Imperial Palace.
The old emperor slumped in the dragon throne as if boneless, looking weak and staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.
He was still in the same outfit he wore when he met the protagonist earlier, entirely cloaked in black, revealing only a pair of bloodshot, furtively glancing tiger eyes.
Humph!
Beneath the dragon throne, the regal empress sat on a smoothly polished small stool, snorting coldly, obviously displeased with the old emperor's improper posture.
The empress participating in state affairs by sitting on a small stool was a feature of the Great Xia Dynasty.
That stool was passed down from the ancestors of the Zhao clan to warn the empress.
The Zhao royal family was aware of their own issues, so they accepted the empress's involvement in politics.
However, there is a distinction between ruler and minister.
Even the empress, at the imperial court, is a subject of the emperor and must not overstep.
