In the secluded corner of the inner palace, there was a bamboo grove known as the Yabushirazu.
The lush greenery of the bamboo grove cast a twilight gloom even during the day, making it a place avoided by both concubines and eunuchs. Amid the pale glow of moonlight on the bamboo stalks, a single orange lantern swayed gently. It was Keirei. Having finished detoxifying Princess Setsubaibin, she was on her way back to the Risha.
The Risha assigned to her lay about a ri (approximately 500 meters) northeast of the Four Seasons Palace. It was originally constructed as a hidden retreat to isolate empresses or concubines who had lost their sanity. Two years before his execution, the former emperor had begun confining both his wife, the empress, and Keirei in the Risha.
(For me, it’s a place I’ve grown familiar with.)
A gust of wind rustled through the bamboo leaves, sounding like gentle waves. Keirei’s skirt fluttered as she turned around, her gaze sweeping over the shadows. A soft smile graced her lips.
“How long do you intend to remain hidden, Feng Shui Master?”
A brief silence followed before a deep blue shadow emerged.
Stepping on the bamboo grass was a man clad in black silk hanfu. It was Zhen. He shrugged, offering a brazen smile.
“It was a splendid banquet, wasn’t it? The concubines were all singing your praises.”
“I must thank you. After all, you shared a rare poison with me. Thanks to that, I was able to save my patient.”
As she bowed her head, Zhen’s brow twitched slightly.
“So, you realized it.”
“Mercury bee honey is a rare poison that even silverware cannot detect. The fragrance of mizushikimi (false star anise) is indistinguishable from star anise to the untrained. Only someone deeply knowledgeable about poisons and familiar with handling them could conceive such a combination.”
It was true that he possessed Feng Shui knowledge.
But his true profession lay elsewhere.
“You are an assassin—a toxi master.”
Zhen’s smile didn’t falter, but his eyes gleamed with a dull, menacing light. Poisonous energy seemed to radiate from his purple-tinged gaze.
“My task is to kill Sai Keirei—that’s the job I accepted.”
Keirei had suspected as much.
Her lips tightened as if to steel herself. There was no room for despair now.
“Your downfall and public execution were what the client desired. That’s why the banquet was laced with poison. If the empress and concubines were poisoned, you would go down in history as a criminal of unspeakable evil.”
The malice was staggering, aiming to tarnish her name for a thousand years.
The client was almost certainly the Left Chancellor. If even the empress and concubines’ deaths were part of his scheme, it was likely his intention to offer his daughter as a replacement empress to the emperor.
“You detected the poison, yet you didn’t report it. Instead, you placed it on the banquet table. Fascinating.”
He spoke with amusement, as if thoroughly entertained.
“To detoxify one concubine, you gave deadly poison to the empress and others. That’s not something anyone in their right mind would do. It must have been a gamble even for you.”
Administering a suitable poison as a remedy to a patient wasn’t difficult. But giving poison to the healthy carried inherent risks.
“You’ve been quite talkative. Are you not breaking the assassin’s code by discussing your mission?”
With a chuckle that sounded like a growl, Zhen replied, “It doesn’t matter. Dead people can’t spill secrets.”
Murderous intent, as sharp as a drawn blade, pierced the air.
Zhen stepped forward slowly, the sound of his steps on the bamboo grass filling the void. His arm extended, fingers lightly brushing her neck. A simple squeeze, and life would be extinguished. She was now literally in his grasp.
“The client was enraged. If the medicine cannot be turned into poison, then at least take her life,” he muttered.
“I see.”
Keirei neither struggled nor tried to break free but merely lowered her lashes quietly.
“You’re quite resigned, aren’t you?”
His nails bit into her neck, drawing blood. He was testing her, waiting to see how she would react with death looming so close.
“Beg for your life, weep, and plead. You’re a flower of the inner palace, after all.”
“If tears could save me, I’d shed them endlessly,” Keirei replied, her smile laced with thorns.
“But appealing to pity, groveling at your feet—that would neither be a poison nor a remedy. You’re not the kind of fool who admires fleeting flowers—am I wrong?”
Zhen smirked, releasing his grip.
“You’re not wrong. If you’d begged pitifully, I’d have killed you instantly.”
The moon slipped behind a cloud.
“Still, I don’t quite understand,” Zhen murmured, his hand brushing her cheek.
A faint numbness spread from her neck to where he touched, a burning sensation akin to poison seeping in.
“You’re far too poisonous to be called a healer. Your methods resemble a battle. Slicing with a sword, smashing with a hammer, crushing underfoot—subjugating poison itself. It’s a far cry from the essence of healing.”
Despite his words, Keirei’s lips curved into a brilliant, almost chilling smile.
“What’s so hard to understand?”
Her gaze grew transparent, like a veil lifting.
“Consuming poison to transform it into medicine—that’s who I am.”
To consume or be consumed by poison.
Medicine, as her mother and mentor had taught her, was a battle for survival. It was retaliation, conquest, domination, and predation.
“Why did you give a lethal poison to the empress? Shall I tell you? Because I believed I could overcome your poison.”
Zhen’s composed smile finally cracked. But his anger at the insult was fleeting, eclipsed by the thrill blazing in his eyes. He tilted his head, grinning wickedly.
“Well then, let’s put it to the test.”
He seized her chin, pulling her close.
Their lips met in a fireless kiss.
Her breath was stolen, their mingling saliva thick with the taste of poison. She raised her arm to push him away, but he caught it.
A dull numbness spread from where their tongues touched.
Zhen withdrew first, his expression triumphant.
“Now, let’s see how this plays out.”
A tingling sensation crept through her body like a serpent, leaving a trail of purple marks on her arm.
This was no ordinary poison.
