My take on hglk fic is that if you're not writing it in Loki's perspective and defanged him (aka remove the god complex) you're not writing hglk. Only one of them yearns and it's Hugo while the other thinks he's too high and mythical to ever engage in something that makes him human. Send post.
returned to reading regression hetslop manwha but i liked this one where the boy is depressed as hell and the girl is more proactive. gives me reonagi vibes
My take on tgirl! Nagi is that she absolutely HATES her first name but she doesn’t know it truly is hate until she started feeling annoyed and devastated in Blue Lock. She thinks it's because saying three syllables instead of two is a hassle even though the feelings she has on that name is more(TM) than that.
Nagi could have dropped it at that, but she is smart enough to know what it means if they ask him about her dad. “Is someone in the brothel sick?”
“No one here,” Otoya replies. “But… there are rumors that a certain noble clan had fallen ill with summer sickness.”
“You mean the Mikages.”
“Yeah, yeah, Mikage Reia, the heiress to the Mikage clan, we know,” Shidou snaps, rolling her eyes. “She’s sick?”
Karasu shrugs. “Apparently.”
“The Mikage heiress is sick?” Nagi asks.
Shidou smirks. “Oh? I thought you aren’t interested in gossip, Nagi.”
Nagi Seiko is summoned to the Mikage estate in order to treat its lady, Reia Mikage, from a malaise that has fallen on the girl.
In Okuyama
The star anise blooms, and
As its name suggests
Time and time again will you
Be in my thoughts
— Man’yōshū, Volume 20, Poem 4476
***
Two Girls
Nagi Seiko does not talk to people.
One of her philosophies in life is to never talk to people who may inconvenience her slightly or provide a diversion from her hassle-free life; not like people actually wish to talk to the eccentric, white-haired girl who sleeps in the canals after being forced to wash her clothes by her father after weeks of said garments continue to lay in their home by the pleasure district, near the Yodo river. She could barely let out a sentence before she trailed off, finding socializing with the people around her to be a hassle. Most girls her age resort to avoiding her, and none of the boys wanted to entertain the notion of being her husband.
Nagi agrees; despite her adoptive father being this village’s best apothecary, no one wanted to get married to his silent, eccentric daughter, who would rather play with her fingers and space out to get some sort of her father’s holdings. Besides, her father is still at his prime age; there is no need to pass down his techniques as an apothecary when Nagi is here to assist him. Despite her disinterest in the job that she is meant to take over, when she puts some effort into her work, she is formidable when it comes to medicine and figuring out different kinds of poisons.
She was more interested in poisons, but only so she could eat and drink whatever her heart desired without worrying about dropping dead.
(Although she wouldn’t fight the idea of dying through familiar poison because she had made an error in her judgment.)
The only time she interacts with other people other than her father is those within the pleasure district itself, when she is forced to deliver the medicines her adoptive father had made for the courtesans to use, especially abortive medicine. There, she is occasionally hounded by the madame of the brothel, a lean woman named Ego, into joining the ranks of courtesans if she is not interested in the lifestyle she’s currently living. Nagi often declines her proposal, citing that it is too much of a hassle to start formal training as a courtesan due to her late age before being saved by one of the highest-ranking oiran in the brothel. She sneaks out before she can see the conversation conclude, grateful for Karasu; internally, she promises to buy her some kushiyaki.
That aside, it was not an unpleasant life. While her home was small enough to fit her father's apothecary shop, they never ran out of food. Sure, they sometimes worry about money, but her father takes care of that conundrum and lets her continue to laze around with no amount of effort put into what she wants to do. The only times she does put an effort — and she does so begrudgingly — is when she is needed for a medical diagnosis. However, because of her general disregard for medical practices, she is often substituted by her father, who does recognize her prowess but chooses to do the right thing, which is to let her have some peace of mind.
So, in conclusion, Nagi Seiko leads an aimless life, her genius being nipped at the bud no matter how many times she's been encouraged to grow. She doesn’t desire anything but to lead a life without any hassles whatsoever. She doesn’t mind getting married to someone, if it means being left alone.
So Nagi doesn't talk to anyone, and even avoids conversations entirely.
Alas, Nagi’s life will change drastically one day, and his life will, unfortunately, include a lot of other hassles from now on.
It was a hot summer day in the province— enough so that even her home could not keep her cool in the shade it provides. Her father was out gathering herbs, to her confusion— is it not sweltering outside?
She supposes that that's why he didn't coax her into leaving to come with him on this boring trip. She would've fainted just from the heat.
