ORIGINAL STORY BY NATSU HYUUGA
THIS STORY IS A FICION, AND ALL NAMES OF FIGURES ND ORGANIZATIONS ARE FICTITIOUS.
MOREOVER, THE STORY HAS NO RELATION TO REAL-LIFE INCIDENTS AND EVENTS.
No… My Lady is being bestowed?
I understand.
-Lady Fuyou! -Please wait!
Oh! So cold…
It's been a while since we came to the capital,
but it's hard to get used to the chilly mornings.
I miss our homeland's sand and sunshine.
The Western Capital was also chilly in the mornings and evenings.
The Western Capital, huh?
It feels so nostalgic now.
It feels like we arrived just yesterday
for Lady Gyokuyou to enter the court.
That reminds me. Father was pleased in his letter.
Commerce between the Western Capital and the central area is increasing.
It's because Lady Gyokuyou is loved!
It's the homeland of the Emperor's favorite.
Even the central area can't ignore that.
Are you cleaning the kitchen?
We'll help too.
We'll never finish unless we split tasks.
We can't ask the other palace women.
Remember when we found poisoned needles in her clothes?
It was especially bad when she was pregnant.
Part of that may be because she's a foreign princess.
It'll be okay. We have a new attendant, remember?
Maomao, what are you making?
Cold medicine.
You can make that?
Our new attendant is talented.
Hey, do you need my help with anything?
Are you eating well?
I am, thank you.
You can always talk to me, all right?
Yes…
Hey, have you heard?
There's a new rumor going around recently.
No.
There's a ghost in the rear palace.
A ghost?
I know! It's the white lady ghost!
So it's famous?
All the palace women, eunuchs, and concubines are talking about it.
It's been about two weeks.
They say a ghost of a white lady
has been seen dancing in midair under the moon.
It's every night by the castle walls at the Eastern Gate!
I see.
The castle walls surround the entire rear palace.
You can only enter and leave through the gates
of the four directions, East, West, South and North.
Yeah, right.
There's always guards at the castle gates,
and there's a deep moat outside.
It's impossible to escape or sneak in.
It's said that buried deep inside the moat are
the remains of a concubine who tried to escape the rear palace…
In other words, a typical ghost story.
What should I do if I see a real ghost?
It's just a rumor.
Excuse me. Will you look at my medicine?
Oh, it's you, miss! Give me a second.
It's almost like he was wasn't suspicious of me just the other day.
Ever since he realized I can make medicine,
he lets me prepare it.
He even shares with me the ingredients I need.
He even gives me tea.
Is he allowed to be this laid back?
Sorry for the wait.
Wow!
You like salty things more than sweet things, right?
I'd like some of those too.
Right away!
Thank you for your hard work.
It's not that bad.
Does this guy have nothing to do?
A eunuch should be at the Domestic Service Department!
Instead, he just wanders around
as if he's keeping watch over the entire rear palace….
In that case, he's higher up
than the Matron of the Serving Women!
He could be the guardian of the Emperor,
but he's too young for that.
He must be the Emperor's lover!
I feel like you're thinking about something very rude.
You must be imagining it.
Doctor, I'm very sorry. Can you get these for me?
So, what do you want to discuss?
Do you know about the ghost incidents?
I've heard the rumors.
And what about somnambulance?
Somnambulance?
So you are interested.
How does one heal that?
I don't know.
It's not something to heal with medicine.
So you can heal it without medicine?
I only work with medicine.
I'm at a loss.
I'm truly at a loss.
So annoying! What a stubborn man!
I'll try my best.
He's different from the other eunuchs.
Miss Maomao.
No need for honorifics.
Your position is much higher than mine, Sir Gaoshun.
In that case, Xiaomao.
Xiao? So now I'm a little girl?
Will you stop regarding Sir Jinshi
as if he's a caterpillar?
Shit! He knows!
Just today, he came back
and told me in a happy state that you regarded him
as if he were a caterpillar.
I'll be careful from now on.
Anyone without enough practice
could get dizzy and collapse.
People have all kinds of kinks, huh?
Here we are.
A Chinese hibiscus under the moon…
You have a keen eye.
That is Concubine Fuyou,
a mid-ranking concubine
who will be bestowed to a soldier as a reward next month.
I think it's been two years.
She's a very timid princess.
She's a good dancer,
but made a mistake performing in front of the Emperor.
She's had no visits from the Emperor since entering the court,
and stayed shut inside her room.
It's no one's fault, but even so…
-To be bestowed… The poor girl. -Lady Fuyou!
So the somnambulance is caused by her agony over being bestowed?
The illness is said to be caused by a loss of balance in the mind…
No, I need more information.
