Inside the soaring, gold-pillared expanse of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. One thousand banquet tables of carved rosewood stretched from the central white-jade stage out onto the open marble terraces of the Grand Imperial Plaza.
At the highest northern dais, atop the nine-step Golden Dragon Throne, sat sixty-eight-year-old Emperor Qian Long of the Great Qian Kingdom.
For the past two months, ever since Second Prince Qian Ye had bribed the Chief Eunuch. Of the Imperial Bedchamber to replace the Emperor’s evening lotus tea with a slow-acting Soul-Dulling Lethargy Decoction. The once-vigorous monarch had been reduced to a pale, half-comatose shadow.
He could barely lift his heavy eyelids for ten minutes at a time.
Even now, propped up against embroidered dragon cushions with a thick sable robe tucked over his trembling knees, Emperor Qian Long’s breathing was shallow and wheezing. His clouded, bloodshot eyes struggled to focus on the ten thousand guests gathered below the dais.
Standing at the foot of the Dragon Throne, Second Prince Qian Ye [Regressor Halo: 10%] wiped a trickle of static-induced nosebleed from his upper lip. Turning slightly away from the front tables, he exchanged a covert, venomous glance with the crow-tattooed Blood-Crow Cult Eunuch overseeing the royal wine pantry behind the eastern silk screen.
