KILLER AND HEALER

             "Your Highness is here to see me?" She asked.

             "Yes Ma'am." He replied.

             "What is it?" She asked.

             "First send the others away." He muttered and Yang Guifei looking at Manyin and Xiaoyang they withdrew from the room at once.

             "I have sent them away as you wished Your Highness." She said, "what is it that you wish to say to me in Private?" She asked

             "Please save my mother." Crown Prince Zhao Jun said.

             "What?" Yang Guifei asked.

             "Please save my mother I beg you." The Crown Prince replied again in bitter tears.

             "And why would I do that?" She inquired

             "She's a powerless woman trapped and lonely in the darkness while you have father's heart along with this harem, power and wealth I have never asked you for anything in life and never have I been that humble all I ask this time round is that you retract your order Ma'am, allow her to receive the medical aid, even if you don't kill her she is as good as dead." He pleaded.

            "Then what will you give me?" Yang Guifei asked and the young Prince responded with silence.

             "How old are you?" She asked.

             "Fourteen." He replied.

             "Then I trust that you hear and understand well enough the question that I am asking you and I trust that you understand what it means to be here now." She said.

            "Yes Ma'am." He replied.

            "If I do as you ask, I'd like to know what is it in this world that you could possibly do for me." Yang Guifei pressed.

             "Tell me what you want Ma'am." The Crown Prince replied.

             "You  know it very well." Yang Guifei said to him.

             "Ma'a....." he was saying when she interfered.

             "Cede your throne to my son." She muttered, "I am certain that it isn't so bad an idea and it isn't something that's out of your capabilities Your Imperial Highness." She said.

             "Ma'am, His Highness the Imperial Prince Zhao Zeng is my brother and I can't possibly adopt him however I can promise you that I shall protect him against any tempest, even if he rebels and the world has to turn on me Ma'am, you have my assurance that as long as I live and even in death, no man shall shed his blood including myself." Prince Zhao Jun replied.

             "Your Highness is already truly Sagacious even before you can ascend the throne, I am pleased that such is your resolution before me." Yang Guifei remarked.

             "Please help me Ma'am." The Crown Prince pleaded.

             "But honestly I beg to inquire that do you expect me to believe such a promise?" She said while the latter remained silent.

             "You are a descendant of Zhao Kuangyin Your Highness, the blood of a warrior flows through you with the blood of a General and what's worse is that you have the blood of Her Highness as well you'd thirst for nothing but vengeance and regardless of how much you try to hide it jealousy is a part of your mortal nature." She said.

            "Ma'am?" He cried.

            "There's nothing you'd thirst for more than vengeance Your Highness knowing you too well especially on those that wronged you and your family and your mother in particularly I have you to consider a most fatal enemy it can't spare me from doubting your intent that is even if you paraded around the capital walking on fire." She pointed out.

            "What should I do to show you my sincerity Ma'am?" Crown Prince Zhao Jun inquired.

            "I already gave you my answer Your Highness." She replied while the young man looked at her with tears in his eyes.

            "When you rise to that dragon throne my Prince, and that is if I can not stop you, you shall kill me and all my sons, your so called brothers and I realised I won't resent you after all isn't that what power is all about?" She asked.

             "Ma'am, please save my mother." The Prince continued to cry.

             "My Prince, true power can not be shared and that's why two dragons can not govern the same nest nor can there be two suns in the same sky it is only right that the winner takes it all and the loser keeps nothing." Yang Guifei said to the Prince as she stood up.

             Turning around to leave the room, the Crown Prince grovelled on the floor and ceased her feet.

             "Ma'am?" He cried.

             "Whether your mother is saved or not that depends on you however I can promise you that of my son rises to the throne and becomes the Son of Heaven at the very least you shall be allowed to keep your life in exile beyond the Takla Makhan to die of probably old age and in peace." She said to him as she broke free from his grip and walked away finally halting right next to Manyin she gave her a bottle.  

             "Ma'am?" She called inquisitively.

             "Give it to the Crown Prince and ask him to deliver it to his mother." She said.

             "Yes Ma'am." Manyin replied.

             She returned towards the Crown Prince who was still in tears.

             "Your Highness." She said as he raised his eyes up to her looking in them, be could see a glimmer of hope.

             "Tell her to save my Mother." The Crown Prince said but taking pity on him she took the small bottle that Yang Guifei had handed over to her and she put it in his hand.

             "Go Your Highness." She said, "go and save your mother." She added when the latter taking the bottle quickly he rushed out of the building and made his way to the stables, he picked up a horse while being accompanied by a guard and he immediately rode away from the Palace.

            Time flew and Yang Guifei in her Chambers she quietly watched the waning candle on the table in front of her.

             "Maha?" She thought to herself, "my light in the darkness." She said while she held in her hands the only one thing she had to remember him by, a thick shoal in which he had been wrapped when she was born.

             "Your Majesty." Eunuch Deng said as he walked into his study.

