“Lord Xiahou is too kind.” Gaoyang returned the courtesy, smiling as he said, “This servant is following His Majesty’s orders to summon Lord Xiahou to the palace for an audience.”

“I wonder what matter His Majesty wishes to see me about?” Ever since the trip to Xuanjing Temple, Li Yuan had not summoned him again. This sudden summons, with Gaoyang personally coming, truly made him uneasy.

Gaoyang’s smile remained unchanged as he said, “Once Lord Xiahou enters the palace and sees His Majesty, won’t everything be clear? Please.”

In comparison, Xia Houduan’s smile was much more forced. He nodded, “Allow me to change my clothes and I’ll go.”

“Please hurry, Lord Xiahou, lest His Majesty wait long.” Under Gaoyang’s urging, Xia Houduan turned and entered the inner hall. Taking advantage of the time to change clothes, he called over a servant from the house, whispering a few words in his ear, then said, “Remember, you must personally present this to the Prince of Qin—do not let anyone else relay the message!”

“This servant will remember!” After the servant left, Xia Houduan quickly changed his clothes and came out, following Gaoyang into the palace for the audience.

Arriving at the imperial study, Xia Houduan composed himself and knelt in salute, “Your subject Xia Houduan greets Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty!”

Li Yuan didn’t bid him rise, only staring at him expressionlessly. After a long while, he said coldly, “Xia Houduan, do you know your crime!”

Though Xia Houduan had been somewhat prepared, he hadn’t expected Li Yuan to immediately question his guilt, hastily saying, “Your Majesty, your subject doesn’t know what crime I’ve committed?”

Li Yuan snorted lightly, saying indifferently, “When I summoned you in the middle of the night last time, do you still remember what I asked you?”

So it was indeed about this matter!

Xia Houduan stared at the mirror-smooth floor, his fingers unconsciously clenching. He struggled to maintain a calm voice, “Your subject naturally remembers.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Yuan said, “Then tell me what you recall.”

Xia Houduan couldn’t fathom Li Yuan’s intentions, so he had no choice but to repeat their conversation word for word. After he finished, Li Yuan said coldly, “And after leaving the palace? Where did you go?”

This question made Xia Houduan’s entire body feel as if pierced by needles, cold sweat immediately breaking out. He struggled to say, “Your subject… naturally went home…” Before he could finish the last word, an inkstone had already struck him heavily on the head, making him see stars and nearly faint. Immediately after, something hot flowed down his forehead, and when it passed over his left eye, that eye’s vision suddenly turned completely red—apart from red, no other color remained!

Li Yuan stared at him coldly, “You didn’t go home, but went to the Prince of Qin’s mansion, telling the Prince of Qin everything I asked you word for word. Am I wrong?!”

Xia Houduan was shocked to death, never imagining that Li Yuan would even know this. How… how did he find out? Clearly very few people knew about this matter…

Li Yuan saw his shock and fear, walked before him, and said coldly, “Xia Houduan, when did the Prince of Qin become your master?”

Xia Houduan finally came to his senses, hastily kneeling, “Your subject has never been to the Prince of Qin’s mansion, much less mentioned Your Majesty’s words to him. Your subject is wronged! Wrong…” Before he could say the next word, Li Yuan had already kicked him to the ground, saying hatefully, “Even at this point, you’re still lying to me. You truly deserve death! Deserve death!”

Li Yuan said “deserve death” twice, showing the extent of his hatred. As an emperor, he most hated being deceived, hence the saying “the crime of deceiving the sovereign is unforgivable.” Yet Xia Houduan had repeatedly committed this transgression—how could he not be angry and hateful? If not for reason restraining him, he would have already killed Xia Houduan with a blade.

Xia Houduan endured the pain and knelt properly again, “Your subject dares to ask Your Majesty, since your subject has known Your Majesty, have I ever deceived you?”

“Not in the past, but now…” Li Yuan struggled to take several breaths, his face iron-blue, “You have greatly disappointed me!”

“Your Majesty…” Before he could continue, Li Yuan raised his hand, “What you’ve lied to me about isn’t just this one matter. There’s also Xuanjing Temple. Before today, I never would have imagined that you and Wang Yuanzhi both came from Zhongnan Mountain. Xia Houduan, you actually conspired together to deceive me. Good! Truly good!”

When he heard these words, his chest pounded rapidly, his heart seeming ready to leap from his throat, cold sweat dripping continuously, mixing with the viscous blood.

Li Yuan… how did he even discover this matter? This time, no matter what he said, Li Yuan probably wouldn’t believe him. Damn it, what should he do?

It would be fine if he died, but the Prince of Qin… No, the Prince of Qin couldn’t die. Even if Li Yuan no longer believed him, he couldn’t admit to lying, so the Prince of Qin might still have a chance. As for Wang Yuanzhi… the only thing he could do now was pray that Wang Yuanzhi would deny everything to the death!

Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth, “Yes, your subject did come from Zhongnan Mountain, but I’m not familiar with Daoist Wang, much less conspired with him. I hope Your Majesty will investigate clearly!”

Li Yuan pointed at him angrily, “Even now, you won’t tell the truth? Must you have blades and axes upon you before you’ll speak?”

Xia Houduan looked completely innocent, “It’s not that your subject won’t speak, but there’s nothing to say. Every word your subject has spoken is true, with absolutely no deception of Your Majesty. I hope Your Majesty will investigate clearly!”

Li Yuan was clear that the secret guards would absolutely never lie to him, much less handle things carelessly. Whatever came from the secret guards’ mouths was necessarily fact, so the one deceiving him was undoubtedly Xia Houduan.

He pointed at Xia Houduan, his hand trembling constantly from anger, “Just how much did he give you to make you protect him so desperately, risking your life?!”

Xia Houduan raised his half-bloody face, saying solemnly, “Your subject asks his own conscience and feels worthy of heaven and earth, worthy of the Great Tang, and worthy of Your Majesty!”

“Worthy of me? Good! Good!” Li Yuan laughed in extreme anger. The next moment, he shouted sternly, “Guards! Immediately go to Xuanjing Temple and arrest Wang Yuanzhi!”

The guards who entered upon hearing his voice said with difficulty, “Your Majesty, the city gates are already closed, I’m afraid…”

Before they could finish, Li Yuan said inflexibly, “Take my token and go. You must bring Wang Yuanzhi here without fail!”

With these words, Gaoyang immediately presented the token carved with a golden dragon to the guards. Just as the guards were about to leave, Li Yuan called them back, “Wait.”

The guards stopped as instructed, but Li Yuan lowered his head in thought for a moment, then suddenly said, “Never mind, go to Xuanjing Temple.” He had originally wanted the guards to summon Li Shimin as well for a joint confrontation, but on second thought, Li Shimin was different from Xia Houduan and Wang Yuanzhi—it wouldn’t be appropriate to summon him to the palace now.

As Xia Houduan knelt with his face covered in blood in the imperial study, the servant he had dispatched earlier also met with Li Shimin, who was still bedridden. “My master told this servant to tell Your Highness that if anything untoward happens to him on this trip, Your Highness must stay out of it and absolutely not plead for him—not even a single word!”

Li Shimin frowned, “What has happened?”