Chapter 1317 - Plead Guilty
“Greetings, Emperor.” Mo You and the others sensed the atmosphere and hurriedly kowtowed.
Mo Yunxian saw that Ling Yan did not seem to notice her, but Mo You signaled to her secretly, and she obediently bowed to the Emperor.
“You are really daring to leave the Board of Punishments on your own accord, without my permission.” The Eternal Emperor’s tone was filled with displeasure.
Mo You and the others immediately broke into a cold sweat. When he and Mo Yunxian were imprisoned in the Board of Punishments, they had discovered that Wu Liang and the others were also jailed there. They had mostly been arrested within the past couple of days for crimes they had committed.
Before Mo You could ask them for details, Mo Yunxian used her status and brought them out of the Board of Punishments in a daze.
Wu Liang and the others were rather worried at first, but they felt that the incidents were rather strange and wanted to come out early to investigate, so they had left.
But after a few days outside, they had yet to discover a single clue.
“Your Majesty, please have mercy. We know we were in the wrong.” When the Eternal Emperor summoned them to the morning court session, they all knew something was terribly wrong.
“Mo Yunxian, who gave you the authority to leave and bring criminals with you?” The Eternal Emperor’s gaze suddenly fell on Mo Yunxian. Although Mo Yunxian was the daughter of a general, she did not have such authority.
Mo Yunxian turned pale, but she steeled herself and said, “Your Majesty, I had my reasons for leaving.”
“What reasons?”
“The incident that happened that day was very strange. I felt that something was amiss, so I left the Board of Punishments to investigate.” Mo Yunxian did not feel that there was anything wrong with her way of thinking. She thought it was very strange that those three people had suddenly appeared and then died.
“So what did you find out?” The Eternal Emperor asked as his expression changed.
Mo Yunxian opened her mouth, then pouted, and shook her head.
The Eternal Emperor laughed coldly. “Mo Yunxian, you behaved rudely and recklessly at the banquet, but I forgave you for the sake of your father. Yet you have remained recalcitrant. Do you really think you can get away with such lawless behavior? You are not needed to investigate such matters. Do you think that everyone in the Board of Punishments is dead?!!”
The Eternal Emperor bellowed as he showed his rage.
Mo Yunxian and the others were terrified.
The Eternal Emperor could not be bothered with Mo Yunxian and the others. He turned to look at Ling Yan.
“Ling Yan, you have heard everything said today. What explanation can you give?”
At that moment, everyone’s gaze focused on Ling Yan.
Today, he had been charged with two major crimes. If he was guilty, he would probably lose his position as part of the royal family, not to mention his status as Crown Prince.
The Eldest Prince was in a good mood. He was waiting to see Ling Yan fall from power.
Although the matter of appropriating disaster relief funds was not watertight because of time constraints and Ling Yan might be able to find a loophole, the trouble that Ling Yan’s trusted subordinates had stirred up would be impossible to resolve.
The Eldest Prince and Second Princess had put in a lot of effort into trapping Mo You and the others. Even if the Eternal Emperor was suspicious and investigated the status of the deceased, he would not be able to find anything amiss.
Also…
Mo Yunxian had been a great help when she had taken it upon herself to bring everyone out of the Board of Punishments.
Just that incident alone would shake Ling Yan’s position as Crown Prince, which was still unstable.