Thinking about how lonely Jinshi must've been in LN7; No Gaoshun, no Basen, and no Maomao. I only recently finished the book and was startled by how little we see of him during the entirety of it, and when we do, it's only in a couple of chapters
The complete isolation this man was in. He can't even go to the Verdigris House every 10 days to see Maomao anymore. She's closer than ever, working within the palace and living in a dorm nearby, yet she's never been more out of reach
He's getting poison in his tea that he's just brushing it off to do more paperwork and barely getting any sleep. And while it was hinted at in previous LNs, this is the first we got to see how he feels about all the unwanted sexual and romantic attention he's been getting from men and women since he first entered the rear palace at fourteen (if not younger even before that)
For the entire first half of the LN, the only thing we get from him are official letters to Maomao. And even then, she comments about how surface-level they are
It's only natural that when we do get some scenes with him, we get more of his childish tendencies with very little cushion or comedic relief. His answer to Suiren offering him sliced pears is a simple "Give!". His palace, despite being "empty" is the only place he can be a bit at ease, only to be reminded that it won't last because Suiren is planning for retirement in the foreseeable future
Maomao notes to herself how he always insisted on people helping him with hair and clothes, but now it's evident he only demands it because otherwise he'd have nothing. The only people to go out of their way to touch the nation's prince don't have his best interest in mind
He's so starved for touch and affection that he has no choice but to settle for "obligatory" acts of service because otherwise no one's going to caress his hair, no one's going to give him a hug or hold his hand. He literally had to beg Maomao at the Verdigris House (LN5) to tuck him in and sing him a lullaby, saying how he "shan't be sleeping alone."
And Maomao definitely knows that. We don't get an admission (because it's her POV so of course not) but she does tuck him in, she does sing him to sleep, and she does caress his face and hair while he lies in her bed, and she does feed him (albeit bugs), because she knows this man would literally get physical ill and drop dead from sheer loneliness
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