Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Chapter 24

"Bullying…."

Gaoshun had a look of disbelief.
That's right. Maids must not do things like that to high-ranked consorts. It was unthinkable.

"It is hard to believe."

If the other side was reluctant to understand, Maomao also didn't want to talk about it.
She didn't like to talk of speculation.

However, it was crucial to explain why the maid touched the container.
She decided to honestly state her opinion instead of doing a poor job of faking it.

"Can you tell me about it?"

"I will. I want to say in advance that this is just speculation."

"That's fine."

To start off, she expressed it from the unique perspective of Consort Riishu.
Her becoming the previous emperor's consort despite her young age, and consequently leaving her family.

Many women were educated to fully commit their body as wives to their husband. It was more prominent for those who were well-bred.

Even if it was said to be political, Consort Riishu marrying the son of the pa.s.sed away husband was severely unvirtuous.

"Did you see Consort Riishu's Garden Party outfit?"

"…."

"She didn't read the atmosphere." [T/N: She was oblivious to it all.]

However, everyone in her retinue was wearing correspondingly white outfits.

"Normally, the maids are supposed to advise the consort what to wear. Otherwise, they wear outfits that match with her correspondingly. But what we saw there, was as if only Consort Riishu was unable to see that she was being played the fool."

Maids are people who raise up their master. That was what Honnyan and the other maids told her. At the Garden Party, even the things Infa said, she understood as reality.

If she thought of it that way, a different angle to the incident about those maids arguing amongst each other on Consort Riishu's outfit comes out.

(The Pure Consort's maids told off the cowardly Consort Riishu's maids.)

The young Consort Riishu most surely wore that outfit to match her incited maids.

In the Inner Palace, as everyone around her were enemies, the only ones she could trust were her maids.

"It's not just that. Didn't they swap the meals to trouble Consort Riishu?"

Gaoshun asked to make sure.

"That's right. As a result, she narrowly escaped death."

Fugu poison has no effect as it stands for a short while.
In other words, if it wasn't swapped, she would have put it in her mouth thinking that the poison tasting was fine. It would take ten minutes.

"What a distasteful way of doing things."

(Let's leave the speculation off here.)

She picked up the vessel again and pointed with her finger.

"This here is probably the fingerprints of the one who infused the poison. They held it by the edge when they mixed in the poison."

You must not touch the edge of food vessels. That was also Honnyan's teachings. The reason being that you must not contaminate the place where the lips of the n.o.ble ones touch with your fingers.

"This ends my opinion."

Gaoshun looked at the silver food vessel, stroking his chin.

"Can I ask one question?"

"What is it?"

She replied Gaoshun, bundling the food vessel.

"Why did you cover for that maid?"

To the Maomao who was being looked at dubiously, Gaoshun was asking out of curiosity. She added.

"Compared to a consort, a maid's life is worth close to nothing."

Even more so for a poison taster.

Gaoshun gave a barely perceptible nod as if he understood her meaning.

"I will explain everything to Jis.h.i.+n-sama."

"Thank you very much."

After she sent off Gaoshun who left, Maomao sat down on the chair with a thump.

"That's right. I need to thank her."

(She took the time to swap it for me after all.)

As the same time she thought, 'I knew I should have swallowed it'.

"That is all."

Jis.h.i.+n ran his hand up his hair as he listened to Gaoshun's report.
The table was piled with doc.u.ments waiting to be stamped.

"No matter when I hear it, you have a way with words."

"Is that so?"

The fearless attendant said curtly.

"No matter how I think of it, the perpetrator is an insider."

"It’s turning out to be the case from the circ.u.mstances."

His head was starting to hurt.

At any rate, there was no time to sleep from tomorrow.

He wanted to stamp his feet.

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"Your true nature is coming out."

He wasn't smiling like usual, he was sulking, looking like his age.
It seems that Gaoshun understood him clearly.

"Isn't it fine, there's no one here?"

"I am here."

"You are an extra."

"No."

He asked it in jest, but it didn't pa.s.s through to this overly serious man.
This person was bothersome, being also the one looked after him since his birth.

"The kanzas.h.i.+ is still being worn."

"Aah, that's no good."

"Because it's hidden, no one will notice it."

When he pulled out the deeply embedded kanzas.h.i.+, the craftsmans.h.i.+p became visible.
It was called a kirin, an indescribable legendary creature that was both deer and horse.

"Then I'll leave it to you, for safekeeping."

He casually flung that towards Gaoshun. [T/N: who was who wasn't specified, but I'm guessing it goes like this.]

"Please treasure it. It's an important thing."

"I get it already."

"You don't get it."

After he finished scolding, his minder for sixteen years left the office.

Jis.h.i.+n, with a child's expression, laid his head on the table.

There was still a lot of work left.
He must quickly make free time.

"Let's do this."

He did a large stretch and picked up the writing brush.
So he could become a leisurely person, he had no choice but to finish his work.

T/N: In a sudden burst of epiphany I changed all the utensils, tableware, container I used last chapter into ‘food vessel’.  It makes a whole lot more sense this way, I think.