Saying the mystery had been solved might be putting it too strongly, but she now had a good idea of how the hairpin had gone missing.
However —.
(That said, this presents its own problems.)
When she cross-referenced the information from Yinghua with her own hypothesis, the trail led unmistakably in a deeply unpleasant direction.
She wanted to put Empress Gyokuyou at ease, but should she speak the truth?
Before she knew it, morning had arrived.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Maomao gazed at the hairpin.
Since she had pressed Yinghua for so many details, she had no choice but to speak up.
"Maomao, come have breakfast!"
Right on cue, Yinghua appeared.
Accepting the invitation, she found that at the breakfast table were
Guien
and
Airan.
Guien still had her usual airy atmosphere, though she had filled out a little. Airan might have grown taller — her gaze was higher than before. Being short herself, Maomao envied Airan's height.
The nostalgic combination of faces brought a small smile to Maomao's face.
"For breakfast, we're splurging — dried abalone!"
"Oh!"
Even Maomao couldn't help but applaud. They must have borrowed some ingredients from Empress Gyokuyou's late-night snacks.
It was a simple dish — just a well-made broth with a light touch of salt — but the ingredients made it delicious. The rice was top-grade as well. It was clear that when one served an empress, the class of food the ladies-in-waiting received rose accordingly.
Maomao looked around as the four of them chatted.
"What's wrong?"
Guien spoke to Maomao, who seemed restless.
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just wondering — has everyone else had their breakfast?"
Shiraha
Two other maids should have been added to her retinue when she became Empress.
"Oh, Shiraha and the others eat somewhere else. The other maids don't take meals here."
"Mm. I'd like to get to know them better, but all three of them are so serious."
(I just think these three are the only relaxed ones.)
That was precisely why they were easy to get along with.
Yinghua and the others had spent more time in the rear palace as ladies-in-waiting alongside Empress Gyokuyou. But Shiraha and the others had known Gyokuyou before that, which was probably why they still used formal forms of address.
Hongniang stood above them all as head lady-in-waiting, but for some reason, Shiraha seemed to hold a position above Yinghua and the others.
"Hey, Maomao. Do you still not know who the culprit is?"
Yinghua asked.
"—That's a tricky one."
Maomao answered vaguely.
The faces of the three girls fell.
"If you don't know, Maomao, why don't you come back here? Mixing medicines and all that might be tricky, but I'll find some excuse to get you permission."
"That's right. There are far more rooms here than at the Jade Palace. And plenty of stoves, too."
"I think you'd be able to get your hands on imported medicines, too."
(Imported!)
She nearly took the bait. No, no — she had to resist.
Maomao sipped her tea to calm herself.
"Right now, I'm learning the ropes from my foster father and the other physicians. It would cause trouble for my colleagues, and I can't just switch jobs so easily."
She knew working under Empress Gyokuyou had its appeal. But returning to the empress's side now would mean losing her wiggle room in a whole different way.
(That eccentric, for one.)
The monocled strategist might show up at the empress's quarters. To him, it would just be a visit to see Maomao, but the eyes of those around them would see things differently.
It was hard to believe that Empress Gyokuyou didn't already know about the relationship between Maomao and the eccentric strategist.
(It's only in his head. We're total strangers.)
Maomao honestly suspected she might actually be the child of some other guest, a half-sibling with a different mother. She wanted to believe so. The chances were slim, though.
It would be easier if Empress Gyokuyou simply saw her as a pawn, but the Empress recognized Maomao's abilities.
(She couldn't just be discarded.)
To make matters worse, the looks from Yinghua and the others stung too.
As she was racking her brains over how to get out of this, a woman wearing red hair ribbons approached. She bore a strong resemblance to Shiraha, though her face looked somewhat younger.
"What's wrong,
Akaha
?"
She must have been the same age as Maomao. Shiraha's younger sister, the youngest of the three sisters. Unlike Shiraha, Akaha spoke to her quite casually.
"Empress Gyokuyou is calling for Maomao."
At the nonchalant answer, Maomao picked up her finished dish.
"Ah, I'll clean up later, so just leave it."
Taking Guien at her word, she left it as it was.
"We'll be waiting for good news~"
Maomao gave a bow to the three women waving her off and headed to the Empress's chambers.
In the Empress's room were Hongniang, Shiraha, the Princess, and the Crown Prince.
The Princess was showing toys to the babbling Crown Prince. She probably thought she was soothing him.
When she noticed Maomao had arrived, Shiraha picked up the Crown Prince.
"Akaha, take the Princess."
"Understood."
Akaha, who had guided Maomao here, took
Lingli
the Princess's hand.
"I wanna play more!"
She must have been three, by nominal age. She could apparently speak properly now. But she didn't seem to remember Maomao, studying her unfamiliar face with open curiosity.
Feeling a little lonely, she thought, "Oh well," and gave a light wave.
Shiraha was about to leave the room with the baby in her arms. Maomao instinctively grabbed her sleeve.
"What is it?"
They were acquainted, but had almost no connection with each other. Shiraha showed a somewhat stiff expression at the impertinent gesture.
