"Well, things have really gotten complicated."
The one speaking so casually— was Suzume, her sister-in-law.
It was after Mami and the others had left Gou's residence and dropped Maomao off at the dormitory.
They climbed down from the carriage and headed for the Lady of the Moon's palace.
"So what should we do? About reporting to the Lady of the Moon?"
"Since we said we'd bring it back, I suppose there's nothing else to do but report."
Mami let out a long sigh. It would have been nice if Maomao had offered some reaction here, but she couldn't force her into that. For that sort of prompting, Suzume was better suited than Mami. But Suzume had already sent Maomao straight home.
"I was sure you'd bring Maomao to see the Lady of the Moon, since it's you, Suzume."
"Maomao has work again tomorrow, you know."
"Besides, even I have my reasons for holding back."
"Reasons for holding back?"
Mami and Suzume had known each other since before Suzume's marriage.
So when they were alone together, they inevitably slipped back into their old, friendly way of talking.
"What do you think would happen if the Lady of the Moon asked Maomao for her opinion?
And as for you, Mami—what if you were told to hand a woman over to Bakan, even if it was just to make her his concubine in name only?"
"Oh—"
Mami understood.
"I'd hate that so much."
"Exactly. They claim they're just respectfully listening to the other person's opinion, but from Suzume's perspective, it looks like nothing but shifting the blame."
"Mm-hmm. That's it, that's it."
To the man, he was properly respecting his partner. To the woman, he was shifting responsibility. Whenever their positions and perspectives differed, misunderstandings arose. And even if both sides understood where the other was coming from, that didn't guarantee acceptance.
"Honestly, I don't think Maomao cares either way. She probably understands the advantages quite well herself. When you think about what Lady Suibihana is planning, it's not exactly a bad move."
"Is that so? I feel like there are far more troublesome things involved."
Suzume narrowed her not particularly large eyes.
"Lady Suibihana did say her husband might not live another ten years."
"Oh my. Surely she wouldn't go as far as poisoning her own husband?"
The two kept their voices low, careful not to mention any specific names. This was the kind of conversation you never knew who might be listening to.
"Even if the wife doesn't do it, don't you think someone else will?"
"Someone else... the son, perhaps?"
"What would the concubine do if her daughter—the tool she used to elevate her own standing—were gone? Start keeping a new little pet, maybe?"
Suzume understood the darker recesses of the human heart far better than Mami.
"Are you suggesting that concubine would be the one to poison the lord?"
"Yes. Actually, I did a little digging into that concubine's past before she came to that household."
Suzume's intelligence-gathering abilities far surpassed Mami's.
She felt a small twinge of jealousy toward this sister-in-law who was so extraordinary yet so capable. At the same time, though, she considered herself fortunate—compared to Suzume, who showed no interest whatsoever in holding her own child, Mami was at least able to raise one properly.
"Maomao's nose really is remarkable. She truly was a courtesan. And it seems she knew a great deal about medicine even back then."
Suzume spoke as her distinctive footsteps padded along the floor.
"A courtesan well-versed in medicinal herbs, whose beauty only added to her popularity. Her regular clients were said to visit her without even a three-day gap."
Suzume placed her index finger to her lips.
"Was she performing some kind of charm spell, perhaps?"
"A charm spell?"
"A Western charm spell to keep a husband from straying. Every morning, she'd slip a small dose of slow-acting poison into his food. When he came home at night, she'd administer the antidote. If he cheated and didn't come home, he'd remain in poor health."
Suzume was well-versed in the knowledge of the Western lands.
"Perhaps instead of poison, they could use narcotics. That way, he'd be visiting her before three days were even up."
Mami broke into a cold sweat at Suzume's speculation.
"At some point, after a highly skilled apothecary started frequenting the pleasure district, patronage began to decline — and afterward, she was ransomed."
"That means..."
"Yes. Maomao's father —"
Luomen "— when he came to the pleasure district, that was around the time. She'd been up to all sorts of mischief, I'm sure, but once a competent apothecary appeared, she must have realized she could no longer conduct her underhanded business while employed at Ryokuseikan, a major establishment that had fallen on hard times."
Suzume nodded with an "mm-hmm" as she crossed her arms. Mami was passingly familiar with the details of Maomao's upbringing. Since Maomao didn't know about the concubine, it must have been before she was old enough to retain memories.
"Why didn't you tell Maomao about that?"
"If I told her, she'd feel compelled to help, wouldn't she?"
Mami was left speechless at Suzume's logic. Help whom, you ask? Gou, of course.
"Maomao wouldn't want to voice mere speculation. But if speculation turns into certainty here, that would be a problem."
Surely the concubine was placing some kind of charm on Gou to keep him from fleeing. No matter what type of charm it was, Gou would only grow weaker with time.
Maomao would be torn. Should she give an honest answer, or stay silent?
"I don't shy away from dirty work, you know. I've seen what becomes of fools who insist on keeping themselves spotless."
The reason Suzume's right hand had become unusable was the price paid by someone who insisted on judging criminals under the law.
"If it lasts ten years, that should be enough."
Mami finally understood why the wife didn't try to cast the concubine out together with her daughter.
There was no fondness or aversion toward the other party involved — she was simply treating the concubine's existence as a tool.
It wasn't as though the wife had never felt any affection at the start. But at the very least, none remained now.
It was Gou himself who had brought this about.
"Suetsumuhana is truly shrewd. Her son is still unreliable, but compared to her husband, he's far more dependable. As long as she doesn't get greedy, she should be secure for a while. The Yu clan isn't particularly warlike, so it's simply a matter of keeping outsiders in check."
As they were having this conversation, they arrived at Tsukinokimi's residence.