She groans as she gets up, her white hair falling on her eyes. Her house was sweltering at this stage, and she truly wants to find another cooler place. Perhaps by the riverside? Then she'd also be met with a lot of peers her age who don't like her. Nagi hums as she steps outside, closing one eye thanks to the brightness of the sun. Maybe she should try the brothel? It's not like they'll shoo her away, as she's one of their employees. A terrible employee, but she is still paid handsomely for her services.
Because it is daytime, most of the oirans are either sleeping to prepare for the long night ahead, or practicing. Nagi has ties to all of the oirans, but she was closest to the three most popular oirans within the brothel that she frequents.
She does not need to enter the brothel for her to be noticed immediately.
“Well, if it ain't Nagi Seiko,” a voice with a rough accent is heard from above her, and she looks up with disinterested eyes to meet Karasu Tabiko, one of the most popular oirans within the brothel. She was not wearing her usual multi layered and highly intricately detailed attire that she uses to lure customers in. She was wearing a loose kimono as she leaned on the railings of the balcony, giving Nagi a teasing grin. Her dark hair was spiky, looking like the feathers of a crow, as her eyes glint with joy at the sight of the white-haired girl. “Hot summer winds ain't to yer likin’?”
“Don't talk like that around people,” Nagi tells her, covering her face with a yawn. “You'd get scolded by Madame Ego again.” Karasu, like all the other courtesans in this place, was a girl who was sold to this brothel when she was still a child. Despite her young age, she skyrocketed in her popularity, becoming one of the most sought-after courtesans within the brothel and the pleasure district entirely. She still had not abandoned her accent, however, so she had undergone etiquette lessons to train that accent and rude way of speaking— while she had gotten used to politely referring to her customers in a way that would make her eye twitch, she is still her plain old self when she is with others.
Karasu rolls her eyes. “Eh, who cares about her? I sure as hell don't.” She beckons her with a hand. “C'mon in. I don't think we'll be able to stop ya from comin’ inside.”
“Good choice,” Nagi mumbles as she lets herself in. The brothel, despite it being in the early afternoon and with many hours before the pleasure district opens again to excited customers, is still bustling with a lot of courtesans who are rehearsing and preparing for the roles they will play for tonight. Nagi finds everything they're doing tiresome, and she shudders at the idea that that would be her someday, so she hurries along the stairs and into Karasu’s room.
As always, the high-ranking oiran is not the only one in her room— she’s accompanied by fellow high-ranking oirans Otoya Eimi and Shidou Ryuuko. Shidou grins at the sight of Nagi, and Nagi can only bite back a sigh at the incoming headache she knows she is about to experience.
“Well, if it isn’t our favorite white seal!” Shidou declares, her eyes lighting up like fireworks sparking to life, stumbling her way towards Nagi before trapping the younger girl into a tight hug. Nagi only hums before pushing her away when she remembers why she had come to the brothel in the first place— it is the fact that summers are hot, and Shidou’s warm arms do not help her get cool, but the opposite.
“You are way too warm to be hugging people…” Nagi mumbles, as without any permission whatsoever, she curls up on the sofa within Karasu’s room.
“Oi, who told you that you can sleep here whenever you want?” Karasu asks, her voice indignant.
“You let me in here.”
“Ain’t mean that I’m lettin’ ya lie down on my property!”
“Why did you let me in here when you’re just going to let me stand?”
Otoya’s eyes glimmer, as she hides the bottom part of her face with a fan. “Because we’ve been discussing some gossip.”
Nagi looks up. “Oh. Then I don’t have any good gossip to tell you guys. Is that really why you invited me?”
Mundane conversations do not interest Nagi, so she also doesn’t feel the need to listen when some people across from her are gossiping about other people. But sometimes, when their voices are raised or they looked agitated about something, a part of her listens, to see if there might be something wrong where she is needed due to her medical background. When she retains enough information, she can tell Karasu after being bribed with wagashi and green tea. Sometimes, the three oirans would often invite her over as they gossip about things that regularly don’t interest Nagi, but she tries her best to listen, since they’re going to ask her about her opinions when they’re finished with their conversation. It truly was a chore to keep up with them.
“Where’s your father?” Karasu asks, and that makes Nagi tilt her head.
“He’s currently outside trying to find herbs.”
Karasu raises a brow. “In this summer heat?”
“I told him not to, but you know he isn’t the listening type.”
She grunts, rolling her eyes. “You and ‘im both.”
Nagi could have dropped it at that, but she is smart enough to know what it means if they ask him about her dad. “Is someone in the brothel sick?”
“No one here,” Otoya replies, still fanning herself. While this room is cooler than her house, it was still hot. Nagi wishes that she has a fan like Otoya’s. “But… there are rumors that a certain noble clan had fallen ill with summer sickness.”
