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Mary’s brow wrinkled as she crossed her arms. She was sitting on a wooden plank. It was a very large plank, about the size of the side of a boat. In fact, it used to be the side of a boat. She had fallen from the sky and landed on top of a boat. It shattered on impact. So now, she was sitting atop a piece of wood on a river that was yellow from all the silt within. After looking around some more, she couldn’t find what she was looking for: the owner of the boat. So, she shrugged and gave up. She rose to her feet and took a step towards the rushing waters, but when it was about to make contact with the surface of the river, the water shrunk beneath her feet, and her foot landed on the riverbank instead.
Gasping sounds filled the air, and Mary turned her head. Four men were staring at her, but when their gazes met, the men dropped to their knees and pressed their foreheads against the ground. They were wearing long clothes like robes but made of silk. They also had tall hats that they didn’t seem to care about getting dirty. Sweat trickled down the men’s necks, staining their clothes, but they didn’t say a word, not daring to look up. Mary tilted her head before clearing her throat and fixing her posture. Did the men notice she was an empress? “You may rise,” she said.
The men didn’t move.
Mary raised an eyebrow. “You greet me like an empress, yet you don’t want to listen to my words?” she asked. Her expression darkened as she was reminded of Vur, and the bottom of her foot itched. Perhaps she’d use these men’s backs to scratch it.
***
“Young Master, your cousin died.”
A pair of chopsticks clattered against the ground. “Eh?” A teenager raised his head, staring at the woman who had just entered the dining room. He was eating by himself with one servant serving him food. “Cousin? Which cousin?”
“You only have one cousin. The emperor.”
The young man recoiled. His cousin, the emperor died? “How?”
“Do you remember, a month ago, he was boating on the Yellow River and fell inside because he was drunk?”
“Yes….” The young man nodded. There was a huge uproar at the time. The residing emperor actually slipped and fell into the Yellow River because he drank too much. He was absent from court and had to take time off to recover. There were rumors that he caught an illness from an event. “Don’t tell me, the illness he got from that time took his life?”
“No, that’s not it,” the woman said. “The emperor fully recovered today, and to celebrate, he took another boat ride down the Yellow River.”
The young man leaned over and picked up his fallen chopsticks. He placed them back on the table and frowned. “Did he get drunk and fall in again…?”
The woman’s eyebrows furrowed. “He was drunk, yes…, and he also fell in….”
“But?” The young man folded his arms across his chest. “There’s a but in that statement somewhere. I don’t believe he slipped and fell and died after recovering from slipping, falling, and almost dying last time.”
“Yes,” the woman said. She exhaled, and her shoulders relaxed. “According to the four eunuchs who were with him, a celestial fell from the heavens and landed on the boat.”
“What?”
“And upon impact, the boat exploded.”
“Excuse me.”
“After the boat exploded, the emperor fell into the river and drowned.”
“Wait.”
“Then the celestial trampled the four eunuchs to near death.”
“I said wait! You lost me when you said a celestial fell from the heavens.”
“I’m just telling you what was told to me, Young Master.” The woman lowered her head. Her face was a bit red as if she were embarrassed to be telling such an outlandish story. “But these words came straight out of a eunuch’s mouth. The emperor has died, and you are next in line to the throne.”
An odd expression appeared on the young man’s face. “No one ever prepared me for ascension to the throne.”
“Sometimes unexpected things happen,” the woman said. “Your cousin left behind no heirs, and you’re the only living relative of the previous emperor. As such, you’re the person most fit for the throne. Congratulations, Young Master.”
“…What you were saying before, about the celestial. Where is the celestial now?”
The woman shook her head. “No one knows,” she said. “After destroying the emperor’s boat and thrashing the emperor’s eunuchs, the celestial simply walked away.”
“And no one followed him?”
“The celestial took on the form of a woman,” the woman said. “And people tried to follow her, but they couldn’t. The earth shrinks beneath her feet as she walks. Every step she takes is equivalent to a hundred of ours.”
The young man frowned. “Does anyone know why she descended?”
“Perhaps it was the will of the heavens,” the woman said. “Your cousin lost the Mandate of Heaven, and the heavens let it be known.”
“This … is the first time in history since the dragon throne was established that a celestial smote an emperor, correct?”
“As far as I know, that’s right, Young Master.”
“And the emperor that was slain was my cousin. Does that mean a celestial is going to come down and kill me too?”
The woman pursed her lips, but her expression relaxed in the next moment. “As long as you are a fair and just ruler who refrains from drinking too much like your cousin, the Mandate of Heaven shall remain with you.”
The young man stared at the woman. “Are you sure about that?” His expression darkened as he stood up and walked towards the window in the dining room. He looked up at the clouds and sighed. It seemed like he’d have to recruit many capable ministers and officials if he wanted to keep his head. Perhaps he could even let them do everything. If the heavens were unhappy, they’d take their anger out on them instead.