THE THIRD DEGREE

         "Your Highness?" Zhao Hong said bowing to the Empress.

         "My Prince?" He responded.

         "You asked for my urgent presence?" He inquired.

         "I think that we respect each other personally to ask ourselves some of the biggest questions like a mother and son after all that is our legal status." She said.

         "Certainly." He responded.

         "I received some books from you." She said.

         "Sima Guang's work, it is my sincere gift to Your Highness." Zhao Hong said.

         "Hen's should not announce the break of Dawn?" She asked.

         "Which part of that phrase requires clarity Your Highness, I'd be happy to explain my actions if they might have seemed ambiguous." He muttered.

          "You are the Crown Prince of this Empire and should thus be heeding my advice as the Mother of the nation and not censuring me." She said.

          "If you wish to end my censuring then please refrain your hand from the Imperial Court, deal with the Imperial harem as your position commands and leave the governance of this nation both to His Majesty and to me. " Zhao Hong boldly spoke up to her.

         "What!" She exclaimed.

         "I trust that Your Highness heard me well enough, this is the reason I became the Crown Prince of this our Greater Heavenly Empire, as it is that the absence of an heir has kept Your Highness too preoccupied to care for the health of His Majesty and indulge yourself in the affairs of the State, I fear that the generations to come would demonize you as my mother which could besmirch you well enough of everything you dared to achieve so far. " Zhao Hong responded.

         "You think I am afraid of a mere historian's opinion on paper?" She inquired.

         "When a historian's mere opinion survives decades and centuries then it becomes mankind's eternal memory."  Zhao Hong professed, "I don't want my mother, the mother of this nation to experience that retribution in death. " He added.

         "Is that so?" She asked.

         "If I must speak forthrightly as my position demands, as the Crown Prince of our Greater Heavenly Empire, I am willing to do it." He said.

         "Yes Your Imperial Highness, always be alert and devote yourself that is every ounce of strength and might you can find, every breath you take in everything that you do." Empress Yang remarked and the Crown Prince smirking faintly bowed his head while her eyes moved down to the robe that he was wearing she smiled at herself.

          "You would certainly look well in the Imperial Robes  adorned with the five-taloned dragon." She remarked, "it would be very tragic if Your Highness descended into the pages of history without a foretaste of that pinnacle of power." She added.

          "Thank God that such will never be the case, after all, as you are my mother I have learnt well how to survive and how to gain power so how is it that I could ever disappoint you?" He asked.

          "Then learn first Your Highness for I wish to let you know, the first step to becoming a true ruler and obtaining eternal power is by choosing your allies and enemies wisely." She remarked as she smiled at him ghastly while the young man standing up bowed his head to her before he withdrew from the room.

          Manyin slowly walked up to the Empress whose smile immediately faded.

          "Make a special arrangement for me, I wish to personally see our future Crown Princess." She ordered.

           "Yes Your Highness." Manyin responded as she immediately went out to do it while the Empress infuriated clenched her fists.

           The Crown Prince barging through the doors of His chambers confidently, he took his seat behind his study table while Mu Lang accompaniment him, a part of him was too anxious while the rest of him felt too tense and frightened that the hair on his back were up and he temporarily shivered.

          "How did everything go Your Highness?" He asked.

          "Surely the Empress was furious, I could tell from her words that she was warning me." He responded.

          "Will she most likely come against you?" Mu Lang inquired.

          "This isn't enough." Crown Prince Zhao Hong said, " we should now turn this smouldering into an open fire." He remarked as he looked at Mu Lang who instantly knew what to say.

         "What is it you require of me Your Highness?" He inquired.

          "Spread the tale-bearing throughout the streets and let it be known, the Crown Prince gifted the Empress with books tagged with a note saying that 'HENS SHOULD NOT ANNOUNCE THE BREAK OF DAWN.'" He said.

         "Yes Your Highness." Mu Lang responded and standing up he bowed his head as he slowly withdrew from the room at once.

         Consort Cao who was seated in her Chambers was startled when Linxiang throwing them open she immediately rushed into her presence and there she bowed her head.

          "Your Grace, congratulations." She said.

          "What is it?" She inquired.

          "The Crown Prince had the books delivered to the Empress." She reported.

          "Is that so?" Consort Cao asked trying to make sure.

          "Yes Your Grace, the news is all over the Palace and soon enough everyone in the capital will know." Linxiang assured as Consort Cao smiled.

          "Finally." Consort Cao muttered as she smiled at herself while her eyes widened, "now there's no way that the Minister of Personnel will refuse to offer his allegiance." She said when one of the ladies outside announced the presence of the Crown Prince.

          "What's His Highness doing here?" Linxiang inquired.

          "Let him in." Consort Cao said and the latter reluctantly agreed before she rushed out of the room.

          Zhao Hong walking through the doors halted in front of Consort Cao and there he kowtowed as a way of offering his respects to him.

         "Your Highness?" He said.

         "Your Grace." He responded.

         "Seeing that you are here to see me I can't help but feel moved by your affection." Consort Cao remarked.

