The Free Consort of the Rear Palace: The Virtuous Consort Who Died from Overwork Solves Mysteries - The Lazy Consort Falls to Poison

The abandoned warehouse near the East Gate. In the darkness of night, only the thin light of a crescent moon fell upon it. Shu Rei, arms crossed, stared intently up at Rasetsu, who leaned against the wall. He wore his usual dubious smile, idly waving a single scrap of paper in his hand. "[serious]So, did it really come from the kitchen?" "Correct." Rasetsu shrugged. "It was a eunuch named Jo, the food supply manager for the Byakurou kitchen. He was the one mixing the Seika powder into the salt jars and bringing it in. On the surface, it's high-grade rock salt, but the contents are poison worth eighty silver ryou. A nice little business he's running." "Jo... I've never heard that name. But do you have proof he did it?" "In the Tenrin Trading Company's back ledger, there's a record of the transactions. I borrowed it just yesterday." He pulled another piece of yellowed paper from his pocket. It was densely packed with fine writing: dates, product names, amounts, and the names of the trading partners. Shu Rei strained her eyes. (That... definitely has the characters for Seika powder.) "However, this is a copy. Not the original. With just this, we don't have evidence to corner the Empress directly. There's still nothing that can prove you were the one who gave the order." "I know that. But still, the mastermind is that woman after all..." Shu Rei bit her lip. Empress Ka Rin. The wife of this country's supreme ruler. That person had been buying poison as a tool to kill people. That fact spread darkly, slowly, deep within Shu Rei's chest. (I'm scared. Genuinely terrified.) But if she backed down here, it was all over. "So, when can we get the original ledger?" "Who knows. The head of the Tenrin Trading Company has it locked up tight in his safe. To steal that, I'll need at least three more days, no matter what." "Three days..." It was then. A rustle came from the shadows. "—Who's there?" Rasetsu's voice turned sharp. At the same time, he roughly pulled Shu Rei's arm towards him. Shu Rei's heart began to pound like a warning bell. "(Did someone... hear us?)" Without a word, Rasetsu pushed Shu Rei further into the depths of the warehouse. Then, he slowly walked towards the source of the sound. After a while, Rasetsu returned. In his hand, a black cat dangled. "What, just a cat? Damn, you startled me. You're a stray, aren't you? This is my territory, so get lost." He tossed the cat away. The cat meowed in displeasure and disappeared over the wall. "...I'm glad it was a cat." Shu Rei leaned against the wall and let out a deep sigh. "Be careful. Your movements might already be completely known to the other side." "Maybe so." Rasetsu laughed in his usual manner, but his eyes weren't smiling. That night. In the innermost part of the Kinsui Palace, a room in the Kouyou Hall. Amidst the sweet smoke of aloeswood incense, Empress Ka Rin slowly tilted her sake cup. Within the room, not even the rustle of silk garments could be heard. Before her, the head lady-in-waiting, Chin Hou, knelt with a pale face. Ka Rin did not utter a single word. She merely smiled quietly and held out her empty cup before Chin Hou. With trembling hands, Chin Hou received the cup, bowed once, and exited the room as if fleeing. What Ka Rin had ordered, no one present could know. But the color of Chin Hou's face told the entire story. Ka Rin gazed out the window. Beyond the dark, sunken garden lay the residence of a certain consort. "[cold]I suppose I'll get a little serious." Her voice was too quiet, and too cold. Late at night. The Shuuka En was wrapped in a silence so deep even the insects had stopped their chirping. Shu Rei sat at her desk, groaning. She had reread the copy of the ledger she'd received from Rasetsu countless times, but her mind refused to work. "[sad]Ah, jeez... I'm hungry. Why do I have to deal with such troublesome things in the middle of the night..." It was then. A reserved knock sounded at the door. "[gentle]Virtuous Consort, it's Toume. A late-night snack has been delivered from the kitchen." Toume entered, carrying a steaming bowl on a tray. It smelled wonderful. It seemed to be a thick chicken rice porridge. "Huh, that's unusual. Who sent it?" "I don't know. Someone from the kitchen said, 'Since the Virtuous Consort is investigating something until late...'" Toume tilted her head slightly. She placed the tray on the desk. For an instant, Shu Rei felt a sense of unease. (My personal maids are only two: Suigyoku and Toume. But Suigyoku went home to her family today... And yet, the kitchen knows what I'm doing?) However, that unease was drowned out by the growl of her own stomach. "Well, whatever. Since they went to the trouble, I'll have it. Thank you, Toume." "Yes. Please eat it while it's hot." Shu Rei scooped up some porridge with her spoon, blew on it to cool it, and carried it to her mouth. The taste wasn't bad. She thought it had a slightly bitter aftertaste, but that was probably because she was tired. Thinking so, she ate it down eagerly. It wasn't long before the bottom of the bowl was visible. Several hours later. "—Ngh, ah...!" Clutching at her chest, Shu Rei sprang up in bed. Pain. An intense pain, as if her internal organs were being stirred with a heated fire poker. It wasn't her stomach, nor her heart. From deeper within her chest, around her lungs, an impossible agony assaulted her in waves. "Gh, gah...!!" A scream that wouldn't become a voice. She couldn't breathe. No matter how much she inhaled, the air wouldn't enter her lungs. It was as if she were being strangled and submerged in water at the same time. (What is this...!?) Shu Rei grabbed the edge of the bed. Uncaring that her nails were splitting, she clung on desperately. Her vision warped, the ceiling spinning round and round. Tears, snot, and drool overflowed uncontrollably. It hurts. I can't breathe. I'm scared. (Am I going to die...? Am I going to die in a place like this...?) Her second life. She had decided