CHAPTER THIRTY
Hotaru led a Group of three women that had been dressed up as ordinary peasants.
They entered into the Imperial stores that stood on the Imperial estate.
She led them up to the supplies room where they were had prepared what they were to transport into the Palace the following day and Looking the contents of the wagons, they landed on one which was a very small and Hotaru decided to look through it as the other women watched her back.
"What's in there?" Sakae asked.
"Spinach, radishes, these are all vegetables." She said when suddenly she noticed another strange plant.
"What's it?" Sakae asked.
"I don't know, I have never seen it before." Hotaru replied as Sakae walked over to her and looked at the plant as well.
"Do you know it?" Hotaru asked Sakae.
"It is Raspberry leaf." Sakae replied after studying the herbs very well and concluding her study.
"Then it must be going to the Princess." Hotaru said.
"Sprinkle the purslane powder on it." Sakae ordered and Hotaru complied.
"At this rate as long as the Imperial Princess had it then she'd suffer a miscarriage instantly and it is so dangerous that the moment she consumes it, she'll never bear a child ever again in her entire life." Sakae remarked.
Early in the morning, the wagons were pulled into the Palace and the small wooden basket was carried up to the kitchen of Princess Toyomike's household.
Princess Toyomike was seated in her bed when Sina rushed in at once with a few of the palace maids.
"Your Highness." Sina said as she bowed her head.
"Did it arrive?" Princess Toyomike asked.
"Yes." Sina replied.
"Take me to the kitchen." Princess Toyomike ordered and at once Sina and the others helped her up while they walked from her quarters.
Princess Toyomike descended her stairs and she walked up to the kitchen and standing at the doorway the servants there seeing her bowed their heads.
"Your Highness." They said in unison.
"Could you please leave us alone?" Princess Toyomike asked politely.
"Yes Your Highness." They replied and bowing their heads, they walked out of the kitchen at once leaving the Imperial Princess Toyomike and Sina alone.
Walking outside, Sina shut the doors and then she along with the Imperial Princess walked inside.
"You can come to me." Princess Toyomike said as she tapped on the nearby table twice.
All of a sudden, Kabane emerged from one corner of the kitchen and with him the Imperial physician followed.
"Your Highness." The two of them said as they bowed their heads.
"Who sent you?" Princess Toyomike asked.
"Is this a joke Your Highness, you know very well that the Emperor himself sent me." The Imperial physician replied.
Princess Toyomike walked up to the small wooden bucket that contained the contents of her medicines.
"Do you not wonder how I have survived this long despite being only sixteen years?" Princess Toyomike asked the physician.
"No Your Highness." The Imperial physician replied.
"I am very cautious of my surroundings including the people themselves and I don't trust any body any more than I trust myself.
In the wide inner court where Consorts and Imperial wives compete for the favours of their husbands they'd be willing to do anything even if it meant to shed enough human blood for it." Princess Toyomike replied.
"What should I check your Highness?" The Imperial physician asked.
"I'll watch you and protect you wherever you are with your entire family and I certainly know it that these herbs here have been poisoned." Princess Toyomike replied.
"What?" The Imperial Physician asked.
"Yes." Princess Toyomike replied. "I wanted you here on the Emperor's request to help me find out which poison has been put within these herbs so please examine them for me." Princess Toyomike added.
"Sure Your Highness." The Imperial physician replied and he brushed off some dust and powder and sniffed to try and smell it.
When he was done, he tasted it with his tongue.
He looked to be puzzled.
"What is it?" Princess Toyomike asked.
"Your Highness." The physician said."in deed everything within this basket has been poisoned." He added.
Princess Toyomike smiled as she walked closer to the basket.
"I knew it very well." She boasted.
"Which poison is it?" Kabane asked.
"This is purslane." The physician replied, "and there is no cure or redemption once a pregnant woman took it in, it damages the foetus and forcefully the foetus however young will have to be expelled out of the mother's body.
Consequently if the effect is very serious, you could even never bear a single child ever in your life again that's if you survived." He added.
"I suppose that you have seen for yourself as well doctor how conniving these humans can be." Princess Toyomike said. "Even I a sixteen year old girl who has barely embraced the joy of being a mother I have to suffer challenging those people that are three feet from heaven." Princess Toyomike said.
