THE NIGHT EMPEROR: 夜安王 【The Night Emperor Book 1】| ✔️

Chapter 2 The Ascension

Present

In his private bathhouse, a young man was taking a bath in a round wooden tub, his bath water was covered with the soft petals of tuberose and jasmine. The man's eyes were closed, his long black hair tied up in a bun on top of his head. He leaned his back on one side of the wooden tub, the bathwater covering just under his shoulders. His exposed skin was like porcelain, fair and without any blemish, with a slight rosy tinge on his cheeks from the heat of the warm bath. His body looked slighter than other men his age, which gave him an air of fragility. However, as his lush eyelashes fluttered and his eyes snapped open, the sharpness and determination in his eyes came into focus.

The man stepped out of his bath gracefully, water droplets running down his slim waist. Immediately, two servants came forward to attend to him, bringing his bathrobe to cover his body. He then walked towards the connecting dressing room and stopped as he took in the emperor's ceremonial robe in front of him. The robe was elegantly made with a black top and crimson bottom. Golden dragons were embroidered on each dark sleeve, while other embroidery patterns were scattered across the fabric which included various mythical animals, the sun, the moon, and different star constellations. There were a total of twelve motifs that were embroidered all over the robe with patches of fine embroidery delicately sewn at each hem of the clothing.

The young man's face showed no signs of the hailstorm of emotions that he was experiencing on the inside. He took his bathrobe off and walked towards the full-length mirror situated at one corner of the room. Another set of servants came up and started dressing him in his ceremonial robe. The robe was fastened by a belt with a red decorative fabric attached to it that fell over the bottom half of the robe. Once the ceremonial robe was fastened and secured, another servant brought out a beaded coronation crown that was laid on a silk cushion.

The beaded crown was custom-made for him as per tradition. No two crowns were the same. The base of the crown was a black velvet cylinder dressed with golden threads and topped with a black rectangular board that was slightly tilted to the front. Twelve strings of colored beads dangled off the front and back edges of the board with each string carrying exactly twelve beads, while black silk ropes held a piece of yellow jade on each side of the board. 

The crown was carefully placed on his head and fastened with the attached red silk rope. His hair was then pinned in place within the crown with a golden hairpin that went through the base of the crown. While looking at the beads in front of him, the young man remembered hearing that the imperial crown maker took to himself to make sure that his father's coronation crown only had red beads on it because of how strong of an emperor he would become. His own crown, on the other hand, had beads of navy blue, green, yellow, and white, but there were no red beads in sight. He let out an inaudible sigh and looked at himself through the mirror one last time before heading out.

Outside, an open palanquin was ready for him. The palanquin had a roof that was supported by wooden beams on all four corners that were adorned with intricately designed carvings. On each side of the palanquin, sheets of white organza were draped over its frames. A servant lifted up the white organza on one side of the palanquin for the young man to enter. Once he was seated, the palanquin bearers lifted him up before they were on their way to the coronation ceremony.

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"I can't believe that it's finally the coronation of Crown Prince Ye An (夜安太子). With the rate that the Empress Mother was going, I thought that she would never in a million years let her grandson claim his rightful place." The young and bashful Sze Chang (施昌) quipped, watching the Empress Mother seated on top of the stairs of the enormous plaza in her ceremonial dress.