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ORIGINAL STORY BY NATSU HYUUGA
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{\an8}THIS STORY IS A FICION, AND ALL NAMES OF
FIGURES ND ORGANIZATIONS ARE FICTITIOUS.
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{\an8}MOREOVER, THE STORY HAS NO RELATION
TO REAL-LIFE INCIDENTS AND EVENTS.
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{\an8}No... My Lady is being bestowed?
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I understand.
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-Lady Fuyou!
-Please wait!
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Oh! So cold...
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It's been a while
since we came to the capital,
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but it's hard to get used to
the chilly mornings.
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I miss our homeland's sand and sunshine.
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The Western Capital was also chilly
in the mornings and evenings.
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The Western Capital, huh?
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It feels so nostalgic now.
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It feels like we arrived just yesterday
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for Lady Gyokuyou to enter the court.
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That reminds me.
Father was pleased in his letter.
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Commerce between the Western Capital
and the central area is increasing.
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It's because Lady Gyokuyou is loved!
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It's the homeland of
the Emperor's favorite.
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Even the central area can't ignore that.
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Are you cleaning the kitchen?
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We'll help too.
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We'll never finish unless we split tasks.
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We can't ask the other palace women.
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Remember when we found
poisoned needles in her clothes?
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It was especially bad
when she was pregnant.
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Part of that may be
because she's a foreign princess.
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It'll be okay.
We have a new attendant, remember?
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Maomao, what are you making?
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Cold medicine.
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You can make that?
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Our new attendant is talented.
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Hey, do you need my help with anything?
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Are you eating well?
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I am, thank you.
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You can always talk to me, all right?
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Yes...
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Hey, have you heard?
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There's a new rumor going around recently.
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No.
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There's a ghost in the rear palace.
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A ghost?
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I know! It's the white lady ghost!
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So it's famous?
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All the palace women, eunuchs,
and concubines are talking about it.
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It's been about two weeks.
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They say a ghost of a white lady
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has been seen dancing
in midair under the moon.
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It's every night by the castle walls
at the Eastern Gate!
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I see.
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The castle walls surround
the entire rear palace.
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You can only enter and leave
through the gates
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of the four directions,
East, West, South and North.
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Yeah, right.
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There's always guards at the castle gates,
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and there's a deep moat outside.
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It's impossible to escape or sneak in.
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It's said that
buried deep inside the moat are
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the remains of a concubine
who tried to escape the rear palace...
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In other words, a typical ghost story.
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What should I do if I see a real ghost?
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It's just a rumor.
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Excuse me. Will you look at my medicine?
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Oh, it's you, miss! Give me a second.
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It's almost like he was wasn't
suspicious of me just the other day.
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Ever since he realized
I can make medicine,
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he lets me prepare it.
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He even shares with me
the ingredients I need.
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He even gives me tea.
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Is he allowed to be this laid back?
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Sorry for the wait.
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Wow!
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You like salty things more than
sweet things, right?
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I'd like some of those too.
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Right away!
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Thank you for your hard work.
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It's not that bad.
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Does this guy have nothing to do?
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A eunuch should be
at the Domestic Service Department!
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Instead, he just wanders around
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as if he's keeping watch
over the entire rear palace...
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In that case, he's higher up
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than the Matron of the Serving Women!
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He could be the guardian of the Emperor,
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but he's too young for that.
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He must be the Emperor's lover!
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I feel like you're thinking about
something very rude.
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You must be imagining it.
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Doctor, I'm very sorry.
Can you get these for me?
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So, what do you want to discuss?
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Do you know about the ghost incidents?
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I've heard the rumors.
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And what about somnambulance?
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Somnambulance?
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So you are interested.
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How does one heal that?
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I don't know.
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It's not something to heal with medicine.
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So you can heal it without medicine?
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I only work with medicine.
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I'm at a loss.
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I'm truly at a loss.
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So annoying! What a stubborn man!
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I'll try my best.
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He's different from the other eunuchs.
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Miss Maomao.
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No need for honorifics.
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Your position is much higher than mine,
Sir Gaoshun.
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In that case, Xiaomao.
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Xiao? So now I'm a little girl?
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Will you stop regarding Sir Jinshi
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as if he's a caterpillar?
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Shit! He knows!
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Just today, he came back
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and told me in a happy state
that you regarded him
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as if he were a caterpillar.
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I'll be careful from now on.
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Anyone without enough practice
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could get dizzy and collapse.
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People have all kinds of kinks, huh?
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Here we are.
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A Chinese hibiscus under the moon...
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You have a keen eye.
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That is Concubine Fuyou,
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a mid-ranking concubine
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who will be bestowed
to a soldier as a reward next month.
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I think it's been two years.
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She's a very timid princess.
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She's a good dancer,
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but made a mistake
performing in front of the Emperor.
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She's had no visits from the Emperor
since entering the court,
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and stayed shut inside her room.
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It's no one's fault, but even so...
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-To be bestowed... The poor girl.
-Lady Fuyou!
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So the somnambulance is caused by
her agony over being bestowed?
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The illness is said to be caused
by a loss of balance in the mind...
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No, I need more information.
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I'll go see her one more time.
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Where is Concubine Fuyou's room?
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Her outbuilding is to the north.
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Thank you very much.
And for the tea, also.
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You're already going?
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I hope she cheers up.
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She's a princess
from a small vassal state.
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She may not want to go back.
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Go back?
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Oh, the thing is...
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Poor Concubine Fuyou.
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Yes. To be bestowed to a soldier.
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Just thinking about it scares me!
