Chapter 12: 11. Six Months Later

Tang Daiyu and Feng Rong walked to the throne room, just behind one of the Emperor's attendants, Cha Bo. They had been quickly summoned by Emperor Taio.

In the throne room, the Emperor sat on his throne. They kowtowed before him. He waved for them to stand. Once they were back on their feet, he spoke up.

"Princess Shandong."

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Come up here."

Fearful, she obeyed. Tang Daiyu leaned in towards him.

Emperor Taio whispered in her ear, "I choose for Prince Shandong to succeed me."

He pressed something into her hand and then turned away to cough. Concern filled Tang Daiyu's eyes.

"Your Majesty, should I call for the Royal Physician?"

He shook his head. Prince Shandong stepped forward, but Emperor Taio stopped him. Tang Daiyu looked towards Feng Rong helplessly. She returned her gaze to the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, are you sure you don’t want to call the Royal Physician."

"No," he choked out. "My time has come to leave the Red Dust. Remember what I told you, Princess Shandong."

Tang Daiyu swallowed and nodded. She turned towards her husband.

"Rong, summon the Empress, Princes, and Princesses."

He nodded and left. Tang Daiyu stayed with the Emperor, and soon, the whole Royal Family appeared in the throne room. They watched as Emperor Taio coughed again and soon breathed his last.

Everyone bowed and said, "May His Majesty rest peacefully in Heaven."

Tang Daiyu stood back up and faced everyone.

"Rise," she began. "For the proclamation of successor for Emperor Taio of Heping."

Once they all had stood, the members of the Royal Family began to murmur amongst each other. She noticed Rong's brows furrow in confusion. Tang Daiyu cleared her throat, effectively silencing everyone in the room.

"Just before Rong summoned you all here, Emperor Taio told me his choice for the next Emperor of Heping."

The now-Dowager Empress stepped forward. "Just tell us, Princess Shandong."

Tang Daiyu held out the jade dragon the late Emperor had handed her. People gasped. Her face was completely calm as she said, "His Majesty has received instruction from Heaven and chose for Prince Shandong to succeed him."

Chaos broke out within the throne room. Feng Rong ascended the dais up to her as she placed the token in his hands. He looked as equally shocked as everyone else did.

"You must be lying. She must be lying! There's no way Royal Father would pass over his sons to give the throne to a grandson!" Prince Heyang cried. "As the First Prince, I should be the Emperor!"

"Oh, please, what have you done other than lounge around with women?" Prince Yelang said sarcastically.

"You-!"

"Enough!" the Dowager Empress's voice boomed. "My husband chose his successor. There is nothing we can do."

"Royal Mother, do you really believe her? She's from Chang; she's an outsider! She's probably lying just to become Empress because she had no chance of it back home!"

Tang Daiyu's eyes flared. "You think I'm doing this for me? You have no idea what I want, Prince Heyang."

"Qiao Yue, don't be too much!"

"Too much? If anyone's being too much, it's you!"

"Daiyu," Feng Rong whispered. "Let me take care of this."

She swallowed her pride and nodded. He stepped forward.

"I'm just as surprised about this as you all are. I never expected to be chosen as Royal Grandfather's successor. But since I am, I promise to do right by Heping and bring it to further prosperity and peace."

The Dowager Empress knelt down and kowtowed. "Praise to His Majesty."

Others begrudgingly knelt and kowtowed as well. "Praise to His Majesty."

