Secret In The Palace

There were some matters that only those close enough to it would be able to see clearly.

What gave Prince Ling the confidence to throw tantrums and fight with the crown prince for everything? Why would he even do that?

He thought that others wouldn’t realize it, but because of his age and background, his thoughts were pretty much written all over his face: It’s because I’m the empress’ son.

Because he was young, most people just laughed it off and didn’t take it seriously. After all, it was too hard to pass yourself off as a true member of the royal family and the empress had never given birth before. Everyone knew that.

Also, strictly speaking, he wasn’t wrong to say that either. The empress was the mother of the nation, so even the children of her people were also considered her children, not just the princes and princesses.

The empress herself had never shown any inclination. She did not pay Prince Ling special attention, but did not completely ignore him either. She treated him the same the whole way. The one she supported the most and protected the most was the crown prince. The crown prince was always the most important and her top priority. Even though he was not her biological son, she put in all her time and effort into bringing him up, educating and teaching him, and paid attention to even the tiniest detail.

If Prince Ling performed well, everyone was happy and nobody would make nasty comments, and the empress would reward him accordingly. But if Prince Ling was uncooperative, the empress would punish hm more severely, never more lightly.

And so, everyone thought even more highly of the empress.

This was a fair and just empress whose actions and morals never went wrong, so everyone gave her a big thumbs up. But Prince Ling, who was very certain that he was her son, felt aggrieved inside.
The doting love that should have gone to him had gone to someone else instead. Of course he was indignant.

The empress was exceptionally harsh on him, which made it…stand out instead. Of course that only cemented his belief that the empress was truly protective of him. After all, the more you loved your child, the harsher you would discipline them.

In any case, Prince Ling had always believed that he was special.

Even though the records stated clearly that his biological mother was merely a palace maid, and even though all the palace doctors and officials could testify to that, he refused to believe them.

He seemed to be able to understand why the empress was like this. Even though she did not favor him and punished him hard, he never held it against her and kept trying to get close to her. Every time someone either did something or said something that would hurt the empress, he would always step forward and try and stop it from happening.

But despite his efforts, the empress’ attitude toward him never changed. She was polite and friendly but kept her distance. Her kind gestures were not sincere.

Yet it didn’t bother him and he continued to try…

Zhao Zhi always thought that this was just an internal joke that everyone just laughed off. Besides Prince Ling, nobody took it seriously and were amused by the whole thing, including Zhao Zhi himself. But now, Zhao Zhi was beginning to think otherwise. Was this actually a joke?

Could it be that someone had orchestrated this whole thing and made everyone just think it was a joke when it wasn’t?

Could it be that Prince Ling was so obsessed with this matter because he knew the truth? Each time a son was born to the emperor, he had the potential to become a competitor to the throne. Everything could be set aside in order to ascend the throne, including who he really was.

Was there a confidence in the way the empress smiled on a day to day basis? Was she actually coming up with other schemes?

These matters bothered Zhao Zhi, so he went to take a look at Prince Ling’s birth records.

The records stated clearly that he was born to a palace maid. Even though his date of birth wasn’t too far from when the raid occurred on Beiqing Mountain, a lot of people were there to witness his birth, so everyone had no doubt that Prince Ling was born to this woman on that day.

But when Zhao Zhi checked the birth records of the crown prince, he found more issues.

The crown prince was born prematurely. The previous empress had slipped during a banquet and while she didn’t fall, her stomach hit the corner of a table and she went into labor, which eventually took her life. Of all the times for this to occur, nobody could find the right medicine for her, and the senior palace doctor who had been her attending physician the whole time suddenly got a stroke and passed out. The other palace doctors did not dare to simply administer any medication for her…

This whole process was terrifying, but the crown prince was successfully born in the end. And so far, he had grown up well and healthy too. But his mother passed away soon after giving birth.

Zhao Zhi felt that if he hadn’t handled all those cases before this, he wouldn’t have found anything suspicious about this, since everything sounded perfectly normal. But now, this matter didn’t sound as normal anymore.

Song Caitang went straight to the point, “Who would stand to benefit the most from all of this?”

Everyone knew the answer to that.

Wen Yuansi narrowed his eyes. “The current empress.”

“Also, we uncovered a very, very important secret,” Qi Yan leaned forward as he dropped his voice to a dramatic whisper. He glanced at Zhao Zhi and waited for Zhao Zhi to give him the go ahead before whispering, “The current empress has been found to be infertile. She might never become pregnant!”

What did that mean?

Song Caitang got it. “That’s why the emperor chose her to be his next empress to take care of the crown prince.”

Wen Yuansi sighed, “And so, she seems to have a good enough reason to secretly kill the previous empress.”

The inability to have children was her weakness, but also her advantage. If the previous empress died after giving birth to a son, then as long as she made the right moves, she could very well become the next empress.

After all, her father held a high position in the palace back then, so she had an advantage both in her family background as well as her upbringing and education.

“And so, once the first killing started, it was hard to stop. After one person has been silenced, another one would have to be silenced, because you would always be wary that other people would find out about this matter, worried that the people who knew would tell someone else…” Qi Yan’s voice grew softer and softer.

In order to become empress, the crown prince had to be born successfully, but the previous empress had to die. And if she wanted to continue being the empress, she had to make sure the past was buried well and nobody else must know about it. Someone like Elder Madam Liang, who had been around to help back then, might have guessed the truth, so she could not left alive.

But the problem now was, too many people were now dead and they didn’t have enough evidence to prove anything. They couldn’t even find a living person to question.