             "What has happened?" He asked.

             "His Highness the Crown Prince..." He replied and hesitated.

              "What about that boy?" Emperor Ningzong asked.

              "Forgive me Sire, I just found out that he took a horse and left the Palace a couple of hours ago." He replied when the Emperor stood up.

              "What?" He spoke furiously.

              "I heard that he was worried about Her Highness the Empress." He said.

              "Even now that boy defies me, does he not know what grave sins his mother has committed?" He inquired.

             "His Highness must have wavered." Eunuch Deng replied, "but when I think about it, we can't blame him, it's been a very long time Your Majesty and he hasn't seen his mother." He mentioned.

              "Let it be." Emperor Ningzong said, "the Crown Prince's safety should be out priority after all." He mentioned.

              "I shall have a couple of guards sent over to escort him on his way back." Eunuch Deng said.

              "Do just that." Emperor Ningzong said.

              "Yes Your Majesty." The latter replied as he withdrew from the room at once and the Emperor lost in his own thoughts at the moment the latter departed from his presence.

               The Empress Han quietly seated in her Chambers she looked at the white bowl of Mengding tea in front of her she couldn't help but remember the words that Yang Guifei had mentioned to her.       

              "It's either you Your Highness or the Crown Prince, remember my dear, my proximity to him beats yours and of course, I see your every action and hear your every word a single attempt to disobedience Your Highness or perhaps trying to act wise shall only push me to haste which is sufficient I trust to make you disdain the obvious aftermath." She'd cautioned her.

             She'd been in that position for hours and still lost in her thoughts, on the other side, Yang Guifei was also quietly thinking about it herself until dusk passed and dawn came, the sun rising none of the two had moved and the sickly Empress Han had started to weaken.

            The Crown Prince Zhao Jun arriving outside he got off his horse and immediately moved up to Shaanxi.

            "What are you doing here Your Highness?" She asked and the Empress Han hearing this she immediately pulled the bottle from underneath her table and poured it's contents into the already very cold tea.

              "Your Highness, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince is here to see you." Shaanxi announced and the Empress Han ceased the bowl in her hand while tears started to fall from her eyes.

              The Crown Prince impatient he opened the doors of the small cottage and walked in.

              "Forgive me My dear." She said as she immediately sipped down every bit of the tea at that moment while the Crown Prince Zhao Jun rushing to get to his mother she placed the bowl down when it was already too late.

             "Mother?" He cried aloud and the latter started ceasing her neck having difficulty trying to breathe, slowly blood started spilling out of her mouth while the Crown Prince holding her the blood spilled on him as well.

              "Mother?" He cried.

              "My dear, my tiger." The Empress Han muttered in pain while the Crown Prince held her.

              "Please don't leave me Mother." He pleaded.

              "Let me go my dear, let me go Jun'er, you are with a sinner, a criminal of the Dynasty." She said when her voice eventually died out and all that was happening was her lips moving up and down.

              "No." The Crown Prince said as he picked up the small bottle that had been given to him by Manyin and opening he placed it on his mother's lips hoping that her condition would improve but it only turned out to be more bitter.

               She coughed it all out with more blood.

               "Someone please call the physician, someone save the Empress." He cried when he threw down the bottle that Shaanxi picked up.

              "How come the medicine isn't working?" The Crown Prince asked as he yelled on top of his voice still helping his mother that had coughed down a whole lot of blood by that time it was already everywhere.

              Shaanxi smelling the bottle she tasted a simple drop of it.

              "Your Highness." She said to him in tears her heart broken from the sight.

               "What are you still doing here, find a physician." He yelled at her.

               "It didn't work because it's water." She shouted and hearing this the Prince was shattered more he could feel his head spinning at the moment the Empress Han was not dying but she was still perishing in pain and slowly.

               "Mother?" He called.

               "Why isn't Highness dying in peace?" Shaanxi asked herself.

                Yang Guifei in the darkness within her room, the beams of the sun shooting through her window and falling on her she smiled.

                "Yes Your Highness, you must perish slowly and in so much pain, then and only then can my heart find peace." She said as she exploded into a very loud and evil laughter that resounded throughout her entire residence.

               After nearly thirty minutes of bloody struggle the Empress Han finally closed her eyes and her hand holding onto her son, she eventually let go and just like that she ceased to exist.

              The Crown Prince falling silent the guards that had ridden with him moved inside and they caught sight of the young boy who was still tightly hugging his mother's corpse.

              "Your Highness." They said as they fell into tears themselves.

              "She did it." He mentioned, "Yang Guifei, that bitch, she killed my mother." He said as he laid her corpse down.

              He screamed with fury and smacked the floor with all his might and after a while his hands bleeding he got up from where he was kneeling and effortlessly, he walked out of the cottage.

              "Your Highness, they shouted after him but he couldn't listen until he stopped right outside in the yard and looked at all the trees within the dismal compound, the place itself was at the end of the world, it was lost and silent, with a beautiful morning which the Crown Prince only resented so much.

