"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" Zhaoxia cried out in alarm.
"Zhaoxia, I am here." A somewhat weak but still composed voice came from inside.
A moment later, an elderly palace attendant appeared, shielding the empress as she hurried out.
"Your Majesty! Your face!" Zhaoxia looked up in delighted relief, only to see blood on the empress's face. By the time she registered it, she had already rushed forward.
"The injury is minor. Do not panic. Get outside first!" The empress clasped her hand with one hand. At this critical moment, she was calmer than anyone else.
Zhaoxia's eyes reddened. Her Majesty looked so disheveled-she had suffered!
But this was no time to examine her. Eunuchs and palace maids continued to flee from various places or rush inside to rescue others. They gathered together, taking temporary shelter in the open ground outside the palace hall.
The empress stood surrounded by them, but at her insistence, everyone spread out a little and kept clear of the buildings.
"Your Majesty, let me examine your wound." Finally able to breathe a little easier, Zhaoxia remembered it again.
"No need!" The empress drew a handkerchief from her sleeve herself and gently wiped away the alarming blood on her face. Zhaoxia examined her carefully, then sighed in relief. "Fortunately, it is only a slight scrape. It will not leave a mark."
Only after discovering that her forehead had merely been grazed, and that the apparent blood came from no more than a little scraped skin, did she feel reassured.
Given the empress's status, even a slight scrape should have warranted immediately summoning an imperial physician to apply medicine, but under the present circumstances, the empress naturally would not permit it.
"Ah! Help! Save us!"
"Help!"
"Ah!"
Just as the empress signaled for people to help the injured