Crown Princess (Tentative) (1)
The imperial palace was an incredibly large establishment and took up a fifth of the entire imperial capital. When the empire was founded, the entirety of the capital initially was what was inside the current imperial palace walls, but as the empire expanded, all of what was within the old city walls became the imperial palace.
The imperial palace was His Majesty the Emperor’s residence, but direct members of the imperial family lived in detached palaces within the inner palace. In addition, they say that the close vassals also had residences inside the inner palaces under certain circumstances. For the matter, there actually were two duke families, distantly related to the imperial family, that had their residences within the inner court. Their residences weren’t referred to as detached palaces but they also were not allowed to be connected with the main palace either.
The imperial palace was surrounded by its outer palace walls that surrounded the inner palace walls. Between the outer and inner walls were a vast garden and a couple of government buildings. Nobles were allowed to freely enter this area, and government officials also commute here every day. The dormitories for government officials and attendants who worked at the palace, as well as the residences for the higher-ranking attendants were located here as well. Pop-up stores were approved to be on the premises ,though you needed to have blue blood, so this area was kind of like a bustling city by itself.
You weren’t allowed to go past the inner palace walls without approval, and even palace attendants had to go through security checks before entering. The only people who were exempt from the security check were high-ranking nobles. The inner palace walls were heavily protected by knights, and rumor has it that they can withstand an army of ten thousand. Within the inner palace walls was the Empire’s crux. The heart of the Empire. It goes without saying that it would be thoroughly guarded.
The main palace was the outer palace as well as the center of political affairs. The Emperor’s Office oversaw politics. The Crown Prince’s Office supported the Emperor’s Office. The Senate discussed legislation and the Imperial Court was the pinnacle of the Empire’s justice. As such, high-ranking nobles who were appointed their positions by the Emperor were hard at work. In addition to the offices for each of these bureaus, there were countless hearing chambers, conference rooms, banquet rooms, salon rooms, and dance halls, all of which were used for politics.
Tea parties and evening parties were hosted year-round at the imperial palace, which may seem like the nobles were playing around, but these were significant political events, meaning these were the nobles’ jobs. It was the nobility’s duty to run the political affairs of the Empire. For example, when a new law is being considered, it cannot be decided in a discussion lasting a couple of hours by the high-ranking noble senators at the Senate. As expected of the nobility, they would first host a soiree at one of the senator’s residences to gather and come up with their faction’s stance on the proposed bill. Then, they would debate with the opposing faction at a banquet held at the imperial palace, lightly discuss with His Majesty to hear his thoughts on their opinion, iterate on their stances, and compromise. Then, at another evening party, they would let the other nobles know, and finally, with His Majesty the Emperor present, the Senate will go through the official debate and decide the resolution of the bill. Most of the discussions and decisions were made at evening parties.
When conflicts arose between territories, nobles would repeatedly attend the banquets at the palace to create an advantage by increasing allies and conciliating with the nobles who were siding with the opposing family. Watching all of this, His Majesty the Emperor would give the final verdict at the Imperial Court, so the way a person handled those evening parties became all the more important. That is, the way they act: manners, etiquette, elegant behavior, high-quality yet not ostentatious clothing, witty and sophisticated conversational skills, having an eye for the arts, and charisma. In the aristocratic world of politics, it was essential to have these attributes in order to have political influence and power — no matter how smart you are, no one would pay attention to you if you only bull-headedly spoke of ideals and logical arguments at these evening parties. Evening parties were important. That was why noble ladies were made to rigorously study etiquette and the arts.
Noble wives had the very important role of supporting their husbands and doing their best at evening parties. To do this, they attend the tea parties held at the imperial palace and strategically make allies and lower the reputations of enemies to help their husbands. It goes without saying that your behavior, artistic tastes, and other qualities are potential areas that would be used to your opponent’s advantage. So, if you accidentally wore the same dress to Her Majesty the Empress’s tea party and lowered her opinion of you, your husband’s position in the political world may plummet, which has actually happened before. Women couldn’t let their guard down even when picking outfits. I had thought it was a waste to wear a dress once to a socializing event and toss it, but if I think of it as an investment for my husband’s political campaigns, it might not be that big a deal.
Do you understand how the tea parties where it seems like everyone is only ohohoho-ing and the evening parties where it seems like everyone is only hahaha-ing while they dance and laugh were actually scenes of politics? I also didn’t know. When Mother and my sisters kept scolding me non-stop during my training period, I didn’t really understand, but after starting to attend tea parties and evening parties, I finally understood. Socializing was terrifying.
In addition to feudal lords, there were a couple of vassal countries in the Empire. The Empire also had many allied countries, and they would send envoys for goodwill year-round; sometimes, hostile countries would send envoys to investigate the Empire’s current state of affairs. Hosting banquets every time any envoy comes is politics is the job of an Emperor. There were times when a war broke out because of a failed banquet, so these must be handled with care. When welcoming envoys from a hostile country, it was imperative that a lot of attention and preparation was paid to each and every detail, which cost an astronomical amount of money.
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