Kusuriya no Hitorigoto

Chapter 25

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That poisoning a.s.sa.s.sination commotion turned out to be rather serious.
Shaoran came up to Maomao, asking her to spit out everything she knew.

The back of the laundry shed was the maidservants" gossip spot. They were sitting on the wooden boxes there, eating hawthorn that were lined up like dango. [T/N: bingtanghulu]

(There"s probably no way that she thinks I am related to the incident.)

The image of Shaoran stuffing her cheeks with hawthorn while swinging her legs made her look younger than she was.

"It"s a maid from Maomao"s places, right. One who eats poison."

"I guess so."

She didn"t lie.

"I only just heard about what kind of person, but I don"t know anything. Are they okay?"

"I guess so."

She skirted the topic again, somehow feeling very uncomfortable about it. Shaoran, at a loss for what to do, pouted.

Shaoran swung her skewer that had one piece of hawthorn left. It looked like a blood-red coral ball kanzas.h.i.+.

"Well, then. Did you get any kanzas.h.i.+ and stuff?"

"I guess."

Four in all, imbued with grat.i.tude. She also included Consort Gyokuyou"s necklace.

"How nice. Then, I guess you"ll be leaving here."

(Mm?)

"What did you just say?"

"Huh? Aren"t you going to leave?"

Infa had been insistently saying it.
It was her own self who brushed it off.

She was troubled at her failure.
She shook her head, falling into self-hatred.

"What"s wrong?"

She looked at Shaoran who gazed at her dubiously.

"Tell me everything about that."

Shaoran puffed out her chest at the sight of an unusually motivated Maomao.

"Kay, will do."

The chatterbox girl taught her how to use the kanzas.h.i.+.

Rihaku was summoned after training.
While sweating, he handed his edgeless sword to his subordinate.

A delicate eunuch handed over a bamboo slip and a woman"s kanzas.h.i.+.
It was the only one among the several he handed out before, the kanzas.h.i.+ decorated with peach-coloured coral.

He didn"t think anyone would take it seriously, knowing the courtesy, but it turns out it wasn"t the case.
It would be bad to embarra.s.s her, but to actually go through with it was also troubling.
However, it would be a loss if she was a beauty.

He looked at the wooden slip as he thought of ways to gently refuse.

"Jade Palace Maomao"

That was written there.

He handed it out to only one of the court ladies of the Jade Palace.
It could only be that expressionless maid.

Mystified, Rihaku stroked his chin as he prepared for a change of clothes.

The Inner Palace was forbidden to actual men.
Rihaku, who didn’t particular want to be cut down, was in the obviously forbidden garden. He probably shouldn"t be here after this, it would be troubling if there was.*

Though it was such a terrifying place, if he had special permission, he could summon a court lady from within that.
This kanzas.h.i.+ was one of the ways of doing that. One of the many.

Borrowing the office of the central gate, he waited for the person he summoned.
The room, which wasn"t really wide, had two persons" number of tables and chairs. The doors on both sides each had a eunuch standing there.

A skinny, short maid appeared from the door of the Inner Palace side.
Freckles and spots covered the area around her nose.

"Who the h.e.l.l are you?"

"I get that often."

The maid, who said that with blunt indifference, covered her nose with her palm. A face he"s seen before appeared.

"Don"t tell me you"re disguised with make-up?"

"I get that often."

He took in the truth without a look of displeasure.
He got the gist of it.
That she was that poison taster maid.

However, he just couldn"t link that fascinating smile of a prost.i.tute when he looked at the face that was covered in spots.
It was a matter of fact that she was a mysterious person.

"However, to still call me out like this, do you know the meaning of it?"

He crossed his arms, crossed his legs too.

As the military officer with the large build was in the middle of sitting down arrogantly, the short girl confidently spoke out.

"I was thinking of returning home."

She said it without any strong feeling.
Rihaku scratched his head.

"And, you want me to help?"

"That"s right. If you can guarantee my ident.i.ty, I heard it is possible for me to return home for a short time."

She spoke out something unexpected.
He wanted to ask her, "do you know the original meaning?"

No matter, this girl who was called Maomao, seemed to be using him to go home. It wasn"t to catch the military officer.

Maybe she was bold, maybe she was reckless.

Rihaku snorted, hands on his chin.
It could be said that his behaviour was bad, he didn"t feel like correcting it.*

"The h.e.l.l? Are you saying that I going to be thoroughly used by a la.s.s?"

Rihaku is a good fellow, but he makes a scary face when he scowls.
The type of face that, when he rebukes a slackening subordinate, would reduce them to the point of even apologising for something they were unrelated to.

And yet, her brows barely twitched.
She only gazed at him, nonchalantly.

"No, I only want to give thanks to these people."

Maomao placed a tied-up bundle of wooden slips on the table.
They looked like letters of introduction.

"Meimei, Pairin, Joga"

Women names that Rihaku had heard of before. No, a lot of other men besides Rihaku should know these names.

"You mean to see the flowers of Rokushoukan?"

That was the name of the high-cla.s.s brothel that exhausts one year"s worth of silver in a single night. The names just then, were the favourites called the Three Princesses.

"If you"re worried, you"ll understand if you see this."

The girl smiled at him, only curving her lips.

"You"re joking."

It was something completely unbelievable.
At best, it was difficult to think of that a maid of such calibre has a connection with the brothel that even high-cla.s.s bureaucrats won"t touch.
What is this supposed to mean?

When he scratched his head again from the incomprehensibility of it, the girl suddenly sighed and stood up.

"What are you doing?"

"It doesn"t look like you believe me. We"re wasting time."

She smoothly took out something from her bosom.
Two kanzas.h.i.+, they were made of red crystal, and silver.

"I sincerely apologise for wasting your time. I have others."

"W, wai-"

He grabbed the wooden slips as to try take them away.
Maomao, expressionless, looked at Rihaku.

"What is it?"

He thought he lost.

"Isn"t that great? Gyokuyou-sama."

Honnyan was looking at Maomao from the gap of the door. Her complexion was better compared to the usual, she was packing with cheer.
It was strange that the person herself wasn"t usually like this.*

"Well, it"s only three days."

"I guess so."

The head maid held up the princess who used her as support to stand.

"She absolutely doesn"t understand."

"Yeah, absolutely."

The other maids were telling "Congratulations" to Maomao, but the person herself didn"t seem to understand. She replied with a carefree, "I"ll go buy souvenirs".

Consort Gyokuyou was standing by the window, gazing out.

"Good grief, that child is the pitiable one."

She sighed deeply, but a mischievous smile rose.

It was the day after Maomao’s departure when Jis.h.i.+n, who finally became a leisurely person after finis.h.i.+ng his work, visited the Jade Palace.

T/N: The author wrote a note at the bottom of this chapter lol “Flag crusher”

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