Shen Xihe trusted Gu Zexiang.

She closed her eyes heavily and rubbed her forehead.

“Your Highness…” Zhenzhu stepped forward worriedly.

Shen Xihe raised her hand to stop her. “I’m fine.”

Lowering her gaze to the jade pendant, she noticed the true lover’s knot beneath the tassel, which seemed to whisper something as it swayed.

Her fingers suddenly tightened, and she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, her face turning pale.

“Axi!” Zhenzhu supported Shen Xihe, crying out.

“It’s nothing,” Shen Xihe weakly gripped Zhenzhu’s hand back. “He’s just being restless.”

Biyu had already brought warm water. Shen Xihe drank from her hand, and her color gradually returned.

Though Imperial Physician Axi had arrived, and Zhenzhu’s pulse-taking revealed nothing unusual, they still had Axi administer some acupuncture.

After Shen Xihe recovered, she had Zhenzhu help her walk a few steps, finally stopping before her and Xiao Huayong’s portrait.

“Beichen, I may need to make a risky move,” she gazed at him, whispering.

No one responded, but just as she was about to smile self-mockingly, Baisui spoke: “Youyou happy, I can return; Youyou happy, I can return.”

“Pfft.” Shen Xihe couldn’t help but laugh.

She took a soft peacock feather and tickled Baisui’s face. Baisui leaned in closer: “Youyou my love, Youyou my love.”

Before Xiao Huayong decided to leave, he had secretly spent time with Baisui, teaching it who knows how many phrases.

Shen Xihe’s heavy mood lightened. After playing with Baisui a while longer, she composed herself and ordered: “Please invite Prince Xin for a visit. I have matters to discuss.”

It wasn’t difficult for Xiao Changqin to see Shen Xihe – with Emperor Youning still “unconscious,” it was natural for his sons to visit.

Checking on Shen Xihe together was also proper etiquette.

“Have you found the people, Your Highness?” Shen Xihe asked.

“All arranged,” Xiao Changqin nodded. “Tomorrow I’ll have them leave traces to reassure His Majesty, lest he take action again.”

His Majesty’s ambush wouldn’t start so rashly. Though people had infiltrated the capital, they wouldn’t recklessly try to kill their way into the palace.

He needed to first let His Majesty know they had arrived, observe his reaction, and wait for His Majesty to provide an opportunity to strike. This was more reliable than creating one himself.

After all, His Majesty still had the Embroidered Guard that even he hadn’t figured out. Setting an ambush for His Majesty without him opening a convenient path would be difficult with just Xiao Juezong’s remaining men.

This matter was too important – he couldn’t mix his people into it.

“Give this to the person you’ve arranged,” Shen Xihe handed the peony jade pendant to Xiao Changqin.

“This is…” Xiao Changqin accepted it, immediately recognizing its exceptional quality as a prince.

“The Empress’s relic,” Shen Xihe said, her obsidian eyes fixing on Xiao Changqin.

Xiao Changqin frowned, wondering why Shen Xihe would give him the Late Empress’s relic.

“Beichen,” Shen Xihe took a deep breath, “is not Your Highness’s brother, but should be your cousin.”

Even with his steady temperament, Xiao Changqin sat up straight, his pupils contracting.

There had been rumors that Xiao Huayong wasn’t His Majesty’s son, but he had never doubted them, dismissing them as gossip. He couldn’t understand how someone like His Majesty would acknowledge another’s son as his own, especially as the Crown Prince.

Now that Shen Xihe mentioned it, he had to reconsider. Looking at it from the opposite perspective made everything clear.

The Empress Dowager loved Xiao Huayong more than any other prince. When the Prince and Princess Qian were killed, she supported His Majesty’s ascension to the throne despite always treating him coldly. These puzzling details began to make sense.

The “enemy attack” back then was fratricide!

His Majesty killed his brother for the throne but couldn’t kill the Empress Dowager – either from some humanity or knowing that if she died too, most of Prince Qian’s former followers wouldn’t submit. The newly pacified realm would fall into chaos again.

The Empress Dowager wouldn’t allow Prince Qian’s son to be confined or exploited by the greedy, so he couldn’t live as Prince Qian’s posthumous son. The best solution, which also made His Majesty atone, was to make Xiao Huayong the Crown Prince.

Xiao Changqin was clever enough to understand the rest without Shen Xihe explaining. With Xiao Huayong becoming Crown Prince, his real younger brother must have been switched away, and this child…

“Is the Crown Princess certain this child…” Xiao Changqin couldn’t finish.

Though cold-blooded himself, having killed innocents, he had never killed children, let alone infants – especially one of his blood!

But if Shen Xihe wasn’t certain, why would she give him this item, letting him give Xiao Juezong’s son another identity – His Majesty’s son!

His son, raised by his enemy, conspiring to harm him, poisoning him to organ failure – even as emperor, he could only helplessly await death’s approach.

This was even crueler than before when His Majesty learned Xiao Juezong had just died and had no outlet for his rage. What did it matter that everything was Xiao Juezong’s doing? He could do nothing but seethe with hatred.

“I’m not certain,” Shen Xihe’s eyes were pale as she shook her head slightly. “I have no proof and can’t investigate openly now. If I investigate first, then this person appears, we can’t deceive His Majesty.

I can only speculate. From what I know, I’m convinced this child died shortly after birth. Not only did he die, but whoever took him away or was ordered to kill him is also dead.”

This was the loophole – the person ordered to kill the prince was dead, so only he knew whether he had done it.

“Crown Princess, you…” Xiao Changqin was shocked. “Do you realize… if our calculations are wrong…”

If the child wasn’t killed but safely raised somewhere, and His Majesty knew, then fabricating an impostor would be making fools of themselves before His Majesty – a huge joke.

His Majesty would not only see through it immediately but would also stop believing Xiao Juezong had ever existed. When Xiao Juezong first appeared, it was when His Majesty doubted the Crown Prince. All their efforts would be wasted, and even the Crown Prince’s fake death might be exposed.

His Majesty would open the coffin!

“I know,” Shen Xihe’s expression was calm. “I know how dangerous this move is, but I must do it. I need to confirm something – something that concerns my life and death.”

Xiao Changqin moved his lips but didn’t ask “What thing.” Since Shen Xihe spoke this way, she was unwilling to tell.

He remained silent, hesitating, struggling, contemplating: “Crown Princess, how certain are you?”

Her eyes were deep, dark, calm, and resolute: “He must be dead.”

He – meaning the real Crown Prince.

She had no evidence, yet she was certain.