Mana: Before The Rise

They had already been here for a long time and Rachel was overcome with boredom when the lively sounds from outside finally entered the room.

"The bride is entering, lift the skirt, splash the good fortune water, pull the knotted red ribbon…"

Zheng Rong, the Marquis her husband was wearing a crimson robe. He maintained a serious expression as his face was splashed with good fortune water. But he couldn"t hide the joy in his eyes that stealthily went from the corners of his eyes to the tip of his eyebrows.

Rachel would have to admit that he was her type, but he was a male lead. Which is usually off-putting. The moment his gaze landed on Rachel his eyes hole face froze. The bride went and served her tea with curtesy, but it looked improper. Rachel was half-absent minded as she only responded when necessary and softly.

Wei Cui, the female lead was born in a small, ordinary family. Rachel in order to not disrupt the story too much she only acted out when necessary, doing so in such a way that it will keep the Marquis away from her.

As Such she allowed Wei Cui to experience a period of joint trial and tribulations with Zheng Rong. Now that they are in love and married, they would be entering the next part of the story where there is conflict among women.

It"s just that she won"t become the cannon fodder that helps the leads stay together. Her role as the main wife is enough of a trial in itself. Since that"s the case she doesn"t need to do anything else.

"Older Sister, I heard that you came to this household the earliest. If Wei Cui doesn"t know something in the future, I"ll have to ask you for your guidance."

"Of course," Rachel said nonchalantly.

That was the end of her night, Rachel laid in her bed tired and fell into a dreamy state. Lately she has been having some server personality changes.

The next few days where quite peaceful as the Marquis spent all his time with his new wife. As for her nothing changed in her daily schedule except, she had a new person to greet her in the mornings. Near the afternoon, Rachel was do with working and had started to embroidering handkerchiefs.

"Older Sister may join" Said Wei Cui who walked in disrespectfully.

"…." Rachel didn"t say anything as she was fully focused on what she was going. Her two-maid servant watched in awe at how Fast their Mistress was making them such beautiful handkerchiefs. Even Wei Cui was stunned, as she watched.

Just because they were awed doesn"t mean they neglected their work, the two maid servants would fold and count the pieces she would drop. When she suddenly stopped, Rachel quickly turned her head to Wei Cui"s maid servant.

"You maid servant how dare you glare at This Madam" She said with a deadly glare, the one this Rachel hated most was servant who stopped using curtsies towards someone of higher status, without a good reason why.

"Ah! Older Sister, wait. My-"

"Your servant was glaring at this Madam; she will be punished for such a thing." Rachel said without listening to Wei Cui"s arguments in defense "She will receive thirty Sticks" Rachel waved her hand as the maid servant was gagged and dragged away for punishment.

"You, You, You heartless women. The Marquis was right about-"

Slap

Wei Cui fell to the ground in stunned silence. "Heartless, I am only following protocol, you are the second wife of the n.o.ble Marquis estate. As I am the first due remember that, you and your maid have mad actions that have not put this madam in your eyes. And Yet I only punished your maid servant"

"What is going on here?" Zheng Rong walked in and saw his beloved in the ground and cowering. He went straight for her, "You how are you"

"I dare, dear husband, for she is the second wife. She came to this madam"s quarters without a former noticed and blatantly disrespected this madam along with her maid servant. Tell me Marquis would your mother love to hear about this when she came backs. If not, please find and appropriate teacher for her before she damages the n.o.ble Marquis reputation."

"…." Marquis Zheng Rong gritted his teeth but didn"t say anything more as he led Wei Cui away. He couldn"t resist sighing. Xie Hanying had married him when she was only fourteen years old. "She has been jealous of his other concubines for the past several years. She would use the rules to get rid of his concubines and bed-servants. If he had been a second late his sweetheart would have been.

Rachel looked dully at the sky and closed her eyes.

The next day Rachel day turned in her seal and given her position to the Marquis Second Wife. It shocked the entire household, the concubines and even the Marquis himself.

The Marquis didn"t reject it but was dumbfounded and didn"t knew what to do. He felt that Rachel was going off script.

Before the end of the day she had moved out and into a smaller palace befitting of her new rank. Rachel never wore flashy clothes and always stuck to pale plain clothes. Rachel only went and properly greet the Marquis main wife and then stay silent in her own palace.

"Madam, why did you want these things?" said one of her maid servants before another covered her mouth.

"Second Madam, I apologies for our younger sister disrespect. She is new and I"ll make sure to correct it."

Rachel nodded her hands inside a clay bowl she made the other day. As her maids where sent outside.

In this era, like all cosmetics are used however the cosmetics here are dangourus especially since most of them contain mercury. The Country has yet to figured that out, so they are many mysterious deaths among women are caused by mercury.

This piece of information is something in which Rachel has decided to keep to herself, afterall Mercury is not known to be a poisonous substance meaning she can use it without being caught. Rachel had made a point to use her own handmade cosmetics which is something known in the marquis household.

Her maid servant would go out to buy ingredients once every two months for her creams, and lipstick. Fan Yahui, one of her husband"s concubine had attempted it and in the end she ruined her face. The women had paid off one of her servants for her recipe, not knowing both her and her traitorous servant fell for a trap.

The Marquis had no proof to convict her of anything even though he knew she was involved. But this gave the household an alarm not to try her.

These sorts of things Rachel was extremely careful about letting out, her makeup box was designed to be an elaborate puzzle box. And her cosmetics themselves where in otherworldly shapes that would confuse people of ancient times.

These items where only meant for her and she really meant it because the box and her cosmetics where stolen from her once by Concubine Yao Bo who bought off one of Rachels maid servants to retrieve the box.

However, this time the Concubine and the maid servant who touched it perished. The puzzle box itself was a trap.
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Once looked at the two seemed to have died of natural caused clearing her of evidence. When asked she would claim innocence and since they had no proof, they could not pressure her.

As Nana when she officially quiets the spotlight, Rachel had then devoted herself to the study of the human body, remedies, medical recipes and cosmetic recipes. She learned a lot about poisons in the process, modern and advanced poisons but it was just a touch into the subject to avoid any accidents.