The wind howling by violently shook the trees while the lightning brightly streaked across the sky as the thunder roared aloud shaking the earth, it started to drizzle mildly before it slowly evolved into a very malevolent and heavy downpour. The water rushing through the river adorned the sideline of a magnificent set of mountains along the Northern Border and there in an isolated temple with partly shattered crimson walls a young woman lay, surrounded by a couple of two women both of whom appeared to be in their early fifties but still possessed a charm that clearly recognized their youthful beauty.
"Push." One of them, Shaanxi said.
"I can't." The young woman responded hastily.
"We have come from far Your Highness, we have come this far," Shaanxi pleaded, "This isn't what his Highness would have wanted, had the Crown Prince been alive Your Highness, had he stood in this very place that I have set my feet, by your side, he wouldn't have wanted you to give up on your child." She insisted.
The latter rather anxious at the time seemed to respond positively to the calling and taking a deep breath she raised her eyes up to the ceiling that was hanging over her head and ceasing the fabrics on which she lay tightly, she pushed hard.
More blood was flowing from her womb as the latter was silently wiping the sweat that was falling from her brow while the pain got to her nerves every second felt that she was losing her mind.
"Is it out yet?" She asked tiring.
"I can feel the head." Shaanxi responded purposefully to give her hope she could hardly tell her
the opposite was the case and the Crown Princess biting her lower lip she took a deep breath yet again gathering all the might that she could find in her body that had seemed so distant she pushed harder and harder before she ceased tired again.
"Come on Your Highness, you can still make it, you can do this." Shaanxi insisted still willing to keep her striving.
"Is it out yet?" she asked with her breath shaking but eager to end what was to her an
unbearable pain.
"Just a little bit harder, Your Highness, just a little bit more." Shaanxi said.
"It's just one more big push Your Highness, clearly in your capabilities" Her colleague insisted and the Crown Princess ceasing the sheets one more time, she took a big push.
She'd fairly progressed while the thunder having gotten louder and louder it had soon eclipsed her cries entirely and they could hardly be heard beyond the walls of the old Temple.
The Chamber in which they were itself seemed secret but certainly in view if the one concerned was a very careful person.
"It's almost out Your Highness." Shaanxi said to her, and it seemed that she'd solicited the courage that she needed at that very moment to finally grit her teeth more intensely one final time and eventually give them the big push that they had pestered her for.
The cries of a baby as though to no one's surprise soon overwhelmed the entire room and the Crown Princess sighing in relief Shaanxi carried the young one in a white quilt after it was cleaned up to its mother's hands.
"Congratulations Your Highness," she said with a smile on her face, " it is a son." She added.
"Had the Crown Prince been alive, he would have been happy." The latter said.
"Oh, what tragedy feels my heart, my child is unfortunately fatherless, who will ever hold him in his hands as his own?" The Crown Princess Cao Xuan muttered.
"All will be well Your Highness." Shaanxi said.
"Even if you say it and it may seem to be inwardly, I hardly think so." The Crown Princess muttered as she looked at the young one whose eyes were closed at that moment.
"If the Empress learns of his existence, she will certainly have him killed, this child however innocent and small is a big hamper to her ambitions, besides, even the Crown Prince sacrificed his life because he believed the same." The latter said.
"It's much better this way after all, a crown itself is too heavy and I very much dread that my son would meet the same fate as his father." The Crown Princess responded, "I can't permit him to daringly set foot in that cold and bloody palace and neither can I grant him the curse of becoming the
Courtiers' pawn." She swore.
"But Your Highness, he is still an Imperial Prince after all." Shaanxi said.
"What does it matter, after all, there's only two people that live in the palace, those that are dead and those that are about to die." Cao Xuan implied, "My son I tell you, my own flesh and blood can not become one of the two." She insisted.
"What if he wants to know, what if he wants to fight for his rightful inheritance?" They asked her.
"There shall be no such thing because what has happened here will remain amongst us and within these walls, it will never leave and it's something that for the safety of my son, your Prince that you must carry with you to your graves." Cao Xuan responded.
"Yes Your Highness." They replied hesitantly.
"I am not Your Highness." She clarified, "call me, Ma'am." She insisted.
"Yes." The two replied in unison while she turned and looked at her child that was breastfeeding.
"Your father was a very good man who was unfortunately surrounded by his enemies, you must not allow yourself to make the same mistake, I will make sure that you never make the same mistake." She spoke to the young one as she tightly caressed him.
Unbeknownst to them all, at a small distance hidden in the trees close by stood a man in a black veil, gazing at them loathsomely through his dark eyes and with the rain falling upon him, he smiled at himself ghastly before he raised his eyes to the dark sky in which he seemed to watch the ravening
clouds victoriously in it's possession.