"Hwanje! I concede defeat. I'll accept her as your concubine but definitely not the empress."
The dowager empress had woken that morning to degrading accusations of upsetting the peace of the palace and of course, the nation. Vehemently, she rebutted the accusations but the fiercer she defended herself, the deeper she dug a hole for herself.
It's been a flurry of emotion for her as the temperature around the room dropped with the fact her son threw allegations at her without warning. To take the sting out of the chill she accepted to take in a woman she loathes so much.
The emperor hung on his lips a fearful smile which spoke unknown volume as he walked closer to her to whisper and watched triumphantly as the dowager's shoulder slouched down in surrender, a defeated look on her face. He knew she was innocent but she still held key to power;power to usurp his hidden enemies' power, his mother held that which he could exploit and he wasn't sorry he did.