Chapter 6: Justice in the Great Hall

The trial took place in the great hall, before every civil and military official of the court. Second Prince Xiao Yifeng smugly presented the fake secret letter along with the (bought) testimony of the spy, declaring that Grand General Lin Zhenghong, Wan’er’s father, had intended to collude in treason.

Just when things seemed hopeless, Wan’er stepped into the middle of the great hall and presented to the Emperor the evidence she and Ziqi had worked so hard to gather: handwritten letters proving the link between the spy and the Second Prince’s adviser, along with the spy’s own testimony after he was questioned again under the fair supervision of a neutral official.

“Your Majesty,” Wan’er said, kneeling, her voice ringing clear and firm in the silent hall, “my father has guarded the frontier for more than twenty years, wholly loyal to the Great Jin, and has never had any treasonous intent. That secret letter was in fact deliberately leaked with false information by someone of the Shen household, to frame my family and serve the ambitions of the one pulling the strings behind them.”

She looked straight at Xiao Yifeng without a trace of fear. “I beg Your Majesty to judge wisely and summon Shen Ruowei and the spy to be questioned openly before the whole court.”

Under the pressure of solid evidence and Wan’er’s unyielding firmness, Shen Ruowei finally broke down and confessed the whole scheme, exposing the Second Prince’s adviser along with her.

Once the Emperor had heard the whole story, he ordered Lin Zhenghong fully cleared, and at the same time severely punished Xiao Yifeng’s faction for falsely accusing a high minister and disrupting the court.

Xiao Yichen stood silently watching Wan’er in the middle of the great hall, a complicated feeling rising in him. He admired her extraordinary nerve, and he regretted having underestimated the young lady he had once thought was just a pawn, easy to manipulate.