[Backport 1.8.latest] [Bug] Fix scenarios where `--empty` flag pushes `limit 0` into metadata queries #10863

Job	Run time
code-quality	59s
build packages	17s
unit test / python 3.8	1m 44s
unit test / python 3.9	1m 30s
unit test / python 3.10	1m 2s
unit test / python 3.11	50s
verify packages / python 3.8 / ubuntu-latest	33s
verify packages / python 3.9 / ubuntu-latest	34s
verify packages / python 3.10 / ubuntu-latest	33s
verify packages / python 3.11 / ubuntu-latest	34s
verify packages / python 3.8 / macos-12	1m 18s
verify packages / python 3.9 / macos-12	50s
verify packages / python 3.10 / macos-12	1m 13s
verify packages / python 3.11 / macos-12	53s
verify packages / python 3.8 / windows-latest	2m 9s
verify packages / python 3.9 / windows-latest	1m 19s
verify packages / python 3.10 / windows-latest	1m 56s
verify packages / python 3.11 / windows-latest	2m 7s
	20m 21s

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