The air in the Council Hall was thick, charged with the tension of an argument about to erupt. General Hu, his face flushed and a vein throbbing at his temple, slammed his fist on the table.
"...and if my men on the southern border don't receive that runic steel armor by the next lunar cycle, the Merchant Republic will continue to claim my men's lives on the cheap! Their mercenaries use enchanted swords while my soldiers fight with shoddy iron!"
"And if I grant you the budget for those luxury armors, General!" Minister Zhao retorted, his beady eyes glittering with malice. "The empire won't be able to afford to feed those same soldiers this winter! What's more important, General? To starve to death in pretty armor or to fight on a full stomach?"
"A dead soldier doesn't need food, Minister!" General Hu roared, leaning over the table. "And your austerity policies are killing my men!"
"And your insatiable appetite is emptying our coffers!" Zhao hissed. "Perhaps if your tactics were less... costly...!"
Just as General Hu opened his mouth to unleash a retort that would have shaken the walls, the words died in his throat. Minister Zhao, who was about to launch another venomous barb, snapped his mouth shut with an audible click. The loud, heated hall fell into a silence so absolute and sudden it was deafening. Every minister, every general, every eunuch froze, as if a petrification spell had swept through the room.
Empress Wei Shuyin had entered.
She made no sound. Her steps were the same as always, measured and silent. Her expression was the same mask of cold, impassive elegance. She wore the same imperial robes as the day before. Nothing about her had visibly changed. But the effect she had on the room was new, overwhelming. The very air around her seemed to warp; the dust motes dancing in the sunbeams stilled in her wake. She was no longer simply a powerful woman; she was the embodiment of power itself, a nexus of authority that demanded silence and submission without uttering a single word.
Emperor Wei Zheng, seated on his throne, noted the unnatural silence and frowned, irritated by the interruption. "What is it? Why has the council stopped?"
No one answered. All eyes were fixed on the Empress as she walked calmly to her seat beside the throne. Grand Councilor Bai, an old man whose wisdom lay in his ability to perceive the hidden currents of power, let out a shaky breath, a mixture of awe and pure reverence.
"Your Imperial Majesty..." he said, his voice barely a whisper, "look at the Empress."
Wei Zheng finally turned his head to look at his wife. And then, even he felt it. That subtle yet undeniable pressure. That perfect harmony with the space around her, as if the air itself bowed to her. It was unmistakable.
"She... she has entered the Sovereign's Domain," Grand Councilor Bai declared, his voice trembling with emotion.
The declaration broke the spell. A murmur of disbelief rippled through the hall, immediately transforming into a wave of euphoria and astonishment. A second Sovereign! In their generation! It was an omen of unprecedented power.
The ministers and generals, previously locked in their disputes, scrambled to their feet to offer their congratulations. Their words revealed their own agendas and hopes with an almost comical transparency.
"Congratulations, Your Imperial Majesty!" exclaimed General Hu, his dispute with Zhao utterly forgotten. His face shone with joy. "A second Sovereign to protect our borders! The Golden Sword Sect and the Merchant Republic will tremble! Now we can expand the campaign!"
"A blessing from the heavens!" Minister Zhao interjected, grinning from ear to ear. "Her Majesty's power will secure our trade routes and silence those moneylenders from the Republic! Our economy will flourish!"
A minor noble, whose fiefdom bordered the Domain of the Purifying Flame, was nearly weeping with joy. "Two Sovereigns on the Dragon Throne! The Great Wei Empire is invincible! Those fanatical warrior-priests will no longer dare to demand our holy sites!"
"The Wei lineage is truly blessed!"
"A golden age dawns for the empire!"
The hall filled with a chorus of feverish praise and congratulations. Wei Shuyin, who had already taken her seat beside her husband, received the avalanche of adulation with a single, infinitely elegant nod. Her face showed nothing, but her mind was a sheet of ice.
Fools, she thought, watching their excited faces. They think this strength is for them. They think it's for the empire, for their wars and their trade routes. They understand nothing. Her gaze drifted for a moment, recalling the warmth of a body in her bed, the feeling of expert hands undoing her knots, the voice of a master whispering in her ear. This power... is mine. And it is for him.