              He started to wish very many things and Yang Guifei back in the capital she was staring at a couple of white linen clothes on her table.

              "Ma'am, it is I?" Xiaoyang announced herself.

              "Come in." She responded while the latter complied and halting in front of her she looked at the clothes there.

              "You asked for me Ma'am?" She said.

              "In a special manner have that sent to Han Touzhou." She said while the latter took it in her hands.

              "What if the Crown Prince saves the Empress?" She asked.

              "He wouldn't even if he wanted to." Yang Guifei replied, "by now the poison that she has been taking for years would have already torn her insides to pieces for us it is but safe to say that the Empress can no longer belong to the world of the living." She said.

              "Don't let it bother you Ma'am." Xiaoyang remarked.

              "Why would I?" Yang Guifei asked, "I am no longer with a heart and neither am I to feel, my hatred and thirst for vengeance has kept me breathing now the soul of my Maha can rest in eternal piece." She asserted.

              "I'll take your leave Ma'am." Xiaoyang said as she withdrew from the room at once and left her smiling and caught up in a bittersweet mood.

              The Crown Prince seated in the room where his mother had been, he was already dressed in his mourning attire, moving his hands on the floor that had been cleared of his mother's blood, he couldn't help but recall the very bitter memory she shared with her as her last that he started to shed more tears.

               Shaanxi walking into the room she saw him.

               "Your Highness will forgive me." She said as she took an envelope out of her sleeves and handed it over to him.

               "What is this?" He asked.

               "We are done with cleaning Her Highness' body, we happened to find this in the clothes she was wearing." Shaanxi replied as the Prince looking at it closely he noticed the thick red patch on one of the corners.

              He took it into his hands hesitantly and opening the letter he noticed that so much had been written for him in a very shaky handwriting some of the words were faint.

               Nearly the whole paper covered in ink he recollected his thoughts and taking a deep breath he could imagine how His Mother was seated in that very place and writing it out to him that opening his eyes, he slowly started to read through.

               "Jun'er my son, Jun'er my dearest, your dearest mother writes to you with a very heavy heart, it's been a long while by now you must have grown, the hill is cold and lonely, this castle is quiet, but for a moment I can breathe, for a moment I do not have to worry about a father of yours that won't love me, what hurts me the most is that I can't see you my precious, it's that I can't see you the light in my darkness and the sun of my world.

              Forgive that I am weak, for it is my weakness that disqualified me from being your mother, I couldn't help protect your place, I jeopardized your good fortune, for my sake you became the son of a traitor, you became the son of an overbearing and jealous schemestress, yet more than anything I desired to be a faithful mother, I desired to be powerful to protect your inheritance, powerful to raise you to that Dragon throne of your Zhao Ancestors, to make you the ruler of the world that nations would worship and kings would bow and worship your name.

             Jun'er my son, Jun'er my only one, look after your brother well enough, I could not alert the Palace that at the time of my departure I was pregnant with your second brother, he is only a year and I fear what could possibly happen when I am gone.

               Jun'er, I beseech you to be strong, let every tear that you shed for me be your very last, let every sorrow at my parting be a reminder that you are surrounded by enemies, men and women that believe that they can do the job better, they'll slander you and come at you with all their power and machinations, stand strong I tell you, stand I plead, stand I ask you and become the Ruler and Emperor of this country, strong enough to crush your enemies, strong enough to defeat them.

              Until the day that you rise to the Dragon throne I shall watch and look down on you, I shall remain in your heart and in your mind, until the day that you become a Good and Great, Benevolent and filial Emperor to our Great Southern Song Dynasty, until that day my dear, my soul shall not rest in eternal peace." He read in tears.

              Closing the paper he looked at Shaanxi who was standing in front of him.

              "Where is the Imperial Prince?" He asked, "where is His Imperial Highness?" He demanded.

              "Come in." Shaanxi said and the doors being slid open a young boy that was roughly a year and a half walked in.

              He was too small and malnourished, his hands and legs were lean and his jawbones were prominent, while at that age he already appeared a sickly child.

              "What have they done to you poor thing?" He asked as he raised his hands and the latter walking slowly towards him he embraced him in his hands.

              "Even the Eunuchs in my father's Palace look better than this, you the son of the dragon and the ruler of everything under heaven had this small building to call a home I bet the nights must have been uncomfortable and cold on the floor and those thin blankets." He said as he hugged him.

             "Uncle?" The latter called him and the two pulling apart he looked him in the eye and patted his head.

             "What's his name?" He asked Shaanxi.

             "Zhao Tan." She replied, "Zhao Tan Your Highness." She said.

              "He shall return to the palace with me." The Crown Prince Zhao Jun said.

              "Yes Your Highness." She muttered.

              "Have the others make all the necessary preparations after all." He said.

              "What?" Shaanxi asked.

              "I shall ride to the Capital ahead of my mother's coffin." The Crown Prince Zhao Jun said.

