"His Imperial Majesty arrived."

The announcement of Emperor Kai's arrival made everyone raise from their seat in a greeting position to welcome their king.

"Your Imperial Majesty, 10,000 years and eternally."

The unanimous voice that echoed the whole Kai Palace brought pride to Emperor Kai.

"All my valuable subjects please rise and take your seats."

Taking a look at Emperor Kai, Jae-in took in the face of this country's emperor. He seems to be like an Emperor that has a very benevolent look, a caring father of his own domestic family and one that is capable of controlling his own people and country.

Ai Le, begin to share with Jae-in the different imperial palace food that she wants her to try while Qi Yuan interrupt her by sharing how bad it is to feed on such sweetness in those cakes.

Using his eyes to scan through the seats of where the princes will be seated, no sign of Qi Yuan has been found. Immediately he signal Eunuch Zhang to his side to question his whereabouts.

"Qi Yuan?"

"Your Imperial Majesty, he is over there."

Following the direction that Eunuch Zhang points, Emperor Kai finally see his son seated at the male zone which is nearer to the stage, yet further away from where the royalties would be sitting.

Beside him, there sits a lady dressed modestly, unlike the other noble ladies, flaunting their dresses in different ways of capturing attention.

The only thing that he is regretful of will be not having a clear vision of how she looks like as it has been blocked by the veil that she is wearing. Giving off such mysterious vibe that makes people curious and wants to pry open the hidden box filled with unknown jewels.

"En. Xuan ambassador?"

"He is on his way, apparently he has been delayed and will be late in arrival." Eunuch Zhang updated Emperor Kai.

"Let the banquet begin."

Soon the banquet begin, with the opening performance by the royal dancers and instrumental musicians, stealing the limelight and attention from every attending guest. Everyone slowly drift their focus from Jae-in to the ladies on stage.

Dressed lightly, dancing softly yet with feminine moves as a lady, capturing the eyes of all men regardless if they are married or not, stirring the temptations and desire with small smiles or occasional winks, capturing the hearts of many.

Unlike everyone, Jae-in remain unfazed by the performance, because this sort of standard is something she had seen umpteen times. Sitting in her chair, she observe the prince's sitting area while feeding on the nut.

'Ah, there you are. Qi Zheng.' Jae-in thought with a smirk.

The only man that is seated at the princes area, having similar facial features like Emperor Kai, however carried a different vibe.

Unlike the rest, he too, is not focusing on the performance and rather smiling with some plan that he had in mind for today's main show.

"Sister Jae-in, look at those dancer! Look at how flexible their body are and I wish I have the same dancing ability." Ai Le pouted with envy.

"Yup, you are right, they look nice ~" Qi Yuan complimented the dancers.

Angry at the fact that he actually compliment other woman, Ai Le reach out to flick on his forehead to show her jealousy side.

"Ouch!" Qi Yuan stare back at Ai Le.

Unlike the playful atmosphere between Qi Yuan and Ai Le, Jae-in remain serious and careful as she knows that today's banquet is going to be different. All she can do is to watch Qi Zheng actions and prepare to face his attack.

Soon, the performance is over and everyone clapped to show their appreciation. Even Emperor Kai shows his approval of their skill and bestowed rewards to the dancers and musicians.

Saying their gratitude for the royal rewards, they quickly leave the stage and soon everyone resume back to their normal chatting and feed on the food being served.

Just as everyone assume that this is going to be the same old banquet, with the same old routine, Qi Zheng slowly walk to the center and bow to his father.

With the appearance of the crown prince, everyone look at him with lost eyes as they are unaware what he plan to do.

"My Imperial father, your son has something to report."

Surprised by the sudden announcement of Qi Zheng, Emperor Kai stop his movement of wanting to drink the cup of wine and focus on his eldest son.

"What is it that you want to report?"

"My Imperial father, I understand this is a royal banquet to celebrate the anniversary alliance between Kai and Xuan kingdom, however despite knowing the importance of this banquet, your son would like to seek your verdict for an unfair case."

As Qi Zheng speaks, towards the end of his sentence, he begin to kneel on both knees with both his hands layered in front of him to show the seriousness of this unfair case that he is going to bring up.

"Oh, let's hear this unfair case that you would like to speak of."

"Your son recently found out that my consort has been wrongly treated against her will. As this is an ugly matter that is embarrassing and shameful to be spoken of, however, being a husband and the head of my family, I am unable to withstand the unfair treatment that she received and would like to seek justice for her."

