In the past, he would have immediately revealed the truth, but now he only gave me some hints, wanting me to analyze and deduce on my own. I felt he had been deliberately encouraging me to think independently and analyze situations without relying on him.
I calmed my mind and began carefully sorting out my thoughts. The Su family had lost the Fifth Princess’s body and were in a state of confusion and panic. Somehow, they had received information that the palace was secretly designing mechanisms for a certain side hall.
Looking at the final outcome of them sending an assassin, there were two possibilities. First, they knew the side hall contained the Fifth Princess and wanted the assassin to steal the body; second, they were not certain whether the body in the side hall was the Fifth Princess and wanted the assassin to confirm.
The first possibility could be quickly ruled out. If the Su family knew it was the Fifth Princess, they would not have been so rash as to send just one assassin to steal from the side hall, no matter how urgent.
So only the second possibility remained.
They could not confirm whether the body was the Fifth Princess, so they sent an assassin to investigate. Little did they know the assassin would trigger the mechanism and cause a fire.
The fire in the mechanism burned the entire side hall but left an escape route for the assassin. There was only one explanation: this assassin was deliberately allowed to escape. The only person who could order Tang Wei to leave an escape route and have the guards let the assassin go was the current Emperor.
Had this assassin seen the princess’s face to confirm her identity? I believed he must have. Otherwise, letting the assassin escape would serve no purpose. So, did the Emperor let the assassin escape to report back to the Su family?
An Jin exhaled. “Correct. The information the Su family received about the side hall was likely deliberately leaked by the Emperor.”
The assassin confirmed that the body in the side hall was indeed the Fifth Princess. The Su family would now know their conspiracy was exposed, and the Emperor’s retaliation was inevitable.
“Why would His Majesty do this? Isn’t he afraid the Su family might make a desperate last stand?”