              "Yes Your Highness." Shaanxi replied as she withdrew from the room while the Crown Prince stared at his brother.

              "I am not your uncle." He said, "I am your brother." He whispered to him.

              "Brother?" The Imperial Prince Zhao Tan muttered.

               "Yes Your Highness." Zhao Jun replied as he hugged the little boy tightly while the latter didn't seem suspicious.

               "Don't worry about mother and father, I shall be your mother and father from now on, I shall protect you from the whole world, protect you from Yang Guifei, I will keep mother's promise and I shall make sure to always keep you happy." He mentioned to the little boy.

              Han Touzhou in his study, he was writing something on a piece of paper when he knocked over the ink and it spilled.

             "How Come?" He asked himself when Lin Xue rushed into the building at that moment.

             "Your Excellency." He was rather startled when  he bowed his head to him.

              "What's the matter?" Han Touzhou asked when he seemed to notice the clothes in the latter's hands.

               "What's that?" He asked.

               "It came from Yuxiangling Palace." Lin Xue replied, "it looks like a mourning attire." He added.

               "A mourning attire?" Han Touzhou asked.

               "Yes." Lin Xue replied.

               "You mean to say that Yang Guifei sent it over here?" He asked.

                "Yes Your Excellency." The latter replied.

                "What is she trying to mean at the moment?" He asked himself.

                "I don't know." Lin Xue replied when the doors were flung open and Lady Han walked in distraught as ever.

               "Your Excellency?" She said in tears as she fell down on her knees before her husband.

               "What's the matter with you?" Han Touzhou asked.

               "I have received bad news from General Han Guang's Manor." She replied.

               "My brother, the Empress' father?" He asked.

               "Yes Milord." Lady Han replied.

               "What about him, did anything bad happen to him?" He asked.

               "Not him Milord." Lady Han replied.

               "What?" He asked. 

               "It's Her Highness the Empress." Lady Han replied as she sobbed bitterly.

               "The Empress?" He muttered, "What are you trying to say?" He asked furiously.

               "We have received word from Suzhou where the Empress was in exile from the Palace, her Highness committed suicide in the early morning of yesterday." She said and Han Touzhou stumbling he was at a loss of strength that he could not believe his ears.

              His eyes moving up to the mourning attire that Yang Guifei had sent him he seemed to understand everything there and then.

              "It was her." He said, "it was that bitch Yang Guifei." He muttered when for the first time his eyes becoming teary, he exploded with grief even Lin Xue for a moment he was frozen.

             "She did this to us, she killed our Empress." He mentioned when all of a sudden one of the servants rushed up towards him.

              "Your Excellency, His Highness the Crown Prince is here." She reported and Lin Xue moving up to Han Touzhou he supported him onto his feet while he left the mourning attire and walked out of his study.

              The compound in order and all the servants having dispersed, he arrived at the gate where the Crown Prince was standing beside a coffin along with some of his Attendants.

               "Your Highness?" He said to him bowing his head but the young Prince moving aside the servants nearby lifted the lid as he got closer and moving to the side he caught sight of the Empress Han who was deceased pale and white, bags under her eyes and her veins already appearing dark she was no longer recognizable.

                He fell to his knees close to her head while the he raised his hand and patted her head.

            "I am so sorry Your Highness." He whispered as his tears fell onto her cheeks, "it is all my fault." He muttered heart broken while his hands moved down to her hands and he couldn't help it but feel so sorry.

             "The day that I made you Empress, the day that I rested the phoenix Crown on your head, the day that I sent you in that Crimson and magnificent Palace, was the day that I killed you." Han Touzhou said.

             "Your Excellency?" Lin Xue called to him but he turned a rather deaf ear instead.

             "I swear before heaven and I swear before God, the people that did this to you shall certainly pay." Han Touzhou muttered.

             "Calm down Your Excellency." Lady Han said to him.

             "One by one I shall squeeze blood out of their eyes and I shall rip them piece by piece, I shall take everything that they ever took from You Your Highness and I shall offer their heads as a sacrifice before your grave." He mentioned and Lin Xue holding him he helped him up to his feet while the old man turned and faced the Crown Prince.

             "Grandfather?" He called.

             "Help me bear Her Highness' body to the Palace." Han Touzhou said.

             "Yes." He replied.

             Emperor Ningzong in his study hearing the news he sat down in his seat.

             "You are telling me that the Empress........." He lacked the courage to ask halfway.

             "Yes Your Majesty." Eunuch Deng replied.

             "In the end she committed suicide as well, in the end she preferred death to living in total darkness?" He muttered.

             "Does Your Majesty regret the punishment that you accorded her?" He asked.

             "I don't blame her if she hates me and neither shall I blame the Crown Prince as she was his mother, I worry that before his eyes he might have seen too much, he won't sleep, breathe or even live at peace." Emperor Ningzong replied.

