Sleepwalking was not a properly understood disease.
Even though they were asleep, they moved about as though they were awake. If there was any cause to speak of, it would be the discord of the heart. No matter how many dicinal herbs were brewed, it was futile.
A certain courtesan had been afflicted with that disease. She was a cheerful woman who was good at writing poetry. The talks of redemption had co up for her.
However, that talk was broken off.
She ambled through the brothel every night as if she was possessed. When the madam tried to stop the courtesan who had been walking around, she got scratched.
The next day, everyone in the brothel ca to press her about her erratic behaviour. What the courtesan said in her cheerful voice was this,
“Oh my. Everyone, what happened?”
The bare feet of the woman who had no mory of the night before were covered in dirt and cuts.
“What happened next?”
Jinshi and Maomao were in the sitting room. Gaoshun and Consort Gyokuyou were also there. The imperial princess had been entrusted to Honnyan.
“Nothing. When the talks of redemption died off, her wandering also stopped.” Maomao said curtly.
“So, could you an that she hated the redeeming talk?” Consort Gyokuyou asked.
“Possibly. The other party was a wealthy patron but he had not just a wife and children, but even grandchildren. Moreover, if she worked for another year, her term of service would be over.”
If she was redeed by a person she didn’t like, it seed that she would rather endure one more year of service. As a result, that prostitute had no more new talks of redeeming and was later freed from her service.
“As there are many who wander after they have extre stress, you can give them a combination of calming drugs and scents, but, well, you only calm them down.” Maomao had prescribed it for these patients instead of her dad.
“Hmm.” Jinshi rested his hands on his chin, looking amused. “Is there anything after that?”
At his persistent gaze, she held back the contempt that was going to show on her face.
Gaoshun wordlessly sent support beside her.
“After that, I return to work, so excuse .” She bowed once and left the room.
Rewinding a short period of ti.
The day after the ghost inspection, Maomao went to see Shaoran, the talkative girl from the east side.
Every ti Maomao t up with her, the palace lady would pry into Consort Gyokuyou, so Maomao asked her about the matter with the ghost in exchange for innocuous news.
The ghostly affair started so ti before the half moon; apparently the first sighting was at the north side. After that, before long it beca that she was sighted on the east side, and then every night.
The palace guards were scared of the ghost story, so they did nothing. At present, there were no damages, so it seems no one had tried to do anything about it.
What a bunch of useless guards.
The next place she went to was the quack doctor’s place. In a ti period where there was no such thing as personal information, the man who doesn’t understand confidentiality will even talk to her about things she had never asked about.
Recently, it was about the uncheerful Princess Fuyou.
She was one who wasn’t about to attain the position of a high-ranking consort while being titled as a princess—the third one of a small vassal state that could scatter at a breath.
She had a building on the north side. She danced as a hobby but was timid and easily nervous. She made a mistake when she had an audience with the emperor.
Excluding her dancing, there was nothing about her that stood out in particular. Apparently, two years after entering court, she had yet to be picked by his imperial majesty.
This ti, as she was to be bestowed to her childhood friend, a military officer, she would be finding happiness.
(I seeee.)
Sothing clicked into place in Maomao’s head. However, what would happen if she said sothing that didn’t go beyond the level of speculation?
(Dad said that you shouldn’t say things you guessed.)
That was why she decided not to say it.
The docile, fair-skinned princess passed through the central gates with flushed cheeks. Although she didn’t have looks that stood out, everyone lanted at the face that was glowing with happiness.
They would be grateful if they were bestowed this way.
That scene spread out.
“Isn’t it fine to talk to at least?” Consort Gyokuyou, who smiled charmingly, was a mother of one child despite her actual age being not even twenty years old. She had a slight tomboyish smile.
Maomao pondered for a second. “This is a guess at most. Also, I don’t want to sour your mood.”
“I’ll hear it for myself. I won’t get angry.”
(Umm….)
“Not a word to anyone then,” Maomao said.
“My lips are sealed,” Consort Gyokuyou promised.
Maomao told her about the story of a sleepwalking courtesan. It was different to the story she told before Jinshi and the others a couple of days ago, the story of another sleepwalker.
Similar to the courtesan from before, she got ill due to the redeeming talks that ca up and got cancelled.
However, the sleepwalking didn’t stop after that. Prescribing dicine like last ti didn’t calm her down. A new redeeming talk ca up for that courtesan. The brothel owner couldn’t bring themselves to allow an ill person to be redeed, but even so, she wanted to be redeed. Reluctantly, the courtesan was agreed to a contract that was half the amount of silvers of the previous redeeming talk.
“I only understood what happened later, but this was fraud,” Maomao said.
“Fraud?”
The man from the previous redeeming talk was an acquaintance of the man who ca afterwards. When he understood that the courtesan was faking her illness, he cancelled it. And then, the destined man redeed her for half the amount.
“The courtesan still has her terms of service left. The man’s redeeming silver was not enough to pay for it,” Maomao said.
“So, you’re saying this courtesan is the sa as Princess Fuyou?”
The childhood friend, the military officer, didn’t have the social position to propose to a princess of a vassal nation.
He had planned to co for the princess one day by going up the ranks through a feat of arms.
However, due to politics, the princess was made to enter the inner palace. The princess, who had feelings for the military officer, failed at her speciality, dancing, so she wouldn’t attract the attention of the emperor. Sure enough, her body stayed pure during the two years she didn’t sleep with anyone.
Around the ti the childhood friend collected his feat of arms and had Princess Fuyou bestowed to him at his next rit, it reached the point where the princess was wandering about suspiciously. It was so that the emperor would never think Princess Fuyou deserved better and pick her.
Were she to be chosen, the bestowing will be postponed. Princess Fuyou, who prized her maidenhood, wouldn’t be able to face her childhood friend again if she slept with another.
Her dancing at the east gate was for the sake of prayers to her childhood friend who was coming back for her. For the sake of a prayer that he cos back unhard.
“This is nothing more than a guess,” Maomao said.
“How do I say this? Since it could be true concerning the emperor, I won’t say anything.” The Favoured Consort looked slightly troubled. She was unable to say that the lecherous emperor didn’t hold any interest in the princess who desired the military officer to that extent. “If I say that I’m jealous of Princess Fuyou, would I be a cruel woman?”
“I don’t think so.”
Though she thought the theory was mostly coherent, she didn’t feel like telling Jinshi.
Since it will certainly be happier this way.
She wanted to keep that tender, simple smile as it is.
It seed that the problem was completely solved but….
In truth, there was still one mystery that remained.
“How did she get up there?” Maomao tilted her head, looking up at the walls that surrounded her on all four sides.
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