Lin Feilu spoke with sarcasm, “Does Noble Consort Ruan really think that Father Emperor knows nothing about what the Ruan family has done over the years?” She did not wait for her to answer as she said coldly, “The Emperor has always been the most jealous and most afraid of foreign relatives. Yet, the Ruan family has been in control of the government for a long time over these years, staying at the peak of power for quite a while. Even though the Ruan family knew that Father Emperor was getting paranoid of the power your family held, they weren’t going to step down, were they?”

Noble Consort Ruan’s face turned pale and she hurriedly retorted, “No…”

Lin Feilu interrupted her ruthlessly, “Noble Consort, why don’t you think about it— what sort of stand did Father Emperor have while your two factions were fighting for the throne? Just because he didn’t stop you outwardly, does that mean that he acquiesced to your Ruan clan to fight for the crown? If so, why was the Ruan family getting involved in even more confrontations over the years?”

Noble Consort Ruan’s face became paler.

In this six-year-long struggle for succession, Emperor Lin wasn’t completely unaware of what was going on. However, he was just watching from the sidelines, trying to use the Crown Prince’s faction to suppress the Ruan family.

Ruan Shi’s support towards Emperor Lin’s ascension to the throne all those years ago was reused by him. As expected, it indeed made a great contribution to the court. The Ruan family’s children and even Prime Minister Ruan’s disciples were spread all over the court, becoming a force that even Emperor Lin could not easily suppress.

It was impossible for Emperor Lin to leave such a hidden danger to his future heirs.

The surname in this world was destined to be Lin, not Ruan.

Lin Ting was doomed from the beginning to never be able to become the heir to the throne. Emperor Lin’s cultivation and value towards Lin Ting was merely to feed the Ruan family’s wishful thinking.

When the Ruan family began to set foot on the road of winning the rights to heirloom, they fell into the trap that was already laid out by Emperor Lin. He didn’t have to deal with the Ruan clan by himself at all. He only needed to acquiesce to the fight between the two factions and indulge the Crown Prince’s bite on the Ruan clan. Then, he could remove the Ruan family’s wings one by one.

Just like the collapse of the Imperial Ancestral Hall back then.

Emperor Lin knew that there was something strange going on and he was angry that the Crown Prince’s faction dared to do something like this to the Imperial Ancestral Hall. However, he did not show any mercy when dealing with the Minister of the Imperial Engineering Sector and the officials from Prime Minister Ruan’s faction.

Lin Feilu looked at Lin Ting who was still unconscious on the bed, and for the first time, she felt that the royal family was truly ruthless.

Didn’t Emperor Lin know how helpless and powerless his son had been all these years? He must have known. Otherwise, he would not have slapped Noble Consort Ruan and said something like that. However, he didn’t interfere. He only watched the struggle between the two factions and Lin Ting’s growing despair.

Sometimes, family love really couldn’t compare to the desire for power.

Lin Feilu thought it was ridiculous and even his tone was much more sarcastic, “Think about it, Noble Consort, is it the Crown Prince who wants to annihilate the Ruan family? Does the Crown Prince have the final say as to what goes on in the Great Lin Empire today? With the Crown Prince’s faction alone, how were they able to shake your Ruan family, a tree that had sprawled its roots into the soil for many years?”

These truths were something that Noble Consort Ruan was aware of. Otherwise, how could she be willing to agree to such Marquis Wu’an’s unreasonable request?

It’s just that no one had ever pointed it out to her in such a straightforward manner.