When the courtroom finally settled, Daneen's tearful words still echoed through the air, gripping everyone's attention.
She cried out, voice shaking,
"It's him… he's the one we both suffered through together. I can never forgive them. Never. They brought heartbreak into my life. They tore us apart after binding us together."
Her pain shook Dowager Ruyan and everyone else in the courtroom. Babiy was crying too, though he kept his head bowed. Mah already knew the whole story...he hadn't hidden anything from her back then. Wei Po also knew.
Zhan wanted to stand and go to them, but he couldn't....not in a courtroom this strict, not when a royal consort was expected to remain composed. So he stayed still, heart pounding, eyes locked on Babiy, Mah, and Daneen.
King Yibo exhaled and murmured,
"This court requires Princess Daneen to come forward and explain her statements."
Prince Tanga repeated the command, and Chuchu assisted Daneen to the front. She looked dizzy, her eyes swollen and red.
"Can you explain what you meant?" Prince Tanga asked gently. "And do you have any connection to this case?"
"I have no connection to the case except in the beginning, when I supported the protection of the royal consort," she said. "But I do have a deep connection with this man."
She pointed at Babiy.
"Can we know what that connection is?"
"We were married," she answered. "Almost twenty-one years ago."
The entire courtroom gasped.
Not only Zhan....everyone froze in disbelief.
Prince Tanga managed to ask,
"How?"
Daneen went quiet for a long moment. She wiped her tears and finally spoke:
"My story is written into the walls of this palace. Anyone here who is thirty or older knows at least a shadow of what happened. I won't call it misfortune....I'll call it cruelty. Cruelty inflicted on me, and on everyone touched by it. It all began with my brother, Prince Deng, who sits before this court today. He arranged my marriage to this man… under the instructions of a Shaman whose name has long vanished from this palace.
The marriage lasted only thirteen days before they forced him to divorce me. And by some twist of fate, I found myself pregnant...he never knew, and I never saw him again until today.
But the child…" her voice cracked, "…the child lived only three days…"
"HE DIDN'T DIE!!"
Three explosive words thundered across the courtroom from Grandfa.
Daneen jolted.
Babiy staggered.
Dowager Ruyan gasped.
Zhan, Mah, Chuchu, Dowager Taihou, Prince Deng...everyone reacted at once, eyes wide, breaths stolen.
Every gaze snapped toward Grandfa, each expression filled with shock, fear, or disbelief.
With trembling resolve, Dowager Ruyan demanded,
"How? How can a child I washed with my own hands, prepared for burial, and lowered into a grave....be alive? Who are you? And how do you know this?"
"May your health and long life continue," Grandfa said softly. "I am the man who drove that Shaman Cao away on that day.....the day I knew you would never forget."
Dowager Taihou gasped. "You… you're alive? But you left me in total confusion."
"I know I confused everyone," Grandfa replied calmly. "But I prayed for this day to come before my life reached its end.....the day I would complete my father's final wish. And yes… my greatest joy has already come true: Zhan has returned to his mother's bloodline through marriage."
Everyone turned toward Zhan, just as he stared at Grandfa, his body trembling. Dowager Taihou's chest thudded loudly, and Daneen and Babiy were no different.....each stunned, breathless.
Babiy stammered, voice shaking,
"Father… I don't understand anything."
"You will," Grandfa assured him. "All of you will. Like Daneen said, she was forced into a marriage and forced out of it after two weeks.... under the command of the Shaman who controlled this palace back then. And the man she married was no one else but Zinnu (Babiy), the son of Xiao Tai.
Zinnu was the child of a dear friend of mine.....a friend who became more like my own blood. From childhood until adulthood, nothing ever came between me and Xiao Tai. We married on the same day. Our children were born around the same time. But fate tied his life more closely to Zinnu's future.
Their family craft was tailoring horse garments. Zinnu inherited the skill and mastered it. I learned from them too, because in my own household… I could never accept my father's profession.
My father dealt with herbs, medicines, and removing any kind of spirit that clung to a person. I always felt something wasn't right about the work, so I refused to learn it, even though I grew up around it and knew many of its secrets.
So, instead, I worked with Tai. We made horse garments and delivered them to Beiping City. That was where we met a man who introduced our work to the royal palace. Each time we delivered, he paid us fully.....sometimes even more....and treated us with great trust.
Life went on peacefully that way. Our children grew. Our parents then suggested we should unite our families through marriage. We agreed happily. The wedding between Song and Zinnu was held without delay. They were blessed with their first child Huan soon after, then a second Juan, then a third Feng.
