"So it happened again."
Jinshi's handsome face was suffused in gloominess. He had delicate features that could be mistaken as a woman, with almond eyes. His hair was wrapped up in a silk cloth, the rest flowing down his back.
It was improper for the flowers of the court to raise a commotion in such a place. Bringing that to a close was one of his jobs.
When he was in the middle of dispersing the crowd, there was only one person who walked over with an unconcerned air.
She was a short maidservant with freckles that densely covered her nose to her cheeks. Though she didn't have features that stood out, her figure left an impression of one who was talking to herself without noticing him.
He didn't expect there would be any more to it.
The discussions of the crown prince's passing that came about not even a month after.
The bawling Consort Rifa was skinnier than she was a couple of days ago. There were no traces of time she was called the large Rose. Was it because she was ravaged by the same illness as her son, or was it that her illness was severe?
From that, the hopes for another child were probably gone.
The older sister of the crown prince from another mother, Princess Rinrii's condition improved after an hour of poor health. The mother and child consoled the emperor who lost the crown prince.
With the emperor coming often, the next child might be near.
The princess and crown prince were inflicted with the same illness of unknown cause. One recovered, one fell.
Their ages may be different, but the three month difference may have a big influence on the infants' physical conditions.
However, what about Consort Rifa?
If the princess recovered, Consort Rifa might recover as well. Otherwise, she may be emotional from the death of her son.
As Jinshi parsed over the documents and stamped them, his mind spun, thinking it over.
If there is something different, it would be Consort Gyokuyou.
"I'll be away for a bit."
After he finished stamping the last document, Jinshi left the room.
The princess with cheeks like steamed bun had the innocent smile of a baby. Her small hands made fists and grabbed onto Jinshi's index finger.
"There there, please let go."
The red-haired beauty gently took her daughter back into her arms, and went to put her to sleep in the basket.
The baby pushed aside the hot blanket, and babbled happily while looking towards the visitor.
"You have something you want to ask."
It appeared that the wise consort sensed Jinshi's anticipation.
"How has the Princess-dono recovered?"
At the point-blank question, Consort Gyokuyou let out a small laugh and took out a piece of cloth from her bosom.
On the piece of cloth that was ripped out without using scissors. Clumsy words were written on it. It wasn't that the words were written messily. The blotted text was hard to read because it was written with plant juice.
'The face powder is poison. Don't let the baby touch it.'
Was the writing purposely messy?
Jinshi tilted his head.
"Was it the face powder?"
"Indeed."
Consort Gyokuyou entrusted the princess to the wet nurse and took out something from a drawer.
It was a ceramic container wrapped in cloth. She opened the lid, and white powder danced.
"The face powder?"
"Indeed, this is the face powder."
He pinched the white powder wondering what could be inside it. Come to think of it, Consort Gyokuyou who originally had beautiful skin didn't use the face powder. Consort Rifa heavily covered her face to hide her bad complexion.
"The princess is a glutton. Just my milk wasn't enough for her. I only let her drink from the wet nurse when mine wasn't enough."
She employed a wet nurse who had lost her child soon after giving birth.
"This is what the wet nurse used. She liked to use this as it was whiter than the other face powders."
"How is the wet nurse?"
"She took a break when her physical condition got bad. I planned to give her sufficient retirement money."
Those were the words of the intelligent, overly kind consort.
What would happen if there was poison inside the face powder?
If the ones who used it were mothers, their foetuses would be affected. Even after birth, the infants could get it in their mouths too.
Jinshi and Consort Gyokuyou didn't know what it was. Just that this was the poison that killed the crown prince.
"Ignorance is a sin. We should take more care in what the infants are putting into their mouths."
"I agree with that."
As a result, four of the emperor's children were lost. If they included those still in their mother's wombs, more might be affected.
"I want to inform this to Consort Rifa as well, but I think that anything I say will backfire."
Consort Rifa was coating her bad skin complexion with the face powder even now. All without knowing it was poison.
Jinshi looked at the piece of unbleached cloth. He had a mysterious feeling that he had seen this before.
The messy words also looked like it was to hide the handwriting. However, where he seen this feminine script?
"Who could have done this?"
"It was the day I got the doctor to look at my daughter. After all, this was left by the window after I troubled you. It was tied to an azalea branch."
So, could it have been that they figured something out when they were at the commotion and wanted to leave some advice?
Just who could it have been?
"The palace doctor wouldn't do such a roundabout thing."
"Indeed. It seemed he didn't know how to treat the crown prince even till the end."
The commotion from that time.
Come to think of it, he recalled an unconcerned maid from the group of onlookers.
What was she muttering about?
What did she say?
'What can I use to write?'
Suddenly, everything in his head connected.
He burst out with an evil snicker. A beautiful smile, like a celestial maiden's, appeared.
"Consort Gyokuyou. The owner of those words, what shall we do when we find them?"
"Of course, they are our benefactor. I want to give thanks to them."
"I understand. Please wait for a bit."
"I await your good news."
Jinshi followed the memories of the cloth that was embedded with feelings.
"If the Favoured Consort so wishes, I must certainly find then."
The celestial maiden smile gained the innocence of a treasure hunting child.