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The Apothecary Diaries

The Apothecary Diaries

This story is a work of fiction. The names of all of the characters, organizations, and so on are imaginary. It also bears no connection to any specific real-life events.

This whistle... It must be Lihaku.

He must have successfully gotten Maomao out.

Basen.

No need to be so tense.

Then please, let me take the vanguard!

Wait, get back!

Feifa!

Let's go!

Dammit!

Where is Shishou?

I-I don't know! We were all tricked!

What a brazen lie!

We already have evidence that you embezzled treasury funds for this stronghold!

You must know what that means!

We were told it was for the nation!

We were only doing it for the nation!

How gentle of you.

If he's bound to be executed anyway...

You should just finish him off swiftly.

Shishou!

You seem quite calm, Shishou.

The emperor's order.

You are under arrest for embezzlement and rebellion.

It's obvious that the emperor made his order, since the royal guard is here.

Have you gone senile? It doesn't even have a lit match!

Get down!

How pathetic. You were playfully shooting at beasts in the wild.

You were so eager to test it on humans, as soon as possible.

Too bad, isn't it?

I-I never said that!

Without a lit match?!

It's the latest model. It can fire without a match.

Oh yes, of course you knew.

I was attacked by one, after all.

That was so close. If only I'd successfully killed you then.

Honestly, it was so close.

Well, I guess that's the end, then.

If only I had a bit more time...

Or not. Maybe it wouldn't have helped at all.

What is this?

It's like he's reciting a prepared script...

Go!

It's like I'm watching a play staged by Shishou, an actor.

The emperor's closest retainer, there since the last emperor's era,

and a traitor.

Abrupt? Disappointing?

Either could describe his final moment.

We didn't do anything!

Episode 47: The Shi Clan

Shenmei and Loulan are in the room in the back!

Handle this.

Yes.

Check that area.

Understood.

Bang.

Loulan!

Greetings, Moon Prince.

Actually, let me call you Master Jinshi, for convenience.

Could you please follow me?

And if I refuse?

That's why I'm threatening you.

You're actually going to obediently follow, hmm?

You're the one that demanded it of me.

But it would be easy for you to get this away from me.

In here.

Suirei, my dear sister, has she stopped abusing you?

So, this is Suirei.

She seduced a doctor, and feigned being a corpse to escape.

Then she returned, under the guise of a eunuch.

I thought she was a bold, daring woman, but...

Loulan, that man... Could he be...?

I asked him to accompany me here to make your wish come true.

You've always hated him, haven't you? The person who looked just like that man.

Were you perhaps jealous that he was much more beautiful than you?

Or perhaps because he chose the lady-in-waiting much younger than you?

Although he never visited you, his high-ranking concubine, in your room...

Loulan!

I guess that's enough teasing.

Now, before we allow you to fulfill your wish, let's have some entertainment.

This story goes back more than 30 years.

The late emperor was a fool, who could not speak up against his mother at all.

So, the mother was the one wielding the true power,

and people referred to her as "the Empress" behind her back.

The empress regnant grew impatient with her son, who showed no interest in women.

She sent every beauty she could find into the rear palace.

Then, one day...

Shenmei!

I heard you're going to the rear palace. Is it true?

Yes! They practically begged me to become a high concubine.

But I... We were going to...

That deal is no more.

But...

Don't you get it? This is a golden opportunity.

If I can get pregnant in the rear palace, I could even become empress dowager!

I can't be stuck here as the wife of a local lord in these northern outskirts.

Shenmei...

Inviting you to become her son's high concubine...

That was just a front.

A front? What are you saying, Loulan?!

They practically begged me to—

Perhaps that's how it seemed to you.

When my grandfather was dying in his bed, he squeezed one thing out, like a curse.

That there was nothing he could do, now that his daughter was held hostage.

Hostage?

Taking the daughter of a high official as a hostage,

while outwardly referring to her as a concubine, is quite common.

Father gave up on you once, Mother.

But something completely unexpected happened:

The late emperor's inclinations.

Master Jinshi. Do you know the reason why the rear palace grew so large?

I heard that Shishou convinced the empress regnant to expand it.

Yes, he suggested the expansion of the rear palace as a new public project.

To replace the slave trade, that is.

Slave... trade?

Mother, you are truly ignorant.

About what Grandfather did to draw the attention of the empress regnant.

But slavery was legal back then.

I hear they were treated similarly to pleasure district courtesans.

However, that was not always the case for slaves sold to other nations.

That's why the empress regnant banned the slave trade.

The Shi clan, with their daughter held hostage,

had no choice but to cut down on slave trading, which was their family business.

When Grandfather felt like he was out of options, Father came and suggested this...

Why don't we use the rear palace as a place to send the leftover slaves?

Young women could serve as servants and court ladies,

while men could serve there as eunuchs.

Expanding the rear palace could be sold to the empress regnant

as an idea to get the emperor to take an interest in women.

You're right. Also, the families who sold off their daughters

would feel less guilt if their girls went to the rear palace, instead of a foreign land.

Yes.

It's a win for everyone involved.

Father tried to earn the trust of the empress regnant,

so that he could restore the status of the Shi clan, and get you, the hostage, released.

You were so troublesome, Mother.

To think, this would all have been simpler if you had escaped back then...

Shishou?! How did you get here?!

I built a secret path.

Shenmei, let's run away together.

What...?

If you desire it, we can run away together!

Leaving the rear palace is a serious crime!

Building a secret path is already a serious crime.

I couldn't give up on you!

I couldn't accept having anyone other than you as my wife!

I couldn't resist coming to see you...

Are you sure I'm good enough for you—

Of course!

Come.