         "It is only right that I appreciate your meritorious service to this nation." He said.

         "I see that you made good use of the gift that I sent you." She remarked.

         "And seeing that I am an excellent student don't you think that you deserve to reward me Your Grace?" He asked while smiling at him with her right hand on the table she slowly leaned over.

          "What could I possibly give you Your Highness?" She asked.

          "It isn't too much for you, at least by now I trust that your thoughts are my thoughts, your words are my words and as such appears to be our most mutual understanding, all I have to ask is that you allow me to meet your people." She said.

          "Are you sure Your Highness?" She asked.

          "It's for the best of us, it's what we both need, besides, I believe that I have grown close enough to expect at least this much from you." He responded as he smiled at himself ghastly.

          Wu Lin seated in his study the doors were flung open and one of his household servants rushed in before his presence.

          "Milord, there's someone here to see you." He said.

          "I am afraid that I am not feeling well." He responded.

          "I don't think she's someone who would gladly take no for an answer." He notified the latter who seemed to instantly understand what the young man meant to say.

          "I'll be there in a while." He said.

          "She insists on having a word with Milady, the future Crown Princess Consort." He said.

          "If it pleases Her Highness, send for her to come here immediately." He ordered.

          "Surely Milord." His servant responded as he withdrew from his presence immediately.

          The Empress walked into the room shortly after and gracefully she took the seat that had been prepared for her at the forefront while the old man stood in her presence.

          "Your Highness." He greeted her while she nodded in approval which gesture he seemed to embrace uneasily.

          "It has been a while since I last paid Your Excellency a visit." She said.

          "I am but a humble man Your Highness, to grace me with your presence leaves me immensely overwhelmed yet I can't help but wonder how it happens to be." He professed.

         "I was merely curious to see the future Crown Princess of our Greater Heavenly Empire." Empress Yang responded.

         "She is alive and well Your Highness, you needn't have bothered as much, I would have sent her before certainly if you so wished to have a glimpse of her." He said.

          "But as it is that I am here you can save the formalities, very soon we shall be one big family but before I can talk to your daughter I only wish to know one thing in particular and I was hoping for a sincere answer from you Sir as this will define our relationship from now onwards." She muttered.

          "What does Your Highness wish to know?" He asked.

          "Precisely where and to whom does your loyalty lie?" She asked.

          "Your Highness is gracious to have exalted me a humble servant amongst me, what I am isn't what this Empire made but your benevolence, accept my profound faithfulness to you alone for it is in being loyal to Your Highness that I remain loyal to our Greater Heavenly Empire." He responded and Empress Yang studying him momentarily while he looked sincere, an awkward silence prevailed in the room between the two before it was abruptly broken by the household servant.

        "Lady Wu Your Highness." He announced.

        "Let her in." She ordered and the doors instantly opened the young woman walked in dressed in a blue and white hanfu.

         "Allow me to speak to my future daughter-in-law in private." She said and the latter hesitantly, he withdrew leaving the two women together while Wu Zhuangxuan kowtowed to her.

         "Greetings Your Highness." She spoke gracefully and the Empress studying her features smiled at her.

          "I see, you are indeed as beautiful as they say." She muttered.

          "You flatter me Your Highness, I am but an ordinary young girl." She muttered.

          "It was nothing much but a sincere compliment." Empress Yang said, " looking at you I can't help but consider myself to be staring in a mirror, I might have possessed a similar expression in my early years as well, save for the fact that at your age I was nothing but a mere Court Lady whose dreams were contained to the sole possibility of one day becoming at most the Head Lady." She added.

           "Your Highness means to say that you never thought of becoming an Empress?" Wu Zhuangxuan inquired.

           "You can call it that," Empress Yang mentioned, "many are called but few are chosen." She said as she smiled at herself before sighing somberly.

           "Do you not like it?" Wu Zhuangxuan inquired.

            "I had the ability to not be chosen, I could have remained a young girl on the prairie, I longed for a normal life, a good husband with whom I would raise my children but looking back at those years of toil I just realized that not all the women in the world were born to be normal, not all women in the world were born to be free." Empress Yang said, "your only crime is being born as a girl from a noble family, you must live nobly, marry nobly and die nobly." She remarked.

           "But I do not want to become an Empress Your Highness, I don't wish to become a tragic tale in this story, almost as tragic as you are, as heartless as you are." Wu Zhuangxuan muttered.

            "None of us wanted, there are just some things in life that are beyond us, things our power and effort can not contain, fates we can't fight and challenges we can never keep running from, perhaps only by being an Empress, perhaps only by being the mother of a Dragon can you really be exalted amongst all women, perhaps by gaining enough power can you bring honour to your family, protect the ones you feel you love and care about." Empress Yang said as she stood up from where she was seated and Wu Zhuangxuan still kneeling she walked up to her and halted right there while she looked at the ground.

            The Empress slowly bent over with a cold and serious glare and with her right hand she held the young woman's chin and looked her in the eye.

            "Your Highness?" She whispered struggling to hold back her tears.

