The ninth prince asked, "What's going on?"

Zhang Lie explained, "The third prince needs a partner to take down the crown prince together. From the looks of things, the crown prince will successfully ascend to the throne if he can manage to recover the jade seal, so he wanted to see whether we had any ideas to stop him. However, when you requested land, you basically signaled your intention to leave the capital and to remove yourself from the battle of succession."

The ninth prince ahhed in understanding. "The third prince was trying to make use of us, Master? But you didn't give him what he wanted, so he left in disappointment."

The ninth prince himself was calm. Working together with the third prince was a route to success, but...