she would live freely this time. She wasn't supposed to have to work anymore. She had been looking forward so, so much to taking afternoon naps. (I don't want to.) (I don't want to die.) Fear gripped her heart like a hand of ice. Even when she had died from overwork in her previous life, she hadn't been conscious of "death" like this. She had just been tired, lost consciousness, and before she knew it, it was over. But now was different. Each and every moment made her feel death through pain and suffering. Her body wouldn't obey her, as if it weren't her own. (This... could this be...) Even in her agony, the knowledge from her previous life barely managed to sound an alarm in a corner of her mind. Difficulty breathing. Delayed effect. Ingested via food. (Seika powder...!) I've been poisoned, right now. By the same method as Lady Reika at the water lily pond. That late-night snack just now. It was in that. "Ah... u... Tou... me...!" She called her maid's name in a squeezed-out voice. Toume, who had been resting in the adjacent room, noticed the abnormality and burst in. "[fearful]Virtuous Consort!! Virtuous Consort, what happened to you!!" Toume's face was contorted with terror. Seeing Shu Rei collapsed on the floor and convulsing, she gasped for a moment, then tried to scream loudly. "S-Someone—" "[weak]D...on't..." With a trembling hand, Shu Rei desperately grabbed the hem of Toume's garment. "Not the Suiran residence...! I'll... be suspected again..." If it became known here that she had been poisoned by someone from the Suiran residence, Ka Rin would surely claim that she had "drank the poison herself in a staged act." If that happened, she would be finished for good, branded a villain who tried to frame someone. "B-But, what should I do...!!" "Rasetsu... outside the East Gate... contact him...!" Upon hearing those words, large tears spilled from Toume's eyes. But she immediately wiped them away fiercely and nodded firmly. "U-Understood! I will definitely bring him! Until then, please, absolutely do not die!!" Toume draped a blanket over Shu Rei's shoulders, then dashed out into the darkness of the night as if propelled. While Toume ran desperately, Shu Rei's consciousness drifted on waves of pain and agony. (Kouju... grass...) The antidote for Seika powder, which she had learned about in her previous life. There should be a small amount in the rear palace's medicine storehouse as well. (But I... can't move anymore.) (Rasetsu... hurry...) Her lungs felt scorching hot, as if burning. The hand of ice now crept up along her spine. How much time had passed? The sound of the door being violently thrown open echoed. "—Tch, this is a mess." It was Rasetsu's voice. His usual flippant tone was gone. As soon as he entered the room, he picked up the bowl that had fallen on the floor and sniffed the remaining porridge broth at the bottom. He then licked a little with his tongue and spat it out immediately. "It's Seika powder. No doubt about it. And a pretty concentrated dose at that. Damn, they really came to kill you." He rushed to the bedside and peered into Shu Rei's face. Her eyes were unfocused, and her lips were beginning to turn purple. "[weak]Ko... uju... grass..." "Yeah. I know." Rasetsu's voice was terribly serious and low. "I'll be right back. Don't you dare die." Saying just that, he turned on his heel and flew out of the room. That back wasn't the usual carefree merchant's; it was the back of a man seriously confronting something. In the dead of night, in the imperial capital of Rouga. Rasetsu ran through the sleeping city like the wind. He passed through the deserted Chouya Avenue and pounded violently on the back door of the Tenrin Trading Company. "Hey, is anyone there! It's an emergency!" After a while, the sleepy-eyed head clerk showed his face. "R-Rasetsu-sama!? What brings you here at this hour—" "The antidote for Seika powder. Prepare one dose of a decoction of Kouju grass, right now." "S-So suddenly... We're already out of stock for that. The last dose was sent to the rear palace three days ago..." "Tch...!" Rasetsu clicked his tongue and immediately ran off. His next destination was the entertainment district, Kajou Street. He pounded on the door of an old herbal medicine wholesaler next to the tea house that served as his usual secret meeting place, this time hard enough to nearly break it down. "Open up! Don't play dead on me, old man!" After a while, a doddering old man opened the door with a displeased look. "What a racket... What business do you have in the middle of the night?" "Sell me one dose of Kouju grass. I don't care about the price." "Hah!? That's a precious item. Nowadays, you can't get it without paying at least a hundred silver ryou—" Without a word, Rasetsu thrust three heavy-looking lumps of silver from his pocket into the old man's hand. Thirty ryou. An amount an ordinary merchant could live leisurely on for a year. "W-Well, with this much... Wait just a moment." The old man retreated to the back and brought out dried medicinal herbs in a small paulownia box. Rasetsu snatched the box and immediately vanished back into the darkness of the night. Before dawn. As the sky began to lighten from deep indigo to a faint white. When Rasetsu returned to the Shuuka En, Shu Rei was already limp in Toume's arms. The color had completely drained from her face, her breathing was shallow, and she repeated faint gasps. "Toume, bring a pot and water!" Rasetsu shouted that as he lifted Shu Rei up. He positioned her so her head rested on his lap, stabilizing her upper body. He then quickly chopped the Kouju grass and began brewing it in the pot. A unique, grassy, bitter smell spread through the room. "Hold on... just a little longer, hold on." Muttering to himself, Rasetsu scooped the brewed black liquid with a spoon and brought it to Shu Rei's lip

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Episode 4

Name: The Free Consort of the Rear Palace: The Virtuous Consort Who Died from Overwork Solves Mysteries
Author: Novelia

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