11 CHAPTER NINE
The Crown Prince stealthily made his escape from the palace, he was dressed in a less Noble way and looked far too simple than he had always been.
He walked on the streets as he usually did, escaping the watchful eye of his closest retainer Miwa no Sakau.
As he approached the main Street, he looked around his eyes suddenly searching for something.
It appeared as though the Crown Prince himself was not certain what it was that he desired but everything changed the moment that he spotted a face that was way too familiar.
In a distance as he stood and faced a big inn, their right in an alley he caught sight of the Young boy Abe who was surrounded by a number of young street children.
Out of curiosity he reacted by stepping closer to eavesdrop the topic of discussion and in a small radius of about five to six feet, he was able to hint on what Abe was saying.
"Mine is mine, what a fruitful delight, when my heart wants, I'll have my will done, Dance with grace and smile with heaven's stare, my oh my, thine beauty is rare." Abe recited.
The street kids clapped for him.
"Please recite the poem for me." Abe said calmly.
"Mine is mine, what a fruitful delight, when my heart wants, I'll have my will done, Dance with grace and smile with heaven's stare, my oh my, thine beauty is rare." The kids said in unison.
"Brilliant." Abe said as she clapped for them.
The Crown Prince in his own open secrecy found himself smiling behind the young teacher.
"That's it for today." Abe said as she waved the young kids away.
They withdrew backwards and then eventually she stood up from the small stool on which she was seated.
"Don't you think that they are too young to be learning such a complicated poem?" Abe heard a very strange and deep voice that she was forced to turn around.
Her gaze met that of the smiling Prince who like her was awed at the very bright charm of the little boy.
"You." Abe said.
"It's me." The Crown Prince replied.
"You are the one who saved me last time." Abe said.
"And I am the same person that you pushed down onto the ground." The Crown Prince replied.
Abe was instantly overwhelmed by guilt upon hearing that.
"It was an honest mistake." Abe said.
"There is no need for an apology." The Crown Prince replied.
"No there is." Abe insisted.
"I find no fault in what you did, for all that I know you might have been uncomfortable." The Crown Prince said.
Abe wasn't in any way denying that.
The Crown Prince's eyes then moved from Abe's head to toe as he noticed for the first time he looked far too different from any ordinary boy.
"Your name please." The Crown Prince requested her.
"Why must I tell you about myself?" Abe asked out of curiosity.
"Because I wish to know you." The Crown Prince asked.
"That's not good enough a reason." Abe said.
"Isn't politeness something that we all learn from life?" The Crown Prince asked.
"Cautiousness is yet another one of the things that we must uphold." Abe replied.
"What harm could a dignified person as myself do to you?" The Crown Prince asked.
"How certain am I that you are upright in your morals and conduct, you are but a stranger that saved my life and for that I am very grateful, anything else there is to do with you I don't even know." Abe replied.
"But I am a free man, is it not your wish to know who I really am?" The Crown Prince asked.
"I can tell by the way that you dress, the way you walk, you speak with utmost confidence and your pride seems to be unwavered." Abe replied.
"Yet even you seem to know Noble people like me so much." The Crown Prince Said.
"Some people you can tell by their actions how distinct they are from others." Abe said.
"Can't you tell how distinct I am from other noble men?" The Crown Prince asked.
He looked too sincere and even Abe was speechless at that very moment.
"Can I be certain that you aren't like them all?" Abe asked.
"Then let me satisfy your curiosity." The Crown Prince said.
"Is it of any use to me, someone like you, how can you associate with someone like me?" Abe asked.
"Someone like you?" The Crown Prince asked.
"Yes." Abe replied.
"You are like me someone with a hidden identity, you are like me someone that isn't true to your own nature.
Someone underprivileged could barely acquire the necessary education to master at your age a poem that is to complicated well off scholars like me understand." The Crown Prince said.
"Then I am certain that like me you have heard that the tide at the ocean is never stable, one moment the odds are in your favor and the other they shift like the waves that dance above the sea." Abe replied.
