Xie Yuanjiu met the stern gazes of everyone around her. She looked toward Shen Ningning, her eyes red with resentment.
"I see now. You've been trying to ruin me all along." Her voice was bone-chillingly cold.
Shen Ningning was completely unafraid, meeting Xie Yuanjiu's gaze with her own dark eyes.
"Stop making false accusations. If you hadn't tried to harm someone in the first place, you wouldn't have been hoisted by your own petard."
A pained expression crossed Second Master Xie's face.
He lifted his robes, knelt down, and requested a decree from the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, since the day this girl was born, I can say with a clear conscience that I have never wronged her. Although I have no feelings for her mother, I have always striven to fulfill my duties as a father."
