CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Princess Toyomike leaned over and tried to awaken one of them but he did not move at all that she was forced to divert her attention to the other that was lying on the other side.
She did the very same and shook him violently but he wasn't budging either that the whole her very much surprised she knelt down right where she was standing.
At that point, she was gazing around and it was becoming cooler and cooler she decided to return to her Chambers.
She had lost hope and there was no one for her to rush to all that she could do was to walk aimlessly until she sat down on her bed.
If all the people that were guarding her had passed out then it was not only a possibility but a fact that her Grandfather had in deed suffered the awful fate that had been described within the letter.
She shed a few tears slowly and one by one as they dried rage set in and it entirely consumed her heart.
"How could I even question who it could have been, how can I even begin to doubt when the very answer to your soon to be demise is right in front of me?" Princess Toyomike asked herself as she caressed her abdomen.
"There was always one primary foe that resented my Grandfather so much." She whispered. "She resented him so much to the extent that she'd pushed him in the jaws of death to let it become his eternal compeer." She added.
Princess Toyomike turned and looked at the window that was nearby.
"Perhaps I wasn't as moved in the first place when I heard of how murderous she is, now that it feels like I am about to bury one of my own the pain is immeasurable." Princess Toyomike said.
Closing her eyes at that point, she took a deep breath and then she exhaled.
"If I can not get justice for all the Innocents that your step grandmother has buried without the world knowing then I can never find peace in my heart.
Because deep down inside, turbulence shall forever rage like a very wild fire." Princess Toyomike promised.
The sun rose over Iname's Manor and there as Umako waited at the balcony and watched it possess the saffron firmament, he was a bit distracted when he felt the presence of something.
He turned around to look ok his left and the first person that caught his eye was the Empress Ishi Hime herself who was looking at him in the eye ascending the steps that led her to the same floor on which he was standing.
She walked proudly as her maidservants followed her while some of her guards maintained a distance.
Umako walked up to her and faced her.
There as though out if respect but yet unwilling he bowed his head.
"Your Highness." He greeted before raising it up again to look her in the eye.
"Umako." She replied with literally the same pride she didn't even try once to lower it and let him grieve.
"You came?" Umako said quite surprised.
"Even despite your resentment I was kind enough." Empress Ishi Hime replied.
"My father may be tolerant but I can not say that the very same goes for me." Umako said threateningly.
"It doesn't matter anyway to me, it only will when I am assured that you can lay your hand on me." Empress Ishi Hime said with a smile on her face.
Umako stepped aside.
"Won't you at least beg me to see your father?" Empress Ishi Hime asked.
"Whether you see him or not it is up to you, because rest assured, this very day that has dawned I shall strive so hard to see to it that it is the very last chance that you'll ever have." Umako replied.
"Very well then." Empress Ishi Hime said and maintaining a smile on her face she walked into the room leaving everyone else outside and the doors were shut behind her.
Her travelled from the floor to the bed where the old man was lying and in deed he looked saw awful that she couldn't bear looking at him.
She walked up close to him and Iname as though sensing her presence he decided to open his eyes instantly and he sat up on his own as the Empress took a seat on the table that wasn't so far.
"Your Highness." Iname said.
"You can save your breath, you'll need for your last words." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"These could be my very last words." Iname said.
"I do not think that I am the last person that you should be listening to." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"Nevertheless if you were it would still be good enough." Iname said and the Empress sighed.
"It feels as though it was just yesterday." She said.
"Perhaps on the brink of death it is natural for youth to feel so recent." Iname said.
"A lot has changed over the years and I believe so have we." Empress Ishi Hime replied.
"Can you be too certain and would you very much believe me if I told you that not even once did my heart change?" Iname asked.
"That all you felt towards me was compassion and not hate?" Empress Ishi Hime asked.
"I only had to take away each and everything that you had to boast about." Iname replied.
"And I had warned you before, you knew better than anyone else the very end of those who opposed and contended with me." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"They'd returned to ashes?" Iname asked. "Buried and forgotten in the earth." He added.
"Then why did you try to stop me in the first place, even when you knew that if you hesitated to have my head delivered in your hands, I wouldn't on the other hand have hesitated to have to yours delivered into mine." Empress Ishi Hime replied.
"Even if it were my son and he laid a hand on you while I was still alive then I would have punished him.
It is the nature of life especially for us politicians, we pretend to be heartless when even in the end our hearts like the others are fragile and we love more while being loved less." Iname said.
"I chose above that love, so that no one would use it to take advantage of me." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"There was more to what you yielded than what you suppressed, all those years fighting me as an enemy can you tell me that not even once did you reckon the warmth of my embrace and the touch of my love?" Iname asked weakly.
