Ye Ying and the others had also captured the two armored men alive.
"Jun Mohan, the Emperor will surely be furious when he learns you killed Prince Qing."
"Although the Emperor usually didn't favor Prince Qing, I could tell he was rather tolerant of him. Even with all the absurd things Prince Qing did, the Emperor knew them all clearly. As long as no officials reported Prince Qing, the Emperor chose to turn a blind eye and didn't punish him. Alas..." Leng Ruoli sighed.
"I know that. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. However, Li'er, you'll have to accompany me to the palace to confess." Jun Mohan gently patted Leng Ruoli's hand.
Then, Jun Mohan ordered Ye Wu and Ye Liu to carry Prince Qing's body onto the carriage Leng Ruoli had been sitting in. Ye Ying and the others escorted the two armored men, Zuo Qing, and the Prince and Princess of Leng into the palace together.
In the Imperial Study, the Emperor was busy reviewing memorials. Suddenly, his eyelids twitched violently, giving him a feeling that something was about to happen.
"Old Li, what time is it?" the Emperor asked Li Gonggong, who was standing beside him.
"Replying to Your Majesty, it is already You Shi (17:00 – 19:00)." Eunuch Li's high-pitched voice sounded.
"It's this late, surely no one else will come to see me?" the Emperor muttered to himself.
"Your Majesty, this, this... your old servant dares not speak absolutely." Eunuch Li smiled.
As soon as Eunuch Li finished speaking, a voice came from outside the door.
"Your Majesty, Prince Leng and the Princess of Leng seek an audience!" Hearing this, the Emperor knitted his brows.
"Let them both in!" the Emperor replied in a low voice.
Following that, Leng Ruoli and Jun Mohan, along with several guards, escorted three people and carried Prince Qing's body into the Imperial Study. Prince Qing's body was covered with white cloth, so the Emperor could not see it directly.
After entering the Imperial Study, Jun Mohan and Leng Ruoli immediately knelt down.
Jun Mohan: "Imperial Father, this son begs for your punishment!"
Leng Ruoli: "Imperial Father, this daughter-in-law begs for your punishment!"
Seeing the solemn expressions on the faces of the Prince and Princess of Leng, the Emperor had a bad premonition, and his brows furrowed even more.
"What is going on with you two? Speak quickly." The Emperor looked at the Prince and Princess of Leng impatiently.
"Imperial Father, this son has killed Prince Qing!" Jun Mohan said truthfully while kneeling.
"What? What did you just say?" The Emperor thought he had misheard.
"Imperial Father, this son killed Prince Qing!"
Jun Mohan said this cleanly and decisively, without any hesitation. As he spoke, he took out a dagger, held it in his palm, and presented it upwards.
"You killed Prince Qing?"
After hearing Jun Mohan's words again, the Emperor was so shocked that he couldn't recover for a long time.
"Yes, Imperial Father, this son killed Prince Qing. I am here to present myself and beg for your punishment. His body has also been brought in."
Upon hearing this, the Emperor looked up at the body being carried by Ye Wu and Ye Liu. He felt a mix of emotions. His most favored son had killed his own brother.
"Why did you kill him?"
After a moment of inner struggle, the Emperor finally calmed down and asked Jun Mohan for the reason.
"Imperial Father, you should ask Zuo Qing and these two people." Jun Mohan pointed to the three people kneeling behind him. At the same time, Jun Mohan instructed Ye Ying to remove the beaked masks from the armored men.
"What happened tonight? Why did Prince Leng kill Prince Qing? You two, as witnesses, tell me the truth."
As soon as he spoke, the two armored men closed their eyes tightly, ignoring the Emperor's words. Fortunately, Zuo Qing was honest.
"Replying to Your Majesty, my name is Zuo Qing, Prince Qing's personal guard. A few days ago, Prince Qing learned that the Princess of Leng had opened a medical clinic..." Zuo Qing recounted everything that had happened recently to the Emperor. Jun Mohan had not killed Zuo Qing tonight for a reason. He knew Zuo Qing was not inherently bad and wanted to give him a chance to redeem himself, which was why he spared his life. Now, it seemed his decision was correct; Zuo Qing knew how to distinguish right from wrong.
As the Emperor listened to Zuo Qing's account, his face grew darker and darker. Especially when Zuo Qing mentioned that the Princess of Leng had almost been hit by an arrow shot by Prince Qing, his face turned completely black like the bottom of a pot.
"Jun Mohan is truly unbearable. I have repeatedly warned him not to harm Li'er, but he just wouldn't listen. Now he has brought this upon himself." The Emperor had nowhere to vent his anger, as Prince Qing was now a cold corpse, unable to hear any scolding.
As for the Empress's ten Shadow Guards cultivated by her, the Emperor had known for many years that the Empress privately kept a group of shadow guards in the palace. However, the Empress rarely used them for official matters, so he didn't pay much attention. He never expected that the Empress had given these ten Shadow Guards to Prince Qing. Prince Qing, in turn, used them as tools for murder rather than as helpers.
After hearing Zuo Qing's words, the Emperor's mood became very complex. His two sons were killing each other, which would be difficult for anyone. Although the Emperor knew Prince Qing deserved his death, he was still his own son, and there was some affection. This Prince Leng was also too much; he killed Prince Qing so readily without considering his father's feelings.
As the Emperor thought, he suddenly stood up from his dragon throne, walked to Prince Qing's body, lifted the white cloth to glance at Prince Qing, and then covered it again.
Subsequently, the Emperor asked Eunuch Li to summon Jian Feng, the commander of the Imperial Guards, to send Prince Qing's body back to Prince Qing's mansion. He also ordered that the Empress be notified, her house arrest temporarily lifted, and that the Imperial Astronomical Bureau select a date and find a burial site for Prince Qing. Since Prince Qing had died violently, he could not be buried in the ancestral grave after his death.
After the Emperor finished giving instructions to Eunuch Li, he called Leng Ruoli to stand up and told her to return to Prince Leng's mansion to rest. However, he never called Prince Leng to stand up. At this moment, Leng Ruoli dared not plead for Prince Leng, as she could not fathom the Emperor's mood. But she could guess why the Emperor was making Jun Mohan kneel. The Emperor was likely doing this to set an example for other princes, showing his discipline.
Thus, Prince Leng knelt in the Emperor's Imperial Study for an entire night, while Leng Ruoli was sent back to Prince Leng's mansion by the Emperor.
Meanwhile, the Empress had just learned of Prince Qing's attempt to assassinate Leng Ruoli using her ten Shadow Guards when Eunuch Li came to inform her of Prince Qing's death. Upon hearing this news, the Empress almost fainted.
"Eunuch Li, can you tell this empress how my Yao died?" the Empress asked, grabbing Eunuch Li's sleeve.