[He looks down at his hands and closes his eyes. Yes. He had to actually speak up, actually say what he meant to say. Subtly tended to fly over Jin Ling’s head start the best of times, so there was no point in trying to hedge around anything; Meng Yao would just have to be blunt.]

Nie Mingjue. Your grandfather, Jin Guangshan. Your... [He pauses, takes a breath, starts again.] your cousin, Jin Rusong. And... Your father. Jin Zixuan. I did not kill them directly, exactly, but I... I was the cause of their deaths. I orchestrated things so that they would die, so I could further my own goals—it might as well have been my hand holding the proverbial sword.. My ambitions overshadowed any love I might’ve had for them.

I... There is nothing I can say to make this easier or better. This isn’t the truth you wanted to know. But... it’s the truth, nonetheless.