Chapter 225 The Fraud

Xiao Zhengnan lowered his posture with notable tact. “Thank you, Your Excellencies!”

With that, Xiao Yunzheng was half-dragged, half-escorted into the back courtyard by the guards of the prince’s mansion.

A scandal that could have upended the political balance of Southern Border had been, through an unspoken and bizarre accord between two powers, forcibly buried in darkness.

The vermilion gates of the Zhen’nan Prince’s Mansion slowly closed behind them.

Inside the carriage on the return trip, the atmosphere was suffocating.

Unlike the grave tension of the journey there, now the cabin was filled with a cold, distant, deathly silence.

Su Hewan leaned against the window, the lines of her face taut, not uttering a word.

Yu Qing sat across, arms folded, face puffed up with silent protest—her expression screaming “I’m unhappy, don’t bother me.”

The air seemed to have frozen into ice.

Shen Jue and Lu Yan sat opposite them. Two men who wielded immense power, able to turn the tide of the court with a flick of their hand, now found themselves facing an unprecedentedly thorny situation.

They exchanged a glance, perfectly in sync, each reading deep helplessness in the other’s eyes.

“Ahem…” Shen Jue cleared his throat, attempting to break the suffocating silence. He picked up a piece of osmanthus cake from the small table and placed it in front of Su Hewan, his voice deliberately softened into gentle warmth.

“Hungry? Want something to fill your stomach first?”

Su Hewan didn’t even raise her eyelids. She exhaled two cold words: “Not hungry.”

Shen Jue’s hand froze mid-air, a flicker of embarrassment crossing his handsome face.

On the other side, Lu Yan clumsily poured a cup of hot tea and pushed it toward Yu Qing, his tone full of appeasement: “Have some water.”

Yu Qing turned her head, refusing to even look at the cup, and snorted coldly.

Lu Yan tightened his grip on the teacup, his stern features tightening further.

The carriage continued forward in this eerie quiet.

The silence inside the cabin was terrifying.

Finally, Yu Qing could hold back no longer.

She suddenly spun around, glaring intensely at the two men opposite.

“In your eyes, women are just inconsequential pawns, right?”

Her voice was soft, yet it instantly cut through the false calm.

“Even knowing she died a tragic death, for your so-called realm, for your future, you wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice her, would you?”

Yu Qing grew increasingly agitated as she spoke.

“That crown princess—she deserved to die, right? Just because she was a woman, her justice wasn’t worth anything, and you could trade it away for Southern Border’s stability!”

Su Hewan didn’t speak, but she slowly turned her head, her clear, watery eyes quietly fixed on Shen Jue. The disappointment and reproach in her gaze, far more cutting than Yu Qing’s impassioned words, were impossible to ignore.

Her silence was the most striking statement of all.

Faced with the two girls’ accusations, Shen Jue and Lu Yan felt unjustly accused.

“That’s not what we meant,” Lu Yan said, frowning, his voice low and defensive.

“Then what did you mean?” Yu Qing pressed immediately, relentless.

Shen Jue let out a long sigh. He knew that if he didn’t explain, this knot would never be untied.

He set aside his usual worldly nonchalance, his expression becoming unprecedentedly serious.

“Wanwan, Qingqing, calm down and listen to me.”

“The Zhen’nan Prince commands 300,000 troops and has managed the Southern Border for decades, his power long-rooted. If we were to force him into rebellion over a justice that can no longer be restored, Southern Border would inevitably descend into war.”

He swept his gaze over the two, his voice heavy yet clear.

“Once war breaks out, do you know how many civilians will be displaced, how many soldiers will die on the battlefield? Rivers will run red with blood, and millions will fall. That will be a living hell for the entire world.”

Shen Jue’s gaze sharpened. He looked at them, articulating each word carefully:

“The justice of one person, or the lives of countless people— which is heavier in your heart? Have you weighed them?”

To save a thousand by killing one, or to kill a thousand for the sake of one?

This question pressed down on Su Hewan and Yu Qing like an immovable mountain.

The carriage fell silent once more.

It was a dilemma unsolved since ancient times.

Reason told them that Shen Jue’s choice was right—that it was about the greater good, about preventing a greater tragedy.

But emotionally, they could not accept it.

The innocent Crown Princess, brutally killed, was no longer just a paper figure to them!

She had been a living person, someone who may have once hoped for love, yet ultimately died in despair because of her husband’s stupidity and selfishness.

And now, even her death could not bring the truth to light.

Yu Qing’s eyes brimmed with anger. She bit her lip, her voice trembling with a stubborn sob:

“Hmph! That’s twisted reasoning! Then why… why has it always been women who are sacrificed and abandoned throughout history?!”

Her words pierced straight to the heart of the problem like a needle.

Su Hewan lifted her head, her gaze fixed directly on Shen Jue. There was a vulnerability and fear in her eyes that they had never felt since arriving in this world.

“Shen Jue, Lu Yan,” she said softly, but every word carried the weight of a thousand pounds.

“If one day, on the scales, one side is the world, and the other side is me and Qing Qing…”

“When it comes to that inevitable choice, will you… abandon us without hesitation?”

The question struck Shen Jue and Lu Yan like lightning.

They had never considered it, or perhaps they had subconsciously avoided thinking about it.

Inside the carriage, time seemed to freeze.

Shen Jue and Lu Yan exchanged a glance and saw unprecedented panic and helplessness in each other’s eyes.

They saw the answer reflected in the other’s gaze—an unspoken consensus already reached.

The next moment, both men spoke in unison, firm and unwavering:

“Never!”

Their voices were resolute, leaving no room for doubt.

Shen Jue looked deeply at Su Hewan, his profound phoenix-like eyes swirling with obsession and madness.

He reached out, grasping her icy fingertips tightly, and spoke each word with the solemnity of an oath:

“I will not let that happen. The world and you—I will hold both in my hands. But if… that day ever comes,” he paused, his voice hoarse,
“I, Shen Jue, will destroy that world… for you.”

Meanwhile, Lu Yan, a man not given to words, gave his answer in his own direct way.

He stared at Yu Qing’s reddened eyes, and for the first time, his iceberg-like expression revealed a scorching passion capable of melting even ice.

“What does the world matter to me?”

“I only want you.”

These were two men, speaking from the depths of their hearts, offering the most genuine promises.

In theory, any woman hearing such words should have been moved to tears.

Yet Su Hewan and Yu Qing, after hearing them, only exchanged a quiet, knowing glance.