"Could you stay?"
"Why?"
"I'd like you to listen to the conversation with us."
Shiraha's expression didn't change.
Hongniang stepped out into the corridor and called over Airan, who was approaching nearby.
"Watch him for me."
She transferred the little prince from Shiraha's arms to Airan. The little prince laughed happily and pulled at Airan's hair, so Airan gave a wry smile and carried him away.
"Maomao, what is this conversation about?"
Neither Gyokuyou nor Hongniang made any mention of why they had kept Shiraha behind. They seemed to think it would be faster to just get on with it.
"It's about this."
Maomao produced the hairpin she had been holding onto.
"Do they know who the culprit is?"
"I don't know, but I believe I can explain two things — why it turned black, and whether the stone inside is missing."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Maomao brought out the diagram she had asked Sakura to draw the previous night.
"Lady Gyokuyou, you went to the palace to have your outfit repaired, didn't you? And when you went to change, you noticed the hairpin was missing?"
"That's right. I didn't have time, so I prioritized changing over searching for it."
(Just as I thought.)
When the hairpin went missing, it hadn't caused a commotion.
"Did you think you might have dropped it?"
"Yes, because I was in a hurry. On the way, I caught my head on a tree branch, and I thought perhaps I had dropped it then."
"...Could it be somewhere around here?"
Maomao pointed to the sketch map with her finger.
"Yes, that's right. There was a cart to the side, and when I tried to go around it, I touched a tree branch."
A cart — meaning where the pot had been placed, presumably.
Maomao glanced at Shiraha. Shiraha's expression didn't change.
(Maybe it's not her?)
But having her there would make the explanation faster.
"To put it bluntly, I believe this hairpin was not stolen — rather, it was simply dropped."
"...What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. The reason Empress Gyokuyou is so anxious is because she believes 'the hairpin was secretly stolen and then returned as a threat,' correct?"
The hairpin had turned dark and tarnished, and the stone inside was gone. It was as if someone were threatening that the same would be done to its owner. Tarnished silver evoked thoughts of poison.
"If the tarnishing of the hairpin and the disappearance of the stone were not deliberate, wouldn't that put Empress Gyokuyou's mind somewhat at ease?"
"...That is..."
"Also, Empress Gyokuyou — might you have an idea of why the stone disappeared?"
The empress was wrapping a strand of hair around her fingertip. Her eyes were darting about.
"Now, get on with the explanation. Why did the stone inside the hairpin disappear?"
"Empress Gyokuyou. Do you still have the stone?"
"...I suppose I have no choice but to explain."
As if resigned, the empress stood up. She went to the back of the room, retrieved a small box, and produced a transparent hexagonal crystal.
"May I use this?"
"It was a gift from Maomao to begin with."
Maomao took the stone in hand and reached for the water pitcher.
"Could I borrow a vessel?"
Shiraha brought a tea bowl. Maomao placed the stone inside the tea bowl and poured water over it.
"…Is it melting?"
"Because it's salt."
"Salt!?"
As expected, Hongniang had no idea. Otherwise, she never would have used it as material for the hairpin to be worn at the garden banquet.
"W-wait, Lady Gyokuyou. What's going on?"
"Fufufufu. Because it was pretty, and nobody noticed, right?"
That mischievous expression on her face was pure Gyokuyou.
"I don't think even rock salt comes in such a beautiful form, though."
Shiraha gazed at the dissolving salt.
"Yes, I managed to crystallize it nicely and picked out only the clean ones."
"…Maomao, did you really make something like this in the rear palace?"
"…"
At this point, even if she admitted it, the statute of limitations had long expired.
"So the stone dissolved in water and disappeared, then what about this blackening?"
"There are many causes for tarnishing silver. For instance—"
Maomao drew an oval shape on the edge of the sketch.
"Eggs."
"Eggs?"
The three of them wore puzzled expressions.
"Yes, eggs. Do you know the smell of a rotten egg?"
All three shook their heads. For the most part, taking out kitchen waste was the maids' job, so they had likely never smelled the stench of rot.
Thinking it would be difficult to explain, she searched for a different analogy.
"You know the smell of a hard-boiled egg, though?"
"That one, yes."
"It has a distinct smell, but actually, some hot springs smell very similar."
"Hot springs, oh, now that you mention it"
Gyokuyou had apparently been to hot springs before. There might have been one or two hot spring stops along the journey from the western lands to the capital.
"Some hot springs contain sulfur. It's actually also present in boiled eggs, and if you eat with silver utensils, it causes the silver to turn black and corrode."
"That's right."
Hongniang wore an expression that said, "How did I not realize that?"
Given that she knew the meals served at the garden party, she should have been able to surmise why the hairpin had turned black.
"The hairpin fell into the pot containing boiled eggs for some reason. The salt crystals inside dissolved, and the silver was blackened by the eggs."
Rihaku
had been the one who said "that absurdly salty broth" — that was likely due to the salt crystals.
"Then why was the hairpin in the pot in the first place?"
"I don't know. It may have fallen in by coincidence when Gyokuyou dropped the hairpin, or someone may have placed it there."
