The mother and son were helpless, unable to control their own fate. The so-called Empress Dowager and Emperor were merely empty titles; they had no power to make decisions and could only go along.
Watching the deputy general lead his men out through the main gate, an Elder said gravely, "Luo Da'an won't harm His Majesty and the Empress Dowager, will he?"
Lu Yuan remained silent. The other Elders knew this was hard to say.
They all understood that, in a certain sense, the Emperor and Empress Dowager carried the same significance as the Business Mirror—just as Shang Chaozong had demanded the Business Mirror be handed over.
The reasoning was simple. They had submitted to another, yet still separately upheld an Emperor and Empress Dowager. Could that be justified? You could say the mother and son were no longer Emperor and Empress Dowager, but that was only your own claim. Others probably would not see it that way.
If Shang Chaozong truly insisted on demanding the mother and son, they did not even know what reason they could use to refuse...
In the courtyard, the deputy general asked the mother and son to wait, then went inside to report.
The mother and son were incomparably uneasy—one might say terrified—as though awaiting their final judgment.
They had been Emperor and Empress Dowager for some time and had gained some experience. They were not fools. Faced with such a situation, they more or less knew what dangers their former identities as the Emperor and Empress Dowager of Qin Kingdom might bring.
Yet from beginning to end, they had been unable to control their own fate. They did not want to be Emperor and Empress Dowager, nor did they want to surrender to one side after another, but it was not up to