Tang Daiyu knelt down and kowtowed to her husband. "Praise to His Majesty."

~~~

A couple days later, Feng Rong was led to the throne room dressed in his purple and red coronation robes. Tang Daiyu and other members of the Royal Family, all well dressed, followed him into Huangning Hall. The ceremony of three kneelings and nine kowtows were observed by the Royal Family and the court officials. Once they were done, Feng Rong's assistant, Zhao Chin, stepped forward.

"The Heavens have given their blessing to Emperor Rong of Heping!"

Everyone bowed and said, "Great blessings to His Majesty!"

With the coronation over, another ceremony was thrown to name Tang Daiyu as Honoured Consort of the Emperor. After both ceremonies were completed, an elaborate banquet was thrown afterwards in the outside courtyard. Dancers and musicians were brought in for entertainment. Red banners and ribbons were hung everywhere. Feng Rong sat on the throne with Tang Daiyu seated nearby to his right. The festivities continued late into the night. Fireworks were set off all throughout.

The day after, he immediately scheduled Tang Daiyu's coronation as Empress for the next auspicious day. His next order of business was to see to his predecessor's funeral arrangements.

About a week later, the Royal Family gathered together in Huangning Hall. A funeral feast was thrown, and food and drink was offered up to the gods and spirits. Once the celebrations were over, a procession left the palace and headed through Jianning.

Out in the countryside, they saw Emperor Taio entombed. Tang Daiyu remained at her husband's side while they kowtowed three times. As the other Royal Family members began to leave, Feng Rong stayed. Tang Daiyu took a step closer to him.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "He was always good to me, I can't even begin to imagine how he was with you."

"Even though he was the Emperor, my grandfather always found time for me. I was his favorite grandchild, so he doted on me the most."

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"Don’t worry, we'll serve Heping well. We'll make him proud, Rong, together."

He turned to her and gave a weak smile. "Thank you, Daiyu. You have no idea how much your words mean to me."

"Come on, let's get back to Nanning. It's getting late."

They turned around and walked towards their carriage. On the way back to the palace, Feng Rong and Tang Daiyu discussed future plans.

"You will be my Empress, Daiyu. There's no doubt."

"We have to eventually look beyond that, Rong. Will there be any backlash from your uncles and brothers, or will they accept you as Emperor?"

"I honestly don't know. We've always gotten along in the past, but recently our relationships have been strained. Mostly since the intermarriage."

Guilt filled her eyes. "I'm sorry I caused distance between you and your uncles."

He leaned forward and took her hands in his. "Don't apologise for anything, Daiyu. My uncles would've become jealous of me sooner or later anyways. Grandfather continuously doted on me, and I think they had finally gotten sick of it."

"But-"

"No buts. Everything will be fine. Though, we will have to send an ambassador to Chang to inform them of Emperor Taio's passing and my ascension."

Suddenly, an clever idea popped into her head, and she leaned forward, grinning mischievously.

"Rong, I know this might sound odd, especially coming from me, but what if we were to go to Chang personally? Instead of an ambassador. Wouldn't it be a show of good faith towards Emperor Jianyuan?"

"Aren't you worried about going back there?"

Tang Daiyu shook her head. "We won't go until I've been crowned as Empress. That way, he really can't do anything without angering us. We've already shown faith in them by travelling north personally. If he were to offend us, that would be a just cause for war."

Feng Rong raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that what you're getting at? War?"

"No, I know what the costs of war are. I have no desire for any blood to be shed on a battlefield or anywhere else. I'm just saying that he can't order to have me killed upon my return."

"Alright. We'll go. But I agree, you should be crowned first as a safety net."

Tang Daiyu leaned back in the carriage and smiled.

Once they were home, Feng Rong and Tang Daiyu split. He headed to the throne room; she headed back to her residence.

As she entered, Tang Daiyu saw Hua Chao-Xing and An Mei arguing heatedly.

"Aiya, aiya! What's going on here?"

"Your Highness, your Chang servant isn't too loyal!"

"How dare you!" An Mei cried. "I serve Her Highness and stand true to her!"

"Stop! Both of you. Now, Hua Chao-Xing, tell me what happened here."

Her attendant launched into the recounting and ignored An Mei's counters. "I found An Mei furiously writing a letter. She thought I didn't see but I did! You had just left to go to the funeral feast, Your Highness."

Tang Daiyu's eyes narrowed as she turned to her old friend. "We were friends once, An Mei. Do you dare to betray my trust and friendship?"

"No! Hua Chao-Xing is lying! I never wrote a letter; I don't know how to write!"

"What was in the letter, An Mei?"

"I never wrote a letter!" her attendant denied vehemently.

Tang Daiyu sighed and looked back to her other attendant. "Hua Chao-Xing, did you see what she wrote?"

She shook her head. "No, Your Highness. But I did see who it was addressed to."

Tang Daiyu's eyes widened. "Who?"

"Emperor Jianyuan of Chang."

Furious, she whirled towards An Mei. "You wrote him?!"

An Mei started to shake nervously. She fell to her knees and quickly kowtowed.

"How long have you been reporting back to him?" Tang Daiyu demanded. "Tell me!"

"I- I was ordered to do so. He claimed just so that he could stay up to date on the intermarriage."

Tang Daiyu's nostrils flared and she snarled, "You do not serve Emperor Jianyuan. You serve me, An Mei. I thought I could trust you. Apparently, I can't."

She turned towards Hua Chao-Xing. "For her treason to me, the Honoured Consort of Emperor Rong, give her fifty lashes of the whip."

Hua Chao-Xing nodded.

"No, please, Qiao Yue, please!"

"Hush! How dare you disrespect the Honoured Consort!"

Tang Daiyu let out a silent breath of relief. She doesn't know. Thank the gods.

Her eyes became cold as she turned around and started to walk towards the door.

"Hua Chao-Xing, I'll leave her in your capable hands."

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