A servant clutching a blade charged toward the empress but she was quick to defend herself and parried the attack easily. The servant fell back in shock at how well the empress had defended herself against him.

The empress had a very slight cut from the blade but it wasn't deep enough.

The other servants drew their weapons and stood ready to defend the queen. "Your Highness, you are bleeding," said one of the guards rushing out from behind the throne. "We must get you to the infirmary immediately!"

"Yes, yes... I am fine." The empress waved off the concerned servants who wanted to help her. She then turned to address her loyal subjects. "I have no need for your pity or concern! You may all leave now." With that, the empress dismissed them.

A guard rushed over and offered to escort the empress to the infirmary, but she waved him away. "Go on, go," she told him as he looked worriedly between her and the empress's wound.

"But Your Highness..."

With a wave of her hand, the empress made him leave. Although the party carried on, everyone was talking about what had just happened.

A sudden sound of glass shattering attracts the attention of everyone.

As I looked towards the source of sound, I saw my mother unconscious on the floor.

Immediately the party was dismissed. The maids carried mother to her room.

The Imperial doctor was contacted as soon as possible. He diagnosed her but she was still unconscious.

The doctor looked at the mother and left the room.

As he walked towards father, he said "she has been poisoned." The blade had poison on it, and the small wound was the mechanism through which the poison entered the body. Even a drop of this poison is lethal."

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"A poison?" said the emperor.

He nodded. "The poison is called Mefite. It is a powerful and dangerous poison that will kill anything within a day of exposure to it and there is no cure for this poison yet. Be prepared for the unthinkable. At best she will live till morning and at worst she will live for 5 hours."

He gave her a shot of morphine to ease the pain, but it didn't help much. The room was silent for quite some time as mother lay on the bed with her eyes closed.

Only two maids were there to take care of the mother. Father left as soon as he heard the doctor. The room is very large and spacious, with windows opening out onto a picturesque garden with flowers in full bloom.

Mother gained consciousness and sat up when I approached her, but then she quickly collapsed again.

She clutched her stomach with her hand as she gasped for air. "Mother... don't leave me..." I said in a shaky voice.

Mother smiled weakly, and whispered something inaudible to me before falling unconscious once more.

After sometime she gained concious, Mother sits on the bed and is looking at me with loving eyes. "My dear..." she says, "I have never seen my only son so grown up."

"I want to chat with my son so you two should venture out for a while." Mother sent the two maids who were only there to look after her.

One maid, Luna was her personal maid whom she had taken under her care since she was very young. She was my nanny as well, and another was the head maid.

She hugged me and with a shaky voice said "I heard everything that the doctor said. I don't want to die. I want to live a long life, watch you grow up, play with my grandchildren. I did nothing wrong but I am being punished. Even when everyone knows I will not live past tomorrow nobody is coming to check on me. I want to be with your father at the end of my life, but he is nowhere near me. I can't see my father, mother or my brothers. It's been 7 years since I last saw them. I was abandoned by them after the marriage. I wanted my parents to know they had a grandchild, I wanted my brothers to meet their niece but they denied contacting me. It's just you and me."

Mother begins to cry "Live your life, son, and don't seek revenge. Everything I say now is significant, so listen carefully. You..."

"Promise me you will fulfill it till the end."

"Now please call your father. Tell him I would like to speak with him for the last time."

"I will call him, wait for a while mother."

After jumping off the bed, I ran out of the room.

I proceeded to the main palace, to my father's chamber.