Whenever we delivered garments, it was always Zinnu who accompanied Tai, because he loved the craft the most. His other two sons preferred their own careers.
Then one night, when I was supposed to deliver the garments but fell sick with fever, Tai went with Zinnu instead.
They had not traveled eight hours before Tai returned....crying.
Alarmed, I rushed to him and asked what happened. He didn't hide anything. He told me Zinnu had been forced into marriage… with the daughter of the king."
I was shocked.
"Marriage? What kind of marriage is that? Like marrying a chicken in the night? The king's daughter.....are you sure?"
"He insisted it was true, explaining everything he had overheard from a group of young men, boys barely older than Zinnu himself.
He told me every detail he knew, and my father listened as well.
I calmed Tai and prepared myself to go to the palace in secret.....following my father's instructions."
"I stood there quietly, listening as everything finally came together.... the true reason behind that arranged marriage. My heart pounded. This was far bigger than I had imagined. The King wasn't even in the country, nor his wife or the Crown Prince. It was his younger brothers who orchestrated all of this.
I returned home deeply troubled, and together we waited....counting the days. Days turned into a week, then into two.
Then suddenly… Zinnu returned.
We all rushed to meet him, bombarding him with questions about how he managed to escape. He told us everything at once, tears streaming down his face.
My father, weak and lying on his bed, simply smiled. He said nothing then. But later he called me to his side and quietly explained that he understood what had happened....Zinnu had fallen in love with the woman he had been forced to marry for those two weeks. For the first time, my father asked me to intervene. He assured me it wasn't anything dark or dangerous, nothing like what I had feared. He wasn't a man who used forbidden practices.
He explained everything carefully, and I agreed to follow the situation until the child was born....just as he instructed. He also ordered Zinnu to leave Yizhou immediately because they would certainly come searching for him. They would search everywhere. So he told him to go to Beiping City....close enough to be unexpected, yet safe from suspicion.
That was why Zinnu returned to this town. As for Xiao Tai and his family, my father sent them back to our home village so people would assume they had all fled together.
Everything unfolded exactly that way. Two days after they left, people came searching for Zinnu, but after much effort and failure, they eventually gave up.
During that period, Xiao Tai suddenly fell ill. Within four days, he passed away.
His death devastated all of us....his wife, Zinnu, and the entire household.
During the mourning period, Zinnu secretly met with Moosa....the man who had introduced him to the palace in the first place, a childhood friend. Terrified, Zinnu rushed to tell my father what Moosa had tell him about.
My father simply smiled again, reassuring him and giving him courage. He said he had expected this. He believed there was a strategy behind Zinnu continued involvement with the palace.
My father had another source of information as well. My only sister had married into the royal household and given birth to a daughter who was later placed under the Queen's care. My sister had been gifted to the palace as a child shaman to serve the former Consort of King Tengshan, and she later married into the royal bloodline. She gave birth to a baby girl… and died shortly after from illness.
I never really knew the child she bore....I rarely visited the palace....but my father did. He just never told me who she was until later, when he wanted me to understand the entire situation surrounding Zinnu and Daneen's marriage. It was then we learned about Zhan's pregnancy....which happened to coincide with the fourth pregnancy of my own daughter, Zinnu's wife.
Things continued this way until the day of the birth. That was when my father asked me to do something I had never done before....use his tools and knowledge.
But before I could take any action, a messenger arrived from the palace requesting my father. He was too ill to go, but he sat me down and explained everything I had never suspected....the full connection between me, Daneen and the child she would give birth to."
"I had planned only to slip into the palace quietly, retrieve the newborn, and leave. That was the original plan. But now everything had changed.
I could not refuse my father. And he could not refuse the palace's summons.
So I prepared to go as he instructed, because in all the years I had watched him work, I had never seen anything harmful or deceitful in what he did.
Just as I finished preparing, news arrived....Zhan had already been born.
That pushed me into immediate action."
"By the time I arrived, the palace seer, Cao, had already completed her preparations. They never even suspected I would arrive so quickly. Even so, I did everything I could....calling her out, exposing her tricks, and driving her away from the palace along with her tools, exactly as my father had told me to.
I knew that once she was chased out, she would never dare return openly.
But my heart... my heart still trembled.
If Dowager Ruyan remembers anything, it will be this:
I was the one who declared that the baby had died... so that he would be brought to you, so you could "confirm" it.
"Indeed, that is exactly what happened,"
Dowager Ruyan said.