            "You'll become the Crown Princess of our Greater Heavenly Empire to bring honour to your family, to protect the people that you love and care about, to live for those who need you." She said before she let go and putting her hands together and holding her head high, she sashayed out of the room leaving Wu Zhuangxuan alone as her father rushed in.

             She halted in the hallway outside and for a moment she held onto the wall for support while Beiyuan temporarily looked on.

            "How is it that she can understand, the only thing that can turn a cage into a Palace is power?" She asked.

            "Only by breaking the old the new can come into form, a phoenix is born from the ashes so I am confident that Lady Wu would soon understand." He responded.

           "But her eyes are without will, her heart is without strength, she'd better understand it soon enough, because if she never does or even if she does when it's too late, slowly she'll descend into Oblivion before it finally swallows her entirely." She remarked as she continued her way while her retinue followed.

            Emperor Ningzong seated in his study the Crown Prince stood in front of him while he reviewed the memorial in his possession.

           "You called me Your Majesty." He said and the old man lowering the book in his hands on the table looked him in the eye.

          "I happened to hear that the Crown Prince sent a couple of books to the Empress and it appears that everyone is well aware that the most outstanding reason was to censure her involvement in State affairs." He said.

            "I don't care about what other people think of me as an individual." Zhao Hong remarked.

            "But the Crown Prince must always think about what other people think of him as the Crown Prince, it may seem harmless for now but the public opinion shifting out of one's favour can become something dangerous." Emperor Ningzong said.

            "This Country has a Ruler already." Zhao Hong said.

            "And it has a system as well." Emperor Ningzong said, "stop trying to get rid of an old system Your Highness, focus on changing it first because I understand that you are very new to the position but if you're not careful with the steps you could take you might stumble or even worse you may fall." Emperor Ningzong said.

            "Or you are also wary of the Empress' influence father, you're also weary of her might, or perhaps you simply don't want to subdue her, perhaps you are just to weak to subdue her?" He seemed to inquire.

            "The Empress is a tragic part of me, she is a part I created and gave life, for now all she sees is a way to protect and preserve, don't make her an enemy I beg you, at least that is when considering just how many people she can influence with a thought, how many people she can move without lifting a hand, your sole focus should be to win her support." He responded.

           "I do not intend to fight the Empress Your Majesty, I want to return everything to its rightful place even the Imperial Power, if I must be the Son of Heaven one day, I can not share it with anyone, not even the Empress." Zhao Hong said.

           "Even if you take on the whole world?" Emperor Ningzong asked.

           "Even if such is what is required of me Your Majesty." Crown Prince Zhao Hong responded, "you chose me because you thought that I would be a worthy Crown Prince and I am certain you believed that one day I would succeed your luminous legacy, only by observing a Sovereign's kindness and wielding his full ultimate strength can I be certain of fulfilling that dream." He insisted and kowtowing to the Emperor he slowly withdrew from the room.

            The Empress walking through the doors of her Chambers found Shi Miyuan seated.

            "Your Excellency!" She exclaimed.

            "If I may Your Highness?" He kindly requested and Manyin, Xiaoyang and Beiyuan leaving the two together, the Empress walked to her seat while Shi Miyuan sat down in front of her.

            "I came in much earlier but was too late to catch you on your way out of the Palace." He said.

            "I had decided to pay the future Crown Princess a visit." The Empress professed.

            "I see," Shi Miyuan muttered, "I was concerned that you were displeased Your Highness, I happened to hear much later that the Crown Prince sent over a couple of books to the Central Palace......" He said.

             "And censured my indulgence in politics?" She concluded his question.

             "So, so." Shi Miyuan responded.

             "He's a very passionate young man and considering that he is new to the position I can understand that he is quite jumpy." She remarked.

             "How can you be calm after what His Highness has done, it could not only harm our power, it could also compromise your position, it could damage your reputation." Shi Miyuan said.

             "The Emperor is a Dragon, a dragon that breathes fire, even when young he may seem harmless, but when he grows and sharpens his talons, he tramples the nest and eats his own mother." She remarked as she looked him in the eye.

             "I worry for you more than anything else in the world Your Highness." Shi Miyuan assured her.

             "Then trust me entirely," She said, "let the Crown Prince do as he pleases, we'll only make him yield with time." She mentioned as she smiled at herself reassuringly.

             Consort Cao and her supporters gathered together in their usual meeting place in the dead of night and while for the first time she took a seat behind a silk curtain, they murmured amongst themselves out of curiosity that she seemed to notice it.

            "instead of talking behind my back why not speak to my face?" She inquired and one of the Ministers concerned turned to her.

              "Forgive me for seeming brazen Your Highness but I don't think that a seat behind a silk curtain is your place." He pointed out.

             "Forgive me for having not informed you beforehand, it appears that as of today, we shall be joined by someone new." Consort Cao responded and that very instant, Linxiang walked in and leaned beside her whispering something in her ear while everyone watched with curiosity.

             Consort Cao smiling at herself turned and faced the door.

            "Come in." She said, and the doors of the small room being opened a young man walked to the front dressed in a thick black hanfu, He wore on his head a big black hat and standing right in front of them, he put it off as Ye Shi and the others watched him earnestly.