"I'll alert his Majesty about this immediately." The physician said as he bowed his head.
"You may take your leave." Princess Toyomike ordered "and Kabane, please escort him to His Majesty." She added.
"Yes." Kabane replied as he bowed his head and the two of them walked away.
"Sina." Princess Toyomike called.
"What should I do Your Highness?" Sina asked.
"Dispose off all the contents within this basket and keep them safely and then see to it that you replace them with the the ones from my Grandfather's Manor." Princess Toyomike replied.
"Aye." Sina said as she did as the Princess had commanded.
The cooks outside the kitchen waited a while later and the Imperial Princess Toyomike walked out with Sina who was carrying a tray with a bowl on it as they were headed towards the Imperial Princess' room.
One of the cooks looked sternly at them and the moment that they entered into the kitchen he walked up to the bucket that had arrived from the Imperial estate farmland.
Looking at it he seemed to remember the words that Sakae had told him the previous night.
"You have a seven year old son and two five year old daughter and your wife has to work tirelessly every day and night walking to the market and back.
The Imperial Princess isn't someone who can guarantee the security of your household and my mistress isn't someone who can do the same either.
Worse things are bound to happen to any of them as she is not patient unless you do as I tell you." Sakae said.
"Please do not harm anyone in my family, I am willing to do anything." The man had pleaded.
Sakae then smiled at him as she pushed her hand into her cloak.
"Her Highness is smart and we all know that she isn't someone that easy to fool, see to it that before the concoction is taken to her, you put this powder inside." Sakae said.
"Yes." The man unwillingly replied.
"Good." Sakae said with a smile on her face.
"You won't lose out if anything were to happen and even if you were to lose your life, my mistress would forever take care of your family." Sakae convinced the man as she turned around to leave the place.
The man remembering everything looked at the basket until one of the palace cooks walked up to him.
"What are you doing here?" The cook asked.
"Nothing." The man replied, "I was just getting the herbs." He added.
"Hurry up then." The cook ordered and at once rushing over towards the others, he left him behind as he got a hold of the basket and took it away.
Kabane and the Imperial physician were led by Sato into the Emperor's Chambers and the Emperor having seen the both of them invited them in.
"Your Majesty." They greeted him.
"What is it, what did you find?" The Emperor asked.
"Her Highness' plea was in deed right, someone doesn't wish for her to give birth to this child and someone intended to have her poisoned." The physician replied.
"What happened?" The Emperor asked.
"I found traces of Purslane powder on the vegetables that were brought in for the Princess and the herbs, Purslane isn't good for expecting mothers as it could cause a miscarriage and worse if severely consumed then she could have been abhorred from ever giving birth again for the rest of her life." The physician replied.
"Sato." The Emperor called.
"Yes Your Majesty." Sato replied.
"I want you to send out the most elite men to carry out an investigation and discover who it is that threatened the Child of the Imperial Princess?" The Emperor replied.
"Yes Your Majesty." Sato replied as he walked away.
"I'll take your leave Your Majesty." The physician said.
"Sure." The Emperor accepted and at once the physician withdrew while Kabane remained inside with the Emperor.
"What shall I convey to Her Highness Your Majesty?" Kabane asked.
"She can have her way." The Emperor said. "She has proven and I won't intervene as long as she can protect the Child within her womb." He added.
"Yes Your Majesty." Kabane replied as he bowed his head and he walked out as well.
Princess Toyomike sat in her bed and she finished the concoction as she looked at the small plum blossom that was stationed right next to her mirror admiringly.
At that moment Sina walked up to her.
"Your Highness." She said. "I am curious." She added.
"What is it Sina?" Princess Toyomike asked.
"How did you tell his Majesty?" Sina asked.
"It was quite simple." Princess Toyomike replied as she recalled the events herself.
She had left her Palace late in the night and walked over to the Emperor's Chambers.
The sooner that her father returned from his study, she was standing behind a group of nearby curtains when the Emperor halted.
"Come out." The Emperor said and Princess Toyomike knew they were talking to her so she walked up into her father's presence whole keeping her head veiled.
"Who are you?" The Emperor asked and Princess Toyomike looked up at him as she lowered the veil that had hidden her face from her Father's sight.
