"Y-Yes, Your Majesty!" a few desperate voices squeaked from the floor. "Overjoyed!"
"Exactly!" Heena beamed. "So, to celebrate my miraculous recovery, everyone who signed the petition should naturally want to give me a welcome-back gift. It's only polite."
Hearing that, the nobles felt their stomachs collectively drop into their expensive shoes. They hurriedly exchanged panicked, sideways glances. They really, really wanted to ask Her Majesty a very specific question: Are you so poor that you need so many gifts?! Ever since she had taken total control of the court, it felt like she was constantly bleeding them dry. She was asking for gift after gift after gift, restructuring taxes, auditing their estates, and demanding "donations" for her various imperial projects. They were literally becoming broke because of it! Some of the lesser barons had already had to sell their summer estates just to keep up with the Empress's "friendly suggestions" for charitable contributions.