            Revealing his facial features to them they instantly recognized him.

            "Your Highness!" He exclaimed in shock while he took the seat in front of Consort Cao who was hidden behind the silk curtain.

            "I personally asked Her Grace to grant me an audience that I may be in the position to share my grandiose dreams for this country with you." Zhao Hong said and the Courtiers looking on quietly Ye Shi took a deep breath and sighed.

             "Why should we listen to you Your Highness?" He asked.

             "I could have marched in here with Imperial troops and none of you would have survived the Grand Chancellor's fury, our convention in this place in secrecy without even the Emperor's approval makes us guilty of treason but if I command the forces intended to promote law and order I would be giving the Empress a perfect opportunity to annihilate all her political adversaries." He responded.

             "Therefore Your Highness suggests that we should be grateful?" He asked.

             "Seeing that I have taken this risk at the very least I would require your trust and of course as you needed me to prove worthy of your political apostleship is this not a step close enough now that it must be vivid we share a common foe?" Zhao Hong inquired.

             "There is more Your Highness than what meets the eye." Ye Shi insisted.

             "Which is why I need your help and you need mine." He responded, "If I am going to challenge the Empress then I shall certainly require your help." He added.

             "Even if we are to take a huge gamble and entrust you with our lives Your Highness, what's in it for us?" Ye Shi asked.

              "His Majesty doesn't have that long to live, soon enough he shall perish, upon the death of His Majesty only the Crown Prince can ascend the throne, you just need to protect me then and I assure you that when I take it, I'll return everything to its right place and will pull you closer to my side, take you much higher than you have ever reached." He vowed to them and the rest looking at one another, Ye Shi and Consort Cao intensely stared at the young Prince who retained his confidence.

            The Crown Prince and Consort Cao stepped outside the building and facing each other, they kowtowed to themselves gracefully.

           "I am too thankful to Your Grace for the opportunity you have given me." Zhao Hong said.

            "Surely, it's the least that I can do for you, as the Crown Prince of our Greater Heavenly Empire it is only right, besides, no one shows me compassion as much as you do." Consort Cao said.

             "I am greatly humbled." Zhao Hong remarked.

             "But what do you planning on doing Your Highness, it's not an assurance that they will fully support you and you are yet to prove yourself to them." Consort Cao said.

              "The day for my wedding with the future Crown Princess was already decided, after it, it shall have been twenty years since the passing of the Empress Gongshu." He responded.

             "The Empress' predecessor?" Consort Cao muttered.

             "Yes." Zhao Hong affirmed as he smiled at himself ghastly.

             Wu Zhuangxuan seated in her room was lost in her thoughts as she recalled her conversation with the Empress.

             Her father suddenly made his entrance uninvited and as he approached her, she recognized his presence but barely moved.

            "You don't look alright." Wu Lin said, "Is it something that the Empress said perhaps?" He inquired from her as he sat down in front of her while she put her elbows away from the table.

             "Is the Empress' position really as magnificent?" She asked.

              "Maybe, maybe not, if you are blessed by His Highness and bear a son, your Grand Heir will become a Crown Prince, when he becomes the Emperor as his mother you have all the power in the World, have you any idea how many women would give up everything for that one position in the whole world?" Wu Lin asked.

              "Except that I am not like any woman in the world." Wu Zhuangxuan remarked.   

              "You are my daughter, my daughter that I love, apart from you I can't bring myself to think that at any one point in time, my heart will bring itself to adore another as much as I adore you." Wu Lin asserted himself about to break into tears.

             "Rest assured my father, it seems this is the fate that has been laid for me, for you I shall choose to live on, long enough to become the Empress of our Greater Heavenly Empire." She promised him.

             The wedding day approached and the Crown Prince was garbed in his Imperial robes while the ten-beaded Crown was mounted on his head, he held the Ceremonial Jade tablet in his hands and slowly, he was led out of the East Palace into the direction of the Grand Square.

             Arriving outside the gate, from the opposite direction, Lady Wu along with her retinue of attendants approached him and stood face to face before their presence was announced to the world.

            The Gates were opened for them and the Courtiers fully dressed in their Official attires from the Greatest to the Least positioned on either side of the compound kowtowed their heads as the Imperial Couple walked down the Red Carpet majestically.

            At the forefront atop The stairs that led to the Grand Hall the Emperor and Empress sat on their thrones dressed in their Official attires as well, Ningzong having aged in his shining golden Imperial Dragon Robe and the Empress in a long scarlet hanfu embroidered with phoenix patterns.

            Lady Wu and Crown Prince Zhao Hong faced each other, himself smiling heartily while she smirked a little bit he first bowed to her.

            She being helped by two Court Ladies knelt and kowtowed to him thrice before two small tables were lowered in front of them and they poured wine in the nuptial chalices.

            The two drinking at the same time concluded the ceremony by getting up and walking up to one another, they turned and faced the Emperor and Empress to whom they knelt and kowtowed.

