"Your Majesty, we have achieved the impossible! All that's left to do now is for us to ambush the Empress Mother! Then everything will be yours once and for all! Everything!"
The official's enthusiastic exclamation was only met with tensed silence as the regal-looking man that the exclamation was directed towards stood quietly on the shimmering platform at the end of the throne room. The man on the platform was clothed in the emperor's Dragon Robe and had his back to the rest of the room. He was looking at the seat that was placed in the middle of the platform which was adorned with dragons intertwining with each other in harmony. With his eyes hooded and his face shielded, no one in the room knew what his facial expression was.
The man turned to look at the official who had just spoken with thin narrowed eyes. He realized that he couldn't recognize this person, let alone remember his name. His eyes grazed past the numerous people standing behind that official and let out a sudden burst of mirthless laughter. The officials below the platform eyed each other nervously.
The man on the platform continued his uncontrollable laughter until suddenly, he stopped. The official who spoke earlier saw the sudden change in the man's demeanor. The way his eyes turned bloodshot and his pupils shrunk. That was the last thing the official ever saw.
In less than a blink of an eye, the man descended the platform. With a swing of his sword, he beheaded the official. The official's head fell to the ground with a prominent thud. Those present in the room were frozen still, the air in the room pregnant with the primal fear of hundreds of men. Several moments passed before chaos ensued as the rest of the officials scrambled to escape the throne room.
The man stroke down each and everyone who was in his way, all the while laughing his hysteric laughter. He had been trained in swordsmanship under the nation's best swordsman ever since he was young, while those officials were mainly middle-aged men who have had too many years of overindulgence. They never stood a chance. In less than five minutes, the shimmering throne room was drenched in warm, slimy blood, the acrid smell of human blood seeping through every single surface and orifice in the room.
The man dragged his feet and walked across the blood-spattered floor back up the platform. He somehow lost one of his boots during the ordeal. Once he reached the top, he sat on the seat, surveying the dead bodies lying all over the room. The gruesome splatters of blood on his face couldn't compare to the crazed glint in his eyes. He took the view in for a few moments. Then, his bloodied face suddenly broke into a self-derogatory smile as he scoffed and plunged his sword straight into his own heart.
"How could this heart still hurt this much?" a tear rolled down his face as he finally broke down. The bright red blood moon the only witness to his last words before he closed his eyes once and for all.
*******
Morning light shone through droplets of melted snow on a tree branch overlooking a vibrant street. It was just like any other morning in this city. Birds were chirping cheerily, steam was piping at intervals of the street as vendors sold breakfast.
"Fresh buns! Fresh buns! Only three Yuan each!"
"Come have some porridge with you tiao! Fill your belly so you'll be able to work like an ox for the rest of the day!"
In a breakfast tavern, business was running as usual. The place was packed with people who were starting their day. A well-dressed man was having breakfast with a beefy man and his pregnant wife.
"Have you heard? There was a coup at the Imperial Palace late last night!" the well-dressed man said in hushed tones to his companions over the din of the tavern.
"Is it true? Is the emperor dead?" the beefy man asked in reply, astonished.
"Shh.. Do you want to be beheaded? Besides, there isn't any announcement. We shouldn't be here making any conclusions. " his wife scolded him.
"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I do think it's true though. We live near the Imperial Palace and there was definitely some commotion late last night." an elderly woman from the table beside them decided to join in the discussion.
"What about the empress?" the beefy man's wife asked.
"I heard that she passed away too." the scruffy man who was accompanying the elderly woman chimed in.
The rest of them let out a collective gasp.
"And the baby she was carrying?" the beefy man's wife continued, concerned.
"My friend who has a cousin who works as a kitchen helper in the palace told me that the empress actually gave birth to a prince before she was slaughtered in her birthing room." the scruffy man replied gravely.
"How awful!" the beefy man's wife exclaimed while she rubbed her pregnant belly nervously.
"A prince! It should have been a day of celebration!" the elderly woman exclaimed.
"Then what happened to the prince?" the well-dressed man asked.
"Not sure. I think he's safe?" the scruffy man retorted.
"Wait, then is he our emperor now? A day-old baby as our emperor? We'll be the laughing stock of the region!" the beefy man said.
"Shh! Your life's goal really is to be beheaded, isn't it?" his wife slapped at his arm.
"I understand where he's coming from. I can't imagine the rest of the royal family agreeing to this." the well-dressed man mused.
"As long as the Empress Mother lives, no one would dare to even pip a squeak. Especially so close after this coup." said the elderly woman on the other table.
"Yes, I heard the mastermind behind this coup is actually..."
The scruffy man didn't get to finish his sentence when all of a sudden, there was a commotion down the street. People were dropping to their knees, howling and wailing. Some of them were even crying.
In a distance, in the direction of the Imperial Palace, the grand eunuch was waving the emperor's blood-stained robes on the rooftop of the highest building in the palace, bellowing "Your Imperial Majesty! Please come back to us! Your Imperial Majesty! Please come back to us!"
The group in the tavern looked at each other in shock. The weight of the reality finally sinking in.
"Dear heavens! So, it's true. It was all true." The well-dressed man uttered, his voice barely a whisper.
*******
On the balcony of her private residence, the Empress Mother overlooked the vast compound laid out in front of her while donned in her white mourning clothes. Her facial expression was somber, her eyes cold. She was a handsome woman, but seemed to have aged drastically in a night with white hair peppering at her temples and fine wrinkles surrounding her eyes. Behind her, a young woman bowed deeply.
"Your Majesty. You asked to see me?"
Compared to the Empress Mother's composure, Governess Hsu looked disheveled. Her face was streaked with dried tears, her eyes bloodshot from crying.
"How's the child?" the Empress Mother turned to face her and asked coldly.
"Well and healthy." and still oblivious to what has happened.
"I believe you're aware of our.. arrangement?" the Empress Mother continued.
"Yes, Your Majesty. But.." Governess Hsu replied, lifting her head up at the end.
The Empress Mother's eyes flashed. Governess Hsu quickly averted her eyes and looked to the ground again.
"Tend to it. I am putting you in charge of the child. Hire whoever you need to hire. Make sure the people attending to the child directly are all mute and illiterate. Preferably without any family or loved ones."
"Yes, Your Majesty. I will take care of it." Governess Hsu came to a deep bow again.
"Good."
With that, the Empress Mother left to attend the royal funeral.
+*Thanks for reading The Night Emperor! Please visit my Wattpad page if you like what you've read <3*+
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