“Do not speak of my mother again!” With a sharp crack, the chess board was overturned by Tuoba Keyan and crashed to the ground.

Chess pieces scattered across the floor, leaving the place in sudden disorder.

From outside, guards rushed in, their expressions alert: “Your Majesty!”

“It is nothing.” The Great King of Yuehe waved them off and sent them away.

He looked at Tuoba Keyan and hesitated for a long while before saying: “In that matter, this king knows you have held a grievance against this king all along. This king’s heart too has never ceased to carry the weight of guilt…”

“Is that so?” Tuoba Keyan said with a cold laugh. In other matters he would not dare be so bold in front of his father, but if the subject of his mother was raised, his expression would never be a pleasant one.

“If Father truly felt guilt, then why was it, when my mother’s body was brought back, she could not even enter the Yuehe imperial ancestral shrine — but was buried hastily like some ordinary woman of the hills and fields?”

“You…”

“How would your son have come to know of this?” He let out a cold sound. If you do not wish others to know, then do not do it in the first place.

Everyone had thought he was young back then and understood nothing, so naturally no one had thought to be careful about these things around him.

The imperial family publicly claimed he and the Second Prince were born of the same mother’s consort, but in his heart he had always remembered his own mother.

His mother had only one son — him. There was no Second Prince.

The Great King of Yuehe understood. Now that the First Prince had come to know of this, there was nothing he could say to undo it.

His expression darkened slightly as he fixed his gaze on Tuoba Keyan, a complicated look behind his eyes.

“Was it because of this that you… that you have harbored resentment toward this king and taken so many… actions in private?”

“When it comes down to it, Father is no different from any other — still treating your own son as a suspect?”

Tuoba Keyan leaned back against his chair, gaze fixed on some nameless corner of the room, a shadow of bleakness settling into his eyes.

That bleakness stirred a pang of reluctance in the Great King of Yuehe — but at this moment, to claim he harbored no suspicion was impossible.

The two of them sank once more into silence. How much time passed, no one could say — then Tuoba Keyan finally spoke in a low, quiet voice: “All these years, whatever your son has done, whatever resentment your son may or may not carry — which of the things your son has done was not for you, Father? Was not for the people of Yuehe?”

The Great King of Yuehe said nothing. In truth, what the First Prince said was not wrong. All these years, he had fought campaigns east and west, seizing how much land and wealth for Yuehe — and yet after every victory, he had never once divided the spoils, had never shown any interest in rewards.

He had always been building his own power base, and the Great King of Yuehe knew it. But the army he built was never concealed — however many troops he had, he used them all, pouring everything onto the battlefield.

There were those who said his achievements eclipsed the ruler, those who said he was vainglorious and power-hungry, those who said his forces exceeded even the Great King’s own. But this situation had existed ever since the First Prince came of age.

All these years, no matter how many battles the First Prince had won, he had never asked the Great King for anything.

His sole purpose seemed to be this: to strengthen Yuehe — until the day he could completely overrun Bei Mu Nation.

Yes — his greatest ambition was to seize Bei Mu Nation.

He would flatten every inch of Bei Mu’s soil beneath his feet, and bring every one of Bei Mu’s subjects to kneel under Yuehe’s dominion.

The First Prince’s ambition and resolve — as his father, the Great King had always known.

For within the First Prince’s heart there had always been a knot that had never been untied — his mother, who had died in Bei Mu Nation, subjected to violence and humiliation.

Tuoba Keyan idly picked up his tea cup, but did not drink. He held it between his fingers, smiling with contempt.

“Father has never once felt at ease with your son — is it simply because your son looks more like his mother, and more like someone from Bei Mu Nation?”

“How could Father think such a thing?” The Great King of Yuehe denied it at once.

“Hmph.” Tuoba Keyan said nothing more. The silence fell again.

In that silence, time passed, bit by bit.

From midday, to evening. From evening, through into the night, and deep into the night.

Prince Sang and the Second Prince had been gone for so long without returning. Either they had truly found something — or they were all dead.

He had lived in Yuehe all these years. In all that time, what wrong had he ever truly done to them?

Even the matter of fabricating a scandal between the Second Prince and Noble Consort Lian — he had never had any intention of taking the Second Prince’s life. Yet today, what they wanted was his.

He looked once more at the sky, and Tuoba Keyan suddenly rose to his feet and walked toward the door.

“My son!” The Great King of Yuehe rose as well. He had sustained an injury earlier; though his condition had eased somewhat, he was not yet fully recovered.

Even now, his complexion was still ashen, and even his voice lacked strength.

But Tuoba Keyan had no intention of waiting any longer.

“Since Father has already begun to suspect your son, then let your son first defeat the Ninth Prince — and then return to answer for his crimes before Father!”

“My son! You cannot go!” What did he mean by this — was there truly such a weapon-forging camp as they had said?

But Tuoba Keyan paid him no heed, and in an instant had already walked out of the bedchamber.

The Great King of Yuehe hurried out after him from behind, shouting in fury: “Stop him!”

More than ten guards surged forward at once, blocking the First Prince’s path — but he was the First Prince, and no one dared treat him with disrespect.

Tuoba Keyan wore a cold expression, and when he spoke, his voice carried an indescribable chill: “Father — all these years, has your son rendered Yuehe not even the slightest service? Your son has fought and bled for Yuehe — he is Yuehe’s meritorious subject. Why must Father treat your own son in this manner?”

In his heart he was not without unease, but rather a restlessness he could not suppress.

He had been born a man of the battlefield. At a time like this, he ought to return to the battlefield — not remain here, entangled in all this senseless scheming and treachery.

“My son, you know what the current situation is. Father is only asking you to stay here and wait for your Imperial Uncle and the Second Prince to return. Why will you not even do this much?”

Could it be that this son of his had truly turned against him in his heart? Was that weapon-forging camp truly real?

Otherwise — why could he not even wait through a single night?

“My son — do not force Father’s hand against you. Come back, and play a few more rounds of chess with this king.”

“Father — since you have already begun to suspect me, are you not afraid that while I am playing chess with you, I may make a move against you?”

Tuoba Keyan’s lips curved in a cold smile. Tonight, whatever it took, he was going back to his army.

Perhaps he did not even know himself why he had suddenly become so restless, why he so urgently and desperately wanted to return — but in any case, that was how he felt now, an impatience that brooked no delay.

The Great King of Yuehe froze at his words, and a faint chill crept into his heart.

Before this, he had truly never once worried about that. After all, this was his own son — he had never harbored any thought of harming his own son, and his son surely would not harm him.

But now that Tuoba Keyan had said it aloud, a seed of fear had taken root in the Great King of Yuehe’s heart.

What if his son truly intended to act — in a situation where only the two of them were present, how could he possibly be a match for the First Prince?