              "All transgressions are punished, if repented men are absolved, however if there are amongst us those who are unwilling to turn from darkness, life and death rest not in mortal hands sooner or later the will of heaven was bound to rule supreme." He muttered.

             "Perhaps." Emperor Ningzong said when at that moment Lan He walked in.

              "Your Majesty." He bowed his head before him.

              "What's wrong?" He asked.

              "The Empress' corpse has arrived." He muttered.

              "I'll be out in a while." Emperor Ningzong said.

              Yang Guifei in her room Manyin walked in as well.

              "Ma'am?" She said as she informed her the same that the latter getting up from where she was seated, she walked out of the room as well.

               Emperor Ningzong stepping out of the Grand Hall, Yang Guifei kept a distance from where she was standing and she looked at the gates that led to the Majestic courtyard.

              Slowly, the doors were opened and Han Touzhou along with The Crown Prince Zhao Jun bearing the coffin in their hands they marched through the gates as the Emperor Ningzong watched them.

              Halting in front of him, they each bowed their heads as they lowered the coffin in front of the Emperor.

              "Long Live Your Majesty." They said while the Emperor Ningzong descending the stairs slowly while accompanied by Eunuch Deng he got closer to the four bearing the coffin and stopped while his eyes studied how cheap it looked like in it's construct, it was simple and it looked so thin, the wood itself wasn't fine and what was worse was that it was too small he doubted that the corpse was at ease.

              "Open it." He ordered and the two other servants that had borne it lifted the lid as the Emperor looked at his former Empress who was nearly hard to recognize.

               Han Touzhou's eyes turning around he caught sight of Yang Guifei at a distance he bit his lip.

               "I heard that she committed suicide." He muttered.

              "Yes Your Majesty." The Crown Prince Zhao Jun replied.

              "How sad!" He exclaimed.

              "Her Highness was already ailing Your Majesty and because of her ongoing illness that was attributed to her fragile health and poor feeding, she couldn't possibly survive any longer." Han Touzhou said as he bowed his head.

              "She was the wind of the Central Palace once, she was the life and the breath of the harem, the whisper of the Inner Court, and so heaven has called her she must have been so lonely." Emperor Ningzong said as he turned around to walk away while the lid was rested on the Empress Han's coffin.

              "Please hear me out Your Majesty." The Crown Prince said and the latter halting he turned around and looked at him.

               "Speak to me." He muttered, "I am listening." He said to him.

               "Her Highness left the Palace when she was pregnant with an Imperial son and she named him Zhao Tan, she asked me to bring him back to the Palace and I travelled with him." Zhao Jun said when Shaanxi stepping out from behind with the little boy she brought him over to the Emperor who took his hand.

              "He has his mother's eyes, he hasn't been feeding well." The Emperor said.

              "It was rather hard Your Majesty." Shaanxi replied.

              "He is the son of the Emperor of this nation, he is the Imperial son of the Son of Heaven, my home is his home and if your mother wished that he be put in your care then I shall honour it as her last wish." He mentioned as he started mounted the stairs.

              "One more thing Your Majesty." Han Touzhou said and he halted at the time not turning around.

              "What is it?" He asked.

              "I understand that Her Highness was rather sinful but she didn't want the cause of her death being disclosed, in her ill conduct she still died a mother of this nation, she still died an Empress of the Great Southern Song, I beseech Your Majesty, with a heavy heart that you pardon her sinfulness, at least for the sake of the security of the Crown Prince, I ask that you have her buried as an Empress." He mentioned and the Emperor Ningzong raising his head to heaven and closing his eyes he shed a tear.

              "Faithful, yes the world will know, she will be the Honourable Empress Gongshu posthumously." He said as he continued out of sight and Yang Guifei having witnessed everything she turned around as well.

              "Won't you go and see Ma'am?" Xiaoyang asked.

              "Such a tragic end!" She exclaimed, "I would find peace in her death but regardless of how many of those my enemies I killed, it will never ease the pain in my heart of losing my Maha." She remarked as she walked away.

              Han Touzhou getting up from where he was kneeling, Lin Xue rushed to his side and helped him up.

              "I need to go to Yuxiangling Palace." He said to him.

              "Your Excellency, you couldn't possibly........" Lin Xue was saying when the latter halted him.

              "You shall do as I say as yours is to do or not and not to reason why, neither shall you inquire or stop you shall stand with me." He said.

               "Yes Your Excellency." Lin Xue replied.

               "What?" Cao Zhaoyi asked, "the Empress' body has returned to the palace?" She asked Linxiang.

               "Yes she replied.

               "Who would have thought that Yang Guifei would act up that fast." She remarked.

               "I heard that the Empress committed suicide." Linxiang said.

               "The same thing happened to the Empress Mother at least after she met with Yang Guifei the story couldn't be any different." Cao Zhaoyi muttered.

               "She's now the highest woman in the harem and without the Empress, the nation shall need a mother sooner or later His Majesty shall have made up his mind on a final choice of his Empress." Linxiang remarked.