"You?" The Emperor said.
"Yes Father." Princess Toyomike replied.
"What are you doing in here at such a late hour?" The Emperor asked.
"Father?" Princess Toyomike said as she bowed her head. "There is an urgent matter that I wish to discuss with you and I'd prefer that we had a private conversation." She added.
"The fact that you broke into my Chambers at such a late hour then it is already a Private conversation after all." The Emperor said as he walked over to the nearby table and sat down while the Princess followed and sat in front of him.
"Tell me now." The Emperor said. "What is it that you wished to talk to me about?" He asked.
"Father, my life is in danger." Princess Toyomike replied.
"You have an elite group of well trained Imperial soldiers that you know very well yourself and you trust their loyalty." The Emperor said.
"But that doesn't encourage me to let my guard down even once especially at a time like this." Princess Toyomike replied.
"What is it, are you telling me that an assassin broke into your Palace, as if they were looking for a suicide mission." The Emperor said.
"Father, you know it as well as I do that not everyone is ready to herald the advent of this child that I am carrying within my womb." Princess Toyomike said.
"I know that I am surrounded by enemies." The Emperor said.
"Someone wants to poison me." Princess Toyomike said.
The Emperor looked at her.
"Why would you come up with such a conclusion?" The Emperor asked me.
"Let's make a bet father." Princess Toyomike said.
"What is it?" The Emperor asked.
"Have an Imperial physician come to my Palace tomorrow and inspect the herbs that shall be brought in from the Imperial estate and let him give you the results.
I bet that by the time he returns to report to you, he shall have discovered that in deed the herbs have been poisoned." Princess Toyomike replied.
"And if they are not?" The Emperor asked.
"You can take it as though I was just making stories and if it's not tomorrow then it's in the next two days as long as it's before my engagement with the Crown Prince." Princess Toyomike replied.
"And naturally a possible way of breaking that engagement is if the child was miscarried." The Emperor said.
"Yes." Princess Toyomike replied.
"And should you in deed be right that someone wants to get rid of your child what shall I give you in return?" The Emperor asked.
"I won't ask for so much father, I'll just ask you to grant me the power to carry out a thorough investigation and we get the culprit and in the meanwhile, all rumours concerning my pregnancy shall be sealed off for the next couple of days.
No one shall talk about me and my child until the day of the engagement." Princess Toyomike replied.
"You can do everything you want." The Emperor replied.
"I only wish that after the engagement is done, you put me in the care of Her Highness the Empress as it seems that my mother is unwilling to accept this child then I can only rely on the Crown Prince's mother and my future mother in law." Princess Toyomike added.
"Very well then." The Emperor replied as Princess Toyomike smiled.
"Forgive me Your Highness for questioning your decision but why would you ask to be in the care of the Empress." Sina asked.
"You just be patient and I'll tell you later, Kabane must be arriving with news from the Emperor." Princess Toyomike replied when the doors to her Chambers were opened and then he walked right inside.
He stopped beside Princess Toyomike's bed and bowed his head.
"Your Highness." He greeted.
"What did my father say?" Princess Toyomike asked.
""You can have your way as you have proven yourself right and he won't intervene as long as you can protect the Child within your womb." Kabane replied.
"Very good." Princess Toyomike replied.
"What are we going to do Your Highness?" Sina asked.
"Now that they have made their move it is also time we made ours and played along." Princess Toyomike replied.
At that point, someone knocked on the door.
"Open it." Princess Toyomike ordered when one of the maids walked into the room holding a bowl that held a similar concoction to the one which she had already consumed before.
"Your Highness." She said as she bowed her head.
"Give it to Sina." Princess Toyomike ordered with a smile on her face and she complied.
At that moment the Crown Prince opened the doors of her chamber and then he walked in while every one inside except for the Princess bowed their heads and saluted him.
"My dear." He said as he sat down close to Princess Toyomike while the maid walked out.
"Your Highness, what should we do to this bowl?" Sina asked the Princess.
"Give it to me and I'll feed it to her." The Crown Prince said.
"Pour it on the plant." Princess Toyomike ordered.
"Yes." Sina replied.
"Sssh." Princess Toyomike silenced the Crown Prince before he'd mention another word.
