Frankly the odd thing is that dowager is usually used to refer to a widowed empress, while here the husband is still alive and kicking. The term is eastern in origin, but I'm eating it more often in Europe as well.
*hearing it more often
In the context I usually see it, like in different manhwa, it's just referring to the mother of an emperor.
After writing my previous comment, I looked it up, and apparently terms like "emperor" and "empress" were used in Europe at some point, which I didn't know. I thought they had pretty much always used "king" and "queen."
Ah your doubt was about empress and emperor not dowager in Europe?? Bro
Although the term emperor is used to refer to kings in Asia, that word had already been used in Europe for centuries, such as Emperor Charlemagne in the 9th century, emperor Charles V in the 16th century or when Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor.
Romans had emperor's as well
You're going back reeeaally far. I figured this took place at the earliest in the 1850s (but I'm only basing that assertion on the style of their carriages). Then again it's fantasy, so for all I know this could be the year 3000 where they're from.
Also, I always assume stories like these are taking inspiration more from British nobility and monarchy because of the way the characters look. But, yeah you're right, the author totally could've taken inspiration from other parts of Europe where emperors ruled instead of kings. It just seems so weird, because I pretty much never see those terms in these types of stories.
Does anyone else think it's weird that they're using eastern terms like "empress dowager" even though this is more of a European setting and they're also using terms like "dame" and "duke"? That kinda threw me a bit when I first started reading this. Then again, I don't really know anything about Korean history, so I don't know whether or not they eventually had European influence.