"Then am I that different from you?" The Crown Prince asked. " after all, I am only where you once were." He added.
"There is a big difference Young Master." Abe replied.
"And what is it?" The Crown Prince asked.
"Come with me." Abe said as he got hold of the Crown Prince by his left hand.
"How.....?" The Crown Prince was about to ask him when he halted halfway upon realising something.
Who was it who had ever touched the Crown Prince with such ease, spoken up against him and questioned him like an average man.
He had seen for himself how Abe had spoken without any fear and absolute confidence that he was all the more intrigued with the young girl he most certainly thought to be a very smart boy.
Abe took the Crown Prince through a series of alleys and it was at that moment that he remembered to ask something.
"Where are you taking me?" The Crown Prince asked.
"I am taking you someplace that you should see for Yourself." Abe replied as they continued for a while.
The Crown Prince had never been in such close proximity with the commons and everything from the way they dressed and smelt came very new to him.
Even the servants in the Imperial palaces were more decent but wherever he was heading he had to keep jumping over more and more mud.
Eventually, Abe came to halt at some point and the Crown Prince stepped to his side.
"You could be a bit more gentle when dragging someone with you." The Crown Prince said.
"Pardon me, perhaps I no longer know how gentlemen and scholars should behave like." Abe said.
"More humanlike is a description." The Crown Prince said.
"What is humane?" Abe asked.
"Civility, grace, kindness and modesty." The Crown Prince replied.
"And which of these qualities do you expect people like these to bear." Abe said as she pointed at the mass of houses in a distance that looked way too old and on the verge of collapse.
All were ramshuckled with holes in the walls and their roofs and the people that were gathered around them and we're working were in rugs and looked badly off.
The Crown Prince was surprised and his eyes looked a little bit teary.
"What is this place?" The Crown Prince asked.
"A prominent slum that has developed, when people outside live in well built walls and painted buildings, here in the depths of Nara they're sheds that can no longer be deemed as houses." Abe replied.
"How?" The Crown Prince asked.
"That is out of the question." Abe replied.
"They're dying." The Crown Prince said.
"And what have scholars that are noble done?" Abe asked.
The Crown Prince kept quiet.
"People like you and me could have done much more than looking, ours was to be for our people but all we have been is for ourselves, with all the wealth and power what have people like you done to help the country, nothing." Abe said.
"So you hold your dislike to me because of that?" The Crown Prince asked.
"And I dislike myself more for only being able to watch and do nothing." Abe replied.
The Crown Prince was puzzled.
"Growing up tasting only luxury, we never know how to work and make a living, we never feel the burden of getting up early in the morning to look after our children and also we never feel the burden of coming back home late in the night when they are fast asleep.
We never know when it rains or when it shines, it is all the same that we have a shelter above our heads to keeps us from the strong sun and the heavy rain.
For them when it shines they are exposed to the pain of the Ray's and when it rains they and fish live no different as the floods overwhelm them." Abe said. "Where are people like you and me?" Abe asked.
The Crown Prince looked down.
"Nowhere." He said.
"Exactly." Abe affirmed.
"Who better than them know how fruitless the hard work of a very poor man is, who better than them knows how to sleep without having had a meal at their table.
These are all people that lean of the Emperor's divine grace and those that look at him for refuge since he is for us and for all.
These are people who break their backs, sweat and toil day and night to eat while yours most likely comes on a silver platter, they pay taxes for the welfare of the land and to bring upon themselves a bright future yet year in and year out the awfulness of this place worsens time to time." Abe said.
"You have proven your point." The Crown Prince asked.
"No I haven't because you tell me yourself and answer this one question of mine, if not for me to offer my closest consolation and presence for comfort, where is there Emperor for them?" Abe asked.
The Crown Prince kept quiet for a while.
"Is such cruelty really the best reward that those awful politicians can give these very innocent people?" The Crown Prince asked.
"You asked me who I am, I'll tell you who exactly I am." Abe said as she turned and looked at the Crown Prince.
