It wasn't a good decision by the author to hide the drama with the empress dowager off screen. although I suspect it's to keep it more in the order the main character encounters it, it made it too abrupt. I wonder if we will see a more extended fight, like the dowager fighting back.
In real Asian monarchies, the principle of filial piety tended to give real empress dowagers some serious political leverage. You can see that in a recent K-drama, "The Last Empress". Emperor or not, the monarch had to respect his mother's opinions, and she could often leverage that into some serious political power. The most extreme case visible to the West was the last empress dowager in China. Even though this is supposed to be a western culture, the writer is clearly going for something like that, here.
@Louzan I remember having a massive crush on a classmate in first grade.