Chapter 1- Long Awaited Delivery

(Flashback 21 years ago)

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

My mothers' screams echoed throughout the halls. After nine long months, my father looked forward to the moment his heir would finally be brought into the world. He anxiously paced back and forth outside the door to mother's bed-chamber waiting for his firstborn, a son, to arrive.

Mother's screams grew fainter as the night drew on. Her energy was depleted from hours of excruciating labor. She felt it, deep to her core, that something was not right. But she fought for her unborn child's survival.

After ten long years of believing she was infertile, the news of pregnancy gave hope to the people and the emperor of a dwindling empire. Monica knew she must fight with every ounce of energy she had left to bring her baby life. Not just for herself but for the fate of the entire empire.

With these selfless thoughts a final push delivered a child into the arms of a midwife. A mother excitedly reached out to hold her son. With her arms outreached and a grin from ear to ear she said,

"Give him to me, my son, let me hold him."

The midwife looked upon the child with worry on her face before shakily handing it to Empress Monica.

As she grabbed her child her smile slowly faded into a mirrored expression of worry.

"How can this be? The priest himself declared that this child would be the next emperor, a son... so how could this be...a female child?"

Empress Monica's thoughts were cut short as her husband stormed through the doors in anticipation to greet his heir.

Taking his child from Monica's arms all attention went to him holding the child. He looked the babe up and down several times grinning stupidly before his eyes finally registered what everyone else had already concluded. A female child was born. After ten long years of trying his one and only child, was a girl.

"This must be a mistake! Whose child is this? Where is my son?" The emperor yelled.

His fury was the final straw in breaking empress Monica's already fragile heart. All the color fled from her body as she took one final choked breathe and crossed into the next life.

The disappointment from her dearly beloved husband was too much for her to handle. The pressure from the empire to strong.

The loss of his beloved wife changed the heart of the emperor towards his child. From that day on he fully accepted the girl child as his one true heir.

(Entering the present)