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“A-Are we really going there, Niangniang?” Jiujiu said as she followed Jusetsu, on the verge of crying.
“I’ve said so from the beginning. And refrain from calling me ‘Niangniang.’ I am currently a palace lady, so speak normally.”
“But…” Jiujiu lowered her eyebrows as if troubled. She seemed to be at a loss as to how to maintain a distance from Jusetsu.
The two girls were heading to the southwest of the inner palace. As they crossed a vermillion-lacquered bridge over a creek, Jiujiu suddenly cast her face down and hid behind Jusetsu. Just as Jusetsu wondered what was going on, she saw a palace lady on the other side of the willow trees planted near the creek. It was the Palace Secretarial Bureau palace lady who high-handedly ordered Jiujiu to mend her clothes. She seemed to be hurrying towards Hien Palace. She didn’t notice them.
“——She has left.” Jusetsu told her. Jiujiu nervously raised her face. After checking the opposite bank, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Was that the palace lady who was exchanging letters with a eunuch of Hien Palace? She seems to be quite eager to visit it frequently. Even though she has her own work to do.”
“Yes, however, she denies it. She said that there was no way she would ever be involved with the likes of a eunuch, and that she was only doing it as a favor for someone. She also told me to stay quiet about the correspondence.”
“As a favor for someone?”
“Apparently, another palace lady from the Palace Secretarial Bureau asked her to deliver letters on her behalf. But then, that palace lady would have done it herself, wouldn’t she? I think she’s hiding her embarrassment, though.”
Oh? Jusetsu tilted her head. Certainly, it seemed unlike that that palace lady would be so kind as to assist in the exchanging of letters.
They started walking again and crossed the bridge. They passed through several gardens, progressed through a walkway with earthen walls, and passed by palace buildings. The scenery around them soon became desolate. There were no beautiful gardens to be seen, and the buildings were simple and plain. These were the dormitories of the servants.
Sen’e House was located on the outskirts of the inner palace. Large and small canals ran through the palace, but the land was low and poorly drained in the outskirts of the inner palace. That was why it was always damp and the buildings covered in mold and moss. Because it was a place of banishment within the inner palace, the surrounding area was a cesspool of ill-natured low-ranking eunuchs and palace ladies, and the law and order there was bad. As one approached, the spots with collapsed walls became more and more noticeable. Roof tiles were falling off. The path was no longer gravel, weeds were growing out of the unplowed ground, and rocks littered the ground. There were eunuchs, red-faced and possibly drunk on cheap alcohol in the daytime, leaning against the walls and sleeping, and eunuchs scrutinizing Jusetsu and Jiujiu as though evaluating them. Jiujiu clung to Jusetsu’s back in fear.
“No need to be afraid,” Jusetsu told her. They wouldn’t attack them thoughtlessly, and it wouldn’t be a big deal even if they did. It would be different if they came at them with killing intent——
However, it seemed that that “different thing” was happening.
The two eunuchs staring at them staggered towards them. Jusetsu put herself on guard, and then another pair of eunuchs appeared from behind a collapsed wall. They were all dressed in the robes of low-ranking eunuchs, but their eyes were sharp. Just when she realized that they weren’t simple rogue eunuchs, they pulled out daggers from their breasts, and Jiujiu let out a hoarse scream. They quickly surrounded the two girls.
“What is it that you lot want? We do not have any money.”
They didn’t answer her and, without saying a word, slowly closing the distance. This might be problematic, Jusetsu tensed.
Jusetsu brought her hand to the back of her head—but she recalled that since she was currently dressed as a palace lady, she didn’t have her flowers. Clicking her tongue, she dropped her hand and turned her palm upwards.
Heat gathered in her palm. The air wavered, and when one thought a heat haze had been produced, light pink petals appeared on her palm. The petals appeared in succession, linked together, and gradually became a peony flower.
The eunuchs, upon seeing this, stopped in their tracks, shaken. They looked at each other in bewilderment, trying to see what the other would do. You should retreat if you are scared, Jusetsu had a sliver of hope, but it seemed it was all for naught. Letting out a yell, one of the eunuchs rushed forward.
Jusetsu blew on the peony.
Upon doing so, the peony became a gust of wind and assailed the eunuchs. They cried out at the sharp blades of wind. Taking that opportunity, Jusetsu took Jiujiu’s hand and tried to slip between them.
