After my whole family overheard my thoughts, they went berserk.

"No, you're only doing this for yourself!" the Queen said coldly. "You're impulsive; you're just trying to vent your emotions!"

"Does Mother really think so?" Mu Xiuyan asked, his eyes reddening with disappointment as he looked into the Empress's eyes.

The Queen looked away and said nothing more.

Mu Xiuyan was utterly disappointed. He knew that his mother's silence meant that this was exactly what she thought!

"Why is it that nothing I do receives the support and understanding of the Empress Dowager? I am the Crown Prince of Tianqi, so why am I so bad in the Empress Dowager's eyes?"

"Is it because I am your son, because you are the Empress, that I was able to obtain the position of Crown Prince, so everything I do must be done according to your wishes?"

He simply couldn't understand why the deaths of just a few princesses from the Sangnan Kingdom would frighten them so much.

Why should we be afraid of them!

"Yan'er!" The Empress felt a surge of anger upon hearing Mu Xiuyan's accusations against her.

She was angry that the crown prince was disobedient and never listened to her teachings.

He acts unilaterally and stubbornly.

If something happens, won't she be the one to protect him?

"If Mother wishes to gain favor with Father, then go ahead and hand me over!" Mu Xiuyan said disappointedly, "All of this was given to me by you, and this time, I will return it to you!"

Take your son and go to the Emperor to earn merit!

Preserve your honor and status; from this day forward, the bond between mother and son is severed.

"Do you really want to speak to the Empress Dowager like that?" The Empress was equally disappointed, her eyes red as she asked Mu Xiuyan.

She did so much for the Crown Prince, why did he never understand?

The crown prince is her son. When he does something wrong, she points it out and patiently teaches him. Is that wrong?

Why did the Crown Prince perceive all of this as incomprehension?

The Crown Prince never understood her!

"It was Mother Empress who first blamed me!" Mu Xiuyan cried in anger, sitting there trembling, feeling even more disappointed.

He was only thirteen years old, and the emotions he was displaying at that moment were more like those of a child.

Seeing Mu Xiuyan cry, the Empress felt a pang of heartache. She suppressed her emotions, walked to Mu Xiuyan, and gently took his hand, saying, "Yan'er..."

Mu Xiuyan cried without saying a word.

The Empress looked at the wound on his hand and asked, "Does the wound hurt?"

She couldn't imagine how a thirteen-year-old could kill five people, even though they were just girls.

"No matter how painful the wound is, it's not as painful as the pain in my heart," Mu Xiuyan said, wiping away his tears. "My original intention was only for Mother!"

The Empress silently shed tears as she took out medicine from her medicine box and treated Mu Xiuyan's wounds.

"Hiss..." Mu Xiuyan hissed in pain.

The Empress asked somewhat nervously, "Did I hurt you, Mother?"

As she tended to Mu Xiuyan's wounds, she held his hand and whispered, "Yan'er, I'm not criticizing you. I just hope you can be more prudent in your actions."

"Be steady..." Mu Xiuyan smiled faintly: "Mother always says to be steady, steady. When will I finally please Mother, or will I never be able to please Mother in this lifetime?"

The Empress felt very sad in the face of Mu Xiuyan's accusations.

Although she disliked the Crown Prince's disobedience and even more so his making decisions behind her back.

But after all, he was her son. Seeing him injured, seeing him cry, seeing him sad, she eventually softened.

"Yan'er, your mother only hopes that you can become a better person and do even better than your father in the future, do you understand?" The Empress touched Mu Xiuyan's face and wiped away his tears.

After receiving the Empress's explanation, Mu Xiuyan's anger subsided considerably.

He is the crown prince, and he has the right to make his own decisions. He doesn't like the empress watching over everything and telling him what he's doing wrong.

He also hopes to gain recognition.

The hope is that when the Queen hears about everything he does, her first reaction will not be to criticize him, but to tell him: You have done a good job.

Without exception, he did not.

I've never had it.

In his mother's eyes, he seemed to do nothing right, nothing well, and he could not meet her expectations.

He's the crown prince, and this must be very stressful for him!

"When you sneaked into Chongyang Palace last night, did anyone else know?"

The Empress knew that no amount of complaining would be of any use.

The immediate priority is to resolve the problem and protect the crown prince.

Mu Xiuyan said, "No, I have never mentioned this matter to anyone."

After leaving Chang Le Palace last night, Mu Xiuyan wanted to vent his anger for his mother. When he passed by Chongyang Palace, an idea came to him.

If these princesses of Sangnan were to die, they would no longer threaten the Empress Dowager's position, nor would they become estranged from the Emperor.

At the time, he was only thinking about the Empress and did not consider the impact that the deaths of these Princess Sangnan would have on the Tianqi Kingdom.

So when he had this idea, it grew in his mind step by step, and eventually he decided to kill them.

He changed into night clothes and secretly sneaked into Chongyang Palace to wait for his opportunity. He only acted when it was late at night and everyone in Chongyang Palace was asleep.

"It was the head nanny who saw me. I was worried that she would recognize me and wanted to kill her as well, but she made a commotion, so I ran away."

When he sneaked into the house, the princesses were already fast asleep. He slit their throats with a dagger to avoid making a sound.

However, after killing the first four princesses, he accidentally startled the fifth one.

He panicked immediately. After slashing her neck, she still had the strength to fight back and scratched the back of his hand.

However, after her neck was slit, she couldn't hear any sound.

At that moment, he was completely enraged. He grabbed the knife and stabbed her repeatedly, countless times, until he realized she wasn't moving. Only then did he let go.

The other princesses suffered horrific injuries because he added insult to injury later. He wanted to avenge his mother and also to disgust his father!

Didn't Father want to favor them and take them as concubines?

Then let them die a horrible death, so horrible that Father Emperor will no longer have any thoughts about them after seeing the trauma they have caused!

"That Granny Liu was executed by the Emperor last night." The Empress felt that this was the Crown Prince's good fortune.

If Granny Liu hadn't been executed, she might have recognized the Crown Prince, which would have caused him trouble.

"Your son killed several princesses before he found Granny Liu. She ran over to open the door and shouted at the outside, 'Your son escaped by climbing over the wall.'"

Granny Liu didn't die at the time, but she died later.

This was her fate.

"Boom boom boom!"

A knock came at the door; it was Jin Shu's voice.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor has ordered Eunuch Qi to bring a forensic doctor to conduct an investigation..." Jin Shu said from outside.

At this moment, Jin Shu did not know that Mu Xiuyan was the murderer, nor did she know that the Empress wanted to find out who the murderer was.

When Eunuch Qi brought the forensic doctor, she cooperated readily and led them directly to the Empress.