"Those were but youthful days when we were blinded by our own imagination and we were slaves to our dreams we for long chose to enjoy and never awaken from our slumber." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"Perhaps it was so." Iname said. "Or perhaps it's what you think." He added.
"I sincerely loved you in the very beginning and it was unconditional, sadly heaven wasn't content with us being together, we were set on parallel plains unable to reach each other." Empress Ishi Hime replied.
"You understand that as flowers bloom and then wither in all four seasons so do our feelings as humans, mine for you were not that different because when love is no longer eternal then History is." She added.
"And what shall history remember you for?" Iname said.
"The Princess who became an Empress and an Empress whose Dominion was never equalled." Empress Ishi Hime said.
Iname laughed.
"The Crown was content with Your husband's head and not yours, you could boast your rule in the inner court but just as a dream once it perishes over night it shall be forgotten." Iname said.
"I couldn't be more destitute for everything in the Palace is mine." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"It is all yours Your Highness." Iname said.
"You were born a Princess with everything but I was born a son of a lowly chief with nothing." Iname said.
"Then tell me." Emperor Ishi Hime said. "I wish to know why it is that you love me when I want you to hate me." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"If hating was that easy then perhaps you wouldn't also be here to see me." Iname said. "Even if I tried everything that I possibly could in this world I couldn't bring myself to hating you." Iname said.
"You must by all means hate me." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"No." I name replied.
"I'm no longer just a Princess, I am the Emperor's woman and his most legal wife." Empress Ishi Hime persisted.
"You know, he knows and I also know that better than anyone else there was never a man in this world that could ever love you much more than I did.
He married you to be someone dutiful, he married you to gain power and control that no one would ever have to call his children the unrightful heirs to the throne.
Even when thousands of years pass that shall remain for sure, the only reason that you are not obsessed over loving him but you are obsessed over those women of his that could threaten your position is because you killed your feelings a long time ago.
You are simply just living this life because it is not passion that gives you satiety but rather it is power." Iname replied.
"It does not matter anymore, for the paths that each one of us chose we are far from redemption.
There is no way that you can be removed from the queue taking you to your grave and on the other hand there is no way for me to undo myself as the Empress.
Even if I had the chance to go back and make a decision I would have done the same, because if killing you could come so easy to me then know it that in this life that is laid ahead of me there is nothing that I am going to regret." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"Nothing is eternal, no nothing lasts forever, what you have to boast for a possession today tomorrow, someone else shall take it all away.
I could sound insane but even as I behold you one last time all that I ask is you heed my caution." Iname said.
"I am touched to see that even in your last moments you still care about me, sadly, I can not bring myself to grieve yet because you understand that these were always the rules of the game and we were all just fighting to make our worlds survive." Empress Ishi Hime.
"Whatever you do try everything that you possibly can to kill Princess Toyomike." Iname said.
Empress Ishi Hime was quite surprised that he had said that.
"Over sixteen years the one thing we both did in common was to raise her, we all were big brains it's natural that she is very smart. We are enemies but in the end even when I lost to you you are going to lose to someone else.
There is nothing that is impossible as long as there is someone, even one person that can do it, while you might be to reserved in your stratagems against her she shall mount on them like stairs towards her victory.
There is nothing more burdensome than wielding power which is immense against people that resent you.
Should an equal rise then they shall be the very first to give in their support which leaving you deserted shall be the first move in a series of attempts to annihilate you.
Where the land is infertile you must never waste time sowing, because should you fail to bear the fruit that is enough to sustain you very soon you'll submit to another to be sustained.
Alas even when I close my eyes in slumber all there is that I see for myself is that very Princess Toyomike, without fear she has become so devoted should you not withstand her then you shall soon follow me." Iname said.
At that moment he started coughing vigorously and the doors were flung open as Empress Ishi Hime looked at him.
The Handkerchief that was there in his had was entirely drenched in blood that it had penetrated to his hand and soaked in as well.
"Father?" Umako called while the Empress standing there was expressionless.
Umako turned around and looked at her.
"I believe that you have said enough Your Highness." He said as he walked closer to her. "You still have your breath but he is still surviving on heaven's mercy." He added.
"He knew what was to befall him the very moment that I walked in, he had written his destiny the very day that he turned against me.
I wouldn't hesitate to give him such a painful death despite being the first man I ever loved, I can guarantee that for you with whom I had no relationship there is not a single bit of reserve I'll consider as your fate shall be like his in my arms." Empress Ishi Hime said.
