In the palace, Lingyu tries to convince his mother that she has no need to write the emperor's edict anymore. He tells her that her brother poisoned the empress so that he could frame the prince and rape the princess. Lingyu says that if he tells the princess the truth, she will forgive him. She tells Lingyu that he pretended to be a duke in order to make his sister believe that the rebels had done it. She says that she will make him a duke if he cooperates with the emperor. He says that he has quelled the rebellion in Luoyang city and that he will leave the rest of the family to her. She asks him to leave, but he refuses, saying that she is his crown princess and that she should not trust him. He asks her if she is sure that her mother was behind the whole thing, and she says she is not. They leave.