“Kyaaah!”
However, a eunuch grabbed Jiujiu’s collar.
“Jiujiu!”
Jusetsu tried to use her arts again at the eunuch who raised his dagger overhead, but she couldn’t make it in time. Right when she kicked off the ground and was about to put herself between Jiujiu and the blade, the eunuch fell sideways.
“What are you all doing!” A eunuch had tackled him from the side. He looked to be in his thirties, with drooping eyes and good-natured features. “Why are you mugging two helpless palace ladies?”
The eunuch shouted angrily. He hung over the fallen eunuch and tried to take away the knife. The fallen eunuch kicked the other eunuch in the stomach and got up with the knife in his hand. Just as he was about to point the blade at the eunuch who came to help, a stone came flying in from somewhere and hit his hand cleanly.
A groan came from somewhere else. Looking in that direction, a young eunuch who came out of nowhere was twisting the arm of a eunuch who was holding a knife and pressing him against the ground. That wasn’t all. The other eunuchs were also groaning, clutching his arms and legs. ——It seemed that in an instant, this young eunuch had disarmed them completely.
“Get out of here!”
The eunuchs attempted to flee as though they had lost their heads. The young eunuch released the arms of the eunuch pressed against the ground. He also frantically stood up and fell over himself as he chased after his escaped associates.
“Are you hurt, Niangniang?” The eunuch turned back to Jusetsu. It was an unfamiliar face. He had a beautiful face and looked to be just before twenty years old. His long, single-lidded eyes were especially beautiful. Even the straight scar running down his cheek looked like an ornament.
“Attendant Ei has ordered me to guard you. I am Onkei. I have been following you in the shadows. Please forgive me for my discourtesy.”
Onkei, with his well-proportioned and slender body, bowed gracefully with his hands clasped.
“I see, Ei Sei…”
He was a shrewd man.
“You saved us. You have my gratitude. ——Who were those men? They do not seem like simple muggers.”
“I don’t know. However, they are most likely subordinates from the emperor dowager’s faction.”
“The empress dowager…?” Wasn’t she supposed to be confined? And why were they attacking Jusetsu now?
“…Come to think of it,” Jusetsu looked around. She was searching for the eunuch who helped them first, but he was nowhere to be seen. “Was that eunuch not Ei Sei’s subordinate?”
“I don’t know. I presumed he was just coincidentally passing by.”
If she remembered correctly, that man was dressed like a low-ranking eunuch with dark gray robes and a black cap. He must have been a very chivalrous person, if he was only passing by and plunged into the middle of a group of ruffians with knives. If she had the chance to meet him again, she would have to thank him.
“Jiujiu, are you unhurt…” Jusetsu asked, turning around, but Jiujiu’s legs had collapsed beneath her, and she was on the verge of tears. It was understandable.
“Are you alright?” When she held out her hand, Jiujiu clung to Jusetsu and began to cry. “I’m sorry. I involved you in danger. You should go back to Yamei Palace.”
She raised her head to tell Onkei to escort her back, but Jiujiu shook her head and let go of Jusetsu.
“No, I shall accompany you, Niangniang,” she said and wiped her tears.
“But…”
“You tried to save me, didn’t you?” She was referring to when Jusetsu tried to step between her and the eunuch’s knife. “I will accompany you.”
Saying only those words, Jiujiu sniffled.
“…Thank you.”
Somehow, an itchy feeling tickled her chest. It was the first time she had ever felt this way.
Flanked by Jiujiu and Onkei on both sides, Jusetsu stood in front of Sen’e House. The entrance was half-collapsed and tilting, and the gateposts were on the verge of rotting away. When they passed through it, they saw palace ladies in earth-colored dresses washing clothes in washbasins with tired expressions. All had pale faces, and some of them were elderly. They didn’t raise their heads even when Jusetsu and the others passed by them. Jiujiu stood close to Jusetsu’s arm and looked around fearfully. ——This place was called the palace ladies’ graveyard.
As soon as they stepped into the building with mossy roof tiles, a musty smell assailed their noses. The walls were covered in mold. The eunuch in charge of this place led them to a room in the back.
“This is So Kougyou’s room. ——However, I think it would be a waste of time trying to ask her anything,” the eunuch said over his shoulder, not even turning his lifeless eyes towards Jusetsu and the others.