"I am also not as compassionate as my father is towards you, but after he is gone you can at least expect me to avenge him.
Having you for a first love was the reason that he had to keep you alive, on my side as well being nothing but an enemy to me I'll also hold no reserve but pleasure in taking your life for myself." Umako said.
"I'll look forward to it." Empress Ishi Hime said as she raised her right hand to hold Umako on his shoulder but he stepped away.
"I suppose that all you'll ever see me for is a villain but that's alright with me." Empress Ishi Hime said as she lowered her hand bit raised her head.
"You don't have to be afraid." She added. "Because should it be a reunion with your father then I shall bury your whole clan along with him including yourself." Empress Ishi Hime said as she turned around and then she walked out of the room.
She joined her palace maids along the way and Umako following stood at the balcony band watched as the Empress walking out of his sight halted in a distance and she turned around to look at him.
He'd tell even from where he was standing that there was ferocity that had consumed her and in deed, she was not even touched at all.
She smiled at him ghastly before she turned around and continued and Umako hearing his father coughing was propelled to turn around and walk back in.
Empress Ishi Hime reached get Palanquin and see halted at that moment.
She was feeling uneasy as she recalled everything that had happened especially the warning that Iname had given her about Princess Toyomike.
"Your Highness." Sakae said as she walked over to his side.
Empress Ishi Hime raising her hand she was forced to halt in her speech.
She stood for a while before gathering her composure to walk into it and once the doors were closed she had herself and the beautiful walls that surrounded her as she felt the Palanquin start to move.
Eventually, she sighed alone as she let Iname's words linger in her mind she then spoke to herself.
"I shall never forget your kindness, your benevolence and your love, hadn't it been for all those three I wouldn't have survived death to bury you with one heart." She thought.
Princess Toyomike woke up in the morning only to find her mother Consort Katashishime seated right next to her and her father the Emperor standing there.
"Mother?" She called. "Father?" She added as she sat up in her bed.
"Princess." The Emperor called.
"What happened?" Princess Toyomike asked and they all looked at her.
"All the guards that were positioned outside your Manor were drugged.
None of them remember a thing from yesterday." Consort Katashishime replied.
"Just as I thought." Princess Toyomike said. "For the first time I was all alone and I was unable to do anything, I couldn't risk running from my Palace to yours and neither could K feel secure within these walls of mine." She added.
"We are sorry." Consort Katashishime said.
"It's partly a fault of mine as Your Father to have neglected you that I nearly endangered your life with the false assurance that you were safe." The Emperor said.
"It doesn't matter and the Empress can not be blamed for the failures of her own people, whoever did this must have been quite outstanding there is no Group of Imperial guards that can ever survive such a tragedy." Princess Toyomike said.
"You are wrong Your Highness." Consort Katashishime said.
"There is one group." The Emperor added.
"Which one is that father?" Princess Toyomike asked.
"Your own people, your own elite personal guards." The Emperor replied.
Princess Toyomike's mood was lightened.
"Are my servants and all the members of my household returning to me?" She asked.
"You are smart and you taught your people to be cautious and discerning, they have kept you for so long that they shall surely keep you between now and the time of your baby's birth." Consort Katashishime replied.
"Father, mother." Princess Toyomike called to them when she remembered what she'd read on the piece of paper that she had received the previous night.
"Yes." The two replied in unison.
"You said that you would talk to Grandfather and Uncle Umako to come and at least see me for one." Princess Toyomike said.
The two looked at each other awkwardly before giving her a reply and it seemed to confirm her suspicions and the contents of the letters.
"You can not see him now." Consort Katashishime said.
"Yes Princess." The Emperor added.
"Why?" Princess Toyomike asked determined to get an answer as soon as possible from the both of them.
"Because...uhhhh." The Emperor muttered.
"Father, what is wrong with him?" Princess Toyomike asked.
"He is not in town." The Emperor replied, "He travelled upcountry for a while." He added.
"Yes." Consort Katashishime replied hesitantly.
"Your story doesn't seem to connect at all." Princess Toyomike said. "Your words are all hustled and I am old enough to understand that you are not telling the truth." She added.
"What do you mean we are not telling the truth, why would we ever lie to you?" The Emperor asked.
"I know that you are lying to me father, I know everything." Princess Toyomike replied.
The two of them looked surprised.
"I know that Grandfather was poisoned and he doesn't have that much time left in this world either." Princess Toyomike said.
"My dear." Consort Katashishime said.
"How ever did you find out?" The Emperor asked.
Princess Toyomike putting her hand under the pillow pulled out a small piece of paper which she showed to them all.
