While the concubines of the harem fought for favor, the Empress was wondering when the emperor would finally die.
The emperor and I had been married since our youth, but ours was a match arranged without either of us having any say.
After all these years, we had only ever treated each other with distant courtesy.
And as my son grew older by the day, I found myself hoping more and more that His Majesty might depart this world sooner rather than later-if only so all my years of diligently managing his harem would not have been in vain.