“Why is that?”
“You’ll know once you see her.”
Well then. The eunuch left. There was no door at the entrance, only a slightly dirty curtain. Onkei stood guard in front of it, and Jusetsu entered the room.
A simple bed was set up by the window of the cramped room, and a woman was lying on top of it. The eunuch told them that she had been lying in bed since yesterday with a fever. Sen’e House took in many of those who could no longer move from illness.
The woman’s hair was thin and half-greying, and both her face and body were emaciated. At first glance, she looked like an old woman because of her dull skin and deep wrinkles, but upon closer look, she didn’t seem that old.
“…Sou Kougyou?”
Jusetsu asked, bending over the bed. The woman half-opened her eyes and looked up at Jusetsu. Her gaze wandered, but she made no answer. Jusetsu was about to ask again when the woman opened her mouth. She involuntarily startled and drew her body back.
There was no tongue in the woman’s mouth.
The woman’s gaze chased Jusetsu and she uttered a few sounds that didn’t sound like words. Jusetsu thought that she probably meant “Yes.”
——Now I understand what that eunuch said it would be a waste of time asking her anything.
There was no way for her to answer any questions. She had heard that in the inner palace, cutting out the tongues of palace ladies was a rare punishment, but she hadn’t thought it would be a real thing. It was atrocious.
——I can only ask her questions where she can answer by nodding her head yes or shaking her head no.
“…I am the Raven Consort. I live in Yamei Palace. I came here to question you about some things.” Jusetsu took out the earring from underneath her sash. “Do you know this——”
Earring? She was about to finish, but before that happened, Kougyou’s expression clearly changed. Her eyes widened, and her face was a mixture of fear and shock. She was eagerly trying to say something, but only moans and drool came out of her mouth.
“Does this belong to Han-oujo?”
She nodded her head many times. And then, she eagerly moved her mouth and gestured with her hands like she was writing something.
“…You wish to communicate by writing?”
When she asked that, Kougyou nodded vigorously. Jusetsu turned to Jiujiu. “Borrow a writing brush and paper from that eunuch.”
Jiujiu went out, but returned after a few moments with a troubled face.
“He said that there are no such things here. He also said that she can’t write, so it’s no use communicating with writing…”
Jusetsu turned her eyes to Kougyou, who shook her head and stared intently back at her. She was different from her lifeless self when she was lying down; her gaze was strong.
“——Then we shall take her to Yamei Palace. Onkei, carry her.”
After wrapping Kougyou in the thin bedding, Onkei lifted her in his arms. When they were about to take her outside, the eunuch rushed up to them.
“You can’t just take her out of here.”
“I am the Raven Consort. I am taking this person under my authority. If anyone complains, tell them to come to Yamei Palace.”
Hearing the words Raven Consort, the eunuch backed away in shock. The Raven Consort was rumored to specialize in curses and killing curses. Even the eunuchs in charge of lighting the lanterns didn’t dare go near Yamei Palace.
After leaving Sen’e House with Kougyou, Jusetsu hurried back to Yamei Palace.
Yamei Palace didn’t employ any palace ladies, so there were plenty of empty rooms. They placed Kougyou in one of them, and Jusetsu prepared some hemp paper and a brush. Jiujiu grinded ink in an inkstone and placed it on the stand next to the bed. Kougyou sat up and took the brush.
“A palace lady at Sen’e House taught me how to write.” Kougyou wrote in clumsy handwriting. “But if they knew I could write, they will surely kill me. That’s why I pretended I couldn’t write.”
Jusetsu furrowed her brows at the word “kill.”
“The servant was killed. However, killing an attendant would have been too conspicuous, so they cut out my tongue so I couldn’t speak.”
By servant, she probably meant her own maidservant. It was written in the register that she had died from illness, but she was actually murdered?
“I was made the attendant of another consort, and then they deliberately made up a charge for me and cut out my tongue as punishment.”
Kougyou’s words were messy, as though her desire to write was rushing forward. She bit her lips, a frustrated look on her face.
“…Who did such an act to you? Who exactly is going to kill you?”
Kougyou’s hands were shaking. She took in a deep breath, and then continued writing.
“The empress dowager.”
