Ahh...sweet satisfaction. What an epic chapter title, by the way.
Okay, so I'm...pretty sure there's some cultural dissonance going on or something. I cannot get a read on the emperor at all. If anyone has a better clue, do help me out here. For starters, there's probably some subtext I'm missing when he freaks out upon hearing she has a son, because I'm not sure why that's information that would make him concerned (as opposed to angry or dismissive).
Maybe I'm just too used to the Otome Conquest Target version of jackassery, but I didn't expect him to turn on the heroine so quickly either. That whole scene was a passive-aggressive catfight right in front of him, so I wouldn't think that he would feel particularly favorable towards either woman.
Then again, the original noble consort gave everything for his sake and he threw her away like nothing, so maybe I'm not supposed to be able to understand how his head works.