Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Chapter 14

Consort Rifa's condition was worse than she thought.
Although the cereal porridge was remade into a thin rice gruel, there was no indication of her slurping from a spoon. Maomao had to prise open her mouth and slowly pour it in to make her swallow.

She couldn't take in food. That was the biggest issue.
She had to be patiently and insistently fed.

When Maomao went to ventilate the room, the clogging fragrance subsided and was replaced by the smell of a sick person.
They probably burned incense to hide the scent of body odour. It didn't seem like that the consort had bathed for a couple of days. Maomao's resentment for the useless maids grew.

The discipline seemed to have got through to the maids she chastised. The stock of the face powder had been snuck in. Pitifully, the one who got whipped was the eunuch who failed to collect the face powder. Punishment was also influenced by their birth.

Although Maomao glared at the supervising eunuch with contempt as if to call him "incompetent thing", she felt that it wouldn't accomplish anything.

She prepared a pail and a cloth, and together with the maids she summoned, wiped the consort down. The maids had looked at her in disapproval, but became docile when Maomao glared at them.

Her skin was dry, lips were painfully cracked from the lack of hydration. She coated her lips with honey instead of rouge, and tied her hair up simply.

Afterwards, she made her drink tea with every opportunity. Sometimes, she gave her watered down broth instead of tea.
The number of times she urinated increased.

Though Maomao thought she would aimed hostility, being the questionable newcomer, the doll-like Consort Rifa generally obediently listened to her. It might be that her blank eyes didn't recognised who was who.

She increased the amount of the thin rice gruel from half a bowl to one bowl all at once, and little by little, increased the amount of rice used to make it. So that she could start to swallow on her own without being needed to be held up by the chin, Maomao increased the servings of soup steeped with the flavour of meat, and pureed fruit.

Consort Rifa's lips suddenly moved when she could go to relieve herself without help.

"Why ca…, let m…."

To pick up the words that were leaked out, she stood next to Consort Rifa.

"Why can't you, let me die like this?"

She spoke in a soft, vanis.h.i.+ng voice.

Maomao raised her eyebrows.

"Then, I'll take away your meals. That you're eating the porridge, means that you don't want to die, right?"

Saying that, she held the warmed tea against Consort Rifa's mouth.

With an audible swallow,

"Is that so…."

A broken smile escaped.

The responses the maids gave towards Maomao could be split into two groups.
The ones afraid of her, and the ones who opposed her while being afraid her.

(Did I overdo it?)

It couldn't be helped, she thought. It was a bad habit that she over-reacts whenever her emotions pa.s.s her boiling point.

Although unsociable, Maomao was generally easy-going. She was plainly hurt by the being looked at from a distance like she was demon or ogre.

In this case, it couldn't be helped as she needed to nurse Consort Rifa.

Although he is the emperor, as he doesn't know anything about Consort Gyokuyou's life, the n.o.ble Jis.h.i.+n-dono frequently comes by for him. With the influence that was used for anything that could be used, a bathroom was constructed at top speed for him at the Crystal Palace. In addition to the bathroom that was there originally, they made a sauna.

'I don't have a need for you anymore, so go away already', Maomao told him in her roundabout way, but Jis.h.i.+n, who Maomao handled like a monster, came smiling at every opportunity.

He's a eunuch with too much free time.

Each time, she wanted him to to learn from observing Gaoshun who comes over with a box of snacks for her.
He could become that sort of devoted husband. But he's a eunuch.

She took in fibre and hydration to sweat and promote bowel movement.

While thinking just about eliminating the poison from her body, two months have pa.s.sed, until Consort Rifa was able to go out for a walk by herself.
From the start, the weakness from the nervous breakdown was serious. It should be a non-issue if she didn't newly take in poison.
It will take time to recover her voluptuous body from before, but the redness had returned to her cheeks, and she is no longer hovering over the brink of death.

The night before she returned to the Jade palace, Maomao went to Consort Rifa's place to greet her.

Maomao had expected to be slandered as a peasant if the consort's conscious was clear, but it wasn't the case.
There was conceit, but there wasn't arrogance. The thing about the crown prince had made her imagine her an unpleasant young lady, but in truth she had the appropriate personality of an empress.

"Well then, you will be excused tomorrow morning."

She planned to leave the room after explaining to her about her medical diet here on after and various other important points when,

"Hey, can I no longer give birth?"

She spoke in a flat voice.

"I don't know. You won’t know unless you try."

"Even though I lost the emperor's favour?"

What she was trying to say was understandable enough.
From the start, her being blessed with the crown prince was because she slept with the emperor to obstruct the beloved consort, Consort Gyokuyou.
The births of the princess and the crown prince being three months apart was truly talked about.

"I, was commanded to come here by the emperor. After I go back, it doesn't mean that the emperor would also come to Rifa-sama's place."

That was political. There was no issues with that emotionally.
The way it was done was the same.

"Were you thinking of winning against her? A woman who didn't listen to Consort Gyokuyou's words and killed her own child before her very eyes."

"I think whether I win or not isn't an issue. Also, mistakes are something you learn from."

Maomao took hold of a single-flower vase that decorated the wall. It was adorned with a blooming star-shaped flower, a Chinese Bellflower.

"The world has a hundred, a thousand flowers. If you must pick between the peony and the iris, I think the most beautiful one is the one you're fixed on, is it not?"

"I don't have the barbarian princess' jade eyes and pale hair."

"If you have other things, then there's no issue."

Saying that, Maomao's gaze traced down from Consort Rifa's face.
Normally, it is said that is the part where you lose weight from first, but she had two proper sized melons on her chest.

"It was just the size of these that I have from the start. And my slender figure as my pride."

For Maomao, who gained a discerning eye from the brothel, she was certain. It was a secret that she was fascinated every time she was made to bath.
As one who served Consort Gyokuyou, although there wasn't a way for her support Consort Rifa, she decided to give her one last present.

"Can you lend me your ears for a bit?"

Mumbling so that no one around them could hear, she taught Consort Rifa a certain thing.

It is a secret art "no loss to memorise" of the ladies of the red-light district.

Among the lady's maids it became a topic of discussion of for some time, about what Consort Rifa, whose face had turned as red as an apple, had heard.

Afterwards, at the Jade Palace, the emperor's visits decreased to a record low.

"Fuu, I have been released by my lack of sleep."

At those words, laced with cynicism at what Consort Gyokuyou said, Maomao's wandering eyes were yet another story.