Killer Queen: Tyrant, prepare to die!

The eighth day of the second month of the fourth year of Jinghe.

The main hall of the Dali Temple.

The three judicial departments jointly tried the case, the nine ministers listened in, and members of the imperial clan attended.

Outside the hall, the Imperial Guards stood solemnly, their swords and armor gleaming in the cold light.

Inside the hall, Prince Jing, Nangong Shuo, was shackled and knelt on the cold floor tiles.

In just three days, this once gentle and refined prince had become emaciated.

Yet, a burning, resentful fire still blazed in his eyes.

"...The evidence for the above seventeen major crimes is irrefutable. Prince Jing, Nangong Shuo, do you plead guilty?"

The Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review held the case file in his hand, his voice solemn.

The hall was deathly silent.

All eyes were focused on the kneeling prisoner.

Nangong Ye sat in the presiding judge's seat, with Shen Qingci sitting slightly to his side.

She wasn't wearing a phoenix robe today, only a plain blue dress, yet she still exuded an aura of unapproachable majesty.

Bao'er didn't come.

Shen Qingci kept him in the palace on the grounds that "the crown prince is too young to be exposed to such filth."

Nangong Shuo slowly raised his head.

He first glanced at Nangong Ye,

He then looked at Shen Qingci.

Finally, his gaze swept over the officials in the hall who had once supported him but now wished they could sever ties with him.

Then he smiled.

"Plead guilty?"

The voice was hoarse, yet carried an eerie calm.

"Every single thing I've done—wasn't it because you forced me to do it?!"

He struggled to his feet, the chains rattling, but was held down firmly by the constables behind him.

"Colluding with Liu Chengming's remaining followers?"

He stared at the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, his eyes flashing with madness.

"If it weren't for you upright people, constantly ostracizing the Liu family..."

Having driven them to a dead end, why should I, the king, join forces with them?!

"Secret collusion with the Northern Desert?"

He turned to the Minister of War and sneered.

"The military power in the Northern Frontier is entirely in Xiao Jue's hands!"

The Prince of Zhenbei's Mansion has never had any dealings with me. If I don't seek outside help, how can I fight them?!

"Frame a loyal and virtuous person?"

His gaze swept over the several senior officials in the hall.

"Loyal and virtuous? Hahahaha!"

Whose hands are clean?!

When the Shen family was raided, who among you didn't kick them when they were down?!

Now that Shen Qingci is in power, they're all rushing to act as loyal subjects?! Disgusting!

"As for keeping a private army—"

He turned his head sharply and stared intently at Nangong Ye:

"My dear brother! Shouldn't you be the one asking this?!"

Nangong Ye's face was ashen, and he gripped the gavel tightly.

Veins bulging: "Nangong Shuo! I ordered you to confess your crimes, not to spout nonsense here!"

"Confess? I confess!" Nangong Shuo laughed wildly. "I confess to all these crimes! But—"

His eyes flashed with an extremely malevolent light:

"Brother, don't you want to know why your father's illness took so long to heal back then?"

Why did something as simple as a cold drag on for two whole years, ultimately leading to coughing up blood and dying?!

In the hall, everyone's expression changed drastically!

The death of the late emperor...

It's a taboo in the palace!

"And you, my royal brother—"

Nangong Shuo stared intently at Nangong Ye, each word spoken like the spitting of a venomous snake.

"You were exceptionally intelligent from a young age. You could compose poetry at five, practice swordsmanship at seven, and were made crown prince at ten, carrying the late emperor's high hopes!"

"But why—after you turned twelve, did your personality change so drastically?!"

Why am I becoming increasingly irritable, easily angered, suspicious, and paranoid?!

"Why—why, despite possessing the talent to govern a country, do you always make absurd decisions at crucial moments?!"

With each question he asked, Nangong Ye's face paled a little more.

Those deliberately forgotten, deeply buried fears and confusions surged up like a tide!

yes……

Why?

He had asked himself that question a thousand times.

"Because you were poisoned! Brother!!"

Nangong Shuo roared, his voice exploding in the silent courtroom like a thunderclap!

"Ever since you were twelve years old—after the celebration when you were officially named Crown Prince—your food has been laced with 'Heart-Corroding Powder'!!"

"This poison is colorless and odorless; long-term use will erode the heart vessels."

This can lead to a violent, suspicious, and easily angered temperament, ultimately resulting in the loss of mind and descent into madness!

boom--!!!

The hall erupted in chaos!

"Prince Jing! What nonsense are you spouting?!"

"The late emperor... the late emperor was also..."

"Heart-Corroding Powder...isn't that a banned drug in Southern Xinjiang?!"

"Silence!!!" The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review slammed his gavel, but could not quell the uproar in the hall!

Nangong Ye sat there in a daze.

He seemed deaf to the noise around him.

Only that one sentence echoed in my ears—

You've been poisoned.

She was poisoned when she was twelve years old.

original……

His uncontrollable rage, his midnight awakenings of fear, his inability to trust anyone...

It's not because he was born a tyrant.

It wasn't because of the rumor that he had the "mad blood" of the Nangong family flowing in his veins.

Rather, it's because—

Someone poisoned him when he was a child.

"Who..." he began, his voice terribly hoarse, "Who poisoned me..."

"Who else could it be?!"

Nangong Shuo laughed wildly, but tears streamed down his face.

"My dear father—your good uncle—Nangong Huan!!"

