beta
They announced the consort as "Empress Dowager" when she entered the ballroom?* I feel like the only reason they announced her like that was to disrespect the empress, the title doesn't fit at all (she's not a widow). I swear the consort has her hand so far up the emperor's ass she could puppeteer him like a muppet.
*This comes from someone who knows nothing of royal/noble etiquette, but it looks disrespectful af to me.