              "His Majesty must reserve the final say but if there's one thing that he is equally good at then it is worrying about the collapse of his government and unrest in the Imperial Court." Cao Zhaoyi muttered.

              "The Empress had delivered an Imperial Prince from outside the Palace and I heard that she entrusted him to the Crown Prince, I suspect that at this rate he must hate Yang Guifei more than anything else.

              "He just lost his mother so it would be natural for him to feel so lowly." Cao Zhaoyi replied as she smiled at herself ghastly, "in this battle against Yang Guifei we can rest assured that he shall fight on our side." She added.

             Han Touzhou arriving outside Yang Guifei's Chambers Xiaoyang stood in front of her.

             "Announce me to Her Grace." He said.

             "Ma'am, His Excellency the left Chancellor is requesting an audience with you." She announced.

             "Let him in." Yang Guifei said as the doors of the room were opened for him and moving inside he found her comfortably seated and smiling at him ghastly while she sipped at her cup of tea.

             "Your Excellency." She greeted him while he sat down before her.

            "Are you as delighted Ma'am?" Han Touzhou asked.

            "The Empress' passing Your Excellency was rather sad, it would be awkward if in the palace I seem to be excited in the grief of the others, the Commons behind me would surely feel disappointed." She pointed out.

            "In deed even if you took a snake and gave it feathers it would still remain a snake." Han Touzhou mentioned.

             "Surely Your Excellency people don't change easily and just as it's hard for them to change to forget is even much harder." Yang Guifei remarked.

              "Now that Her Highness the Empress is dead you must be pleased and warming up to take her place." He reprimanded.

              "And why wouldn't I Your Excellency?" She asked him.

              "Really?" He responded furiously.

              "A house can not last long without its woman and Your Excellency knows as well as I do that this nation needs a mother to put the harem in order, the Dynasty needs it, the people need it and so does His Majesty." She mentioned.

              "You flaunt yourself Ma'am, it hasn't even been that long since Her Highness perished, you immoral as ever already covet her throne, her crown and her power you already want it all." He voiced out his criticism.

              "And it isn't my fault that Her Highness the Empress died Your Excellency, it was this path that she chose but what was worse she knew better than anyone her end, she brought it upon herself." She mentioned.

               "You wench?" He stated.

               "You Scoundrel?" She raised her voice louder than his while he fell silent.

               "This is the harem, this is the Palace Your Excellency." She mentioned as she leaned over, "and I am not Gongshu or the Empress Ciyi." She confirmed to him.

              "I would rather go blind than see you rise to that throne and worse after murdering my own niece, my flesh and blood that I promise you and your Yang Clan shall surely pay and you shall ask for death because even living will be the greatest curse that will ever befall you." He confessed.

              "Devote Your all Your Excellency, I wish you the best of luck, forget not I tell you this, as you vanquish me you should know that time favours us more than it does as I seem to have heard reliably that in your possession is a very fragile heart." She said to him as she smiled ghastly as he got up and turning around to walk away she spoke after him.

              "Remember this day Your Excellency, the Empress Han isn't the first and she won't be the last, I wish you a very long life as you once wished Her Grand Highness, the Grand Empress Dowager Wu." She said but the latter didn't halt in his footsteps.

               The funeral ceremony of the Empress Han was commenced and the Crown Prince Zhao Jun with his brother Zhao Tan moved on in front of her Coffin and they bowed their heads while offering her their final respects.

                Moving to the side, Yang Guifei with Cao Zhaoyi led the ladies of the palace and the harem to offer theirs as well and herself personally burning the incense sticks, she set them in front of the Empress' memorial tablet.

                Emperor Ningzong in his mourning Robes remained seated in his study, already sombre himself, he couldn't help it but be lost in his own thoughts.

               Cao Zhaoyi and Yang Guifei concluding their prayers they sat down for a while in front of the coffin as Wan Mei and Wan'er appeared to be present in the hall as well.

              "The Empress is dead, finally Her Grace avenged our Highness." Wan Mei said.

               "Her Highness the Late Grand Empress can finally rest in peace." Wan'er mentioned.

               "We've been in the Palace for fer too long, Hsr Highness willed that in death perhaps we retire and we live the rest of our lives." She mentioned.

               "But what about Her Highness in the Netherworld?" Wan'er asked.

               "I don't know." Wan Mei replied.

               "Who serves her as happily as we did, or who is as joyful, who will watch her mausoleum and care for her, she took us in while we were very little naive girls so where I ask, where is it that we could possibly live in this world without her?" She muttered.

              "Was this not her lifelong gift?" Wan Mei asked.

              "What could it have been?" She asked.

              "Finally she groomed a fine successor." Wan Mei replied, "the harem is incomplete without an Empress and we have two candidates, both are fierce, intelligent and crafty." She remarked.

               "It shall be a bitter strife from now on in deed." Wan'er whispered under her breath as she sighed.