            "Long Live Your Majesty, long live Our Greater Heavenly Emperor, Long Live Your Highness, Long Live our Greater Heavenly Empress." They said in unison and Yang Meizi observing the affection of the Empress permitted herself to smile casually at the officials and the whole world.

             Eunuch Deng bearing the Imperial Edict in his hands also stepped forward and opened it.

             "WITH HEAVEN'S BLESSING, THE IMPERIAL HOUSE IS BLESSED ON THIS GLORIOUS DAY, LADY ZHUANGXUAN OF THE WU CLAN IS TALENTED AND VIRTUOUS, UPRIGHT IN HER CONDUCT AND MODEST EVEN IN HER THOUGHTS AND SPEECH, BEAUTIFUL AT HEART AS SHE IS IN PERSON THAT THERE'S NONE IN THE LAND THAT IS MORE WORTHY THAN HER TO BECOME THE FUTURE MOTHER OF THE NATION, FROM THIS DAY ONWARD, SHE IS CROWNED AS THE CROWN PRINCESS OF OUR GREATER HEAVENLY EMPIRE, WILL AID HIS HIGHNESS AS HIS PRINCIPAL CONSORT, ALL HERE AND RECEIVE MY IMPERIAL COMMAND." He read.

             "Long Live Your Majesty, long live Our Greater Heavenly Emperor, Long Live Your Highness, Long Live our Greater Heavenly Empress." The Courtiers said in unison as they kowtowed to the two of them.

             The ceremony having come to an end, Emperor Ningzong and his wife slowly sashayed through the Palace in the direction of his personal Chambers.

             "Alas, the Crown Prince has finally wedded." She remarked.

             "You must be pleased." Emperor Ningzong said.

             "Is there a mother who wouldn't feel happy when her son brings home his bride?" She asked.

              "It reminds me of the time Xun'er got married to Lady Yin, she must have been lonely in the nunnery." Emperor Ningzong remarked.

             "I heard that she's never been the same ever since Xun'er passing, I respect her for having been strong enough, had I been in her shoes, had it been you, perhaps if I didn't kill myself the loneliness would have done it for me." Empress Yang said to him.

             "Marrying me must have been hard for you back then, I wish to know one thing though, I wasn't the man you loved the most in the world after all, until now, do you not regret it?" He asked.

             "I got married to the most powerful man in the world, the most powerful man who loved me, he gave me a home, he became the father of my children, he gave me a Crown that I least deserved and sheltered me from the public and political feuds. If there is a time that I descended into the Netherworld and met my mother, I would tell her that there was never a woman in the world luckier than I was to have lived such a grandiose and remarkable life." She responded.

           "Is it so." Emperor Ningzong spoke regretfully and the Empress still holding onto him continued their way.

             The sun set and the Crown Princess Wu seated in the consummation chamber she waited on her newly wedded husband to turn up as she stared at the small crimson candle in front of her that fairly illuminated the room.

             The glow was very weak and lifeless but somewhat peaceful enough for her to keep a calm mind as she slowly inhaled the peony scent that saturated throughout the room.

              The special meal that had been prepared was soon turning cold and while she was uneasy partially while the other half of her heart was patient, from outside she suddenly heard a couple of footsteps approaching the room.

             The doors were slid open and the Crown Prince walked through dressed in his flawlessly white silk night attire.

             He stared at his wife from a distance at the entrance while the Head Court Lady watched keenly.

            "Come in with me Milady." He ordered.

            "But Your Highness, I can't possibly be in this room on the consummation night." She started to reason.

            "Do you mean to defy my order as your Master?" Zhao Hong asked.

             "Forgive me Your Highness." The Head Lady responded as she moved closer within the room and the doors were shut behind them.

             Crown Princess Wu not budging even the slightest bit the Crown Prince looked at the Court Lady.

              "My hands are numb and I can barely move them comfortably, I wish you would make yourself useful by undressing the Crown Princess and leaving her in her night robes." He said.

               "Forgive me Your Highness but I can't do that, it's the consummation night." She reasoned again.

              "Then you leave me no choice as you have disobeyed your Senior, perhaps you are suggesting that I order the Imperial guards to lash you to death." The Crown Prince said.

              "Forgive me Your Highness." The Court Lady said and moving forward she slowly started to undress the Crown Princess who barely whimpered while the rest of the ladies in waiting outside created small holes into the room and peeped to see what was going on between the newly wedded couple.

             Once the Court Lady was done she stood up and facing the Crown Prince bowed her head to him before she walked away towards the door preparing to exit from the room.

            "Where do you think you are going?" The Crown Prince asked.

            "I have undressed Her Highness and thought that maybe both Your Highness and her required Privacy." She said.

            "I didn't personally demand your presence Court Lady, as your Master you must move only when I ask you to do so and stop when I do the same, if you act on your own intuition one might think that you do not recognize the Crown Prince as your Master which will be considered insubordination, I don't think I need to remind you about the punishment such a crime demands but of course I can be lenient enough to assure you that considering your high status in the Inner Court and in the Palace you can't expect me to go easy on you if I must make you serve as an example to your juniors and colleagues as well." The Crown Prince threatened.

