Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Chapter 19

The Garden Party was a banquet held in the middle court. A crimson carpet was laid out on the large gazebo. Long tables were lined up in two rows, where the seat of honour was established at the end.

The arrangement was that the Emperor will sit on the seat of honour, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor's younger brother on both his sides and the n.o.ble Consort and the Able Consort on the east side, and the Virtuous Consort and Pure Consorts on the west side. Presently, with the crown prince's death, the current emperor's younger brother from the same mother was first in the line of succession.
Nevertheless, she thought they were arranged this way to start a quarrel. It cannot be helped that this will stir up the Four Consort's hostility.

This younger brother, in spite of his mother being the Empress Dowager, lived an obscure lifestyle.
His seat was empty despite being established to sit on the seat of honour with his public appearance. He rarely leaves his room due to his weak const.i.tution, and doesn't perform his official duties either.
There were all sorts of speculation circulating about him. Some say the emperor pampers his younger brother, who was a lot younger than him. Otherwise, he was confined to his room. Or that the Empress Dowager was being overly affectionate to him so he wasn't allowed to go outside.

Well, it wasn't something that concerned Maomao.

The dishes came out past noon. She was now enjoying acrobatics and dance performances.
Only the head maid Honnyan accompanied Consort Gyokuyou. As far as they were not needed, the other maids waited for instructions behind the curtain.

The princess was being rocked by the Empress Dowager. Her drifting elegance and her unfading beauty did not pale in comparison to the Four Consorts surrounding her.

(They should prepare more cover.)

Although it was a curtain, it was only good enough as shade. It did nothing as a windbreaker.

Even Maomao and the others who had pocket warmers thought it was cold. It must be unbearable for the other consorts and their maids.

The other backup maids were trembling, some of them pigeon-toed, just like she thought. She thought right now would be a good time to go to the toilet, but it may be that the other consorts' maids cannot go from their standpoint.

Worryingly, the four consort's maids are wis.h.i.+ng for a war by proxy for their masters.

The head maids, who had the position warn them against doing so were by their respective consorts' sides. There was no one to stop them.

At present, the image of the dispute was "Consort Gyokuyou's army vs. Consort Rifa's army", and "Pure Consort's army vs. Virtuous Consort's army".
By the way, the whole army of Consort Gyokuyou's military camp was four people, not even half of the maids on the other side. Though it was somewhat unfavourable, Infa tried her best.

"Hah, plain, you say? Are you stupid? What you call a lady's maid is someone who serves a master, right? What's the point of pointlessly dressing up?"

It seems they were having a dispute over clothing. The clothing of the maids on the other side, as they served Consort Rifa, were blue themed, with a shawl and lots of decoration. A lot gaudier compared to them.

"What are you saying? Your master will have hards.h.i.+p if you look bad. I knew it. They can only employ that homely."

(Hey, looks like I'm being made a fool before everyone's eyes.)

Maomao thought about other people's affairs. Needless to say, the homely was none other than herself.

The court lady who threw out her chest in pride was one of the people Maomao opposed before. Though she had a strong personality, she lacked the guts to go with it, and for every little thing, she would say "do as my father said." She was much too loud and exchanged verbal insults. When Maomao told her to "then, don't tell people what to do and do it yourself", she became frightened and wouldn't approach her.

(Did she not get the prost.i.tute style joke?)

At the very least it was something not aimed to an ignorant young lady.

"If there are things you don't want to see, you put them away, right? It's shameful to bring along such a plain woman. And you even gave her a single jewel accessory."

It seemed that she noticed Maomao's matter completely.

(What a mean thing to say. Even though we were together for two months.)

When she saw the other two maids hold back Infa who was on the verge of leaping into violence, she thought it would be about time to make them quiet down.

Maomao, standing in the vicinity behind Infa and the others, looked towards the blue clad maids who had their hands over their noses.

A maid, who narrowed her eyes dubiously, having noticed something, whispered into the ears of the maid next to her.
Just like a game of Chinese Whispers, when the message finally pa.s.sed to the last maid, the maids, intimidated, raised shaking fingers, their mouths opened in overwhelmed fl.u.s.ter.

(Did they finally notice me?)

Maomao made her characteristic smile that looked like a wolf that caught its prey to the maids.

"A, aa, aaaahh."

"Wha, what is it?"

Infa, who didn't know that Maomao was grinning behind her, doubted her opponents who suddenly trembled like small animals

"Ah, aaah. W,we'll let you win this time. B, be thankful."

Saying that, she spat out a parting remark that didn't make any sense and moved off to the edge of the curtain. Even though there were other free s.p.a.ces, they chose to move to the place furthest from Maomao's group.

Seeing the dumbfounded Infa and the other maids,

(They really were hurt….)

Maomao thought.

Infa recovered and met Maomao's gaze,

"Gosh, those jerks from before. Sorry about that. Making you feel unpleasant. Even though you are really this cute."

The apologetic Infa said.

"Don't worry about it. Leaving that aside, would you like to replace your pocket warmer?"

"No, it's still warm, it's fine. At any rate, why did they suddenly start trembling like that?"

"Who knows. Maybe they wanted to go flower picking?"

Maomao said shamelessly.

By the way, the current Maomao had the setup of a young girl who, in addition to been made a disposable chess piece of a poison taster after being sold from being chastised by her parent, bore with two months of grand bullying at the Crystal Palace, and fell to distrusting cruel men to the point of defiling her own face.

It was troubling that Infa and the other's delusional strength was impressive for their age.

She was also troubled by the image of Jis.h.i.+n, who had b.u.mped into Maomao, a personage like a celestial maiden being concerned of a pitiful girl.

No matter who you look at it, it was a marvel.

On the other side, another war by proxy was continuing.

The numbers were seven vs. seven.
Maids dressed white outfits and maid dressed in dark coloured outfits.
The former were the Virtuous Consort's maids, and the latter were the Pure Consort's.

"That side also has a bad relations.h.i.+p."

Infa said seriously.

"Their ages are fourteen, and thirty-five. Even though there are both consorts, their ages are far apart enough to be mother and child, and they clash too."

"The novice is the Virtuous Consort, and the one with the long service is the Pure Consort. That is, well. There is a lot to say."

Guien, the quiet maid, said.

"That's true. And they used to be daughter in law and mother in law."

Airan, the tall maid, also nodded.

"Daughter in law and Mother in law?"

She heard about something that didn't seem like something from the Inner palace. Maomao tilted her head.

"Indeed, it's a little complex."

The two had the relations.h.i.+p of the previous emperor's consort and the crown prince's consort.

The time the previous emperor pa.s.sed away, his consorts became Taoists to observe mourning.
However, opposing that, one made the distinction of having not served the previous emperor, saying that she was thrown away once from her earthly life, and now married the son.

(The previous emperor's era was five years ago.)

That time, whether it was some long talk due to politics or whatever, the Virtuous Consort was 9 years old. It was said she became a consort at that age.

(No matter what kind of l.u.s.ts there are, that isn't something you hear.)

As she recalled the emperor with the beautiful beard, the comment she heard made her know the shocking truth. [T/N: I realised I called it a moustache before. Changing it to beard.]

"It's impossible, isn't it? That the mother in law was nine years old."

Airan told her something that was hard to believe.

T/N: Another three part mini-arc.  No chapter tomorrow as usual ;D