“You mean the Mikages.” The Mikages were vassal lords underneath the emperor, sent into this province to promote peace and decency throughout the lands. The Mikage clan was an unstoppable army of charisma, materialism, and resourcefulness that had made them popular with the imperial family, and the citizens that they are now ruling. Nagi did not have any sort of beef with the clan, and neither does the brothel— seventeen years ago, their highest ranking courtesan fell pregnant, and the father was deduced to be the current lord of the Mikage clan. In a shocking twist, the lord bought the oiran out, and the brothel had been grateful for his patronage ever since.
“You know that the oiran back then had a daughter, right?” Otoya inquires Nagi. She shrugs. She only knows about their daughter, Reia Mikage, because her father mentions her a lot after he visits the Mikage household.
“Yeah, yeah, Mikage Reia, the heiress to the Mikage clan, we know,” Shidou snaps with a roll of her eyes. “She’s sick?”
Karasu shrugs. “Apparently.”
Nagi, who is not supposed to care about anything, perks up at the name. She’s seen the heiress of the Mikage clan a couple of times, only if it was when Mikage is traveling to one place to another, carried around by her men in a giisha. The two of them had met each other’s eyes back then, and it was hard to believe that a girl like her can exist. She had peeked through the gaps of the giisha when she was close enough to see the Mikage up close.
She had unique eyes— jewels that have a vibrant color.
When their eyes connected, it felt like Nagi is seeing colors in the world for the first time in her life.
“The Mikage heiress is sick?” She asks.
Shidou smirks. “Oh? I thought you aren’t interested in gossip, Nagi.”
“I mean… it’s less gossip and more like urgent news that she’s sick, right?”
“Yeah,” Karasu nods her head. “I’m wonderin’ if you can solve this without involvin’ your dad.”
Nagi frowns. “I’m not even a great medic.”
“But ya can identify the causes of sickness if we say the symptoms?”
“I’ll try.” Just kidding— she won’t. But if it concerns a noble clan like Mikage, well, she will have to repeat these symptoms to her father and get him to do something about the malady the lady is suffering throughout.
“Well, apparently she’s been experiencin’ bouts of nausea, but she ain’t pregnant ‘cuz she hasn’t gotten married yet,” Karasu begins, crossing her arms.
Nagi hums.
“And she’s gotten skinnier over the past few weeks,” Otoya mumbles.
Nagi hums some more.
“Plus, was she always that damn sallow? She looks like she’s as pale as a yūrei!” Shidou exclaims, and Nagi hums even louder as she processes all these answers, making her brain work to give them all an explanation that was not made up on the spot.
Karasu sighs as she turns to look at Nagi. “Ya got an idea of what she could possibly be fallin’ ill from?”
Oh boy, here it comes. Her thoughts are still all over the place, but she can safely say that there is an explanation for all of this. She turns to look at the expectant eyes of the oirans in the room. “... It’s definitely poison.”
“Uh, no shit,” Shidou tells her with a deadpan expression. “We know what poison feels like!”
“‘Course we know she’s being poisoned,” Karasu scoffs. “We’ve gotten poisoned in our very lengthy careers as oirans.”
“We all started sometime last year, though,” Otoya points out.
“That ain’t what I’m trying to imply,” Karasu reminds her, before pivoting the subject back to their focal point instead. “But what’s causin’ her to look like she’s about to keel over? Because the lord might visit yer father later this night now that he knows his daughter’s condition is worse.”
“She’s probably been near a bunch of poisonous flowers,” Nagi shrugs once more, as she lays her head down on the pillows of the sofa. Then, another idea strikes her for this potential route they are all taking. “Or… if she uses makeup, she might have been using too much lead powder for her face. Maybe that’s why she’s feeling ill. I think they should stop her from applying something so dangerous to her face if that’s the case.”
Shidou pounds her fist on the table. “It always leads to those damn powders! I knew they were evil!”
“They are,” Otoya agrees. “A lot of us died because of those.”
Karasu smirks. “This is the most I’ve heard ya speak, little seal. Didn’t take ya to be concerned for a spoiled brat like Mikage.”
“You asked me to answer a question I don’t care about answering. Besides, I think my father will figure it out quickly when he is summoned to the Mikage household to provide a check-up on their daughter.”
“You ain’t gonna go?”
“Why would I? I’m just a mere girl who knows nothing about how to live life to the fullest.” Nagi dismisses their concerns with that. What would be the use of placing a girl who does not even know how to clean up after herself in the chambers of a great lady like Mikage? She might simply make the heiress die faster with her presence.
Check-Up
As expected her father, the famous apothecary, is summoned to the Mikage household to treat the lord’s daughter.
