Chapter 73

On the highest tier were seated the Emperor, the Queen and the Emperor's concubines. Originally, the Queen was supposed to sit on the right of the Emperor in the center, whereas his concubines on his left in the order of their ranks. Today, they gathered to celebrate the Emperor's concubine Su. Accordingly, the Emperor's first concubine Ye yielded her seat to Su, the heroine of today's event. The second tier was reserved for the princes of the four palaces and their wives who occupied their seats in the order of their ranks.

In the third tier, the concubines who received a unique concubine number from the Emperor sat on the right side while those who didn't sat behind them. Their unique number meant that the Emperor favored them and determined their hierarchy in lieu of official titles.

Kyosul didn't know how many concubines didn't have unique numbers from the Emperor, so she was surprised to see more than twenty such concubines seated there.