"I am the very person who cried along with these people, I am the very person who comforts and stands with them. I am the one who feels the pain of loving these people throughout everyone of their problems.
You want to know who I am still, I'll gladly tell you more.
I am the one that listens and gives them my attention, I am the one who calls and takes care of them as my people, I am the one who believes my presence in their lives is equivalent to something and the one who bleeds when Nara and the whole of Nippon are destitute and suffer at the hands of all those conniving politicians." Abe replied.
"Had I known?" The Crown Prince said.
"You now know." Abe replied.
"But....." The Crown Prince halted.
"But as a noble scholar what will you do?" Abe asked.
She turned around and the Crown Prince still heartbroken looked at the awful sight of the slum as she walked away step by step.
Noticing that the Crown Prince was making no attempt to follow her she turned around and looked at him able to spell the sad aura that radiated from him.
Her heart suddenly felt heavy as she too sympathized with the Crown Prince a part of her still in disbelief about how serious it had come as a shock to him.
"Forgive me." She whispered under her breath. "How could you be any different from those men who are living like you?" She added.
The palace doors were flung open and the Crown Prince was greeted by the Royal Guards that were present in his courtyard.
"Your Highness." They said as they bowed their heads.
The Crown Prince ignored them as he walked lifelessly towards his own personal quarters.
The words that he had heard from Abe kept on lingering in his mind and repeated over and over again.
"You tell me yourself and answer this one question of mine, if not for me to offer my closest consolation and presence for comfort, where is there Emperor for them?" Abe had asked.
"I am the one that listens and gives them my attention, I am the one who calls and takes care of them as my people, I am the one who believes my presence in their lives is equivalent to something and the one who bleeds when Nara and the whole of Nippon are destitute and suffer at the hands of all those conniving politicians." he recalled.
"I am at fault, I am at fault." The Crown Prince continuously confessed as he came face to face with Miwa no Sakau.
"Your Highness." Miwa no Sakau called.
He looked at him.
"Where have you been?" He asked.
The Crown Prince closed up the distance between themselves and there looked at him in the eyes.
"Tell me Sakau, what have I ever done for Nara and Nippon all my life?" The Crown Prince asked.
Sakau kept quiet.
"How important have I been to the people other than being the Crown Prince?" He added.
Sakau only looked down and maintained his silence.
"All my life, nearly fifteen years I have been the Crown Prince of this Empire, I have been confined to the beauty of the palace walls and the wealth of the rich provinces in the North.
I have stood high with heaven and at peace with myself, dressed well and had no single meal missed out yet even my education was the best among all men.
I did not need any form of certificate or academic qualification as long as I could run the country then I had what it takes and yet when I boasted to love this Nippon my words came so empty I feel today that compassion has been betrayed.
Why?" The Crown Prince asked.
"Somethings your Highness are just out of your control and you must learn to live without them." Sakau replied.
"No." The Crown Prince refuted.
"Why Your Highness, why are you treating yourself like this?" Sakau asked.
"Because I was more than capable, because I had eyes, Because I had a brain that was stable and a heart that was human, and in the end, even with all this, I could not do what I could, I didn't see what I could have seen, I never thought of my people and I never considered their lives and feelings." The Crown Prince replied.
"And sadness, hate, torture, you think that these things are enough on your side to seek retribution?" Miwa no Sakau asked.
"No." The Crown Prince replied.
"Are you not the Crown Prince of Nippon?" Miwa no Sakau asked.
"I am." The Crown Prince replied.
"Then why not contend with the enemies of your people?" Miwa no Sakau asked.
The Crown Prince looked at him.
"Desperate situations call for desperate measures, after all to notice and watch while doing nothing is as good as not knowing anything at all." Sakau added.
"Had I known?" The Crown Prince had said.
"You now know." Abe had replied.
"But....." The Crown Prince had halted.
"But as a noble scholar what will you do?" Abe had asked.
Such words coming back to his mind the Crown Prince turned around at once.
"Your Highness, where are you going?" Miwa no Sakau asked.