Grandfa smiled and continued:
"At that time, my father's most trusted friend gave me the body of another infant. I used it to replace Daneen's child while taking away the real one.
That man... the one you now call Elder Huzai, the traditional healer of this kingdom....was once my father's disciple."
I arrived home relieved that everything was finally over. But the moment I placed the newborn in my father's hands, he examined the birthmark behind the baby's shoulder. His eyes narrowed, and he spoke softly:
"Because of him, many doors will open....more than you expect. Even the ones no one imagined. He will shine brightly among others, a true star. He will become known far beyond Beiping. He will marry someone of exceptional worth and character. But before that day comes, you all must endure losses. You must hide everything until the right time. Even his own father will raise him without knowing he is his child."
I didn't understand what my father meant. All I cared about in that moment was how we were going to handle this baby.
Suddenly, Zinnu appeared. My father tell me to hide the baby before Zinnu came in. Once he entered, he greeted us and explained that Song was in labor. He had come to collect medicine for her from my father, as he always did. My father quickly prepared everything for him and told him to hurry back to the boat station.
Shortly after Zinnu left, my father instructed me to take the newborn and follow him....because Song would give birth to a child without life. I was to swap the babies.
Shocked, I asked how he knew this. His strange knowledge always made me uneasy.
My father simply smiled.
"For almost a month," he said, "Song has been telling me she no longer feels the baby moving. The last time she came, I realized the child had already died in her womb. That is why I sent your wife and Zinnu's mother to stay with her."
Still confused and frightened, I asked, "But you said no one should know about any of this. How can I switch the child when they will witness the birth?"
He laughed a little and replied, "Don't worry. Just give the baby to your wife."
My head was spinning, but I did as he instructed.
I took the newborn back to the Beiping Empire. I didn't dare enter the house, so I asked someone to call my wife out in secret. When she came, I handed her the baby. To my surprise, she showed no shock at all....just held the child tightly and kissed him before returning inside.
Only after I returned home did my father reveal the truth:
"That wasn't your wife," he said. "I took her appearance and went in myself."
I wasn't even surprised anymore. I knew he was capable of far more than that. I simply kept quiet.
In the end, the baby was named Zhan, though his parents affectionately called him "Last Born." Only my father and I knew he was not the child Song had delivered.
They continued raising him despite his constant illnesses. He was always sick with one ailment or another, until Song finally moved back to Yizhou to be closer to us and help care for him.
By then my father's health had declined severely. Yet he still taught me everything Zhan needed....every treatment, every remedy. He said the palace seer Cao had attempted to harm him long before he was born, but Zhan survived because her actions failed to take effect.
He also said:
"Zhan will grow into a powerful healer and strong power. His grandmother possessed great spiritual strength. His mother, Daneen, carries strong abilities as well. Those abilities have returned to her now."
Seven days after Song returned home, my father passed away. Before he left, he gave me a heavy final instruction....everything about Zhan. He warned me that the dangerous shaman, Cao, would return. She would find her way back into the empire through the people secretly supporting her. She had always been obsessed with seizing the royal throne.
My father ordered me never to step foot in the palace again.
But Zinnu was to continue delivering goods there, unseen by anyone. Even Zhan's own mother would not cross paths with him until Zhan eventually returned to the empire as a royal husband.
I panicked and asked my father how such a thing would happen.
He only answered, "When the time comes, you will know. Follow whatever appears in your dreams....anything that repeats three times must be carried out."
Troubled, I confessed that I never liked his strange ways.
He smiled at me, his eyes soft, and spoke:
"You cannot change what is already set in motion. The events surrounding us are far beyond ordinary. We are healers, connected to forces older than memory, and we sometimes see what others cannot....future and past. Some stray from their path and become destructive shamans, just as Cao did. But I have never used my ability for harm. I only treat illnesses and break the influence of dark spirits.
You are my blood. I have long known that what flows in me flows in you as well. I won't force you to follow my path, but I beg you....stand behind the boy, Zhan. His enemies will one day weep in regret. If you don't protect him, not only he, but the entire Beiping Empire will face disaster if that shaman achieve her ambition."
He rested his hand on my shoulder and added quietly:
"This burden wasn't placed on me.... it was placed on you too and Zhan in the future. Go. Solve this before it consumes everything."
His final message became the root of everything that has happened since.
Zhan grew into a striking child....so charming that we often wondered who he resembled. He looked like his siblings, yet something about him was different, almost radiant.
Just as my father predicted, I began dreaming about many things connected to Zhan. Whenever he dreamed, I dreamed the same dream the same night. Some dreams were so vivid it felt as though someone had opened my eyes to another world.