"My life would have been threatened yesterday night but as I could consider it a warning to my health and the health of my child, I couldn't overlook the primary fact behind the visit.
On top of instilling fear in me they were determined to tell me that my Grandfather was poisoned they were unwilling to put their lives on the line to kill me without walking out of here alive." Princess Toyomike replied as the Emperor took a hold of the letter and then he perused through it.
"My apologies dear." Consort Katashishime said. "We were so worried about you that we thought if we told you this disheartening news it would be bad for your health and the baby's." she added.
"There is nothing more that we can do." Princess Toyomike said. "You can trust that I am a very strong person." She added.
"We're so sorry." The Emperor said.
"No." Princess Toyomike replied.
"Grandfather had been very good to us all and I feel my heart can never be at peace of he departed without at least seeing me." Princess Toyomike said.
"You can not just travel about." The Emperor said.
"But it was his last wish and request from you to see her." Consort Katashishime reminded her husband.
"Please father." Princess Toyomike pleaded.
"It can be bearable for you to hear but I don't trust that it will when he is painfully right in front of your eyes.
The Poison has robbed him of all there is to deem him a human, other than that right now, he is demented and deformed and his cheeks have sunk in and left his face bony.
His hair has turned grey and it has started to fall off and he is constantly coughing out so much blood from his body that he is beyond redemption and can no longer be sustained." The Emperor said as he sat down right in front of his daughter and then held her by her shoulders.
"You please tell me." He said, "Can you imagine how awful that sight is?" He asked.
"Father, I believe that Grandfather has his reasons, I won't drown myself into too many emotions and on top of that I promised that I'd protect both this child and myself." Princess Toyomike report.
"Please don't let what you see her to you." The Emperor said.
"There are no worries father, in fact if I am with both you and mother then I'd be very much empowered." Princess Toyomike said.
"Alright then " The Emperor said as he hugged the Princess.
"Looking at him reminded me of our childhood times together, now that he is gone I have come to fear myself that everyone around me might leave sooner than I expect." The Emperor said.
"I only wish to guard against that possibility because I know that I'd be more than hurt to wake up one morning when one of my children, grandchildren and wives is not right here with me." He added.
"I understand Father." Princess Toyomike replied.
She maintained a very gloomy face behind her back but she was nonetheless determined to suppress everything that she was suffering just so that she'd see to it that her child along with herself survived.
Empress Ishi Hime arrived at the Palace and she walked out of the Palanquin.
It was very easy to tell that she was lost in her thoughts as she wasn't moved by anyone or anything herself noticed that her Mistress was not alright.
"Your Highness." She said.
"What is it?" Empress Ishi Hime asked.
"Haven't you asked me that for the seventh time?" Empress Ishi Hime coldly asked.
"I am concerned Your Highness." Sakae replied.
"Are you more concerned about me than I am?" Empress Ishi Hime asked.
"No Your Highness." Sakae replied. "I misspoke." She added.
"I understand." Empress Ishi Hime said. "Perhaps when I was replying I did not make myself clear on who is the master and who is the servant." She added.
"Pardon my impertinance Your Highness." Sakae said as she bowed her head and slightly withdrew.
"But I don't blame you I do feel uneasy and there is nothing that any of you can do." Empress Ishi Hime said as she halted in the courtyard and then looked at all the buildings around.
"At one point the smiles of youth graced this very compound and went far beyond to the pond." She added as she looked around while rotating setting her feet back into the very place where she had started.
"Was there ever a certainty that those times would come to an end and later be substituted with grief, envy and jealousy?" She asked but everyone kept quiet.
"That's why I can not tell you that I am not alright because even when I speak up to your and pour out my current feelings and allow myself to give my heart to you, not a single one of you would even understand me, even just a little bit." The Empress added as she walked away.
Princess Toyomike arrived outside the manor and she was dressed in a simple navy blue and purple kimono.
She had nothing but simple Jewelry on her and her stomach had already shown up as a very mild protrusion on her body.
She was accompanied by Consort Katashishime, The Emperor, Sina and Kabane and already in a sombre mood, she did not let the gloom that lingered throughout her Grandfather's residence to overwhelm her.
She walked first to her Uncle Umako who was standing at the balcony.
He bowed his head to her in a very humble manner he was short of words and had nothing to say.
Princess Toyomike walked up to him and there she embraced him tightly in a hug he briefly basked in her care before she could pull apart from him.
"It is sad." Princess Toyomike said. "But as long as you won't fail me I won't fail you and as long as you never desert me I also won't desert you." She whispered.
"Yes." Umako replied as she bowed her head to him.
Princess Toyomike then turned and faced the doors of her Grandfather's room and there she walked in while they were closed behind her.
