"You were, well, quite energetic for a food taster."
She finished rinsing her mouth and was in the middle of zoning out when the leisurely eunuch – who tended to appear at unexpected times – appeared.
He is often found in places considerably far from the banquet.
"Pleasant day to you, Jinshi-sama."
She was going to reply with her usual expressionless face, but she was languid from the lingering effects of the poison.
It was slightly irritating to reply with a smile.
"Rather, aren't you the one having a pleasant day?"
He suddenly grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm obviously taking you to the medical office. You'll become a joke to be so lively after ingesting poison."
In actual fact, she was energetic.
She wondered what it would be like if she swallowed it without spitting it out.
She was curious about what will happen to her body.
Right now, her body should be numbing.
(I shouldn't have spat it out.)
She should have at least finished the remaining soup.
She looked at Jinshi inquiringly.
"You are, an idiot."
"I'd rather you say my aspirations to my work is high."
Well, normally, she would withdraw such aspiration.
Somehow, Jinshi, who was usually pointlessly sparkly, had a different air about him right now.
Although there's a new kanzashi on his head, the clothes he wore were the same high-class outfit from before.
No, his collar was slightly dishevelled. Was it because of that? Indeed, so it was that huh. This damned dog.
His saccharine voice was somewhat subdued and his gentle smile wasn't there either.
(He can adjust his sparkle?)
Or was it that he was exhausted after a love affair?
The reason he wasn't at the banquet, could be because he brought or was brought by a court lady or a civil official or a military officer or a eunuch?
Let's stick with that.
What a truly vigorous matter.
(This way is still fine.)
Though he is certainly beautiful, he didn't look like a young man appropriate of his age like this. No, rather he looked several times younger.
Before he came here, did Gaoshun request him to postpone the suspicious act?
Leaving whether he'll listen aside.
"Because of how you looked so healthy when you left, there was a guy who questioned if it was really poison and ate it ."
"Who is it, that fool?"
The poison used was fugu poison.
The effects of the poison won't show if she waited a while after eating.
"The cabinet minister has gone numb. There is a large commotion over there."
No doubt, with this, the future of this country is also in danger.
"Since we are already like in this situation, I suggest you let them use this."
She rummaged through her bosom and took out a purse. It was a vomit-inducing drug she put in the false bottom of her breasts.
"I made it so it'll make you vomit to the point of turning your stomach."
"Hey, that'll make it a poison then?"
Jinshi said in an amazed tone.
"There's also a medical official here. There's no problem to leave it to him."
Maomao stopped her steps, suddenly remembering.
"What's wrong?"
"I have something to ask you. Someone I want to bring along with us."
"Who could that be?"
He frowned, head tilted.
"Can you call for Riishu-sama, the Virtuous Consort?"
Maomao said in a dignified voice.
The summoned Consort Riishu, who smiled happily at Jinshi with a look of springtime, looked at Maomao with an unamused 'oh it's you' expression. Perhaps she couldn't calm down, she was rubbing her left hand with her right hand.
A childish woman.
They had planned to go to the medical office, but because of the crowd there due to the stupid big shot, they had no choice but to use an unused office.
Comparing them like this, there was a difference in the building structure to the Inner Palace and the medical office. Consort Riishu made a slightly sulky face at the plain, unrefined large room.
The one who came in after them in succession, was the only person they requested Gaoshun to get.
Maomao drank the lukewarm antidote. She would be fine even if she didn't drink it. She drank it, so to speak, for caution's sake, and so the medicine wasn't compounded by the other person in vain.
Different to the quack doctor, this medical officer seemed superior.
If he knew about fugu poison, he should have understood that an antidote was pointless.
Setting down the lukewarm liquid, she bowed once to Consort Riishu.
"Excuse me."
"!?"
She took hold of the consort's left hand, and pulled up the long sleeves, revealing a white graceful arm.
"As I suspected."
Skin that was supposed to be smooth to touch, had broken out in red rashes.
"There are things you can't eat, right? Among seafood."
Consort Riishu cast her eyes down.
"What does that mean?"
Jinshi, with his arms crossed, asked her.
Before she noticed, that celestial maiden's gracefulness was floating about him again.
However, that usual smile wasn't there.
"Depending on the person, there are those who respectively have things they can't eat. Aside from seafood, there are also things like egg, wheat and dairy products. Along the same lines, I can't eat buckwheat."
Jinshi and Gaoshun showed clearly surprised faces. It was as if they were saying, 'even though you can eat poison with no issues'.
(Leave me alone.)
There was once a time she made an effort to make herself able to eat it but her bronchial tube constricted, giving her dyspnoea. She got rashes from eating and absorbing it in her stomach to begin with. It was difficult to regulate the quantity, and recovery was also slow. That's why she gave up on accustoming herself to it.
She thought of challenging it again sooner or later, but she couldn't try it in the Inner Palace that only had the quack doctor.
"How did you know about that?"
The consort timidly asked.
"Before that, is your stomach okay? It doesn't look like you have nausea or cramps though."
At the words, "If you like, I'll dispense you a laxative," the consort shook her head vigorously.
Saying that in front of the heavenly person she admired was considerably mean. That was a bit of revenge.
"Well then, please sit down and listen."
Gaoshun, a diligent man despite appearances, pulled out a chair. And then, Consort Riishu sat.
"It's because your meals were switched with Gyokuyou-sama's meals. As Gyokuyou-sama has no preferences, she usually partakes the same dishes as the emperor."
And despite this, there were one or two ingredients that were different.
"Is it mackerel and abalone? What you can't eat?"
The consort nodded.
Maomao didn't miss the agitation of the maid at the back.
"This is something only people, who have things they can't eat, know. It is an issue before likes and dislikes. This time, you only got hives, but sometimes it can cause dyspnoea and even heart failure. So to speak, in a way you can understand, it is the same as serving poison."
The talk of poison elicited a nervous response.
"Riishu-sama, it may have been something you couldn't speak out with the atmosphere of the place, but that act was extremely dangerous."
Maomao established that among the consort and the maid with a dazed glance.
"Please never ever forget that."
She advised that to both parties equally.
Some time passed,
"Please relay that to the ones in charge of setting your meals as well."
She said that, but it didn't seem to enter the heads of the consort and the maid.
To the accompanying maid, Maomao explained to her the dangers in detail, and passed over the methods she wrote down to deal with the case of it happening.
The maid was pale-faced, head shaking bit by bit.
(This is what a threat is like, huh)
The maid was the food taster woman.
That woman who smiled.
After Consort Riishuu withdrew from the room, she noticed the clingy atmosphere behind her and the hand that came to touch her shoulder.
She looked at him coldly as if looking at a dried-up earthworm was more preferable.
"Because I am someone of humble birth, can you please not touch me with your hands?"
'Stop the clinginess', she told this rascal in a roundabout way.
"Only you would say such things."
"Well then, everyone is paying attention."
She briskly pulled away.
With a heartrending sigh, she sought for the refreshing Gaoshun, but the attendant who was loyal to his master appealed to her with his eyes to "Please, bear with it for me."
"Well then, I'll go report this to Gyokuyou-sama."
"Why did you specially have the food taster maid come in the same room?"
He just suddenly gets to the core of things, that's why it was hard for her to escape.
"What are you talking about? I am unable to understand though."
She replied expressionlessly.
"Then, was it a mistake in the table setting?"
"I don't know that either."
She played ignorance to the end.
"Answer this for me at least. The one they were aiming for was the Virtuous Consort, isn't it."
"If there was no poison in the other plates."
That would be the case.
Seeing Jinshi deep in thought, Maomao withdrew from the room and sighed deeply as she leaned against the wall.