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She has a very different impression than
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when she was dancing on the castle walls.
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Yes.
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I was surprised myself
when I saw her dance for the first time.
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She's usually more simple-looking.
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She's really like
a Chinese hibiscus flower.
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-A flower?
-Yes.
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Chinese hibiscus flowers
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blossom into a large white flower
in the morning.
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However, in the evening,
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the color changes into a dark pink color.
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So it's a flower that has many faces
in a single day?
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Exactly.
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The ghost story?
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Yes. I wanted to hear more about it.
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Do you know anything?
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Now that I think about it,
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I heard the ghost appeared first
on the northern side.
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-The north?
-Xiaolan? Here's your laundry!
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-Coming!
-She moved from the north to the east?
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Oh, the thing is...
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I see, I thought so.
So Concubine Fuyou is...
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Old man would tell me
not to act on speculation.
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Somnambulance is a mysterious illness.
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It's said to be caused by
an unbalanced heart.
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A patient acts as if they're awake
even when they're asleep.
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Back at the brothel,
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there was a courtesan afflicted
by the same illness.
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She was a cheerful courtesan
talented at poetry.
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There were talks of her being bought out.
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This offer was eventually rescinded.
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She started wandering around the brothel
every night,
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as if she were possessed by
a ghost or demon.
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Oh. What's wrong, everyone?
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The courtesan in question
had no memory of the night at all.
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So, what happened?
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Nothing. She stopped wandering around
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when her offer was rescinded.
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So you mean that the courtesan didn't
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want to get bought out?
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Most likely.
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The man was a large store owner.
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He not only had a wife and kids,
but even grandchildren.
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And she only had a year left
in her term of service.
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Maybe it's the same with Concubine Fuyou.
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Is that really all?
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Yes.
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Really?
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Calm down!
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I'm going back to work.
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After that, Concubine Fuyou
was prohibited from going outdoors.
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She was to be guarded by an eunuch
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until the day of her bestowment arrived.
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I hope this goes well.
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Isn't Maomao acting a bit strange
these days?
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Is she?
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I knew it. There's something else to this.
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Is today Concubine Fuyou's
day of departure?
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That's what I heard.
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-Hey.
-Huh?
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Don't you think you could at least tell me
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what the real story is?
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I'm the one asking you. I won't get angry.
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These are just speculations.
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Please don't tell anyone about this.
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I'm very tight-lipped.
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Do you remember the story of
the courtesan I told everyone?
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-The one with the somnambulance?
-Yes.
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There was one other courtesan
whose proposal was rescinded
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due to the same illness.
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That courtesan ended up
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receiving a new proposal to be bought out,
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but because she was a courtesan
with an illness,
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the total sum was half the silver
of the original proposal.
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But this was all an act.
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An act?
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The two men who proposed to buy out
the same woman
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knew each other.
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The woman pretended to be ill
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so that the first proposal
would be rescinded.
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Later, the man who was truly interested
bought her out
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at half the original price.
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For them to be together,
he didn't have enough silver,
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and she still had a long term of service.
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You're saying Concubine Fuyou is the same
as that courtesan?
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The soldier who'll be with Concubine Fuyou
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is her childhood friend who grew up
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in the same homeland.
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I heard that this childhood friend
was praised for his valor
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for defeating foreign troops
in the recent battle.
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He was offered a reward
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and strongly wished for the bestowment
of Concubine Fuyou.
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He was probably hoping for this
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since he was living in his homeland.
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A soldier doesn't have the social
standing to propose to a princess.
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Even so, she ended up
entering the rear palace...
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The princess loved her childhood friend
as well.
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That's why she purposefully messed up
her dance
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so that the Emperor wouldn't be
interested in her.
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As planned, she had no night visits
from the Emperor,
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and she remains chaste.
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But there was no guarantee that the
Emperor wouldn't prevent Concubine Fuyou
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from falling into
the hands of another man.
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So she pretended to have somnambulance...
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That was a possibility with the Emperor.
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You never know with Him.
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The battlegrounds with the foreign troops
are to the east.
258
00:18:06,627 --> 00:18:09,505
And Concubine Fuyou was dancing
every night at...
259
00:18:11,131 --> 00:18:12,007
The Eastern Gate?
260
00:18:13,509 --> 00:18:16,136
She was probably praying
for his safe return.
261
00:18:16,220 --> 00:18:18,347
Though this is just speculation.
262
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,383
-Hey, Maomao.
-Yes.
263
00:18:55,300 --> 00:18:57,886
If I said I feel jealous of
Concubine Fuyou,
264
00:18:58,929 --> 00:19:01,181
would I be a terrible woman?
265
00:19:09,815 --> 00:19:13,026
Concubine Fuyou was beautiful that night.
266
00:19:17,781 --> 00:19:20,033
Almost as if she was a different woman
267
00:19:20,117 --> 00:19:22,703
than the simple princess I saw
during the day.
268
00:19:27,624 --> 00:19:29,877
I don't think that at all.
269
00:19:56,820 --> 00:19:58,989
-Let's go.
-Yes, ma'am.
270
00:20:20,636 --> 00:20:23,847
If love makes a woman beautiful,
271
00:20:26,558 --> 00:20:28,852
what kind of medicine would it be?
272
00:20:56,421 --> 00:21:00,133
We would like to request something
from the rumored apothecary.
273
00:22:35,979 --> 00:22:39,191
PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE
274
00:22:47,199 --> 00:22:49,576
{\an8}Next episode, "The Threat."
275
00:22:49,659 --> 00:22:50,911
{\an8}Subtitle translation by: Yukimi Ohashi