Waiting before the room was none other than the so-called fool of a younger brother, Masen.
He was there.
"Has the Crown Prince returned, I wonder?"
"Yes."
Masen led her to the room.
The Crown Prince was reviewing what appeared to be leftover documents from work.
Suiren wasn't there because she was probably preparing dinner.
"Asami. How did it go?"
"Yes."
Asami and Suzume gave their report. Perhaps because Suiren was absent, Suzume frequently interjected with teasing remarks.
As expected, the Crown Prince was troubled by the wife's proposal.
"Gou's wife is quite the shrewd one."
"What shall we do?"
Asami awaited the Crown Prince's response. Whether he refused or accepted, it wouldn't matter. As the Emperor's brother, he held that much power.
"What to do, what to do... Perhaps I should ask Maomao about the treatment in detail."
"Huh?"
Asami couldn't help but raise her voice.
"What's wrong?"
"No... Does this mean you intend to take in Lord Gou's daughter?"
"If I don't, won't that daughter of his die soon?"
Well, that might be true, but anger was welling up inside Asami.
"Isn't there another way? The Crown Prince doesn't have to take her in—he could simply separate the daughter from the concubine."
It was something that had been brought back for discussion on the grounds that it had at least some merit, but Asami blurted it out without thinking.
"Does the Crown Prince intend to sow the seeds of his own troubles onto Maomao?"
"Sister!"
Whether Mami stops Masen or not is none of his concern.
"In the first place, the Empress Dowager is the Empress Dowager! Why won't she handle it herself? Dumping a troublesome burden onto Tsuki no Kimi is hardly fair, is it?"
Tsuki no Kimi let out a sigh.
"Gō is the Empress Dowager—do you really think he'd listen to what Mother has to say? To Gō, Mother is the Emperor's mother first and foremost, but before that, she's his little sister."
"But—"
It was true that Gō was the sort of man who acted on his own assumptions. Since the Empress Dowager had originally been the daughter of a concubine, he surely looked down on her all the more.
"Still, I am not merely his nephew—I am his younger brother by imperial blood. I brought this up thinking he would at least hear me out."
"But wouldn't it be unwise to stroke Gō's ego right now?"
"If it were Maomao, though, wouldn't she choose to save the daughter rather than abandon her?"
Mami's mouth fell open as she stared at Tsuki no Kimi.
"I understand perfectly well what you're trying to say. All you need is for Gō not to get complacent, correct?"
Tsuki no Kimi stretched out languidly.
"Judging by your expression, were you thinking I'd agree to raise her as a concubine, even if just in name?"
"Isn't that the case?"
The Crown Prince's wife had made it sound exactly like that.
"Mother must have felt sorry for her niece. Mami, have you forgotten what Mother did in the past?"
"What do you mean?"
The Empress Dowager was famous for her benevolence. She had created a place within the inner palace for the late Emperor's consorts, abolished the surgery that made new eunuchs, and ended the slavery system. None of these were things easily accomplished even from her position as Empress Dowager, but they were carried out because the Emperor had indulged his mother's wishes.
That said, the results were another matter entirely— By gathering the late Emperor's consorts together, she inadvertently aided a rebellion by their sons' families.
The aging of eunuchs—this wasn't a problem for now, as the inner palace had been reduced in size. However, new eunuchs could only be recruited from foreign slaves who had been castrated, making collection difficult.
The abolition of slavery. On the surface it was gone, but it persisted in altered forms. The number had decreased, but more sinister methods had come into circulation.
Benevolence did not always lead to good outcomes.
In any other era, she would have been branded a wicked woman. But alongside a female emperor who had turned her own son into a puppet, and a vixen who had nearly brought the nation to its knees, the Empress Dowager's transgressions were dwarfed by comparison.
When Mami considered all the things the Empress Dowager had done in the past, taking in a single niece seemed positively mild.
And it seemed Lady Tsuki already knew how to go about it.
"The girl whose body was weakened by malnutrition and poison, was it? A poor thing so far gone that even doctors had thrown up their hands—do what you can for her, she said."
"Yes."
"So in other words, I need to send her somewhere she'll get plenty of nourishment, where there's someone knowledgeable about medicine, and where even the Hao household wouldn't dare make a fuss. That about right?"
"Ah—"
Suzume clapped her hands together.
"There is such a place, you know. One spot, specifically."
"Suzume, you don't mean—"
"Fresh crops are grown right there in the garden—well, more like a field—so the nutrition's excellent, and as it happens there's a lodger who happens to be well-versed in medicine."
"And besides, it's close to her original home."
Mami finally realized which place they were talking about.
"You want to send her to Lord Luomen's place? Is that what you're suggesting?"
"That's right."
"But there's no way Lord Luomen would do something so charitable..."
Then again, she had heard that capable people had a way of taking in strays from nowhere in particular. But the Hao girl was merely sickly—she didn't seem to possess the kind of talent that would catch Luomen's eye.
"Still, if it's Lord Luomen, he probably wouldn't mind one or two extra lodgers."
Suzume nodded, satisfied.
"His adopted son, Rohan— that's his name, isn't it? If it's him, he'd probably agree to take her in if Lady Tsuki asked."
"Fufufu, it might cause a different kind of trouble, though."
Suzume laughed with a knowing look on her face.
"Come to think of it, I hear Brother Rohan has started growing new vegetables again. Why don't we go visit and have a meal sometime?"
"No— I don't need any sweet potatoes."
"It's not sweet potatoes, it's more like fruit, sir. Small round red fruit, but the season might already be over, I'm afraid."
Suzume stuck out her tongue playfully.
Judging by Suzume's reaction, would this really turn out to be a workable solution?
Asami reflected on this, then decided that worrying herself sick over it would only be a loss.