"I am going to see my father." The Crown Prince replied. " I have sat down for so long and I believe it is high time that some things in this country had a change." he added.
At once, the Crown Prince marched out leaving Sakau wondering how his attitude had changed.
Sato stood at the Entrance of the Emperor's chamber when he saw the Crown Prince headed his way.
"Your Highness." He said as he bowed his head.
"I am here to see my Father." The Crown Prince said.
"I am afraid that the Emperor isn't willing to see anyone at this moment." Sato said.
"This is a very urgent matter." The Crown Prince replied.
Sato upon hearing him was convicted to rush into the Emperor's personal Chambers.
"Your Majesty." He said as he bowed his head.
"What is it?" The Emperor asked.
"The Crown Prince is requesting to have an audience with you." Sato replied.
"I thought I made it clear that I am not in the moods of talking to anyone?" The Emperor asked.
"His Highness has insisted that it is a very urgent matter." Sato replied.
"How urgent?" The Emperor asked as he massaged his forehead.
"That I am not so aware Your Majesty." Sato replied.
"Let him in." The Emperor eventually agreed and Sato departed to return shortly after with the Crown Prince following him.
"Father." The Crown Prince said as he bowed his head.
"The Crown Prince." The Emperor said.
"Yes." The Crown Prince replied.
"What is too urgent that it demands an audience with me?" The Emperor asked.
"I need to talk about my responsibility as the Crown Prince." Prince Nunakakura replied.
The Emperor whose eyes were closed were wide open that very instant.
"What?" He asked.
"I need to talk about my responsibility as the Crown Prince." Prince Nunakakura replied.
The two sat down at a table and the Emperor looked at his son as he confidently stared back at him.
"Tell me Crown Prince, what is the problem?" The Emperor asked.
"Have I not been away from the capital and my people for a very long time father?" The Crown Prince asked.
"Yes You have but there is no need to rush things, haste is not always an option when it comes to bearing one's responsibilities." The Emperor replied.
"And yet I am haunted father." The Crown Prince replied.
"Haunted?" The Emperor asked.
"Yes." The Crown Prince replied.
"Why?" The Emperor asked.
"For fifteen years I have stood and prepared myself for the responsibility that is befitting for a Crown Prince, my mind and eyes have been opened to new things I had never imagined to embrace in my entire life before.
For every reason there is I have utmost confidence that I am ready and I wish to not only say that but to also show it to you." The Crown Prince asked.
"What is it you want?" The Emperor asked his son.
"Nothing much father, all that I want is to ensure that the throne returns to it's original glory." The Crown Prince replied.
"And where is that glory that you speak of?" The Emperor asked.
"Among the gods." The Crown Prince replied and the Emperor was surprised.
"Don't." The Emperor said.
"People believe so much in the Chrysanthemum throne, after it's power has been granted to the nobles and the aristocrats, they have only abused it.
The Throne has remained a lifeless institution under them and such immense power in the hands of these greedy and inhumane people I fear shall one day tear this country by challenging the throne." The Crown Prince replied.
"Which is the reason as to why the two institutions must coexist and strike a balance with one another, do you not realize the dire consequences that could arise when this preexisting equilibrium is tarnished?" The Emperor asked.
"I know what I am up against father." The Crown Prince replied.
"You do not." The Emperor said. "If you were well aware, not every one of your successors shall be as good as you. The decision to make the throne an absolute entity could eradicate its own existence the one time an unbearable Master to it misuses it." The Emperor said.
"Then at least once father, please grant me the power to manage the state's finances." The Crown Prince requested.
"That task is one that is not very easy you see." The Emperor replied.
"Then give me the chance to prove you wrong father." The Crown Prince said. " I understand that as the future sovereign of the country should the gods and the heaven's will be so, I must build my own circle of influence and find my own people to be able to contend with any likely contenders for the throne." He added.
The Emperor studied his son and in his dark eyes he saw flames of courage having fully consumed the Crown Prince he had never seen him more determined in his whole life.
