Now that you have realized that the cheap romance in The Queen was only meant to distract you from the great political alliance that has been made, let us play with some hypotheses. None of these are spoilers but rather my own musings.
Four main characters. Two are major main characters, two are minor main characters. Two are emotionally stunted, two are emotionally labile.
Four ways to approach war. Assault. Defense. Flight. Capitulation. Two ways to keep one’s liberty. Two ways to become slaves. Two ways to deceive the enemy.
To make a court, one needs an Emperor, an Empress, an Army and Scholars.
Three characters whose actions belie their words. All three of them have power. Two with real power, one with nominal. Two are secondary characters, one is a main character. Two have went to bed together to topple the third.
A well-trained guard dog has been lent and has loyally done its duty.
Two women used, abused and discarded by the most important men in their lives. In the name of the greater good. In the name of power.
Everything is but illusion, everything is but ...
Now is the time to sit down, go back to the beginning and ACTUALLY read The Queen.
(It took this humble translator about three reads to get where TUTU was going with this. Mind you, TUTU is the one artist who actively rewards readers who are able to strip themselves of preconceived judgments and hypocrite moral tenants that have no place in a world where genocide and ethnic cleansing are the daily realities of most nations.)