"Please... Please... Please!!! You are my only hope! The only one that can save me, make my name be heard! I want nothing but respect."
'No! No I can't be! Why me? Why not someone else?' Xiaofan shook her head at the thought.
"Yes, it can only be you! Only you can help me! There's no one else that can do that! Just you!"
Xiaofan was astounded.
"Yes I can here you loudly! Whether you are speaking to me or speaking to yourself!"
"Oh that is why you chose me?"
"No, you're the perfect one! The only one!"
"If i become Xiuying, live like Xiuying and become the Empress what will happen to my mother?"
"You're already the Empress, you just have to remember you're Xiuying and not Xiaofan... As for your mother, only the Almighty can decide!"
"No..." sob sob sob.
"And I don't think I died naturally! Someone must have conspired against me!"
"What?"
"YESSSSSS, but I don't want revenge. I just want to be happy! I want a blissful life!"
"If you didn't die naturally then... Can you guarantee me my mother's happiness?"
"No, but there's only one thing I can guarantee!"
"Which is?"
"Empress..."
"Empress!"
"Lady Xiuying!"
"My lady!"
"Her Royal Highness!"
The screams was not allowing her to hear any other thing.
She heard people screaming and her heart ached. She hates cry, she hates when people cry, it made her cry too. It made her feel worse than the people crying!
_______
"Was this the end?
Is this the cruel reality they are meant to face?"
The people in the chamber saw sweats trickling down the Empress's head... The Empress.
Maid Yue eyes were tightly shut and she couldn't see the Empress sweating.
She was immense in her own sorrow that she totally forgot about everyone else.
"THE EMPRESS!!!"
"HER ROYAL HIGHNESS!!!"
"EMPRESS XIUYING!!!"
Xiaofan opened her eyes but she was looking at the ceiling, her breathing irregular.
She felt something drop into her widely open eyes and it stung. That was when she moved her balls, Maid Yue was crying and the physician eyes was almost out of their socket, a little pull and they will come bouncing on the floor.
"Oh my."
"Oh... Her Royal Highness."
Sob, sob sob...
They were the ones crying. The crying voices in her head belonged to these people here! It was hurting her, she clutched her robe and sat upright, from her peripheral vision she saw the physician move back.
"Maid Yue." Her voice hoarse due to her own inner cry, maybe.
The woman who was initially sobbing suddenly stopped, she opened her eyes. 'The Empress isn't laying on my lap anymore!'
She made a sharp turn with her neck and some crack was heard, she was an old lady so her bones might be harmed by little mistakes. But she didn't care! She only wanted to make sure her Lady hasn't been taken from her!
Xiuying was staring at her, she was focused on her.
'What is going on?' She wanted to scream out but her lips parted and closed again.
Empress Xiuying was looking at her, she was breathing... She could see her lady's chest rise and fall.
She inched closer and touched her cheek, then opened her eyes, her nose, her ear, her neck then she came back and pinched the Empress's cheek, "Ouch." The Empress cried out.
'Is this real? The Empress is still alive?'
'How can I think my lady is dead? How is that possible?'
'Yes, the only illusion was them thinking the Empress had died. That was their only mistake!'
She held the Empress's hand and tears started flowing down her cheek.
***
The noise at the Eastern palace alerted a lot of ears, making all eyes turn toward the closed massive gate. The Empress was banned from leaving the palace and receiving visitors.
"What do you think is going on?"
"How would we know? I only know the Empress isn't dead yet as her body hasn't started decaying yet!"
"So I heard too, but why is the Emperor not sending her to her family?"
"No one knows what he's thinking."
The servants were whispering amongst themselves.
A figure clad in all black came out of his hiding and disappeared almost the instant he appeared.
***
At the Main palace.
The Emperor lived in the middle of East, West, North and South.
The door to his chambers opened and the man in black came in, kowtowed, "The Empress has been reported dead! The news is still not yet clear as the physician hasn't come out since he entered."
"Hmm." The Emperor's answer brief.
***
The room became silent again, it was taking forever for the senior maid to speak.
Maid Yue turned to the physician, "Do... Do something!" Her own voice horse as well.
Her eyes, nose and cheeks were now red.
She might not be so fair anymore because of her age but that didn't make her dark neither.
'She didn't tell me what the guarantee was...' Xiaofan mind went back to her dream.
She is now Xiuying and will have to live like one.
"I'm alright!" Xiaofan announced. "Exit!" Her voice echoed in the silent room.
"Go get me tea!" She said to Maid Yue.
"No...I can't certainly leave you alone! What if something else happens?"
"Nothing will happen!"
The maid was reluctant to leave her Lady again, what if she came back and everything replayed itself! How will she answer the Almighty when she died?
She shook her head.
"Go I say!" Xiaofan commanded.
Everyone else left except her.
Suddenly she remembered something, "My Lady I sent for the physician to come check on you, if you could..."
"No need! I'm fine!" She declared firmly.
The maid backed away, her Lady needs tea and that's what she will bring!
Xiaofan returned to the chest and pulled it open once again, reviewing the Royal Robes once again. The Empress loved the Emperor?
How could that be? The story needs to be rewritten again then.
If i possibly get out of this world, I will go looking for the author.
But for now, "Let me play my role!"