His voice was hoarse, each word dripping with blood:

"Back then, he was the late emperor's most beloved youngest son!"

His mother, Lady Liu, was the most favored concubine in the imperial harem at the time!

He had the chance to become the crown prince!

"It was you! It was your mother, Empress Dowager Duanhui, who, relying on her powerful family, colluded with court officials to forcefully place you in the position of Crown Prince!"

"He's not reconciled! How could he possibly accept it?!"

"So, he bribed the chef in your Eastern Palace to put 'Heart-Corroding Powder' in your food for five whole years!"

"He's not only going to cripple you—he's going to turn you into a complete madman!"

A tyrant despised by the entire world!!!

Nangong Ye trembled violently!

He suddenly stood up, but stumbled and almost fell!

"Your Majesty!" Shen Qingci reached out to support him, her hand feeling icy cold.

She raised her eyes to look at Nangong Shuo, who was acting like a madman below, her eyes flashing with cold light: "Where's the evidence?"

"Evidence?" Nangong Shuo gave a bitter laugh.

"Wang Shun, the chef of the Crown Prince's Palace, died suddenly five years ago. Does Your Majesty still remember him?"

His son is currently in Jiangnan, being raised by me... no, by my father!

"And there's also Physician Zhang from the Imperial Hospital."

I was responsible for taking your pulse back then.

But they always prescribe sedatives and tranquilizers.

He never mentioned the poisoning—because he's already my father's man!

"If Your Majesty does not believe me—"

He suddenly tore open his tattered prison clothes, exposing his chest!

On his chest was a complex pattern tattooed!

"This was tattooed by my father before he died—"

A complete list of everyone involved, and... the source of the 'Heart-Eating Powder' formula!

He looked at Nangong Ye, his eyes filled with a mixture of tears and hatred:

He said... "If I ever lose, I will tell you everything."

"He said... he wanted you to know—you've lived your whole life like a joke!"

"Do you think you secured your position as crown prince through your own abilities? Are you some chosen one who can't be poisoned even by others?"

"Wrong!"

"It's my father! He softened his heart!"

It was because he saw that you were first poisoned and then suspected by the late emperor.

He was on the verge of going insane and becoming depraved... but he softened! He stopped taking his medication!!

"Otherwise—do you think you'll live to ascend the throne?!"

"You think you can become emperor?!"

Every word was like a poisoned dagger, piercing Nangong Ye's heart!

He gripped the table tightly, his knuckles turning white, and a low growl, like that of a trapped beast, escaped his throat:

"So... Father's illness..."

"It was him too."

Nangong Shuo closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face.

"In his later years, the late emperor was indeed senile and suspicious, but originally... it shouldn't have happened so quickly..."

"It was my father who bribed the eunuchs in the Imperial Pharmacy to add 'Heartbreak Grass,' a herb that accelerates heart failure, to the late emperor's tonics."

"He wanted the late emperor to die sooner."

"He wanted to force the late emperor to change his will before he died."

"pity……"

He opened his eyes, looked at Nangong Ye, and smiled bitterly:

"You have a good mother."

"She held on."

"She risked her life... to protect this throne for you."

"And I also preserved—my father's lifelong resentment, and my...ambition."

Inside the hall, there was a deathly silence.

Only Nangong Shuo's heavy breathing and the slight clanging of the iron chains could be heard.

Everyone was utterly shocked by this earth-shattering secret.

The late emperor... was actually poisoned to death by his own younger brother?

His Majesty... was poisoned from childhood, which led to his violent nature?

And the poisoning stopped—because the poisoner…had a change of heart?

How ironic.

How absurd.

Nangong Ye slowly raised his head.

He looked down at the officials and members of the royal family below him, at the faces of those who had once spoken ill of him behind his back, calling him "tyrannical and capricious" and "unfit to be a ruler."

original……

He was not born a tyrant.

He was just a pathetic wretch—forced to live amidst poison and intrigue since the age of twelve.

"Heh...heh heh..."

He smiled.

The laughter was low and hoarse, broken, and carried the smell of blood.

Then, he suddenly drew the sword from his waist!

"Your Majesty!" Shen Qingci called out urgently.

Nangong Ye shoved her aside, rushed down to the hall, and pointed his sword at Nangong Shuo's throat!

"So—" His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was hoarse like a demon's.

"My entire life... all my pain, all my struggles, all my... lack of peace—"

"It's all thanks to you and your son?!"

Nangong Shuo looked up at him, showing no fear whatsoever.

"Yes."

He said calmly:

"Brother, do you hate me?"

"If you hate me, then kill me."

"Just like back then, when you hated Shen Qingci, you crippled her."

"Just like how you, over the years, hated those ministers who disobeyed you and killed them."

He smiled, but tears kept flowing.

"Anyway... you've been a tyrant at heart for a long time."

"Poison is just the trigger."

"A true madman—"

He said softly:

"In your heart."

The tip of the sword trembled.

Nangong Ye stared intently at his younger brother, who shared the same grandfather.

Staring at this person who shared similar blood to him,

Yet, he was the one who fought with him for half his life, hated him for half his life, and ruined half his life.

A murderous intent surged in his eyes.

But in the end—

It didn't stab.

He slowly sheathed his sword.

Turn around.

With her back to Nangong Shuo and the astonished gazes of the entire hall, she walked back to the main seat step by step.

Then, sit down.

Close your eyes.

"Take him away."