Maomao
She applied a poultice to the quack doctor's leg. The wound from where that brat had struck him had swollen by the next day. There was internal bleeding.
"You'll need to rest for two or three days."
Maomao thought the quack doctor would be better off taking leave from work and resting in bed in his room. But since he insisted he was going to work, she couldn't exactly kick him out of the clinic.
*(Not that it makes much difference whether he's there or not.)*
Maomao wasn't so cold as to say that out loud.
"Ouch, that hurts something fierce."
"Sorry about that, old man."
Li Bai
bowed his head in apology. He had arrived the very instant he had stepped away for just a moment. She remembered the remaining guard standing there, pale-faced and apologetic.
The guard's lapse in attention had lasted only a brief instant.
The fact that the attacker was a child probably played a role. And yet, there was a reason the child had managed to slip through and lay hands on the quack doctor.
*(Those would be my guards, wouldn't they?)*
On paper, they were guards for the medical officer. So they were supposed to be protecting the quack doctor. But the guard who had remained behind was the one assigned to Maomao.
They didn't openly treat her any differently in front of others. It was probably some arrangement on Jinshi's part, but it was common knowledge among them all, in an unspoken way, just who Maomao was.
*(I'd hate for them to think of me as that eccentric's daughter.)*
So, as long as nobody interfered with her, Maomao played the part of a mere medical assistant. There was nothing else she could do.
But the result of that was that the quack doctor ended up exposed to danger.
The guard from yesterday had apparently been a young military officer not yet accustomed to protecting important people. Li Bai had gone off to wash his hands looking apologetic, and that was probably related to this as well.
The medical office security was handled by Li Bai on a fixed basis, with other guards rotating in on a schedule, but there had been a lot of new faces recently.
"Knock knock knock~ Excuse me~"
The one who came in, pretending to knock on the medical office door, was—
Suzume
.
"Quack~! I brought you some get-well gifts!"
Suzume came by carrying fruit.
"Sorry about this, Suzume."
(No, no, no.)
Was he really not bothered being called "Quack" straight to his face?
"Maomao, do you want to know who the culprit was that attacked Quack yesterday?"
"Who was it? If they're in this mansion, they'd probably be a grandchild or great-grandchild of"
Gyokuen,
"right?"
"Bingo!
It's Lady Gyokuou's
eldest son's boy."
(Just as I figured.)
She'd heard that Gyokuou and
Queen Gyokuyou
were separated by about as many years as parent and child, so it wasn't strange for him to have a grandchild that old.
"His name is apparently
Gyokushun."
Suzume traced the character with her finger.
Between Gyokuou and the rest, were they naming all their children after birds?
"And that Gyokushun wants to apologize — he's in front of the infirmary right now with his mother. So what will you do?"
"You should have said that first."
Maomao looked at the doctor.
The doctor smiled warmly.
"If he feels bad about what he did and wants to apologize, why don't we let them through?"
What a softie.
Maomao thought this, but since the victim was the quack doctor, she went along with what he wanted.
"Go ahead."
Maomao opened the door to the infirmary with a sour expression.
Standing there were a brat named Tamahayabu wearing an equally sullen face and a flustered-looking woman.
"I am so terribly sorry for what my son did."
The woman bowed deeply. She pressed down on the insolent brat's head, trying to force an apology out of him.
"I-I'm not apologizing!"
"Apologize!"
"No! I won't!"
Tamahayabu threw a tantrum.
The mother's face twisted with frustration, and she raised her hand high. A sharp crack rang out, and Tamahayabu's body buckled.
A slap doesn't leave marks, but the sound carries well. He probably wasn't hurt, but being a small child, he couldn't withstand the impact.
"Apologize!"
The mother looked like she was on the verge of tears.
Tamahayabu sniffled and clamped his mouth shut.
"I-I'm sorry."
It was a hollow, perfunctory apology.
Looking at this, it seemed like he'd probably do something like it again, but the quack doctor watched the mother with a flustered look.
"It's fine, really. I'm not holding a grudge. Please, lift your head — it's all right."
"I truly am sorry."
The mother bowed once more, as if to drive the point home.
When Tamahayabu raised his head, he glared at the quack doctor with undisguised resentment.
Once the mother and son left, exhaustion washed over her.
"Are you sure you're all right? Getting slapped that hard..."
The quack doctor was worried about the child who showed no sign of remorse.
"Getting slapped by your parents is nothing, kiddo. When you're a man, you spar until you pass out."
"That's right, it's nothing at all, really. At least you weren't hit with a stick."
"Open-handed is fine. The problem would be hidden injuries in places you can't see from outside. The solar plexus, for instance—it hurts like hell but you can't see it."
