by alpha0

     In a certain reign there was a lady not of the first rank 
     whom the emperor loved more than any of the others. The 
     grand ladies with high ambitions thought her a presumptuous 
     upstart, and lesser ladies were still more resentful. Everything 
     she did offended someone. Probably aware of what was happening, 
     she fell seriously ill and came to spend more time at home than 
     at court.

     It may have been because of a bond in a former life that she 
     bore the emperor a beautiful son, a jewel beyond compare. The 
     emperor was in a fever of impatience to see the child on the 
     earliest day possible. When he was brought to the court, the 
     paulownia was full in bloom in the garden. The emperor's eldest 
     son was the grandson of the Minister of the Right. The world 
     assumed that with this powerful support he would one day be 
     named crown prince; but the new child was far more beautiful.