There was the crash of something falling. The potato and grain porridge, tea, and grated fruit went everywhere.
"Did you think to serve Jie-sama this kind of peasant food? Remake it all." The corners of the palace lady's eyes were raised. She was one of the maids attached to Consort Jie, a young woman with a face of gaudy make-up. Yen cleaned up the fallen food and picked up the plates while heaving a sigh. She was at the Crystal Palace. Consort Jie's residence. She was surrounded by a significant number of glares. There were looks of ridicule, scorn, and open hatred. As a maid who served Consort Gina, this place was just like enemy territory. She was standing on a bed of nails.
It was when the emperor showed up in Consort Gina's place last night. Yen had tasted for poison as usual and was planning to leave the room.
"I have a request for the doctor from the rumors." The emperor's age was somewhere around his mid-thirties, a great man growing a beautiful beard. As the one who holds the highest authority in the country, it wasn't unreasonable that he could dazzle the eyes of palace ladies, but unfortunately, this was Yen who is completely immune to handsome faces of mortals. Her sons were more handsome anyways.
"What shall it be?" She respectfully lowered her head. It was just as she wanted to leave before taking a humble correspondence with a maidservant's social position.
"Consort Jie's condition is bad. Can you look at her for me for a while?"
"By your pleasure." He was entrusting this to a young girl. Although Yen isn't young, she had the appearance of a young person. It was at best due to the reason that the inner palace court physician was usually unreliable. But at least he cared for Consort Jie. The first thing she should do when she sees Consort Jie was to improve her eating habits. At present, within the inner palace, due to Ren's words, the use of the poisonous face powder was banned. If merchants were found to sell it, they would be thoroughly punished cruelly.
If that's the case, then getting rid of the poison that was left in her body will be the priority. Although the meal was served with porridge, it was an extravagant affair with fried fish with broth, stewed pork, and red and white steamed bun with shark fin and crab. It was nutritious but overly dense for a sick person with a weak stomach. She ordered the cook to redo it while thinking about one of her kids. She wants to eat Lavender's cooking; the god of art and perfection has a way of making the most to-die-for dishes that she can't even put into words. As his mother, she couldn't be any prouder. Watching the chief reminded her of that. She's thinking about asking him to make her cabbage
With the imperial command, Yen, who gave off the air of a humble maidservant, was able to maintain authority. The meal consisted of porridge high in fiber, tea with a diuretic effect, and easily edible fruit. It was regrettable that it was thrown on the floor some time ago. Other than criticizing the imperial command, the maids weren't pleased with the ugly maidservant who served Consort Gina. Yen had a lot of things she wanted to say, but she firmly put up with it and cleaned up. A maid brought in another luxurious and gorgeous meal and carried it towards Consort Jie, but a short time later she returned with most of it uneaten. The remainders became the reward for the lowly maidservants.
Just as Yen wanted to perform palpation, the maids shadowed her around the canopied bed, and so she nursed her, completely failing to be respectful. When they slapped the face powder at the sleeping place, she only coughed once. Making Yen expression change the moment she saw the consorts face,
"Because there's a peasant here. The air is bad."
"The one who applied the make-up on the consort, was it you?" Yen stood before one of the maids asked in low, stifling voice. It was the girl who slapped the powder just now.
"Yes, that's right. It is the duty worthy of a maid after all." As Yen stared into her, the maid answered while panicking in some way. She was bluffing with all her might. "I want Jie-sama to be always beautiful."
Slap. The maid had fallen to the ground in disbelief, the other maids screamed in shock. Yen then slapped extremely hard a few more times until the maid's cheek bulged, she grabbed the collapsed maid with swollen cheeks by the hair and dragged her along.
"What are you doing?" One maid flared at Yen but didn't dare to move, just like the rest of the maids. For some reason, they were terrified to the point that they couldn't move.
Yen ignored her question as she stopped the front of the dressing table, emptied her hands and reached for the engraved container. She opened the lid and showered the maid with its contents. The maid coughed violently. Her eyes teared up.
"Isn't that great? With this, you'll be pretty like the consort." She pulled the maid up by her hair and leered like a demon. "The poisonous essence will pass through the whole body, from the pores, the mouth, the nose. You will acquire hands like withered branches, sunken eye sockets, skin that has lost its complexion, just like the Jie-sama you adore."
"N-no way…."
"Why? Didn't you know it was forbidden? They even told you it was poison!!"
"B-but, it's the most beautiful. We thought Jie-sama would be happy."
"Who would be happy with Something that killed their child?" Yen clicked her tongue and released the maid's hair. Several strands of her long hair remained on her fingers. "Hurry up, go rinse your mouth. Go wash your face too." After she saw off the palace lady who scrambled out of the room in haste, she then looked at the other frightened maids.
"Hurry up and clean, It" Turning a blind eye to the fact that it was Yen herself who made the mess, she pointed to the powder covered floor. The maids trembled in fright and came back with cleaning equipment.
"Women are terrifying." Both hands in his sleeves, Ren muttered to himself. He and his attendant ran in when he heard the maids screaming. He couldn't move just like the maids he too was scared of Yen at that moment.