leanosxide's Favorite

Expert Chinese historians may correct me on this, but here is why the Emperor acted the way he did with the concubines:

The higher ranked concubines represent a certain amount of influence and power in the court. For example, Lady Xiao's family (the brown haired lady who threw the mom concubine under the bus) wield political power in court and in the armies. She, as well as other concubines, cannot be sentenced blindly to death or through other grotesque methods, not unless the Emperor wants to destroy any form of backing he has in the political courts. The Emperor needs to proceed with caution on how to deal with the ladies - they are more than just concubines, but a symbol of power of the families they represent. It is likely many of them were even offered up by prestigious families, which the Emperor accepted mainly to gain support for his causes. Reading on this manga’s Emperor, it is likely the case.

Only when the Emperor stands above everything, has solidified his own power in court to run the country without depending on their families, can he truly give them the punishment and sentence they deserved. From what it looks like here, he doesn't seem to have that power. The fact that the Emperor actually shared his true feelings about the harem to the Empress is surprising and enough to show where he stands.

The Emperor generally does not involve himself in the politics of the harem - this is the Empress's duty. For the Emperor to do so means to overstep his boundaries and entirely undermine the Empress's influence, disrespecting her and mocking her authority in front of the concubines. He also doesn't have the time to. The Emperor focuses on running the country, while the Empress handles the harem, and would sometimes seek advice from Empress dowager to an extent. Most of the time, the Emperor may not know what is going on behind the scenes, and he does not need to know. If he knows, he will still hear it officially from the Empress. It is her domain, and she will be the mouthpiece. This is why many times, Emperors would ask,"is there anything you want to tell me?" If she says no, despite him being aware of the politics, then there is nothing he can do: the Empress chooses to fight in her own terms, while ensuring this burden doesn't add to his worries in focusing on his own task, that is, to run a nation after all.

If any of these concubines were to be sentenced to death, there needs to be proof that they either 1) commit treason 2) commit murder on any royalty. Generally, when it gets to this point, once the concubine is either sentenced to cold palace or death, their families usually follow suit, either by demotion (If in higher positions), or in extreme cases, extermination of nine generations (For treason). This is why there are so many wordplays and schemes, concubines laying out traps to topple the other. Very rarely, do you see them fighting in the open directly. To play harem politics, each learns how to 1) survive 2) climb up the hierarchy. Think office politics: You do not climb up the ladder by screaming and throwing a tantrum. You play the game wisely. This is what the concubines and empress are doing. The concubines fight for survival and power; the Empress fight to maintain her authority and ensures not one of them usurps her position and her life. The schemes can be extremely dirty, especially when a male foetus/baby is involved (there is potential for the child to be the next heir, therefore, solidifying the power of the mother.)

The western ideals and ways do not work here. Being direct with your words does not work. It's not the way the Chinese operates in the ancient times. In some cases, it may cause your downfall, and be used against you by other concubines. Know that there are indeed other manhwa like Cheating Men Must Die that ignores all this because well, OP MCs are OP, but also know that it is not an accurate representation of harem dynamics, and this title is doing a good job at trying to be realistic at least.

Perhaps watching the crazy popular Yanxi Palace might give you an idea of how the inner harem works. The main character starts from the bottom up, and topples every concubine with her wits and boldness and fights back schemes all without screaming bloody murder.