She'd been in that room before but she had never hoped that she'd come back to that place feeling rather sad and lowly.
Her heart was heavy but she was still clinging ok to the very little courage that she had until she stopped beside her father's bed and there she calmly sat down.
"Grandfather." She called as she studied his entire appearance which was much worse than the description that her parents had given her close to three days ago.
"Toyomike." Iname said weakly as he opened his eyes at that moment still lying down.
"I can only imagine the pain you must be going through." Princess Toyomike said and Iname coughed.
"No." He said. "Never my dear." He added.
"Tell me then." Princess Toyomike said. "Why did you let her weaken you and make you so miserable like this?" Princess Toyomike asked.
"It was a choice and it's not that I let her weaken me, my whole life I lived very many days and years, plotting, conniving , trying to seek power for myself, my family and my clan and now it happens to be that this is the very last one." Iname replied.
"No." Princess Toyomike said. "It can not be." She added.
"Joy is more believable when it is hard earned, in the same way, pain should be when it strikes by surprise." Iname said.
"And what was your cause Grandfather?" Princess Toyomike asked. "The power that you fervently cherished and wished to possess was the very sword that killed you." She added.
"I was ready to embrace both good and bad luck in politics because it was the path that I had chosen, I notice now more than anything else that I did my job of service but I'm still dying a hungry and greedy man." Iname replied.
"Looking at you and seeing for myself, I have only come to realize how fatal the political design is." Princess Toyomike said.
"But for you Your Highness it should be nothing more, this is the path that I had not only laid for you but you willingly chose for yourself." Iname replied.
"I only want peace for my People, it's the only thing that I have always wanted and I am still wanting." Princess Toyomike said.
"There is never peace without war, to give freedom you must be willing to spar with the Captor and sometimes, you must be willing to take down the lives of both Innocents and villains with it." Iname replied.
"All my life I boasted Nippon." Princess Toyomike said.
"But it can never be a beautiful paradise that you'll entrust other people to make for you unless you make it yourself." Iname said as Princess Toyomike held his right hand into her own.
"I thought that all I needed to do was to have your support." Princess Toyomike said.
"You've always had it and everything there is that I own your uncle might not be too smart just like I was to protect it but I trust very much that you my dear can be a light to his eyes to guide him." Iname said.
"All victory has come to a halt, now that I grieve inwardly but I'm unable to express it because of my child I can only watch as it gets more and more painful inside." Princess Toyomike said.
"The life ahead of you is an ordurous one from now on and the very moment that I desert this world you are nearly on your own.
You can never have power and authority, you can never rule from a curtain or have the people respect you.
Your foes can never fear you in this life or the next unless you possess one thing that can change like a ride but you can confine to your own will and doing." Iname said.
"What are you saying?" Princess Toyomike asked.
"This is the one secret to possessing immeasurable Power and influence and it shall forever walk with you if you can pull it into your embrace." Iname said as he raised his right hand and touched Princess Toyomike's cheek.
Speak Grandfather, I am listening." She said.
"The one thing that you need more than anything else to survive as a politician is the hearts of the people." Iname replied.
"If you can get as many people on your side to love you, other Courtiers shall desire to curry favour with you, your contenders shall learn to fear you and everything on earth and in heaven shall bow to you." Iname added.
"Yes father." Princess Toyomike replied.
"Whatever it takes you must never stop, even when you vanquish the Empress don't cease until you have everything that she owns.
More and more enemies shall rise and both women and men shall envy you, because before you were born some people were told that heaven in it's saying foretold your coming to be one which would hamper the Chrysanthemum throne." Iname said.
Princess Toyomike hearing this was startled instantly.
"How can that be?" She asked. "I am for the throne then why in the world would I resist it?" She asked.
"That with due course you'll know." Iname said and raising his eyes to look right into hers at that moment, a headache overwhelmed him slightly that as he blinked he saw something else.
It came as a vision in which he beheld Princess Toyomike, herself dressed in the most beautiful garments he had ever seen and on her head she wore the Ancestral Crown.
He raised his tongue to try and speak while fighting to point at her but his heart beating faster than usual he started to lose even the last bit of strength that he had.
His eyes slowly closing with a smile on his face he strained out a single sentence shedding a single tear which ran down his right cheek.
"LONG LIVE OUR GODDESS AND DEAREST EMPEROR." he muttered under his breath while the Princess clearly heard and his heart finally ceasing to beat and his lungs out of air, his hand collapsed and he was entirely lifeless at once a mild wind rushed about the place outside and the torches and flames that were burning were instantly extinguished.