"What are you doing?" The Crown Prince insisted on asking.
"Just trust me." Princess Toyomike replied and at that moment Sina stepped Away from the plant after pouring the contents of the bowl onto it the continued into the soil.
The four watched slowly as the plant started to wither and in a while it died instantly.
The Crown Prince was surprised.
"That was the last bit of the puzzle that we needed." Princess Toyomike said.
"someone wants to poison you?" The Crown Prince asked.
"You have seen for yourself Your Highness." Princess Toyomike replied.
"How malicious?" The Crown Prince said.
"It's not just malice Your Highness, humans are greedy and they can never have enough of anything they simply want to fully possess it all when they have the chance." Princess Toyomike replied.
"What should we do Your Highness?" Sina asked.
"Stay with me Sina." Princess Toyomike replied. "Kabane, you find out every one of the servants within the palace who came into contact with the herbs and the ingredients and leave no stone unturned until you have figured out all of them." She added.
"Yes Your Highness." They replied in unison as they bowed their heads while Kabane walked out of the room and Sina distanced herself from the bed where the Crown Prince and the Imperial Princess were.
"I am so sorry my dear." The Crown Prince said.
"You shouldn't be." Princess Toyomike replied.
"I certainly should, because of me people are out there thirsting for your blood." The Crown Prince said.
"It's got nothing much to do about you because enemies will always be the inevitable companions in life." Princess Toyomike said.
"If only I could protect you?" The Crown Prince asked.
"You have already done more than enough." Princess Toyomike replied.
"I only wished that in these next to days no matter what happens see to it that you do not come into my palace again?" Princess Toyomike asked
"How can I rest assured that you are safe when I can not see you?" The Crown Prince asked.
"I just need you to trust me." Princess Toyomike replied.
"Hmm." The Crown Prince muttered.
At that point The Crown Prince pulled Princess Toyomike into a hug.
"I could barely sleep last night as I kept on thinking about you and our child." The Crown Prince said.
"Who did you see?" Princess Toyomike asked. "Was it a boy or a girl?" She added.
"I saw a very strong and like you a brave son." The Crown Prince replied.
"Did he look like you?" Princess Toyomike asked.
"Yes." The Crown Prince replied.
"Then it'll be a son." Princess Toyomike said.
"However I do not really want our first child to be a boy, I want a girl who is just as beautiful as you are." The Crown Prince said.
"Why?" Princess Toyomike asked. "Every man desires to have sons in their lives." She added.
"Except that I am not like every other man." The Crown Prince said.
"Alright." Princess Toyomike replied.
"Did everything go according to the plan?" The Empress asked Sakae.
"Yes Your Highness." Sakae replied. "It shall only be a matter of time until we learn the news of her miscarriage." She added.
"Very well then." The Empress said as she turned to the High Priestess.
"Sagittarius hasn't yet started to glow dim and the revelation must come tonight." The Empress ordered.
"Yes Your Highness." The High Priestess replied.
"AT THE FADING OF THE EASTERN STAR, FROM THE GRACE OF HEAVEN THE UNLUCKY SHALL FALL AND THEY SHALL BRING WITH THEM THE WRATH OF THE GODS." The Empress said.
"Yes Your Highness." The High Priestess replied.
The Emperor was seated in his room that very night when Sato walked up to him.
"Your Majesty." He said as he bowed his head, "I have some news to deliver." He added.
"What is it?" The Emperor asked.
"The High Priestess wishes to see you at the Royal Shrine and she claims that it is a very serious matter, all the shrine maidens panicked after she received a revelation and she can't stop stuttering that she wishes to see you." Sato replied.
"Take me to her at once." The Emperor said as he rise up from his bed and then wearing a few robes he walked outside his quarters as a group of Imperial guards followed him up to the Imperial shrine.
Once there the shrine maidens at the entrance greeted him as he walked up to the High Priestess who was standing on top at one of the balconies.
"Your Majesty." The High Priestess said as she bowed her head to the Emperor and him judging from the look in her eyes he could tell that she was afraid.
"What's the problem?" The Emperor asked.
"This is a very bad omen Your Majesty." The High Priestess replied.