"Prove me wrong." The Emperor said. "contend with all those politicians in the court." The Emperor said.
"Yes Father." The Crown Prince said.
"But heed this humble advice of mine and please, make sure that as your enemies grow in number, your allies grow thrice as much." The Emperor warned.
"I certainly shall, father." The Crown Prince replied as he stood up and bowed his head before leaving the room.
The Emperor who was left behind was lost in his thoughts when Sato walked in.
"Your Majesty, are you alright?" Sato asked.
"I am." The Emperor replied.
"It appears as though you have been immersed in a series of thoughts." Sato said.
"The Crown Prince is looking for war." The Emperor replied.
"Are you certain Your Majesty?" Sato asked.
"Yes." The Emperor replied.
"I am curious then Your Majesty." Sato said.
"You needn't be." The Emperor replied.
"Why did you not stop him?" Sato asked.
"He has to learn." The Emperor replied.
"This could entirely jeopardize his life." Sato said.
"But I believe it shall adequately prepare him, after all, for every politician, wars against your foes are inevitable and it is the perfect opportunity that the future Emperor of this country needs to put his talents to the best account." The Emperor replied.
"What?" The Empress asked.
"Yes Your Highness." Sakae replied. "His Highness demanded control of the country's finances from the Emperor." She added.
"Are you sure?" The Empress asked.
"Yes Your Highness." Sakae replied as she bowed her head.
"That is unbelievable." The High Priestess said.
"In deed it is." The Empress confirmed.
"Do you think that Iname has a hand in this?" The High Priestess asked.
"And I can not seem to see a reason as to why he'd practically side with his own enemy." The Empress replied.
"It appears as though your son and your greatest for are colluding with one another behind your back." The High Priestess said.
"And yet it is making no sense at all, I can not see how Iname plans to use the Crown Prince Your Highness." Sakae said.
"No." The Empress replied. " I for one know Iname can cross any limits and go to any lengths to meet his own desires." She added.
"And what could his motive at this time be?" The High Priestess asked.
The Empress thought and eventually she was able to smile.
"This is such a smart move of his." The Empress replied.
"What is it Your Highness?" The High Priestess asked.
"When the native hunters went on a hunt in the woods, they always laid the bait to lure their prey out of the hiding." The Empress replied.
"I am confused." The High Priestess said.
"The bait was a weakness that the prey always had and for the hunters to get what they wanted they always used their prey's own weakness against it." The Empress replied.
"In this context, you're implying that Iname's bait is the Crown Prince." The High Priestess said.
"Yes." The Empress replied.
"How do you think that Iname plans on using the Crown Prince?" The High Priestess asked.
"I believe it now that he instigated the attempted assassination of the Crown Prince and made it obvious for me to find out that I could doubt his capability.
He used his son to save the Crown Prince and then win his favour because he knows that the Emperor doesn't have that much time left either so he'll soon be succeeded by my son." The Empress replied
"It's all clear now." The High Priestess said.
"Certainly, Iname is bent on using the Crown Prince as his shield against me which implies that initially, he wishes to divide me and my son by using his own influence in the court to compete with mine." The Empress added.
"He really is unbelievable and very smart." The High Priestess said.
"Not now that he has been exposed." The Empress replied.
"What makes you say so?" The High Priestess asked.
"We shall also fight fire with fire." The Empress replied.
"I am curious as to whom Her Highness is going to use to contend with Iname's might." The High Priestess said.
"The most powerful man in the Kingdom." The Empress replied.
"The Emperor?" The High Priestess asked.
"Yes." The Empress replied with a ghastly smile.
The Crown Prince and Miwa no Sakau marched with Imperial troops and they arrived at the Office of Finances.
"Your Highness." The guards there greeted the Crown Prince who ignored them as he made his entry into the courtyard of the office.
The Minister of Finance who was a very staunch Mononobe walked out of the building and went before his Highness and bowed his head.
"Your Highness." He said as he offered his Salutations.
