The sight of his picture on the cover of the magazine carries Pu Yi back to Manchuria. The Japanese have decided that, having served as Head of State for the past two years, Henry Pu Yi is now to be emperor of Manchukuo.
Henry arrives at his outdoor coronation wearing the traditional robes of the Qing Dynasty. With Japanese officials looking on, he bows to the four points of the compass. Then, as the imperial seal is pressed to the instrument of coronation, Eastern Jewel congratulates Elizabeth. "You're an empress again," she brightly exclaims. She then enthusiastically confides to Elizabeth that she wants to bomb Shanghai. "I hate China," she tells the newly restored empress. "I hate you," Elizabeth replies sullenly. From the sidelines, Amakasu snaps photos.
At the coronation ball that evening, Amakasu supervises the filming of the festivities. Elizabeth and Eastern Jewel arrive stoned on opium. The Japanese Army High Command is also present. General Ishikari (Hideo Takamatsu) congratulates Henry on behalf of the Japanese Emperor. During this ceremony Elizabeth hides out on the second floor balcony. Amakasu turns his camera from the military pomp to film Elizabeth. He stares at her with stony eyes, then follows her with the camera as she descends to the main floor.
While the orchestra plays a Strauss waltz, Elizabeth does not join the dancers. Instead, she sits at the end of the hall and eats daffodils from a flower arrangement. She stares vacantly as she stuffs the poisonous flowers into her mouth. Nearby, Henry's brother, Pu Chieh, introduces his Japanese wife, Princess Hiro Saga, to various dignitaries. Pu Chieh is wearing a full-dress Japanese uniform. His wife is pregnant.
When Henry is told of his wife's eccentric activities, he leaves a meeting with the High Command and confronts her. Elizabeth tells her puffed up husband that he's blind to the reality of his situation: that Amakasu is the most powerful man in Manchukuo, to which Pu Yi scoffs. When she asks why he doesn't make love to her anymore, Henry says that it is because she has become an opium addict. She tries to tell him how easily opium can be obtained in Manchukuo but Henry doesn't want to hear it. She then asks to have a child. "You must have an heir." Henry changes the subject by bring up their invitation to Tokyo. He tells her that he's decided to go alone. When she says that she would never go to Japan, Henry angrily tells her to go to her room. As she leaves, she sarcastically raises a toast to the new emperor. "Ten thousand years to His Majesty the Emperor!" Henry abruptly stands in the face of her affront, but as the toast is picked up by the assembled guests a smile crosses his face.