Li Bai, Suzume, and Maomao all shared their thoughts.
"What kind of environment did you people grow up in?"
The quack doctor was somewhat taken aback.
Still, the quack doctor's concern was understandable.
"The mother did seem quite panicked. I mean, if word got out that a court physician assigned to the imperial brother had been injured, that would be a massive problem."
It would indeed be a massive problem. But somehow, the mother's anxiety seemed to run even deeper than that.
"Perhaps Suzume could explain that part?"
Suzume raised her index finger toward the ceiling and struck
a dramatic
pose.
"Is there some particular reason?"
The quack doctor perked up. Li Bai looked intrigued as well. Maomao was curious too, but she resolved to keep to her position of simply listening along with everyone else.
"Lady Gyokuō has passed away. Right now, there is a tremendous upheaval over who will take charge of governing the Western Capital. The other sons of Lord Gyokuen, officials from the central government—"
Rikuson—
"—and even the Lord of the Moon have all had their names thrown into the ring."
"Yes, I've heard about that."
Mainly from Jinshi, who had been oddly whiny about it.
"However, are you aware that the person who should rightfully stand in the most important position is not even in the running?"
"Normally you'd think Gyokuō's son should inherit."
Li Bai was exactly right. But—
"Yes, but that son has steered completely clear of anything political, saying it's all a matter for the future. He was excluded entirely because of his sheer ignorance. Doesn't that strike you as strange?"
"Yeah, I suppose so. I'd think they'd make him study a bit harder, though."
The quack doctor groaned.
"If you've put it that way, I'd imagine someone like Maomao can already guess. As it turns out, Gyokuou's eldest son is a thoroughly hopeless wastrel!"
Suzume sent paper confetti fluttering from both her hands.
"If even the relatives don't recognize him as heir, and they're trying to elevate someone with no blood ties to the position of head, that must mean he's a pretty terrible degenerate, right?"
Li Bai crossed his arms.
"That's right. The eldest son is twenty-five. Ideally, he should have been studying statecraft since childhood, always ready to step in as heir, but his conduct has been far too awful."
"What sort of things has he been up to?"
"Among Gyokuen's children, the second from the bottom—the seventh son—is the same age, twenty-five, but they don't get along and are always fighting. On one occasion, they even staged a duel with real swords."
"(Hm?)"
"Then there's the moonshine. He brewed illicit liquor, 'borrowed' bottles from other breweries, and sold off the substandard product. The brewery whose bottles were stolen had their reputation ruined. And that brewery happened to be run by Gyokuen's third daughter."
"(Hm-hm?)"
"Also, when he traveled to a rural village some time ago, he was attacked by bandits. It seems that leaking information about wealthy people was connected to several such incidents."
"(Hm-hm-hm?)"
Maomao held up a hand to stop Suzume.
"I'm surprised Gyokuou never disowned him."
"Probably because he was the eldest son. Gyokuou seems to have had some strange principle—he gave the second and third sons absolutely no political education."
Suzume pulled out from somewhere
fried dough twists
and began munching on them. The quack doctor and Li Bai had also received some and were eating.
"As Gyokuou's siblings, they're already swamped with their own work, so governing the West Capital is out of the question. But they absolutely cannot leave it to Gyokuou's eldest son. So to buy time, they put forward the names of Rikuson and Tsukikimi. The second and third sons are talented, so they'll be educated during the time bought. By then, a plan to disinherit the eldest son should be in place. With Gyokuou gone, the eldest son has practically no one backing him now."
"Suzume, you sure know a lot."
The quack doctor sounded impressed, but this was probably information one wasn't supposed to know through normal channels.
Those Gyokuen children really were something. Using the imperial brother to buy time.
"So that's why she was so panicked earlier."
Even if she became the firstborn's wife, it would be meaningless if he were disinherited. What's more, if word got out that she had injured a physician assigned to the imperial brother, her blood would have run cold.
"So for the time being, I expect one of the second or third sons will be placed under Lord Moon. The remaining one would go to Rikuson. If one of them grows up quickly, it should be easier for us to return to the capital as well. Well then, shall Suzume get back to work?"
Suzume stood up, as if to say she had finished her snacks too.
Maomao raised her hand.
"I have a question, Suzume."
"What is it, Maomao?"
Maomao recalled that this place was the main residence.
"So that hopeless good-for-nothing son is in this main residence?"
"He doesn't seem to come home much, but there's still plenty of chance you'll run into him."
Suzume winked, clicking one eye shut.
(
Don't
go planting flags like that.)
Maomao nearly let herself picture how troublesome the future would be, but shook her head hard and forced herself to forget about it.