            " Forgive me Your Highness." The Court Lady said as she bowed her head.

            "Don't leave but stand right there." He ordered and the fairly old woman yielding the Crown Prince slowly approached his wedded bride and knelt in front of her to notice that she was staring at her hands.

            "Won't you look at your dear husband?" He asked her and raising her head her eyes met his and stared at him for a while as he stared back at her.

             Moved by her beauty with his right hand he slowly caressed her cheek and felt her flawless skin under his fingertips before he withdrew them.

             "You are my wife and therefore the answer you give me will determine the status of our marriage." He said as he brought his face closer to hers while herself not intimidated made sure to not even bother blinking.

             "Are you for me or the Empress?" He asked her.

            "I am married to Your Highness and not to the Empress, your Highness needed this marriage more than I deed, if I am to become the Mother of this Country one day then I choose to be for myself and the people that need me, I choose to be for my family which is my father and you my newly wedded husband," she responded, "Your Highness' forced affection is of no use to me as you can love any woman you so wish, what matters is that I should observe the Crown Princess' affection and by Social and political law I am mandated to love only you." She responded and hearing this the Crown Prince smiled at her as he broke his gaze.

             "You really are quick-witted witted and I like that about you, between me and the Empress however it is my wish to know, who do you think can best protect your family which happens to be your father for you?" He asked.

            "Whoever commands the ultimate power in this Country." She responded, "all my family cares about is my welfare as their daughter, if it is their loyalty Your Highness wishes to buy then only by gaining all the power in the country can you achieve that." She responded as he stood up.

             "I have heard." He said to her before he swiftly turned around and walked out of the room leaving her seated on her bed alone.

              Stepping outside the room the ladies in waiting pretended to be alert while Mu Lang joined him.

             "I'll sleep in my study tonight." He said.

             "I'll make the necessary arrangements." Mu Lang said.

             "One more thing." The Crown Prince said and Mu Lang brought his head closer to his ear while the young man whispered something to him.

             "Yes, Your Highness." Mu Lang responded and bowing his head, the two immediately continued into the direction of the Crown Prince's study.

            Feng Ba seated right in front of Hua Jin his eyes perused through a letter that the latter had handed over to him.

           "So the rumours are in deed true?" He asked.

           "Our informant in the East Palace confirmed that the Crown Prince in deed sent Sima Guang's finest work censuring women rulership and also the true conduct of Empresses, Empress Dowagers and Grand Empress Dowagers as well with a note speaking about how hens shouldn't announce the break of dawn." Hua Jin responded.

            "And what was the Empress' perception?" Feng Ba asked as he slowly burnt the letter with his candle before he threw it onto the ash tray.

            "She summoned the Crown Prince and had a word with her then, yet afterwards, the wedding preparations progressed as though nothing had happened." Hua Jin responded.

            "One observes a mother's affection, the other a son's filial piety, I must say, the two really resemble each other so much." Feng Ba said.

            "But why would the Crown Prince push for the wedding unless he was pacified by the Empress?" Hua Jin inquired.

            "That's the beauty of it," Feng Ba said, "the two just as aware are unclear with their motives which makes their battle all the more interesting." He supplemented as he smiled at himself ghastly.

            Very early in the morning, Crown Prince Zhao Hong and his Crown Princess Wu stood outside the Yongmaoling Mausoleum along with a couple of Buddhist monks and equally other members of his household.

           Offerings were burnt in front of Empress Gongshu's tomb to celebrate her twentieth death anniversary.

            The Imperial Couple kowtowed in front of the plaque that had been erected and on it he had inscribed an interesting phrase that drew the public attention.

            "THE MOST VIRTUOUS AND HIGHER EMPRESS GONGSHU." It spelt boldly and aware of the rumours that arose from his audience, he couldn't be happier.

            Empress Yang seated in her Chambers was patiently waiting as time went by, Xiaoyang standing beside her watched how calm she seemed.

            "I think that's enough Your Highness." She said.

            "The Crown Prince and Princess are yet to offer their morning greetings." Empress Yang replied.

            "But the rest of the harem is waiting on you Your Highness, it's already been two hours." Xiaoyang said.

             "The Crown Prince is a filial child, I am sure that he is merely preoccupied for the time being." Empress Yang responded when all of a sudden a loud noise emerged from the room's exterior.

              "Your Highness it is I?" Manyin announced her presence.

             "Come in." Empress Yang responded and the doors opened for her the latter rushed into her presence and bowed her head.

              "Your Highness," she spoke in panic, "something terrible has happened."

              "What is it?" Xiaoyang inquired.

              "The Crown Prince carried his entire residence to the Yongmaoling Mausoleum." Manyin responded.

              "What's he doing there at this hour, he was supposed to greet me first with the Crown Princess." Empress Yang pointed out.

              "His Highness said that he is not going to offer his salutation to Your Highness without honouring the memory of the Late Empress Gongshu." She responded and hearing this the Empress was taken aback.

              "What did you say?" She asked.

