in a swamp. Suddenly, a previously obscure physician had a flash of insight. He suggested to the Emperor that the toxin was not a recent introduction but a chronic one; to reach such a lethal state, it must have been administered consistently for at least three months. If this were true, the complexity of the investigation would increase exponentially, as the vast timeframe and the multitude of people involved would mean that evidence had likely long since vanished. Could the ailing Third Prince hold on that long? Everyone was consumed by anxiety.

Shen Fengmo, observing the situation, pondered for a moment before telling the Emperor that he had once obtained a Tianshan snow lotus at the border, from which he had painstakingly crafted a medicinal pill that might offer some respite. In this life-or-death moment, with no other options, they had no choice but to treat the dying horse as if it were alive. The pill was soon delivered by the Shen residence. As Shen Fengmo looked at it, he felt a faint sense of unease, as if an inner voice were warning him. However, before he could investigate further, the pill had already been administered to the Third Prince. After checking his pulse, the physician confirmed the medicine was effective, temporarily halting the spread of the poison, though he warned that an antidote must be found immediately; otherwise, even if the Prince survived, his health would be permanently shattered.

Leng Yichen came to visit at noon the following day. Upon hearing the physician’s report, he mused to himself that Leng Zhaowen was truly ruthless to himself; such a gamble required real courage. A faint, imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He thought that since the Crown Prince had just suffered a setback over the Shen Wan affair, it was time to let him taste a little sweetness.

A few days later, the Imperial Guard reported to the Emperor that the truth had been uncovered: the Fifth Prince had obtained the poison from outside the palace and given it to the Imperial Noble Consort to be added to the Third Prince’s meals. Both human and material evidence were laid before the Emperor. Most crucially, the investigation revealed that the key ingredient of the poison was unique to the hometown of the Imperial Noble Consort’s maternal grandfather, making it nearly impossible for anyone else to obtain. Faced with such ironclad evidence, the Fifth Prince had no way to defend himself.

The guards further stated that their investigation had led them to discover that the Fifth Prince had also been secretly manipulating events to ensure the scandal between Shen Wan and the Crown Prince came to light. Upon learning the details, the Emperor was consumed by fury. He had never expected the Fifth Prince to use the Shen Wan affair to undermine the Crown Prince’s standing in his eyes, while using the poisoning to sever the Crown Prince’s support. Such a heart was truly wicked.

As the saying goes, when a wall is about to collapse, everyone gives it a push. Sensing the Fifth Prince’s impending downfall, others came forward to report that he had been secretly bribing officials, training private soldiers, and hoarding weapons, his ambitions laid bare. After verifying these claims, the Emperor was enraged. He acted decisively, demoting the Imperial Noble Consort to house arrest and exiling the Fifth Prince to a remote fief, effectively stripping him of any claim to the throne.

These events unfolded with such swift, thunderous force that they left everyone breathless. The Fifth Prince’s defeat had been so rapid it caught everyone off guard. The shifting winds of the palace were like a gripping drama, with each person playing their part—some triumphant, some ruined—and the play seemed far from its final act.

Amidst this volatile situation, before the Crown Prince could even celebrate the Fifth Prince’s fall, the Ministry of Justice achieved a breakthrough in the case of the remnants of the former dynasty. Nanny Zhang, who had been imprisoned for a long time and remained as stubborn as iron, finally broke under the immense pressure and clever psychological warfare. She confessed that she was indeed a trusted confidante of the Empress, having served her faithfully in the inner palace for years.

However, her testimony was subtle. She claimed the Empress had only used her to control the inner palace and monitor the Imperial Noble Consort and the princes to prevent any uprisings. Regarding the heinous acts of attacking the imperial mausoleum, attempting to sever the dragon vein, and slandering Shen Ning-shuang, she insisted these were entirely her own doing, unrelated to the Empress. Yet, everyone knew that a mere nanny would never dare act so audaciously without someone backing her. The reason behind her actions, as Leng Zhaowen had intuited from the start, was inextricably linked to the Ruijin Kingdom, suggesting an unknown international conspiracy.

Faced with this, the Emperor weighed the pros and cons. While he did not officially strip the Empress of her title, he decisively confiscated her imperial seal and archives, confining her to the remote Weiyang Palace, which was effectively a cold palace. From then on, the Empress was utterly defeated, falling from the heights of power to the depths of despair, destined to spend the rest of her days in that lonely, desolate place, accompanied only by oil lamps and ancient Buddhas.

Night fell like thick ink, slowly staining the magnificent palace in a deep, oppressive gloom. The Emperor sat alone in the imperial study, the mountains of memorials on his desk resembling intractable puzzles waiting to be solved. His expression shifted constantly; at times he furrowed his brows, lost in the labyrinthine politics of the court, and at others, he sighed, weary and helpless in the face of the endless palace infighting.

Now, the Fifth Prince was exiled to the border on charges of treason, far from the vortex of power in the capital, his future uncertain and his glory vanished. The Crown Prince was implicated in the Empress’s crimes, mired in scandal and suffering a shattered reputation. The Third Prince had met with sudden disaster, lying bedridden and comatose, his life hanging by a thread while physicians hovered helplessly. Staring at the flickering candlelight, the Emperor wondered how his three most capable sons could all fall into such desperate straits in the blink of an eye. Even if each had his faults, the simultaneous eruption of these crises could not be mere coincidence.

Who, then, was the one quietly pulling the strings behind the scenes? Who possessed the power to turn the palace upside down? The Emperor’s thoughts raced like a galloping horse. He knew that when one had no clear suspect, the most effective method was to examine who benefited most from these upheavals. After some consideration, the most likely candidates were one of his sons who had been hiding his true strength, or perhaps... the seemingly detached yet unfathomable Prince Dinghuan, Leng Yichen.