The Apothecary Diaries Book 7

The Dinner

Time does not always flow at the same rate. Pleasant times are all too brief, while difficult stretches drag on and on. The days before the banquet went as quick as a flash, for time is likewise swift when something unpleasant looms.

Maomao was emphatic that until the day of the event, she didn't want to go to the strategist's place unless absolutely necessary. Yao, meanwhile, was positively excited to have been entrusted to handle a job all by herself. She stayed at the shrine maiden's villa for several days prior to the banquet, as requested by the shrine maiden herself, in order to get familiar with the kind of food she ate on a daily basis. Although the particulars of her diet had been carefully enumerated and reviewed, the woman wanted to be sure there would be no mistakes.

Maomao had been keen to sample the foreign food. She placed the blame squarely on the freak strategist for making her miss this chance.

Yao had never been a food taster before, so before she moved to the villa Maomao showed her the ropes. Yao was an eager student, taking plenty of notes. Maomao was confident she had gotten it all.

On the day of the banquet, they had to report for work an hour earlier than usual. Ugh. I don't want to do this. How many times had Maomao had that thought? She'd lost count. She forced herself to change clothes, leaving her room only at the last possible moment. Even then, she didn't go out of her way to look enthused about it.

"Oh, Maomao."

"Well! Haven't seen you for a while."

Who should she meet in the hallway but En'en? The other woman hadn't been sleeping in their dormitory since being assigned as Jinshi's lady-in-waiting, but had a different place to stay. She was clearly fatigued, however, her gaze vacant, her lips dry. She swayed slightly as she walked, like a ghost.

Suffering from a lack of Yao? Maomao wondered.

"Maomao... Where's the young mistress?"

"Oh, uh, Yao? She's not here..."

At the news, En'en looked like a star had fallen out of the sky and hit her clean on the head. She stumbled over and leaned against the wall, gradually sliding down to the floor. She looked like she was melting, or like a snail that had been sprinkled with salt.

"Are you all right?" said Maomao. She clearly wasn't, but it seemed polite to ask.

"Y-Young mistress..." was all En'en said.

She really is smitten. Maomao poked En'en a couple of times, unsure what to do. She didn't want to go to work, but being late for personal reasons wouldn't look good, so she couldn't hang around here forever. "What are you up to? Don't you have to work? I'm assuming you're supposed to be with a certain someone all day today."

En'en made a gurgling sound. "This was the only chance I had to slip away. The Moon Prince has a chief lady-in-waiting with eyes in the back of her head..."

"Ahh." Maomao could sympathize.

The "Moon Prince" was Jinshi—he had a name, but as the Emperor's younger brother, more or less only other members of the Imperial family were permitted to use it. Everyone else called him by a sobriquet. As for his chief lady-in-waiting, she was an aging woman named Suiren, and she was a taskmaster. Even En'en couldn't get away from her.

"Won't she be angry if you don't hurry back?"

"Yes, I suppose you're right... It's okay. I just wanted to be able to smell her from up close. To put up her hair properly. I just don't want to do some guy's hair, even if it is smooth and silken."

So Jinshi is "some guy," huh? Yet further testament to En'en's devotion to her mistress. If En'en was being trusted to do Jinshi's hair, though, that meant Suiren must like her a lot. As a point of interest, once Maomao had gotten settled in Jinshi's service, she had been asked to do his hair on several occasions but had always refused on the grounds that she had never done such a thing before.