              After they were done, Yang Guifei stood up while the Crown Prince was bidding the guests farewell and she walked up to him and offered her respects.

              "Your Highness." She greeted while bowing her head but the other not listening he turned and he looked at his mother's coffin in a distance.

              "Had it not been for you, my mother would still be alive now?" He remarked.

              "And who says so Your Highness?" She asked.

              "I say so." He replied.

              "I told you that you would save your mother depending on how quick you were, but of course I needed the Empress dead more than anyone else." She replied, "you shouldn't have trusted this poisonous heart of mine." She mentioned.

             "Yes Ma'am." He replied.

              "I'll leave you to grieve a little bit more, if anyone is to blame for the Empress' death Your Highness, it can be considered karma for those transgressions that she committed against me." She whispered to him and bowing her head yet again, she immediately withdrew from the hall and left the young man furious.

              The Crown Prince returning to his Chambers, he sat down while Liu Zhan sat down in front of him along with the Crown Princess Cao Xuan.

               "What's the matter with you Your Highness?" She asked while he kept silent for a moment.

              "Your Highness........" Liu Zhan called to him.

              "I need to have my grandfather the Left Chancellor here tomorrow." He replied.

              "The Left Chancellor?" Crown Princess Cao asked.

              "Can you do that for me?" He asked Liu Zhan.

              "Yes Your Highness." She replied as she bowed her head and withdrew from the room immediately.

               Han Touzhou seated in his own room in the darkness dressed in his mourning attire he couldn't help it but be caught up in his own thoughts his heart was bleeding and he was trying so hard to resist breaking down.

               He stared at the mourning attire that Yang Guifei had sent to him as he recalled the words that she had said to him.

               "Remember this day Your Excellency, the Empress Han isn't the first and she won't be the last, I wish you a very long life as you once wished Her Grand Highness, the Grand Empress Dowager Wu." She'd warned him as he clenched his fists and the doors of the room opening, Lin Xue walked in.

               "Your Excellency." He said.

               "What is it?" He asked.

               "It's a message from the Imperial Palace and His Highness the Crown Prince is requesting to have an audience with you." He replied.

               "I'll see him later." He mentioned.

               "He claims that it's urgent Your Excellency and he proposes that it should be tomorrow." Lin Xue said.

               "Alright." Han Touzhou replied while the latter left the room.

               Getting up very early in the morning he walked up to the Eastern Palace and arriving through the gates he was greeted by Liu Zhan.

               "Your Excellency." She said to him.

               "Is His Highness inside?" He asked.

               "Yes." She replied as she stepped to the side and he moved past her and made his way in.

               The Crown Prince quietly seated in the room alone he appeared before him.

                "Your Highness." Han Touzhou said as he bowed his head to him.

               "Grand Father." The Crown Prince Zhao Jun replied as he did the same.

               "You called for me?" He asked as he sat down.

               "There's something that I wish to discuss with you in person." The Crown Prince replied as he stared at him.

              "Is it about your mother?" He asked.

              "No." The Crown Prince replied.

              "If it isn't so then what is it Your Excellency?" He asked.

              "It's about Yang Guifei." He replied and the latter was surprised to hear that for a moment he tried avoiding the young man's gaze.

              "Yang Guifei?" He asked.

              "Yes." He confirmed.

              "Do you know what you are talking about?" He asked.

              "You must have heard the rumours Grandfather, my mother is dead and even if there's silence it could only indicate a brewing violent undercurrent." The Crown Prince Zhao Jun replied.

              "I understand that Your Highness merely wishes to be cautious, but I ask that you do not endanger your life." Han Touzhou remarked.

              "So I should just quietly wait and watch Grandfather, I should pretend it was a very bad nightmare and I happened to wake up, no, no Grandfather, I recall it vividly in my mind, my mother dying before me in pain while I could do nothing, for a moment I can swear it was as though I could here Yang Guifei laughing at me, for a moment in my life I wanted to snap her neck with my two hands, I wanted to kill someone, I wanted to slice her bowels open and mount her head on a spike tell me, do you know how it felt?" He asked.

               "Pardon me Your Highness." He muttered.

               "It's obvious why Yang Guifei made sure that my mother died Grandfather, at the very least we are certain that sooner or later she'll be preparing and warming up to become the Empress." He mentioned.

                "I understand your concern Your Highness, I understand your worry, but.........." He was saying when the young man interrupted.

               "I won't allow it." He mentioned, "I won't mind who becomes the Empress Grandfather but by all means anyone else can sit on that throne but certainly not her." He said.

               "Her power has only grown significantly, we can hardly tell which are our people and which are hers, she's closer to His Majesty than anyone in the harem and equally she rules the Inner Court as it is and the Palace, what are you going to do Your Highness?" He asked.

              "The same thing that she has done all this time to get where she is today." The Crown Prince replied, "playing the victim." He asserted.

              "Your Highness......." Han Touzhou spoke in protest.