              "According to His Highness as it so happens that the Emperor is his foster father, then Her Late Highness deserves the posthumous honour of being his foster mother as well whom he wishes to treat with the same respect or even better than that he accords you." Manyin responded.

            Hearing this the Empress froze and suddenly coughing while she uncomfortably beat her chest, she expelled blood from her mouth.

           "Your Highness?" Manyin and Xiaoyang shouted in unison as they rushed over to her side to hold her before she collapsed.

           "Someone call in the Imperial Physician." Xiaoyang shouted as the two women tightly held onto the Empress.

           Emperor Ningzong seated in his study with Eunuch Deng beside him preparing some ink for him to write, Beiyuan announced his presence before the two and the Emperor acquiesced to having an audience with him.

            Walking into the room he stopped in front of her.

            "Reporting to Your Majesty, this is about Her Highness the Empress." He said.

             "What's the matter?" Emperor Ningzong asked and studying his eyes he noticed that they were somehow teary as Beiyuan tried to compose himself to give him an answer.

            "Has something bad happened to the Empress?" He asked.

            "Her Highness passed out after coughing blood in her residence." Beiyuan reported and the Emperor alarmed stood up instantly.

             "What!" He exclaimed.

              "Her Highness appears to be in a critical condition." He reported and the Emperor without wasting any more time despite his old age, he rushed out of the building while he was accompanied by his retinue.

           The Crown Princess and her retinue returning to the Palace, her Palanquin was lowered and she stepped out with the help of her ladies in waiting.

            Looking around, it was at that moment that she realised that her husband's Palanquin had not yet arrived in the place.

           "Where's His Highness?" She inquired.

           "He decided to stop by your father's residence." Court Lady Guo reported to her.

           " How is it that I wasn't informed?" Wu Zhuangxuan asked.

           "His Highness insisted that Your Highness isn't bothered by it." Court Lady Guo responded and was surprised the Crown Princess could hardly believe it when she noticed a couple of ladies in waiting from the East Palace rushing back and fourth.

            "What's with all the commotion?" She asked.

             "I don't know." Court Lady Guo responded and one of the other Palace girls turning her head to recognize the Crown Princess' presence, waved her hand for her to come closer and the young woman immediately approached them.

            "You can ask her." Court Lady Guo said as the young woman kowtowed to the Crown Princess.

            "What's going on?" Wu Zhuangxuan inquired.

            "Her Highness the Empress was exhausted from waiting for Your Highness and the Crown Prince to come and offer your mourning greetings, it took a toll on her health as she had already been so fatigued that she has passed out and is now in a critical condition." The young woman replied.

            "What!" Wu Zhuangxuan exclaimed.

            "If you shall excuse me?" The young woman said as she withdrew from the two immediately while the Crown Princess still startled she could hardly believe it.

             "Send word to my father's house, inform the Crown Prince of what has happened." She said.

              "Yes Your Highness." Court Lady Guo responded as she immediately set out.

           "Your Highness!" Wu Lin exclaimed very much surprised to see the Crown Prince standing right in front of him.

           "Forgive me for my impromptu visit Your Excellency but I seemed to realise that we've barely talked, now that I consider us to belong to the same family I happened to conclude that a small talk over a small game of chess wouldn't be a bad idea." Zhao Hong said as he kowtowed to him.

           "If Your Highness wills it." Wu Lin said as he kowtowed back to him while the latter responded with a smile before they moved inside.

           The two men sitting inside they looked at one another momentarily without saying a word and time seemed to become slower and slower, the silence persisted for some thirty minutes before the Crown Princess' father spoke up.

           "Your Highness said that we'd play a game of chess, you haven't made a move to start the game." He said.

           "I was just waiting for the right time, when it comes to the politics of this country or any other State, patience is a virtue and haste could bring along with itself dire consequences." Zhao Hong said.

            "I heard that Your Highness was a prodigy and at a very young age you passed the Imperial Examination but were eliminated because of your Princely status, it awes me though that you'd seek out a man as poor as myself." Wu Lin said.

            "Because I don't value your political poverty but your remarkable ancestry is precious enough." Zhao Hong said.

            "Is that so?" Wu Lin inquired.

             "What makes chess an extraordinary game is that it requires critical thinking, this critical thinking makes it a serious contest of wills, a contest which must provide us with one winner and one loser." Zhao Hong said.

            "I have a hard time thinking the same thing." Wu Lin said, "I seem to believe that only the mind that is more brilliant wins." He added.

            "But everyone has a weakness." Zhao Hong said.

            "And which is yours Your Highness?" Wu Lin asked.

            "You wouldn't care to know why the Empress chose your daughter amongst all the people in the world to become my Principal Consort?" Zhao Hong asked.

            "Perhaps Your Highness would care enlighten me seeing how you must be well informed as to what the reason could be?" Wu Lin mentioned.

            "It could be that your daughter doesn't have the poise to challenge her, it could be that she lacks the confidence, the other way is to pacify the throne, if she couldn't give birth to the heir of our Greater Heavenly Empire she must have considered affiliating her descendants to it." He responded.

          "Your Highness has a good idea but do you think that is enough?" Wu Lin asked.