"What is it?" The Emperor asked and the High Priestess pointed up into the sky at one of the stars that glowed so bright hanging over the palace.
"It's Sagittarius once again?" The Emperor asked.
"I have received a revelation from the heavens and it's an assurance of bad fortune." The High Priestess said.
"What do you have to say?" The Emperor asked."my throne shall be usurped by a man born under this star?" The Emperor asked.
"AT THE FADING OF THE EASTERN STAR, FROM THE GRACE OF HEAVEN THE UNLUCKY SHALL FALL AND THEY SHALL BRING WITH THEM THE WRATH OF THE GODS." The High Priestess said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The Emperor asked.
"Your Majesty, it's plausible that something inauspicious is bound to happen." The High Priestess replied.
"Hardly had she spoken when one of the Palace maidens rushed through the gates of the Shrine.
"Your Majesty." She cried out as she fall onto her knees in the middle of the quadrangle.
"What's it?" The Emperor asked.
"Her Highness the Imperial Princess." The maid replied and at once the Emperor was shocked.
He turned around and looked at the High Priestess as something seemed to come to her mind.
"The Princess." She said as the Emperor rushed while the High Priestess followed.
The Crown Princess was in her room when Hotaru barged in.
"Your Highness." She said as she bowed her head.
"Judging from your excitement has it happened?" The Crown Princess asked.
"Yes Your Highness." Hotaru replied.
"Hahahaha." The Crown Princess laughed as she stood up from where she was seated.
"At last now that the time for the awful has come let us go and sympathize with her, after all, shall she ever feel the joy of being a mother?" She said.
"Yes Your Highness." Hotaru said with a ghastly smile as the Crown Princess walked out.
"Your Highness." Sakae said as she came up to the Empress who was still standing on her balcony while looking at the stars up in the sky.
"Judging from the expression that is on your face then you must have at least learnt of the situation in the Imperial Princess' Palace." The Empress said.
"Her Highness summoned the Emperor, she is not in high spirits either." Sakae said.
"By now the purslane is already reacting." The Empress said with a smile on her face. "The foetus was still to small that there is no medical form of assistance that could possibly save it." She added.
"Her Highness is in deed wise." Sakae said.
"Did the High Priestess execute her move?" The Empress asked.
"Right on time." Sakae replied. "In fact, all of it in deed seems coincidental." She added.
"This is a very trying moment for the Imperial Princess, we need to remind her that she doesn't know who exactly she is up against and for the Emperor as a loving mother where Soga no Katashishime isn't, I have to clear all suspicion by granting her consolation." The Empress said.
"Yes Your Highness." Sakae replied as she turned around and descended from the balcony.
Two of the Emperor's Consorts Ōane no Kimi and The Empress had already arrived at the Palace of the Princess and the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess had already walked Into the vicinity.
They hurriedly ascended the stairs that led to the Imperial Princess Toyomike's room in a disorderly manner and they found her seated in her bed with a very thick and huge red patch on her night gown that was stationed around her lower abdomen while the Imperial physician was stationed right there beside her and his fingers were all red and wet.
She was silent and still while looking at the patch and the Crown Princess looking at it felt nausea that Hotaru supported her before she'd vomit.
"What happened?" The Emperor asked while the Imperial Princess Toyomike turned around and smiled at him.
"She must have lost her mind." The High Priestess said.
"Help me up Sina." The Imperial Princess said as Sina complied.
"It's nothing father." Princess Toyomike said.
"How can it be nothing when clearly you have blood on your clothes?" The Empress asked.
"I'm sorry father." Princess Toyomike said.
"Did you miscarry?" The Crown Prince asked all of a sudden.
Princess Toyomike looked at all of them before she could reply.
"I just wasn't feeling well and all I had was a severe headache that's why I called you but it seems everyone is concerned about my well-being yet I wished to at least sleep after father had tucked me in.
The baby is fine, it's just that someone had grinded some red grapes for me to form some juice and by mistake as I asked the Imperial physician to help me pass it over, he spilled it by mistake which is why my gown is wet." The Princess replied.
"Is that it?" The Emperor asked.
"Her Highness had just come down with a minor headache and it's nothing serious to worry about." The physician said.
The Emperor and the Crown Prince sighed while the Empress, the Crown Princess and the High Priestess looked at each other.
