Standing with the emperor, a woman probably in her late fifties dressed in full royal regalia smiled appreciatively at the empress's royal attire and adornment of gold. A mother of a nation should be beautiful and dazzling.
"Empress min , you look very charming today", she said admiringly.
"Thank you empress dowager Myung, you don't look too bad yourself", she replied sarcastically with emphasis on 'too bad yourself'.
Detecting sarcasm in her comment, the empress dowager smiled, but her smile was laced with resentment... resentment for the woman who made her an enemy right from the moment she became the empress.
During the dying time of the former emperor, the emperor decreed that Kang Yoo, his nephew will take over the throne as he didn't have any male child.
Emperor Ji had many concubines and one consort who gave birth to princesses but his empress was childless. Yet, he loved his empress very much despite her childlessness. Once, he promised her that whomever gave birth to a son would have to give up to her as the biological and legal mother.
Unfortunately, no one did much to the disappointment of the emperor but he never stopped loving his empress. Despite that he loved his empress very much,he had taken many other women for procreation owing to the empress's childlessness.
He fell gravely ill, and at that moment he assessed all the princes of his younger brothers. But the youngest son of his immediate younger brother stood out among the rest.
So as to ensure posterity was maintained and the throne secured, he immediately announced him as the crown prince of the nation and decreed that his marriage will take place after careful selection.During the selection process, his youngest brother(emperor's youngest brother) attempted treason. He was angry he was not made the crown prince and heir apparent to the throne as he felt he was the next in line.
The empress took matters into her own hands and appointed a lady of the Myung clan, her distant relative the crown princess.
The west faction opposed it vehemently and proposed their own daughter to be the crown princess. They could accept the present empress is from the south faction but will not condone the fact that the next empress would come from there .
Empress Myung is a respected empress but the west faction don't fully support her as they believe she's not their own . They want an empress from the West faction.
After a careful deliberation on the family's daughter whose influence would be on par with the present empress power, they chose the daughter of the Min clan whose power and authority was based on military strength.
When the empress saw the opposition was getting out of hand in addition to the recent treason attempt, she conceded but made sure the lady suffered tremendous palace teachings.
The emperor finally died before the lady could complete her training. Soon, the mourning period was over and it was coronation time but the dowager insisted the emperor be crowned first as his yet-to-be empress was not through with training. Because of this,the wedding was delayed and this irritated the lady. She wouldn't have minded much after her wedding if the emperor had loved her. But once faced the emperor's rejection, she turned her anger on the empress dowager.
"Empress dowager , sorry to sound rude but what are you doing in the emperor's palace? Aren't you supposed to be in the ceremony ground already?", she said rudely.
The empress dowager chuckled and replied that she came to accompany them to the ceremony ground since this year's celebration conceded with the homecoming of her granddaughter.
"As far as I know you have only 2 granddaughters , one is probably in the ceremony ground and one is currently outside the palace staying with her maternal grandmother or ... wait...is my Ha-eun coming back today?",she asked while looking at the emperor.
The emperor nodded and told her he wanted it to be a surprise for her, who knew the empress dowager would spill it out before the girl's arrival.
The empress wanted to jump up with joy at the news. It's been two weeks since she last saw her daughter but it feels like 2 decades already.
Smiling sincerely, she made to ask more about her arrival time but heard that voice; the voice of the one she has been missing for the past two weeks
"Father , mother, grandmother...! I'm back", she cried excitedly.
The empress turned around and ran towards her daughter not minding her position.
"Dignity! empress", the empress dowager bellowed in irritation at her crude behavior devoid of dignity.
The empress hugged her daughter, turned around to answer the empress dowager more crudely and savagely.
"Who minds dignity when they see their child after a long time, well you wouldn't understand since you've never experienced the joy of motherhood".
"Min hee ! how dare you talk to the empress dowager in that manner and with that tone?", the emperor roared angrily, his own dignity as the monarch gone.
The empress dowager held his hands and shook her head as if saying he shouldn't be angry as she's used to it. She swallowed the invisible lump in her throat and blinked back the tears threatening to spill freely.
The empress ignored them both and turned to hold her child's hand but she moved backwards, a look of displeasure and disdain etched on her face as she looked at her mother cautiously.
The empress felt sad at her own daughter rejection but decided to apologize to the empress dowager and deal with her later.
After apologizing, the emperor was surprised at his empress behavior but the dowager remained unfazed since she knew that a storm was brewing.
Exchange of pleasantries done and apologies seemingly accepted, the royal family trod together towards the ceremony venue for the commencement of the day's activities.
The crown prince and prince song who had already arrived before them, exchanged pleasantries before the festival commenced fully.