           "It doesn't matter what it is, naturally the Empress is flawed that as she can wield immense power sooner or later she must cede it to one capable of inheriting it." Zhao Hong responded, "in the event that something happened to the Empress, who do you think will inherit her power and might?" He asked and Wu Lin surprised he he studied his expression.

            "What do you want me to do Your Highness?" He asked.

            "The Palace will reek of blood soon enough, your family is respectable but my marriage to your daughter made her my prisoner, before I wage the war all I ask is that you choose a side wisely because if you're not careful you'll be caught in the crossfire." He responded when the doors of the room being flung open one of his servants rushed in.

            "Your Excellency, we have some trouble." He announced.

            "What's the problem?" Wu Lin asked.

            "It's the Empress....." He hesitated.

            "What about her?" Wu Lin asked.

            "Her Highness is unconscious." He responded and startled the latter turned to the Crown Prince who stood up and bowed his head before he withdrew from the room.

            Emperor Ningzong seated beside the Empress, the Imperial Physician closely examined her while he watched, her face was pale and dark bags were underneath her eyes.

            The Physician seeming very speechless lowered his gaze.

            "How's the Empress?" Emperor Ningzong inquired, "what's wrong with her?" He insisted on knowing.

            "I don't know how to say this Your Majesty, Her Highness is in a dire situation as it appears that she's suffering from severe depression." He professed.    

            "What happened?" Emperor Ningzong asked as he instantly turned to Xiaoyang and Manyin who were close by.

            "You have served and stayed closest to the Empress as long as I remember." He pointed out.

            "Her Highness hasn't been sleeping well the past couple of days, ever since the Crown Prince was invested she always thought that he refused to honour him as his legitimate mother, first it was the books that he sent over censuring her and today, down with a cold and equally fatigued she had insisted on waiting for the Crown Prince and Crown Princess to come and pay their morning respects when she received news that His Highness and the Crown Princess went to the Yongmaoling Mausoleum to honour the Late Empress Han as his mother on this her death anniversary that it was too much for her and she passed out." Manyin reportedly everything.

            "Where is the Crown Prince?" Emperor Ningzong shouted at the top of his voice.

            "Until now he hasn't returned to the Palace." Xiaoyang responded and the Emperor infuriated clenched his fists as he turned to the Empress.

            "Send for him immediately." Emperor Ningzong ordered.

            "Yes, Your Majesty." Eunuch Deng responded as he immediately got out of the room.

            Shi Miyuan seated in his study he smacked his table with his fist.

            "How dare he?" He muttered.

            "Please appease your anger Your Excellency?" Dong Hua said.

            "So after everything that we did for the Crown Prince this is how he chooses to repay us? " He asked.

            "He couldn't have acted out of ignorance." Dong Hua remarked.

            "Then we need to remind him who holds the ultimate power in this Empire, we need to redefine his status." Shi Miyuan concluded.

             "What do you suggest we do Your Excellency?" Dong Hua inquired.

             "How much of the General public is aware?" He asked.

            "The news has already spread widely, there are mixed feelings amongst the people and some seem to be supportive of the Crown Prince considering the fact that the Late Empress Han was in deed the Emperor's first legitimate wife and deserves to be posthumously honoured as his mother as well." Dong Hua responded, "however, I don't understand why he would be eager to establish that kind of bond than to strengthen his relationship with Her Highness." He added.

            "Most probably a dead Empress won't denounce his legitimacy, suppose the current Empress did, the Late one couldn't possibly do the same as it would take a miracle." Shi Miyuan responded.

             "Your Excellency means to say....." Dong Hua hesitated.

             "He's trying to win over Her Highness' enemies and also safeguard his legitimacy to inherit the Imperial Dragon throne." Shi Miyuan responded.

             "How cunning!" Dong Hua exclaimed.

             "A very good move but equally dangerous." Shi Miyuan said.

             "What do you insist we do Your Excellency?" Dong Hua asked.

            "As the Empress is unconscious, everything is extreme, there's still a chance for us to influence the general opinion." He responded.

            "How so?" Dong Hua seemed curious.

            "The Late Empress was sinful but thanks to His Majesty's benevolence she was pardoned in the end, Han Touzhou on the other hand wasn't so all we have to do is remind the world whose niece she was." Shi Miyuan responded and Dong Hua widening his eyes in surprise he couldn't believe it.

           "Then the Crown Prince...." He stuttered.

           "The Crown Prince showed disdain to his legal mother and honoured the niece of a traitor, as the future heir to our Greater Heavenly Empire, how is it that he could do something uncouth, frivolous and barbaric to the extent of even affiliating himself to a Sinful lineage?" Shi Miyuan muttered.

            A Caravan of merchants making its entry into the city, amongst them was a man dressed in rugged clothes with a straw hat on his head, he held in his right hand a stick which partially helped him walk in a straight direction as he exceeded the checkpoint.

            He halted in his footsteps suddenly while the people around him continued their way, for what appeared to be hours of stillness he slowly raised his head without saying a word that barely showing any sign at all, he seemed to be totally convinced that he was in the right place.