Is that the "high-ranked" concubine who lost to her lady-in-waiting, Taihou?

To think she entered before Lady Anshi did!

I heard she hasn't ever received a nightly visit, even once!

Don't insult me!

You want me to run away, ashamed and insulted?!

No!

Go away!

You couldn't trust the man who would throw away his status just to be with you?

There's no way I could have trusted that fool!

He took over the family immediately after my father fell ill,

and took this girl's mother as a wife!

Excuse me, my dear sister.

What?! Is that...

A phoenix hair stick?

Yes. You know this too, Mother.

The only ones who can wear this symbol, alongside the kirin,

are those who carry imperial lineage.

Lies! The late emperor never admitted it!

It seems he felt guilty the whole time.

He was worried about the baby he threw out of the rear palace.

Apparently, he came to see her occasionally, with help from Father.

He did deny it once, but he knew she was his daughter.

That's why he asked Father, who was single at the time...

I want you to take my daughter as your wife.

Father accepted the daughter

born between the emperor and your lady-in-waiting as his wife.

And later, a child was born between them.

I've named her Shisui.

Shisui... A good name for a member of the Shi clan.

Your Majesty, you told me you would grant me a wish.

May I have Shenmei, the high-ranking concubine, as a gift?

With the "Shi" name given to his grandchild, the late emperor was relieved.

He no longer felt it necessary to hold a hostage.

And thus, you were bestowed upon Father, as a gift.

The late emperor was a fool.

He had no idea

what effect his selfish wishes would have on his own daughter, and on Shishou.

Lies! Lies, all lies!

All of it, utter nonsense!

Nonsense, you say?

Father did everything for you.

Even knowing that, in the end, it would all end in catastrophe.

Don't you even see why Master Jinshi is here right now?

How were Father's final moments?

He died laughing.

All that man ever wanted was power for himself!

He only took me as his wife

in order to flaunt his position as leader of this clan!

But once the dust settled, it was you, Mother, who took control of our clan.

Do you know what the clan members who suck up to you did at the palace?

Are you referring to the embezzlement?

Yes. They took part in all manner of corruption.

The sane ones who spoke up against it were ousted, so only the rot remained.

Father took on the role of the traitor to destroy

every rotten element of the Shi clan in one explosive catastrophe.

Master Jinshi. People referred to my father as a scheming tanuki,

but did you know tanukis are actually very timid creatures?

That's why they try to trick others. Their lives depend on it.

If what she's saying is true, I should have separated the two issues...

The expansion of the rear palace and the embezzlement.

Shishou played the role of the necessary evil,

to gather all of the rot in the nation in one place.

But for this, he'll see no reward.

Did my father adequately fulfill his role as the evil mastermind?

Is there any proof that all you've said is true?

The palace rot should mostly be cleaned out by now.

Did you know for certain that this would all work out?

If it hadn't, we could have simply taken over the nation.

If the nation is that weak, it doesn't deserve to exist.

You and that man both were tricking me this whole time?!

I merely did as you ordered, Mother.

You said it yourself: this nation deserves to be destroyed.

You surrounded yourself with smooth-talking idiots.

Did you really think you could defeat the royal guard that way?

Loulan!

That's why I had these made!

You can't handle it. Give it back, please.

Sh-Shut up!

What's so funny?!

Oh, Mother.

You're so insignificant.

Loulan!

A gunshot?!

Master Basen!

I'm such a bad daughter.

Were I true to my father's intentions, I would never have done this.

You blocked it so it would backfire?

This new model has a complex build.

Didn't you think of taking it from me?

It would have been easy for you, with the right timing.

You had something you wanted to tell me.

Oh, if only you were just an idiot with a pretty face.

Mother, Father is dead.

Won't you at least shed a single tear?

He waited for you most of his life.

If only you had a tear to shed for him, I wouldn't have had to do any of this...

Was there no other way?

Perhaps there was. But we just aren't that smart.

Shenmei wanted to tear down the nation that kept making a mockery of her.

Shishou wanted to do everything for Shenmei,

but was also a loyal retainer who couldn't let go of the nation.

Master Jinshi.

I know this is a lot to ask, but I have two favors I would like from you.

What are they?

Thank you.

First, please take this.

My original plan was to use that as leverage to beg for my life,

but I guess that didn't work out.

Written there are things that could happen to this nation from now on.

My first wish is this:

Clan members who can think rationally

have all been ousted by my mother and lost their names.

My sister's situation is similar.

As they have already died once, would you consider sparing them?

I'll do what I can.

So, you'll let those who've died once go.

Thank you very much.

What's the other?

Well, here is my other wish.

Thank you.

Mother, this is the best I can do.

I wonder if I can be a better actor than my father.

Should I have stopped her?

No, I couldn't have.

The final performance of a once-in-a-generation evil...

There was no way I could ruin it.

Nor could I avert my gaze from it.

That was the last I ever saw of Loulan.

My body feels so heavy.

Come to think of it, I haven't slept much at all over the past few days.

How's the girl?

She is safe.

Please, you must rest a little...

Where is she?

You shouldn't get too close...

The dead children of the Shi clan.

Why is she sleeping here?

She begged me to allow her, I couldn't refuse.

She's a mess.

As are you, sir.

I knew the cut on my face would cause a subordinate to get punished.

But I still accepted Loulan's wish.

Don't worry about me.

We should be glad the strategist isn't here, right?

Yes, indeed.

Wait outside.

If I wasn't here, she wouldn't have had to go through this...

What are you doing, Master Jinshi?

Hmm? Is that...

Next Time

Next time: "The Beginning."

Episode 48: The Beginning

Maomao

Shisui