She had thought she wouldn't fit in, but— As it turned out, that wasn't really the case, Maomao thought.
Maomao was thoroughly enjoying life in the rear palace once again.
Having grown up in a place overrun with women, maybe that sort of atmosphere just suited her.
Just as before, her days were spent on poison testing, compounding medicines, and going for strolls.
As for Gyokuyou's pregnancy, there was still much she didn't understand.
When Princess Lingli had been pregnant, the severe morning sickness apparently hadn't been a problem, and there were barely any changes in taste either. Apart from irregular periods, there were no definitive signs.
However, inside the Emerald Palace, they had enforced a gag order and were taking precautions against any eventuality.
If anyone wished Gyokuyou's pregnancy ill, they would naturally target the time when miscarriage was most likely — and she could not allow Gyokuyou to be slipped poison.
As for the lecherous old man of an emperor, she had decided to have him refrain from his nighttime activities, just to be safe.
If they did the deed normally, there'd be no problem — but if Gyokuyou was putting her consort education into practice, it would fall outside the bounds of ordinary, and there was no denying that various problems could arise.
(Perhaps she should have taught her the gentler methods.)
No, but still, that wouldn't satisfy either Gyokuyou or the Emperor. As a result, she ended up feared by Risu, while Rifa's maids treated her even more like a monster.
Bringing this sort of matter up to the Emperor directly was difficult, so she relied on Jinshi to relay the message. It wouldn't do to speak directly through a maid's mouth.
Ideally, she didn't want the number of the Emperor's visits to Gyokuyou reduced either, but she couldn't very well suggest that. The Emperor had more than one consort, after all.
If all of a sudden the number of his nighttime visits were to decrease, there would surely be people who'd grow suspicious.
However, the Emperor surprisingly did not reduce his visits—he played with his adorable daughter and enjoyed lighthearted conversation with Gyokuyou.
As for Ada— she had thought about that consort's case too, but perhaps she shouldn't write the Emperor off as just a lecherous old man.
Or perhaps the Emperor had his own way of thinking. The current emperor was known as a wise ruler. Of course, part of that was because the previous emperor had been called an incompetent ruler, which did make the current one look better by comparison—but Maomao wouldn't go so far as to call him a fool.
(Either way, it didn't matter.)
What mattered was that he let the people live without overtaxing their earnings. A fool of a ruler believes the people are infinite; a wise ruler knows they are finite. At the very least, this emperor was the latter.
Still, he occasionally wore a somewhat forlorn expression, so she decided to hand over the rest of the consort-education teaching materials. They might at least serve to pass the time.
She had brought several spare copies along, but unfortunately, none of the maids wanted them.
What sort of teaching materials they were goes without saying.
(Just bear with it in two dimensions.)
She had quietly left them where they'd be visible, and it seemed they had caught his eye.
When she was later told to prepare something different, she became even more convinced that a lecherous old man was exactly what he was.
Meanwhile, inside the rear palace, rumors continued to spread—most likely caused by the chronic shortage of men and the monotonous repetition of each day.
So it was that the maids who had finished their kitchen duties were chatting away. The tea snacks were leftovers from the tea party—today's was dragon beard candy.
Thin, cocoon-like threads of candy that melted the instant they touched the tongue. It seemed to have tea leaves mixed in, giving it a slightly toasty fragrance.
"That's just impossible, honestly. That outfit."
The one speaking with her mouth stuffed full of candy, chewing away, was one of the three maids of the Jadeite Palace— Yinghua.
Bold and headstrong, she was the type to say whatever came to mind.
"I'll admit that's true. But the outfits from the other day were actually nice, weren't they? Hu-style clothing is pretty cool, don't you think?"
The easygoing tone belonged to Guien.
Her round, soft cheeks relaxed blissfully as she savored the candy in her mouth.
"Those kinds of clothes are picky about who wears them. It's not that they didn't suit you, though."
This came from the lanky Airan.
She was skipping the sweets entirely, drinking only tea.
Yinghua looked at her two companions as though she had been betrayed, then turned to the only one left—Maomao.
Maomao thought what a pain this was, but nodded along nonetheless, murmuring "Yes, yes." However, that was the extent of Maomao's cooperation.
Hoping for backup, Yinghua puffed out her cheeks.
"Hmph—Ada's outfit was way cooler, honestly."
Yinghua sulked over her tea.
Seeing this, Guien and Airan exchanged glances and grinned at each other.
"Oh my—Yinghua, so you were secretly team Ada all along?"
"N-No I wasn't!"
Yinghua panicked at Guien's words, and Airan promptly smiled slyly.
"There's no need to hide it. Our mistress is Lady Gyokuyou, but I think it's perfectly fine to have feelings like that too."
"I said that's not it!"
Maomao listened to the three noisy girls' chatter as always, then let out a sigh and drained her tea. For someone who preferred spicy things, the cotton candy and the like were a bit too sweet. She felt like having some salty rice crackers to cleanse her palate.
What Yinghua and the others had been talking about was this. The newly arrived Loulan consort's story. This consort apparently had a few quirks about her, which was more than enough to make her a topic of conversation.
What those quirks were, you ask? Her wardrobe.
Every time, the atmosphere of her outfits was completely different. Sometimes she wore ornamental robes of a Western style, and other times she dressed like a horseman from some foreign tribe.
(How should I put this...)
Did she have money to burn? At this rate, if she kept changing outfits this often, her palace would be nothing but closets.
So, the place that had once possessed an air of austere elegance, the Pomegranate Palace had already changed beyond recognition, practically erasing every trace of Ada who had lived there before.
In a sense, the right move. In a sense, wrong.
The rear palace was a world where standing out was everything, but also a world where the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. The new Loulan consort should have been treated as that protruding nail, but the reality was that her father had been a highly regarded minister since the previous emperor's reign, so there was no hammer to drive her down.
(I see, I see.)
If that was the case, it was more than enough reason for Ada to be driven out. If anything, considering the Loulan consort's age, they might have waited longer than necessary.
Maomao suddenly thought.
Honestly, even as the emperor, wouldn't it have been more convenient to keep Ada within the rear palace?
Because she could never become the mother of the nation, her gaze looked straight ahead, seeing clearly into the future.
If she were a man, she'd be the kind of person you'd think exactly that about.
With Ada gone as an invaluable advisor, and in her place a girl entering the inner court who could influence not just the rear palace but the entire imperial court, even an elevated being like the emperor would find it a headache.
He couldn't dismiss her, but getting too close and producing heirs would also be a problem. Having a consort's powerful backing was only useful during the uncertain days of the crown prince — once one became emperor and had children, such backing could become worthless overnight.
Oh dear, what was to be done about all this.
As these reveries flickered through her mind, Maomao poured herself tea directly from the pot.