I'm not a fashinista, I'm casual minded

Isabelle stared at the maid. The maid stared at the ground.

Lyov sighed. "I assume that they will not deign to enter the room unless the empress personally allows them entry?"

The maid did not raise her eyes. "Y...Yes...Your Imperial Majesty..." She said the last words slowly, hesitating, as if the poor girl worried that simply sending their demands would somehow shift the blame onto her for them.

She sniffed, and reached down to stroke her baby Snowball's fur.

"Inform them that the empress will not get up from her meal to open the door for them. They have hands. They can use them." She spoke firmly.

She was an empress, after all.

They would not dare refuse to see her - they were here to visit, after all! So. If they wanted to be difficult...

They could not meet with her at all!

That was the only solution. The only option. If they wouldn't even walk into the room, they didn't want to see her at all!