The empress dowager poisoned the Magpie Consort, Kougyou wrote. The Magpie Consort—the third-ranked consort. She was a young consort who was the daughter of a chief vassal. Apparently, she was pregnant at the time of her death. That incident was framed on Han-oujo.
“It was because the Magpie Consort was pregnant. Her father wasn’t in the empress dowager’s faction. Han-oujo was charged with that crime. My maidservant was talked into it with money, and they had her plant euphorbia in the chest. I saw it happen. However,”
Kougyou stopped her brush there. The tip of the brush wandered about in the air several times, but Kougyou bit her lip and lowered the brush.
“I also did what the eunuch told me to do. He told me that they would kill my family. I let Han-oujo die without doing anything to help her.” Kougyou’s shoulders shook, and she stopped her brush again. “I learned to write so that I can at least let the truth be known one day. Since you have that earring, you must be Lady Han’s ally.”
“Eh?”
Kougyou raised her head.
“Am I wrong?”
Jusetsu didn’t know why she thought she was Han-oujo’s ally, but she explained that Koushun was the one who found the earring in the inner palace, and that a ghost was possessing it.
Kougyou paled at the word “ghost.”
“Is it Lady Han’s ghost?”
“If this earring belonged to her, then that would be the case,” Jusetsu held out the earring in her hand.
“The earring did belong to Lady Han. I remember it very well. At any rate, there is only one.”
“Only one?”
“Yes. There is only one, but even so, Niangniang always wore it.”
Niangniang probably referred to Han-oujo. Kougyou had a distant look in her eyes as she remembered.
“She told me about it once. She said that she gave the other earring to her betrothed back in her hometown.”
“Betrothed…?”
“Niangniang has been engaged to him since they were children, but her father, who was a civil official, forced her to enter the inner palace. Niangniang gave the earring to her betrothed and enter the palace. When she touched that earring, she seemed to recalling her betrothed.
“Niangniang was not a bright and cheerful person, but she was kind. I was the daughter of a small noodle shop, but I was chosen to be a palace lady and entered the inner palace. Almost all the other palace ladies were the daughters of respectable families, but it was a difficult place for me to live because I was unable to read and write well, and I had no refinement. Unable to just watch, Niangniang made me her attendant. And yet…”
Kougyou’s hand stopped. However, she seemed to have collected herself and continued to write.
“One day, she gave the earring away to someone else.”
“Gave it away?”
“When she returned from the courtyard, she was no longer wearing the earring, so I thought she dropped it and asked her about it in shock. She laughed and said she gave it away to a crying child. Perhaps they had a difficult time in the inner palace. I’m sure that child knows Niangniang’s kindness. That she would never poison anyone.
“That is why I thought that since you have that earring, you must have been that child or someone who knew her. If that’s the case, then you must be an ally who knows that Niangniang is innocent.”
Kougyou put down the brush and let out a breath. Jusetsu placed her hand on her forehead. It was hot. Her fever might be going up.
“Understood. Rest for the time being.”
However, Kougyou took the brush again and hurriedly wrote something down.
“Niangniang wasn’t only falsely accused. She was murdered. She was killed by eunuchs. Please punish them. I shall receive punishment as well.”
After writing that, Kougyou lost consciousness. Jusetsu laid her down on the bed, wrote down “bupleurum root,” “goldthread,” and “crow dipper” on a leftover piece of paper, and then gave it to Onkei.
“Tell the medical office to prepare only these herbs.”
With the paper in hand, Onkei immediately exited the room. She had Jiujiu look after Kougyou and returned to her own room. She placed the earring on a table and stared at it.
——On top of being falsely accused, she was murdered…
Was that why Han-oujo became a ghost and possessed that earring?
Who was the person she gave her earring to? They were probably the one who dropped it. If they dropped it in the inner palace, that meant they were still here. Perhaps a long-serving palace lady or eunuch who had been here since the reign of the previous emperor——?
Jusetsu pressed her hand to her temple. What should she do? In any case, she should tell Koushun immediately.
Jusetsu stroked the jade of the earring. If she dispelled Han-oujo’s regrets, would she be satisfied and saved? Conversely, unless she did so, even a repose ceremony wouldn’t be able to save her soul.
Jusetsu took the earring in her hand and shook it before her eyes.
I’m 90% sure that Onkei is supposed to be written as On Kei, so if yall see it suddenly change in the future, you didn’t see anything