Emperor Wei Zheng rose to his feet, his face a mask of thunderous pride. He opened his arms in a grand gesture, taking in the entire room, absorbing the euphoria of his subjects. If he had any doubts, he masterfully concealed them behind a facade of imperial glee.
"A GLORIOUS DAY!" he thundered, his voice ringing with a power that now seemed a little hollower, a little less absolute. "A truly glorious day for House Wei! My Empress, my worthy and talented partner, joins me at the pinnacle of cultivation! The power of our throne has doubled! Heaven smiles upon and favors the Dragon's lineage!"
Applause and shouts of "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Empress!" filled the hall. But while his mouth spoke the words of celebration, Wei Zheng's mind was a whirlwind of bitter, dizzying confusion.
How? The thought was a silent scream echoing off the walls of his skull. How is this possible?
His gaze fell upon his wife. So calm. So perfect. So... powerful.
I... I have given up everything for my cultivation. The pleasures of the flesh. Affection. Even my own wife's bed, a mundane distraction. I have followed the arduous and lonely path of Martial Indifference with absolute devotion, purging every desire, every emotion, to achieve the purity of power. I have sacrificed my life for this Kingdom.
His gaze grew feverish, his public smile a rigid grimace.
And she... she, who has fulfilled her worldly duties, who has raised a daughter, who has managed the palace, who has lived a "normal" life... has simply... caught up to me? Just like that, overnight? Without warning?
The idea was heresy. An insult to every sacrifice he had ever made.
All my self-denial? All my years of solitary meditation and iron discipline... have they been for nothing? Could it be that my brother's path... that path of decadence, of wine, of pleasure... is, in some twisted way, more efficient? Is it possible the Dao favors the hedonist over the ascetic? No... Impossible! It must be an anomaly! A fluke!
But the spiritual pressure emanating from her was no fluke. It was real. Tangible. And it was equal to his own. He felt a pang of panic, an insecurity he hadn't felt since he was a young prince living in the shadow of his brilliant older brother. He needed to reassert control. He needed to control the narrative of this event he could not comprehend.
"THIS MUST BE CELEBRATED!" he proclaimed, his voice drowning out his own doubts. "An event so auspicious cannot go unnoticed! Heralds!"
A eunuch scurried forward.
"Proclaim it throughout the realm! Let a banquet be prepared in three days' time in the Hall of Eternal Harmony! A banquet to celebrate that House Wei now boasts the strength of two Sovereigns! Let the entire world see our power and tremble!"

Hours later, Empress Wei Shuyin was in her chambers, watching from her balcony as palace servants scurried about like ants in a disturbed hive. Red lanterns, bolts of silk, carts laden with provisions... the machinery of the empire preparing for another display of power. A sigh of genuine, intense irritation escaped her.
So much bureaucracy, she thought, pinching the bridge of her nose. So many useless rituals. Another banquet. More false smiles, more empty speeches, more drunken generals and scheming ministers. All to feed my husband's wounded ego and the ambitions of the court.
The annoyance washed over her, a heavy, familiar feeling. This new power seemed only to have brought her more duties, more tedious responsibilities.
Just as the irritation threatened to sour her mood, a new thought cut through it, as unexpected as a ray of sun on a cloudy day.
A small, almost imperceptible, mischievous smile—the first she had worn in solitude in over twenty years—touched the corner of her lips. It was an expression that did not belong on the face of the Ice Empress, but to the young Shuyin who had shared secrets with a brilliant prince.
Although... she thought, the smile widening slightly as a playful glint appeared in her golden eyes, my favorite drunkard has always loved banquets. I suppose I'll have to endure it. Someone has to make sure he doesn't cause too much trouble.
The thought filled her with a warmth that had nothing to do with power. Her immense breakthrough, the achievement that had shaken the foundations of the court and thrown her husband into a crisis of faith, was, in her mind, simply another excuse. Another opportunity to create an occasion where she could see, perhaps even speak to, the only man who mattered to her.
Her priorities had shifted, silently but irrevocably. The empire could wait. The master, however, deserved a good show. And perhaps, some good wine.