"Greetings Morae." The Crown Prince replied.
"To what do I owe an unexpected visit from his Highness in person?" Mononobe no Morae asked.
"I am afraid that there are things that I must handle first." The Crown Prince replied.
He clapped his hands and the Imperial troops that had stationed themselves outside the Office of Finances marched in.
"What is this Your Highness?" Mononobe no Morae asked.
"I've brought with me one hundred scholars and five hundred troops, as I am now in charge of the Nara Prefecture and it's finances.
I want all records for the taxes received from the last ten years and I believe it is high time that the Emperor received accountability of the country's finances because he feels that the Office of Finances is not living up to his expectations and the expectations of the people." The Crown Prince replied.
"Your Highness." Morae called.
"Come with me." The Crown Prince summoned his own people and they went into the office.
All finance records and documents were gathered from their respective rooms and pooled as the scholars looked through all of them keenly and summed up all the necessary totals.
The Lists of National expenditures were being looked through by Sakau and the Crown Prince.
Sakau happened to land on something unexpectedly.
"Your Highness." He called.
"What is it?" The Crown Prince asked.
"Look at this." Sakau said as he showed him a list of names.
"These are Officials' salaries." He said.
"Yes I know that but look closely at the figures and compare with these." Sakau said as he held another list right next to the first.
"Ghost officials." The Crown Prince said.
"That means that...." Sakau was saying.
"There are officials who depend on heir false existence at lower levels to earn more." The Crown Prince said.
"How come the Office of Finances did nothing about it?" Sakau asked.
"There is only one possible explanation to that and it is that the Office of Finances has people in it that are involved in the slush fund." The Crown Prince replied.
Totally enraged he looked at the solid evidence in his presence, he tightened his fists and smacked the table in front of him.
"Calm down Your Highness." Sakau said.
"I want every high official in the Office of Finances interrogated and thrown behind bars, from now on I demand and command absolute control of all duties of this office and the whole of Nara be brought under my prefectship." The Crown Prince replied.
"Yes Your Highness." Sakau said.
At once, all officials in charge of the office of Finances led by Mononobe no Morae were were brought into the open courtyard in broad daylight and forced onto their knees.
"Your Highness, Your Highness." They pleaded as the Crown Prince brought himself to stand right in front of them.
"This is a mistake Your Highness." Morae said
"Ghost officials getting salaries implies that some of the officials in the government earn double salaries, it means more than that which is intended by the Crown is offered to the officials and if the expenditure is great how are the tax paying peasants in the depths of Nara rewarded, they go back empty handed.
This is a sign of the inefficiency of the officials in charge of the country's finances and it is a symbol of weakness to the monarchy, on top of that, by nature such an act of indecency can not ensure the maintenance of the trust between the Throne and the government.
Exposure of such news could bring about a civil war and it could tear the country causing rivalries amongst the peasants and the privileged classes within the Empire.
It is upon such background that as the Crown Prince of Nippon with my sworn service to my people that I must see to it and example is made of such people and you are in deed punished for all your misdemeanors." The Crown Prince said.
"His Highness is safe." Sakau said and all those that had gathered within the office.
Morae looked at the Crown Prince with his face entirely dissolved in absolute anger
"What?" Moriya said.
"Yes Young Master." His retainer said. " Your cousin has been dismissed from the position of Minister in Charge of Finance by the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince has declared full control over national finances and with strong evidence that most of the taxes have been going to an unknown slush fund and ghost officials." He added.
"How is that?" Moriya asked. " We keep the real documents on the slush funds and the ghost officials unless someone stole it from our possession." Moriya added as he stood up and looked through his chests and trunks until he landed on another list.
His retainer came closer and looked at the list.
"It's the original." the retainer said.
"Then that means that the Crown Prince has a fake and even if it was a fake or a copy, we can not prove our innocence unless we pinned it up on someone else." Moriya said.
"Whom do you have in mind?" His retainer asked.
"I already know whom our perfect candidate for the job is." Moriya replied with a ghastly smile on his face.