"What happen to your consort?"

"She ... she has been raped by fourth brother against her will as fourth brother was drunk. Unable to accept that she has been 'dirtied', she attempt to commit suicide and that's how I found out this ugly truth.

My Imperial father, your son knows fourth brother can be behaving unruly at times, however I am just so shock to see how he could go beyond the boundaries of moral values as a human.

Being the elder brother, I am unable to make a decision on this matter. Please, I would like to seek your verdict on this unfair case!!"

As each words spit out of his mouth, Qi Yuan's eyes burned with fire filled with anger of how Qi Zheng is using this matter and turn the tables around by positioning himself as the victim of this case.

As he attempt to rush up to the center to fight for his rights, Jae-in hold his arm and stop his movement. Looking down at Jae-in, Qi Yuan see her head shake with disagreement and he knew that she had some sort of plan.

Even if Qi Yuan were to rush up to fight for his innocence, nobody will believe him .

Emperor Kai remain silent as he knew the severity of this case, not to mention that Qi Zheng purposely brought this up at such an important event, with so many officials and nobles present, it is clear that Qi Zheng has an intention to bring Qi Yuan down.

Although he favouritise Qi Yuan, giving in to his mistakes and unruly behaviors in the past, this time he knew that it is difficult to protect or even save him.

"Qi Yuan." Using his serious voice to call him out. Qi Yuan slowly walk to the center, standing beside Qi Zheng and greeted his father.

"Your Imperial father."

"What do you have to say about this matter?"

"Your son refuse to acknowledge the shameful acts that has been branded under my name. I did no such thing."

Looking towards Qi Yuan, Qi Zheng begin his act.

"Till the very end, how could you not recognise your mistake? No matter how you behaved in the past, I alway thought you are one who knows his limit. Little did I know, a brother of mine actually touched my consort, a wife of mine, a sister-in-law!?!

How could you break the rules of morality? Qi Yuan brother, it is okay to make mistake but it is not good if you do not admit them." Qi Zheng said in a very disappointing yet sad tone.

"What are you talking about? Brother Qi Zheng. When I said I did nothing wrong, means I did nothing wrong. The fact and truth is clear as I have nothing to hide. If you want, you can investigate and gather evidence before putting the crime onto my name."

"Qi Yuan brother, do you think I will say things carelessly without any thoughts or evidence? MEN!"

Qi Zheng signal his men to bring the evidence up to the center. Of course, the evidence is his consort, Lian.

Consort Lian, who is walking in small steps, to gather some pity and empathy from others as she acted out that poor innocent image.

Kneeling on the floor to greet the Emperor, and did not stand up to show how unfair she felt about this whole case.

"Consort Lian, is this person the one who treated you that way?"

Looking at Qi Yuan, who is standing on her right, she immediate evade his eyes as a sign of being afraid, shaking her body endlessly to show how strongly she is reacting to him. Indirectly giving an answer without her saying.

Murmurings explode in the hall between officials to officials, nobles to nobles, ladies to ladies, servants to servants.

Each of them have their own thoughts and their own guesses of who is in the wrong, what is the possible outcome of this, and what punishment should be given.

"Your Imperial Majesty, yes."

"So, what other evidence can you provide to show that I have raped you?" Qi Yuan questioned her.

Biting on her lips with tears threatening to spill, gathering more sympathy votes of those righteous young nobles and more hateful stare towards Qi Yuan. How could the fourth prince say such crude words towards a lady?

"I ... Uhm ... Is this an evidence good enough to show that I am not lying?"

Consort Lian slowly pull out a fan from her sleeve to show to the Emperor. Giving an eye, Eunuch Zhang head down to collect the fan and bring to Emperor Kai.

Opening the fan, he is sure to see the handwriting of Qi Yuan: Talented Qi, written on the fan that shows his possession.

As though the decision has been made, Emperor Kai stare his favorite son with reluctant and unwillingness. Sighing, he began to gather his voice, however got stopped by a sudden feminine yet strong voice.

"Please wait. Your Imperial Majesty, before you make your decision, do you mind sparing me some time to ask certain questions?"

The lady, who wears a veil, has been capturing the attention of many since the start of the banquet, but slowly forgotten with the distraction of the performance, now re-appearing in front of everyone which sparks the buried interest.

"You are?"

"Your Imperial Majesty, I am just a commoner who has a chance to visit Kai Kingdom, you can address me as Huo Gu Niang."

"Huo Gu Niang.... Hm... What questions do you have in mind?"