              "No one always questions the victim Your Excellency, I shall now stake my life to get rid of her as well." The Crown Prince replied.

            Cao Zhaoyi sitting down in her Chambers Lady Yin her foster mother was in front of her along with Cao Deshi who stared at her quietly.

            "What are you thinking Ma'am?" Cao Deshi asked.

            "Our future." She replied.

            "How so Ma'am?" They asked her.

            "Everyone is acting a bit too normal and the Courtiers are silent about anything, his Majesty at the very least he is a sorry man with many regrets suppose what I am trying to arrive at is the climax." She replied.

             "The Empress just passed," lady Yin replied.

             "You know nothing about the harem." Cao Zhaoyi remarked.

              "Perhaps." Lady Yin replied.

              "The Empress Han is passed that's for the occasion, once the mourning is over we shall have much bigger problems, do you still not get me?" She asked.

              "You mean to say the Empress' throne?" Cao Deshi asked.

              "It's the biggest question before us all and the Courtiers shall merely cook up pretense sooner or later they shall raise it, His Majesty might be pitiful towards the Crown Prince but what beats a man's sincerity is his desire." Cao Zhaoyi replied.

             "In His Majesty's mind there could be no one more fitting for that position than Yang Guifei." Lady Yin replied.

              "That is why we must change things." Cao Zhaoyi replied.

              "And how are we going to do that Ma'am?" Cao Deshi inquired.

              "One thing I know that could stand between Yang Guifei and the Emperor at this point in time is the Crown Prince." Cao Zhaoyi replied.

              "The Crown Prince?" Lady Yin asked.

              "Yes." Cao Zhaoyi replied, "we shall use the Crown Prince." She muttered as she smiled at herself ghastly.

              Yang Guifei seated in her quarters as well she was with her brother Yang Cishan and Shi Miyuan in front of her while Manyin and Xiaoyang stood behind them.

              "Ma'am?" Her brother mentioned when she noticed that he was absent minded.

              "The real battle has just began." She replied.

              "Ma'am, are you suspicious of anything?" Shi Miyuan asked.

              "I had never imagined that there would be a day that I would see this much guilt in His Majesty's eyes, for once I can tell that there's something awfully wrong about him." She muttered.

               "And what could that be?" Yang Cishan asked.

               "I don't know, one thing is certain though, there is something going on in his mind." She replied.

               "The Empress is dead Ma'am, sooner or later the Nation will need a mother and His Majesty by Imperial prerogative shall have to enthrone a new Empress, of course there is Han Touzhou, he's burning with hate, he would do anything to stop you and the best available alternative is to support Cao Zhaoyi as she is yet another of those that can be considered the Emperor's favorites and what's more is that she is the Crown Prince's protectress that's until he is of age." Shi Miyuan said.

               "We won't bring this conversation up in front of His Majesty." She replied.

               "But if we don't Ma'am, then who will?" Yang Cishan asked.

               "If we wish to gain this country we must gain the people, His Majesty may close his ears to the words of the Courtiers but the one thing he shall most certainly do is to listen to his people." She replied.

               Emperor Ningzong still distraught over the issue, Yang Guifei appeared in front of him and bowed her head.

              "Your Majesty." She said as she sat down in the seat in front of him while he sighed.

              "How is the Crown Prince?" He asked.

              "Fine." She replied, "he handled the Empress' funeral very well despite being so young, he is a natural talent however that is him Your Majesty, I heard that you have skipped nearly all your meals and you have barely had any sleep." She muttered.

              "You would even come to know of it?" He asked.

              "Because I really care for you Sire and my heart breaks when I see you broken like this." She replied as she sighed at him.

              "I am worried." He replied, "he might be hating on me, perhaps he doesn't wish to see me, in his eyes the Empress was probably the most Virtuous woman that he ever knew, but how to tell him this is yet another problem, he won't believe a word we say about his mother's sins." He muttered.

               "Your Majesty is worried for nothing." She said to him, "probably he doesn't blame you and if anyone should be more worried about his wrath then it should be me." She said in a sombre tone.

               "And why would that be?" He asked.

               "He must think that in his heart I came in between Your Majesty and the Empress but I am happy that way even if he hates me, I don't have to feel bad about him hating you and I trust that in his eyes you are blameless." She said.

              "I am very sorry that it has to be like this." He muttered while she got up and walked up to him and while he remained seated she put her arms around him.

              "Your Majesty sure is graceful, you are a very good father, forget the Empress and please stand strong for the sake of your people, for the sake of your children." She said to him.

              It is hard." He said.

              "This awful storm and shadow that is upon us will surely pass." She replied as she slowly patted his back.

             When she was done she walked out of the study and looking back at the structure she smiled at herself.

             Descending the stairs that led from it she was intercepted by the Crown Prince and his retinue and she walked up to him and bowed her head to offer her respects.

             "Your Highness?" She gracefully said.

             "Ma'am?" He replied in a similar manner.