Empress Mu leaned against the large pillow behind her, fiddling with a Dragon Phoenix Button rope she had pulled down from the hanging curtains. Her face, haggard from illness and the torment of Five Stone Powder, looked very pale, even with a few fine lines at the corners of her mouth, especially evident when she pressed her lips together.
She curled her lips and her fingers wrapped around the silk thread of the rope, saying, "When I was conferred as the Empress of the Palace, I knew he had another woman in his heart. When a nickname slipped from his mouth, I knew how I should face my husband. Behaving as rulers and ministers, treating each other politely is the only way for me to endure these long years in the deep palace."
