The cousin's family is extremely wealthy; she deserves to be a concubine.

The emperor heard her call him "brother-in-law" so familiarly, and wanted to say something sarcastic, but he didn't know where to begin.

Finally, he managed to utter only one sentence: "The legitimate daughters carefully cultivated by the Leng family are indeed all eloquent and flattering."

Shui laughed and said, "I'll take it as His Majesty praising me."

"After all, you don't have a better choice!"

The emperor scoffed as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world, "Who said that? Even if I lose the fourth and third sons, I still have the second and the eldest sons. And if all else fails, I still have the Moon King who just returned to the ancestral home."

"I have never had just one choice, except for the fourth prince!"

Shui Shi acted as if she hadn't heard. She picked out the emperor's sons one by one to ridicule them, saying, "The eldest prince has been the object of everyone's high hopes since birth because of his status as the eldest son."

Unfortunately, how could there possibly be another person as outstanding as my brother-in-law in the world?

Even if the eldest prince is exceptionally talented, His Majesty is destined to be disappointed.

"As for His Majesty's favored son, the Second Prince, I'm waiting to see if His Majesty gets what he wants."

Upon hearing this, the emperor understood everything.

Ignoring the filth on Shui's body, he directly pulled up her dirty hair, forcing her to look up at the emperor.

"Tell me, did you do something to the second brother again in secret?"

Shui remained silent, only laughing loudly.

The emperor kicked Shui in the abdomen, saying, "If you tell me now, I might still leave you a whole corpse."

Shui continued to laugh without saying a word.

The emperor, in a fit of irritation, stomped on Shui Shi's body twice more. "Shui Shi, don't forget, I have plenty of ways and time to find every last member of your Leng clan hidden in the shadows!"

"By the way, what about those three children you had with the He family? Every single one of them, why don't I start by dealing with those three?"

"I refuse to believe that you, as the mother, can remain indifferent when your own child is being tortured in front of you!"

A fleeting look of panic crossed Shui's face, but due to her recent imprisonment, the emperor failed to notice the subtle changes in her expression.

Shui said in an almost cold and ruthless tone, "I can't even protect my own life, so what do their lives have to do with me?"

“They are surnamed He. How could I, a discarded concubine who doesn’t even deserve a family name, possibly have the ability to save others?”

The emperor could not believe that these were the words of a mother.

But considering the reaction of the former Crown Prince's wife, Lady Shui, it doesn't seem wrong at all!

"You are all the same, equally selfish. You have never given your hearts to anyone in your lives, and your minds are always filled with the glory of your Leng clan."

Nothing and no one should come before the Leng family.

"It's pitiful that the Leng family, whom you painstakingly protected and risked your lives to preserve, treated you as pawns from the very beginning. And at crucial moments, they abandoned you as expendable pieces, never truly regarding you as family."

"So, do you want to repeat her mistakes?"

Shui recalled that when the late Crown Prince and his wife were still alive, they had also played together.

Even if the emperor's words made some sense and he even played the emotional card, who knows if this wasn't a scheme by the emperor?

After all, how could a young man who has been a king for many years still be as innocent and kind as before?

The passing of the late Crown Prince and his wife was a blow not only to the Emperor, but also to him alone in abandoning his sense of righteousness.

Shui remained unmoved, and even brought up the old matter again, "Your Majesty only said that we women are pawns of the Leng family. Then I ask Your Majesty, wasn't my brother-in-law also a pawn of the late Emperor?"

"Your Majesty only sees the factional strife that cost my brother-in-law his life. Why don't you open your eyes and take a good look at who really started this factional strife?"

“Wake up, it’s the late emperor. He’s wary of my brother-in-law, your elder brother’s, prestige in the court and among the people, which far surpasses his own as the ruler of the country.”

"The claims that the Leng family's ambitions have grown too large and that the maternal relatives are interfering in politics are just excuses used by the late emperor to suppress my brother-in-law."

"My Leng clan is dedicated to finding a wise ruler to assist. My brother-in-law is known for his virtue, and our clan will only do our utmost to support him and help him achieve a glorious era. How could we possibly have any intention of replacing him?"

"The so-called disloyalty is nothing but a stigma imposed on my Leng clan by the late emperor."

The saying "When the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die" applies here; it's all the same principle.

However, the Leng clan has always been adept at seeking advantage and avoiding harm, revealing one thing and hiding another, which is why the late emperor and the current emperor feel that the Leng clan is impossible to eradicate and will cause endless trouble in the future.

The emperor was once again enraged by Shui's words, shouting, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

"It was clearly your Leng clan that harmed my eldest brother, yet you still try to twist the facts and pin all the blame on my father! You are simply deserving of death."

He even drew Jiang Yulai's sword directly, pointing it at the Shui family's lifeline, "If it weren't for the sake of the eldest prince, you would have died a thousand times, ten thousand times, ten million times!"

Shui sneered, "What, did I hit a nerve? Can't you tolerate this?"

"This is nothing at all."

When your sons start fighting amongst themselves for the throne, you will truly understand how ridiculous and foolish the late emperor's so-called stance was.

"Just like how the late emperor deliberately instigated the princes to maintain his dignity as the ruler."

In the near future—no, perhaps tomorrow—I'll be waiting to see you repeat your father's path of no return.

The emperor gripped the imperial edict tightly, veins bulging on his face. "Don't try to spread falsehoods before me. This is nothing but an excuse you're making for the Leng clan."

"Your absurd remarks are only good for fooling yourself."

But don't even think about trying to fool me!

"I already have a choice for the crown prince, and as for the other princes, arrangements have been made. I will never allow them to fight each other for the throne."

"I will never let my eldest brother's tragedy repeat itself."

Upon hearing the emperor's assurance, Lady Shui found it utterly laughable. "Your Majesty, do you even believe it yourself?"

"The human heart is the most unpredictable thing. How can you speak with such certainty about something you yourself are not even sure about?"

"Your eldest prince has been a substitute his whole life. Is he really content to be just a supporting character in the end?"

"The second prince you've been supporting is just like the first prince we all had high hopes for back then, but can he really stand in that position as you wish?"

"Your Majesty, why have you come to the imperial prison to see an old woman like me today?"

"Because even you are wavering on this matter. In that case, can the Second Prince still stand in that position? Is he worthy?"

The emperor's breathing instantly became heavy. "He's not worthy. Who is? The fourth prince?"

Shui smiled, as if she were still the once-popular noble lady of the capital, who had never experienced the ups and downs of life, nor had she ever been imprisoned. "Your Majesty, you have no choice."

The emperor gritted his teeth and said, "I still have the Moon King. He resembles Empress Jiang, but his temperament is most like mine. I can protect this empire, and so can he."