"I apologise father, I had to also share the burden of arranging for the engagement with the Crown Prince, I must have overworked myself." Princess Toyomike said.
"You needn't have, just take proper care of yourself and the baby and besides mother is here and so is the Crown Princess, they can help me arrange it and you don't need to tire yourself out." The Crown Prince said.
"Yes by the way." The Emperor said as he turned to the other three women.
"Pardon me for having ignored you but now that the Crown Prince has mentioned it there is no one that I can trust in the entire Imperial household to do the job better than you yourself my dear." The Emperor said.
"Yes Your Majesty." The Empress said with a smile on her face as she bowed her head.
"Crown Princess?" The Emperor called.
"Yes Father?" The Crown Princess replied.
"Assist your mother in law." The Emperor said.
"Yes." The Crown Princess replied.
"You must have been too busy father." Princess Toyomike said softly.
"Not at all." The Emperor said. "In fact, it has been long since I last saw you slumber off deeply and now that you are old and you are getting engaged I feel so remorseful that I might not be there to tuck you in anymore." The Emperor said.
"But they'll need to change my beddings and I don't wish to impose on you." Princess Toyomike said.
"I can wait a little while longer." The Emperor said with a smile on his face that the Imperial Princess responded likewise.
"We'll take our leave." The Empress and the others said in unison as they bowed their heads.
"Yes Your Highness." Princess Toyomike replied and they all withdrew from the room except for Sina who was to help with making the bed.
The sooner that they were outside, the Imperial Princess turned to her father.
"Isn't it strange?" She asked.
"You only summoned me." The Emperor said.
"And the Crown Prince but by nature of course it seems that even the uninvited turned up to show me their concern." Princess Toyomike said.
"Perhaps quite a number of people are willing to look after Your Highness." The Emperor said.
"I hope so." Princess Toyomike replied. "Human beings are very sky you can never know exactly what is written in their hearts." She added.
"Isn't that a relief?" The Emperor asked. "I can't seem to know what's going on in your mind and heart either." He added.
"Father, all these years you have had to protect me from the world but now even I am sad as well that I might soon lose you." Princess Toyomike said.
"You are right, I am aware that I also have very little time left in this world." The Emperor said.
"You might criticize me Father but I am only striving to survive that even when you are gone into the after life, when I can look back, I'll certainly remember your Grace and I know you'll also be at peace knowing that my safety in this world is guaranteed." Princess Toyomike replied as she hugged her father.
"At last you have spoken to me but I am still worried nevertheless, your foes seem to have accumulated on one hand." The Emperor said.
"An enemy of mine is an enemy of Nippon, even if it means fighting right beside the Crown Prince even when he is the Emperor, when I become his wife I'll be determined to protect him with my all and deliver Nippon from all of them." The Princess confidently replied.
"Your Highness." The High Priestess said.
"What kind of person is she?" The Empress asked.
"I don't know." The High Priestess replied.
"We were so close mother." The Crown Princess said.
"But for some reason the Imperial Princess is one step ahead of us." The Empress said.
"How could she be too cautious that it's hard to even find a single flaw in her?" The Crown Princess asked.
"She has been too prepared from the very beginning and she seems to have known better than we have who we are up against." The Empress replied.
"The birth of this child that she is carrying in her womb threatens my position as the future Empress." The Crown Princess said.
"Sadly if that child is a boy." The Empress remarked.
"How dare she, ask me to prepare an engagement for my husband to herself?" The Crown Princess furiously asked.
"At last because it seems that heaven coincides with her will she can step on us both." The Empress said as she smiled ghastly. "I must say that she made quite a remarkable move I had entirely fallen for it." She added.
"What should we do now?" The High Priestess asked.
"I suppose that given that the whole day she was not poisoned then definitely they are trying to find the real culprit who tried to lead her to miscarriage." The Empress replied.
"Your Highness." Sakae said.
"You know what you must do." The Empress said.
"Yes Your Highness." Sakae replied.
"For the first time there is nothing that we can do except praying that the odds are in our favour." The Empress said.
"Why mother?" The Crown Princess asked.
"It'll be to our good fortune if the child that the Imperial Princess gave birth to was a girl." The Empress replied.