Volume I: Chapter 8: The Temple
1053 Words
"The appointing of the emperor's subordinates will take place this afternoon, sire," Stephen said.
Afterward, there will be another ceremony in which all the priests and priestesses will gather to welcome you as the new emperor." "he added. The chief priest appeared during the first part of his coronation and will appear again at the appointing ceremony.
The most neutral part of the whole empire or probably not counted as a part of either the outside or the inside, was the Temple itself.
The Royal Coronation Ceremony is different from the Sacred Coronation Ceremony. The first one focus on political affairs and monarchy norms while the other one is more on heavenly affirmation and compliance.
The whole area is themed in white and brown and adorned with ornaments of gold. There are choristers, dancers, and musicians that when the trumpet finally sounded shall worship majestically in a heavenly hymn.
Then, the ceremony took place.
There's an alabaster jar, followed by an incense of calming menthol, carried along with a long medieval sword with its golden sheath. Then there are bouquets of white flowers carried by 12 lovely young maidens surrounding the center.
They remove Prince Evan's diadem crown which symbolizes, resigning from his prince status to accept the role of the emperor. The chief priest pours the anointing oil from the golden alabaster jar to the top of his head.
And that time the young emperor finally accepted his fate although some people already embraced their own.
Kal is the name of the chief high priest who is Emperor Evans's One and Only Childhood friend.
Then after, It was a busy morning at the temple when another decree came from the castle. The chief priest reaching the documents stated, "Again?" His eyes skimmed the parchment that he received.
"They are not serious, aren't they?" Kal said. "If I knew that they'll be asking for another audience, we would have stayed there for a month until all the ceremony is done" He added.
He sighed deeply. He stood up and prepared to leave. "I'll have a break first," he said.
'The imperial princess must be ignorant of her limitation. Indeed, she can do those imperial decrees but is not limited to what Evan wants her to do. Emperor Evan is still the Emperor, that guy may not be impulsive but he is still unpredictable. He just seems quiet however he is waiting to devour you whole in the most fatal way. tsk. She needs to take precautions if she wants her position.' He thought.
"Harem?" he muttered thinking about Evan.
"Evan is cold as ice and hard as stone. He is firm in what he wants and even on what he doesn't like. He is a hard-headed punk that his father tortured just to change his mind and control him and that is what made him a killing machine.' he thought.
'Will any woman win his heart, I wonder?' he thought as he reached the temple's pantry.
"I'll just check it on my own when I get there." he mutter into a monologue.
When he arrived.
In the Emperor's office, the Chief priest personally held the document to be signed.
"I won't sign it" Evan declined.
Kal was surprised with his answer, "What? But the brides are inside your castle now isn't it too late to decline?" he said.
"The honorary lady overpassed my decision and led the process without my consent," he said. "Is it permissible for her to do such things? The authority given to her to overpass me is when I became wayward in my ways. I never and not even commit tyranny yet." he said.
"I won't sign it, if she wants a ceremony make it void without her knowing," he utters.
"But why do you want to keep it from her?" Kal asked.
"Because I want to do my revenge and I wanted to win." He smirked.
Kal finally comprehend his old friend's game, "And what are you planning?"
The common law regarding the imperial and monarchy norms is having an empress/queen with a noble background and her son will be the heir to the throne. Followed by the royal concubine and mistresses bearing illegitimate children.
However, the empress seat is still empty and in this case, the brides selected that differ in social status will be possible candidates for empress. Some of them came from a noble background and some did not, yet they have strong influential families that are still beneficial to the throne.
Thus, they cannot just take any woman with the highest standing and make her the empress. It was not for the honorary lady the officials or even the people in the empire to decide but for the emperor and the high priest itself. The empress is crowned separately and specifically by the Emperor and the Temple which means it is beyond the honorary lady's control.
It is under Heaven's control same as crowning Emperor Evan as emperor or his father it was all agreed upon by the Heavens. Even the law of the eternal weapon and threaders was decided still by the heavens and even the life of legendary eternal threaders was decided by the Heavens which is held under the direction of the high priests.
Even though it is beyond her reach she still has the power to choose the potential ladies that will enter the selection, that whomsoever the emperor chooses, he shall never have any loss because they are still potential empresses to be.
That's why Evan was pissed off when the imperial princess made such decisions all by herself. The empire's wallflower already changed.
"You're not curious what type of woman the emperor likes?" Princess Beatrice said as she finished another move in chess against Princess Shannon.
Princess Shannon was silent.
"Oh, don't tell me you're not curious," she asked the silent princess.
"I am not," she said straightforwardly. "May I ask you? What makes you think of such things?" Princess Shannon asked.
"For us to know what kind of empress we will have,," she answered.
"Checkmate" Princess Shannon said as she placed her queen in a perfect spot where Princess Beatrice was not able to run away.
"uhw" her reaction of displease.
"You are quite distracted," she said as she rested her chin on both of her hands.
- Writer