I'll go see her one more time.
Where is Concubine Fuyou's room?
Her outbuilding is to the north.
Thank you very much. And for the tea, also.
You're already going?
I hope she cheers up.
She's a princess from a small vassal state.
She may not want to go back.
Go back?
Oh, the thing is…
Poor Concubine Fuyou.
Yes. To be bestowed to a soldier.
Just thinking about it scares me!
She has a very different impression than
when she was dancing on the castle walls.
Yes.
I was surprised myself when I saw her dance for the first time.
She's usually more simple-looking.
She's really like a Chinese hibiscus flower.
-A flower? -Yes.
Chinese hibiscus flowers
blossom into a large white flower in the morning.
However, in the evening,
the color changes into a dark pink color.
So it's a flower that has many faces in a single day?
Exactly.
The ghost story?
Yes. I wanted to hear more about it.
Do you know anything?
Now that I think about it,
I heard the ghost appeared first on the northern side.
-The north? -Xiaolan? Here's your laundry!
-Coming! -She moved from the north to the east?
Oh, the thing is…
I see, I thought so. So Concubine Fuyou is…
Old man would tell me not to act on speculation.
Somnambulance is a mysterious illness.
It's said to be caused by an unbalanced heart.
A patient acts as if they're awake even when they're asleep.
Back at the brothel,
there was a courtesan afflicted by the same illness.
She was a cheerful courtesan talented at poetry.
There were talks of her being bought out.
This offer was eventually rescinded.
She started wandering around the brothel every night,
as if she were possessed by a ghost or demon.
Oh. What's wrong, everyone?
The courtesan in question had no memory of the night at all.
So, what happened?
Nothing. She stopped wandering around
when her offer was rescinded.
So you mean that the courtesan didn't
want to get bought out?
Most likely.
The man was a large store owner.
He not only had a wife and kids, but even grandchildren.
And she only had a year left in her term of service.
Maybe it's the same with Concubine Fuyou.
Is that really all?
Yes.
Really?
Calm down!
I'm going back to work.
After that, Concubine Fuyou was prohibited from going outdoors.
She was to be guarded by an eunuch
until the day of her bestowment arrived.
I hope this goes well.
Isn't Maomao acting a bit strange these days?
Is she?
I knew it. There's something else to this.
Is today Concubine Fuyou's day of departure?
That's what I heard.
-Hey. -Huh?
Don't you think you could at least tell me
what the real story is?
I'm the one asking you. I won't get angry.
These are just speculations.
Please don't tell anyone about this.
I'm very tight-lipped.
Do you remember the story of the courtesan I told everyone?
-The one with the somnambulance? -Yes.
There was one other courtesan whose proposal was rescinded
due to the same illness.
That courtesan ended up
receiving a new proposal to be bought out,
but because she was a courtesan with an illness,
the total sum was half the silver of the original proposal.
But this was all an act.
An act?
The two men who proposed to buy out the same woman
knew each other.
The woman pretended to be ill
so that the first proposal would be rescinded.
Later, the man who was truly interested bought her out
at half the original price.
For them to be together, he didn't have enough silver,
and she still had a long term of service.
You're saying Concubine Fuyou is the same as that courtesan?
The soldier who'll be with Concubine Fuyou
is her childhood friend who grew up
in the same homeland.
I heard that this childhood friend was praised for his valor
for defeating foreign troops in the recent battle.
He was offered a reward
and strongly wished for the bestowment of Concubine Fuyou.
He was probably hoping for this
since he was living in his homeland.
A soldier doesn't have the social standing to propose to a princess.
Even so, she ended up entering the rear palace…
The princess loved her childhood friend as well.
That's why she purposefully messed up her dance
so that the Emperor wouldn't be interested in her.
As planned, she had no night visits from the Emperor,
and she remains chaste.
But there was no guarantee that the Emperor wouldn't prevent Concubine Fuyou
from falling into the hands of another man.
So she pretended to have somnambulance…
That was a possibility with the Emperor.
You never know with Him.
The battlegrounds with the foreign troops are to the east.
And Concubine Fuyou was dancing every night at…
The Eastern Gate?
She was probably praying for his safe return.
Though this is just speculation.
-Hey, Maomao. -Yes.
If I said I feel jealous of Concubine Fuyou,
would I be a terrible woman?
Concubine Fuyou was beautiful that night.
Almost as if she was a different woman
than the simple princess I saw during the day.
I don't think that at all.
-Let's go. -Yes, ma'am.
If love makes a woman beautiful,
what kind of medicine would it be?
We would like to request something from the rumored apothecary.
PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE
Next episode, "The Threat."
Subtitle translation by: Yukimi Ohashi the rumored apothecary.