"Someone placed it there? What would be the purpose of that?"
Baio narrowed her eyes.
"Say someone preparing the food found the hairpin. If then a maid searching for a 'missing hairpin' appeared, what would they do?"
Would they immediately produce it, saying, "Is this it?"
Or would they play dumb?
Or perhaps—
"They'd panic and hurriedly try to hide it somewhere."
"And they put it into the nearest pot without thinking?"
"Yes."
Somewhat uneasy about the vagueness of her explanation, Maomao continued.
"In the end, whether the hairpin fell in by accident or was placed there to hide it temporarily, it would have to be retrieved eventually. But when taken out, the hairpin was blackened, and the stone inside was gone."
They wouldn't be able to return it silently.
"Hang on. If the server found the hairpin, wouldn't it be difficult to return it?"
"Yes, that's correct."
How did the hairpin end up back in Consort Gyokuyou's possession from there?
"It would be difficult for a server to slip the hairpin back into the consort's tribute goods. I can only think that they must have had help from someone else."
And the hairpin's disappearance—originally something that could have been dismissed as a simple loss—had taken on a threatening quality precisely because of its return.
She had no proof, but she had her suspicions.
That was why she had asked Shiraha to stay behind.
But as far as she could tell, the woman showed no strange behavior. Perhaps she had thick skin, or perhaps she truly had no idea.
What if a maid of Consort Gyokuyou's who happened to be near the palace had seen it? A maid could easily slip the hairpin into the tribute goods without anyone noticing.
If only they had returned the hairpin in its battered state, they would have known how to react.
Hongniang would have reported it properly. She understood Consort Gyokuyou's personality well enough to know that no punishment would come of it.
But what about Yinghua and the other two girls?
All three of them knew about the salt crystals. They could explain it adequately, and they had no reason to keep it secret.
So what about Shiraha and her companions?
Personality-wise, they seemed the type to report honestly—with one exception.
"There are some quite clumsy people around, aren't there? If they had just returned it properly, everything would have been fine. The way things stand, it almost looks like someone is threatening to poison her."
And who among Consort Gyokuyou's political rivals could that be? The consort
Rifa
who had given birth to a prince of the same age? Or perhaps—
The former Crown Prince, His Majesty's brother: Jinshi.
She would not say that Shiraha and her companions lacked loyalty toward Consort Gyokuyou. But there was one clear difference between them and the long-serving maids.
"I have a question for you, Lady Shiraha. The person who secretly returned the hairpin—did you not consider that it might have been Jinshi?"
"...Wouldn't that not be the natural conclusion, though?"
"Shiraha has already said it wasn't him."
Consort Gyokuyou let out a rueful smile. She knew. She knew that Jinshi had no interest in the imperial succession or anything of the sort.
Hongniang and Yinghua, too, felt a certain familiarity toward Jinshi. They would never suspect him of pulling something like this.
Maomao also understood well enough that above all else, Jinshi found his own position to be nothing but a nuisance.
So I deliberately decided to make a statement that would draw Shiraha closer.
"With Lady Gyokuyou in this state, it seems entirely possible that unsavory people could slip into her entourage before anyone notices."
"I hate to say it, but that's exactly right."
For some reason, Shiraha glanced at Maomao. Hongniang's expression turned sharp.
(What's with that reaction?)
Maomao felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Lady Gyokuyou should realize that she has far more enemies around her than she thinks."
"I'm aware of that. But there's no need to bare my fangs at people who aren't enemies... Hey, Shiraha. Is that a message from Father?"
"...No. It's my own personal opinion."
"Then this wasn't something you did?"
"What are you talking about!"
Shiraha raised her voice slightly.
Hongniang looked at Shiraha.
"Then,
Gyokuou
wasn't behind it either?"
(Gyokuou?)
A name she was hearing for the first time.
"This wasn't done at my brother's instigation, was it?"
Lady Gyokuyou said, as if seeking confirmation.
(A brother, huh.)
She had heard that Lady Gyokuyou had a brother who was currently governing the western territories in their father's place. As his deputy, the eccentric strategist's former adjutant,
Rikuson,
should be the one handling things.
"No."
Shiraha's expression changed.
"I am—"
Those few words were enough to more or less figure out who had done it.
The other two maids were—
Kuroha
and
Akaha.
Shiraha's younger sisters.
Gyokuyou and Hongniang exchanged complex looks.
Gyokuyou's faction was not a monolith. Even with the same goal, there were many different approaches.
(She had succeeded in making Gyokuyou feel threatened, at least.)
However, the name Gyokuō bothered Maomao.
Gyokuyou appeared to have foreign blood, given her coloring. And since her father Youran was quite elderly, the brother was most likely a half-sibling.
Could there have been some ulterior motive in specifically sending Rikuson to the western lands?
(She had no idea.)
Meanwhile, Shiraha had gone to call her sisters, and Maomao was idly fiddling with her hairpin.
It seemed she could go home for today, but what would happen going forward?
More pressing, though, was the realization that her shift was about to start, which depressed her somewhat.