Song Caitang suddenly thought of something. “It’s easy to get rid of people working in the palace or the women in the palace. But what about the officials? Surely there are certain doctors and officials who have to be present too, right?”

It would be harder to get rid of these people.

“Also,” Qi Yan started rubbing his temples, “what in the world are we investigating right now? Weren’t we focused on what happened on Beiqing Mountain 18 years ago? Why are we suddenly talking about the rivalry between two empresses?”

Was there a connection?

“We can’t see any connection right now, but our instincts tell us that there’s more to this story. If we keep digging, we’d definitely find something.”

Wen Yuansi spoke confidently as he slowly sipped his tea. He also glanced at Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang, their gazes confirming that they all thought the same way.

Perhaps these matters were not just connected, but very closely connected.

They didn’t have any new cases to investigate, so they directed all their efforts into this matter. But it was too hard to glean much from their efforts and got very few leads. They agreed to come together every few days to discuss and put their clues together in hope of finding new inspiration and direction.

The discussion this time still didn’t lead them to the truth, but there was some advancement, so everyone was still quite satisfied with the meeting.

Before leaving, Song Caitang reminded Zhao Zhi, “Perhaps you should pay the crown prince a visit.”

The more they dug into this matter, the harder the impact on the crown prince. He was due to become the ruler of the country, so his thoughts might affect a number of things too.

Zhao Zhi saw that Qi Yan and Wen Yuansi had already walked out, so he lifted Song Caitang’s chin and kissed her. “Yup, I’ve already written to him and requested for a private meeting.”

He had grown up with the crown prince after all. The crown prince was someone of very high status, so…Zhao Zhi was pretty much the only playmate he had.

Zhao Zhi was naturally worried about the crown prince, and it seemed like he would be the only person who could talk to him about this matter too.

And just after he saw Song Caitang home, he turned to see the crown prince seated on the second floor of a teahouse in a white robe and waving to him.

As Zhao Zhi entered the teahouse, he realized that the crown prince wouldn’t have had the time to receive the letter and make arrangements so quickly since Zhao Zhi just sent the letter… The crown prince wanted to talk to him.

It was an extremely private room. The two men sat across each other as the fragrance of tea filled the room.

The crown prince resembled his mother and was very handsome. His round-collared white robe with silver bamboo leaf embroidery combined with his wide smile made him look younger and less stern than he usually looked. But he still sat up straight and properly, his every action a sign that he had been well trained over the years. His mannerisms were elegant yet dignified, so he was clearly no ordinary person.

Some people didn’t look like a prince even if they wore royal robes, while others were clearly of a different status even if they wore the most ordinary of clothes.

Most people would immediately behave as prim and proper as they could in front of the crown prince and watch their words and actions. But not Zhao Zhi. He knew the crown prince better than anybody and they had done so many absolutely ridiculous things together. They had seen each other’s most embarrassing and awkward moments, so it was impossible to behave so properly around each other.

“I think you’re the only one who doesn’t care how he behaves in front of me.”

The crown prince sounded annoyed, but there was a smile in his eyes. It was clear that he much preferred Zhao Zhi to behave naturally instead of putting on a stiff pretense.

Zhao Zhi grabbed the teapot, poured himself a cup of tea and downed it in seconds. “Can’t believe you didn’t pour me a cup of tea first. How petty.”

“Yes, yes, let me make it up to you.” The crown prince picked up the teapot and refilled Zhao Zhi’s cup himself.

Zhao Zhi quickly took the teapot from him and refilled his cup as well. “I’ll order a few snacks for you in a while. The shops around here have come up with some new and tasty dishes recently and I don’t think you’ve had them before. I’m so much more magnanimous than you, don’t you think?”

The crown prince nearly burst out laughing. “Yeah, yeah, you’re the MOST magnanimous. Happy?”

Zhao Zhi laughed heartily and loudly. “But of course!”

After they exchanged a few laughs, Zhao Zhi frowned disapprovingly at the other man. “Why did you come out here yourself? You could have told me to go over instead.”

Things were not very dangerous right now, but the safety of a ruler was always one’s utmost priority. The team’s new findings also made Zhao Zhi feel a little uneasy.

But the crown prince just waved it off. “I’ve made suitable arrangements and this place is fine. Be honest with me. What have you found so far?”

The crown prince…seemed to have come prepared.

Zhao Zhi rubbed his nose. “You know about it?”

“You don’t have enough evidence but you’ve managed to make a few guesses, so it’s hard to actually report it to the higher ups. But given my position and how I’m on good terms with you, if by now I still haven’t heard about any of this…” the crown prince smiled faintly, “then I’m completely useless.”

His smile seemed bright and broad, but it was hiding many emotions. Others might not be able to see those emotions, but Zhao Zhi could.

And because he could, he found it even harder to broach this topic.

He didn’t know where to start.

The crown prince lowered his gaze and sighed when he saw the expression on Zhao Zhi’s face, and helped him to start, “Ever since Prince Ling hinted at the possibility that he might be the empress’ son, I became wary and suspicious, so I conducted my own secret investigations but did not find anything suspicious. He is the son of a palace maid, period. But as for the empress…her actions and character have influenced me greatly over the years. My character, my personality, and the man I’ve become today is all thanks to her. She put in the most work.”

“I must always be grateful to my biological mother, but I must also be grateful to my stepmother for how she has brought me up. You…you don’t have to feel awkward. Just tell me as it is. If it is something I have to bear, then I’ll eventually have to bear it anyway.”

Zhao Zhi finally put his words together and began, “As you’ve heard, or even already guessed, I suspect that the current empress has something to do with the death of the previous empress…”