ROSES OF BLOOD

THE CROWN LANDS

             To the sound of the music, performers all over the Courtyard of the Palace, the wind howling by cool and calm, the saffron firmament adorning the scene with the beautiful melodies of the birds met Yang Guifei inside her Chambers.
              Xiaoyang and Manyin tending to her hair she stared at her reflection in the mirror, at  nearly forty years of age she looked no different from a young woman in the twilight years of her teenagehood still as most beautiful as ever.
               They bore the pheasant robe in their hands and carried it towards her, gracefully mounting it over her body they bound it with a remarkable Jade belt and finally they bore the expensive Gold Phoenix Headdress in their hands.
              They crowned her with it while she smiled gracefully, herself dressed in pearls and gold, her earrings carved to resemble small dragon replicas and her forehead bearing the biggest of them was stuck to her skin.
              "You look brilliant Your Highness." Manyin remarked.
               "There's something missing." Yang Guifei remarked and standing up at that moment she walked up to one of her small chests and open it, inside there was the huge blue diamond ring.
              "Your Highness......" Xiaoyang saying she interfered.
               "The Empress Gongshu herself once said it that this ring was to us the Empresses a most beautiful treasure." She said.
              "It now belongs to you Your Highness." Manyin said.
              "Perhaps." Yang Guifei replied as she took it carefully and placed it onto her right index finger.
              "It looks beautiful." Xiaoyang remarked.
              "We are now the Empress, we are now the Great Zhao State." Yang Guifei mentioned and smiling at herself, the Courtiers and all other officials gathered shortly after, Beiyuan stood at the top of the wall and he struck aloud the Gong which demanded everyone's attention.
               "Her Imperial Highness the Empress." He yelled on top of his voice and the trumpets being sounded along the gates leading to the Courtyard were opened and a crimson Sedan was borne through.
              Accompanied by the Provincial Banners and the Banners of the Dynasty, they paraded down the Red Carpet as the Officials and Ladies of the Inner Court bowed and offered her their respects while she passed.
              The Sedan halting right in front of the Emperor at the bottom of the staircase, it was opened and a couple of Eunuchs bearing fans in their hands shielded her from his view initially while she approached him holding a jade ceremonial tablet in her hands before they were eventually lowered.
              The Emperor Ningzong taking her hand she looked him in the eye. 
              "Are you ready?" He asked.
              "Yes Your Majesty." She responded and slowly mounting the stairs one by one, she eventually halted once she arrived at the very top where a Buddhist Priest was holding the Imperial Edict in his hands.
              "She knelt down before him on a crimson cushion and a set of Ladies of the Inner Court bearing a canopy supported by four poles they brought it over her head while she raised her hands to him.
              "Yang Guifei is intelligent and she is enterprising, she's committed to the Dynasty and a devoted mother and loving wife. In accordance with the statutes which govern the Inner Court and the Palace, her graceful conduct and her remarkable prowess she's the best example to all women in the land and she is herself therefore the worthiest amongst them to become the mother of the nation." The monk said as he tightly held onto the scroll.
             "Will you protect His Majesty?" They asked her.
             "Yes." She responded.
             "Will you protect the Imperial house?" They asked her.
             "Yes." She confirmed.
             "Will you protect this Dynasty?" They asked her.
             "Yes." She confirmed a third time and the old man looking into her eyes he smiled.
              "Yes it is." He said as he awarded her the Edict which she took in her hands and held tightly.
             "As the Heavens have commissioned, as His Majesty was blest, where in this land is there a more beautiful mother of the people, where in this land will there be another beautiful, another High, another Graceful and another Most Noble Empress Yang?" He muttered and the young woman rising up from where she was kneeling, the Canopy being turned along with her she first faced the people before it was withdrawn and the Emperor holding her right hand while she held the Imperial Edict in her left having abandoned the ceremonial Jade tablet he raised it to towards the sky.
             "Long Live His Majesty, Long Live our Emperor, Long Live Her Highness, Long Live our Empress Yang." The people said in unison as they went onto their knees while Beiyuan at a distance along with many of her other supporters smiled at her.
             She looked at her husband who looked back at him.
             "Oh blessed child of night, oh blessed Princess of Fire, this is your reign, this is your Era, this is your Most Glorious, this is your Most Sovereign, Your Most Magnificent Empire." She thought to herself as she turned to the people that were then bowing to her.
             "Good Lord, guide us and protect us, Save us all, God bless our Empress." Emperor Ningzong thought inwardly as he turned to the people as well.
            Alas a Rebel Princess that had entered the Palace to get vengeance in strife and war, a dancer that became a Court Lady and then a mother, a magnificent seductress flawless with eternal beauty that could hardly fade became the Emperor's favourite, the Emperor's favourite who eventually became a powerful Empress that would rule the world.