Though I tried to avoid using my abilities....especially when it involved confronting harmful spirits....I often found myself acting before I even realized it. I did everything I could to avoid crossing that line, because I truly disliked this path. Still, no spirit ever forced me to spill blood or perform anything dark. I simply did what needed to be done.
Everything became clear the day Zhan began seeing visions of his own.
Whatever he dreamed, I would see too.
Then I finally understood my father's words:
"You will suffer loss before Zhan gains what is his."
Only when Juan died, followed by Feng, did those words make sense.
The seven months when Zhan was sick.....lost in some place between our world and another....opened my eyes to everything my father had been preparing me for. From that moment, events began to unfold one after another.
Even the spies who were tracking us....I ignored them.
Even the escape that saved our lives....I know exactly who made it happen.
Everything that has troubled Zhan in this palace....I know it all.
But what those schemers don't know is this:
Zhan is surrounded by the protective strength of his ancestors.
Their spirits guard him fiercely, tearing apart the plans of anyone who tries to harm him. Not because he is strange, nor because he is chosen....simply because he is theirs, and their strength echoes in him.
And that is the one thing Cao and her followers never expected.
The courtroom was in complete chaos....shaken by tension, disbelief, and the confusion that came with such a twisted, unsettling story. Even King Yibo himself looked stunned. He knew about the expulsion of the herbalist Cao from the royal city years ago, but he had been abroad at the time. He had heard that his Aunt Daneen had married and given birth to a son who later died, but he never knew the true circumstances of that marriage. By the time he returned, everything had been buried under the strict silence enforced by his father's decree.
Behind the lenses of his glasses, Yibo lowered his gaze to Zhan, whose head had remained bowed the whole time. Right now, he needed to know Zhan's condition more than anything else. Even thinking about the person who aided herbalist Cao felt impossible; his mind was only focused on the state of his baby husband, Zhan.
Despite attempts to calm the courtroom, the uproar continued until the King had no choice but to postpone the session. The hearing would resume the next day, where Prince Deng and his accomplices would receive their sentences. After that, a new investigation would begin....one focused on whoever threw Zhan into the swimming pool because of his connection to Cao…
DOWAGER RUYAN'S CHAMBERS
Zhan was tightly held between Mah and Daneen, both of them crying as if their hearts were breaking.
Babiy, Huan, and Wei Po were crying as well. Even Chuchu... normally the toughest of them all....was wiping tears. Only Grandfa and Dowager Ruyan sat quietly, although everyone knew the two of them were grieving just as deeply inside.
Grandfa cleared his throat and adjusted his seat. Instantly, everyone turned to him.
"I don't think crying will solve anything," he began, voice steady. "What happened has already happened. And everything that unfolded… we kept it hidden....not out of selfishness, but because we believed it was the only way to protect all of us. I ask for your forgiveness for concealing the truth, both from me and from my father before me."
He sighed deeply before continuing:
"We are ordinary people. Yet circumstances placed us at the center of something much larger than ourselves. Zhan was entrusted to us as guardians, even though we had no power or status to claim him. Song raised him as a mother without knowing she wasn't the one who gave birth to him.
This reminds us that a child can belong to anyone who cares enough....blood isn't the only tie that matters.
Parents who think only the children they gave birth to deserve love should rethink their hearts. Sometimes you meet a child in passing and offer a simple blessing without realizing you're shaping their fate. Sometimes you show kindness to a struggling child, and later in life, kindness follows your own child in return."
He looked around at each of them with tired eyes.
"If you show goodness to someone else's child, life will return that goodness to yours....even long after you're gone. Don't judge another parent's struggle. Don't look down on children born into hardship. Life has a way of circling back."
Grandfa paused again before adding:
"To make everything clear....Daneen's biological mother was the shaman I mentioned in court and she's my younger sister. Worked as a shaman to King Tengshan's consort before marrying into the Royal Lingerie family. That means Daneen is my niece.
Zhan is my grand-nephew.
Which also means my daughter Song....Babiy's wife....Zhan's foster mother was unknowingly his aunt. Therefore, Dannen and Song are cousins… I hope this makes things clearer."
He look at crying Zhan that clung to his mother's, he smile knowingly and said, "Your highness, I hope you understand who you are now? A healer who possessd a strong power and a shaman if you choose to be... ahhh... Though I never try it myself, but we can change apperence to whatever we like, you are exactly like my father if not stronger.... "
Zhanxianyibo💚❤️💛