Unexpectedly, he asks for her to come.
Nagi furrows her brows, tilting her head. “What reason is there for me to come with you? The journey is long, and it’s still hot.”
It’s annoying and bothersome— what’s the point of going on this trip to care for a sick girl? He doesn’t need a medical assistant flitting about— especially if that medical assistant is someone like her.
Her father sighs, squishing her cheeks with such force, but she doesn’t budge. She’s gotten used to her father trying to make her look adorable. She stares at him as he begins to list out reasons why he’s going to subdue her to abject torture. “Because, my dear Seiko, Mikage-sama is still cautious of men examining his daughter! So I need you to accompany me into the household and observe as I examine Reia-sama!”
Nagi yawns, getting out of her father’s squishing. “Sounds like a hassle.”
Not only does it disrupt her usual daily life, or rather the lack of having one in the first place, but it disturbs the usual domesticity she assumed she'd have when she was born. She was also not looking forward to being put at the sights of powerful people like the Mikages, which is why she wants to opt out of going into a stranger’s house.
“Are we going to walk all the way there?” She asks; if they were, then she would slump to the ground and force her father to go without her. Not only was traveling to a new environment a chore, but walking there? Her legs would give out underneath her.
Her father sighs. “Why must you make things difficult for me, Seiko?”
“I don't wanna walk.”
“I am not carrying you to the household, Seiko. You walked all the way to the pleasure district, but will you not help me check on the lord's daughter?”
“It's too hot.”
“The lord's house will be colder than our home here.”
She perks up— anything to get rid of the increasing warmth that is always a thorn in her side when the summer begins to beat down on them. “We'll be treated as guests, right?”
“We'll be treated as medics, Seiko.”
“Is that as important as being treated like a guest?”
“I suppose so.”
Seiko hums, looking at her father with big, gray eyes. “Then we shouldn’t keep them waiting. I want to feel colder. I'm already in my thinnest kimono, and it is still hot.”
Seiko is still forced to leave home with a different set of clothes entirely. She is wearing her most presentable clothes, a gray kosode with a white shibiradatsumono attached to her waist, as she wears the only zori available that has not corroded with time. Her father tells her to brush her hair, at the very least, but she does not tie it back, even though the sun will be beating down on them and will make the back of her neck sweat. Her father procures a ratty wagasa (the washi paper initially being pure white, once upon a time before it was smudged because of disuse) from the depths of their home to offer Nagi, and without hesitation, she takes it and places it across her back.
She is not carrying anything but herself to the Mikage household. She thinks that her father has everything they need. Besides, she has utmost confidence in her father that he would immediately understand what was wrong with the young woman before she could fall ill even more. Her father encourages her to start walking with him, and she does, with an umbrella over her head. It was a chore to walk to the house, her father refusing to carry her to the destination. Her tired eyes scour the road as they walk by houses made of straw, wood, and rock. When they get to the richer parts of the neighborhood, the houses begin to span a few areas wide, built with more stable wood, with some even having a mini garden within their household. It is completely a different town when they get near the nobles’ circle in the capital.
She does not look around, even though she has never been in this part of their small village before. Nagi thinks that looking around houses that were more massive than her own was too much of an effort. Finally, they arrived at a home, or rather a villa overlooking the river of the capital, with gates made out of iron and the symbol of the Mikage clan plastered on said gates. She feels like she's walked through several chō. Nagi lazily leans on the gates, completely exhausted after walking what feels like an eternity.
Her father tells her not to lean against the gate, and it seems that his voice could be heard since the gates open, making Nagi fall to the hard ground with a soft plop. Her father exclaims if she's alright, but she doesn’t even say anything else. She simply stays on the ground, even with the hot summer sun on her head.
She is still encouraged by her adoptive father to stand, though, as disobeying those direct orders may form a complete malevolent opinion against her. While there is no saving what others thought of her, the idea of the whispers being targeted towards the only person who sees her beyond her flaws makes her want to move. She stumbles forward, but follows her father to the engawa of the shinden-zukuri, with Nagi looking around.
“This place is… big.” Certainly larger than their place back in the pleasure district. This feels more like the palace of the emperor, if it wasn’t already. The two of them are attended by one of the clan's servants, encouraging them both to remove their zori and place them on the stepping stone near the house. “Only three people live here?”
“Many people live here, not just the main family,” her father informs her, and she nods. The two follow the attendant as they head to the shinden.
The attendant stops in front of a rather elaborate and decorated sudare— Nagi, not understanding the commotion, cocks her head to the side. She notices a silhouette beyond the blinds; she makes out a girl currently lying on her futon, with a few more servants attending her. Now that Nagi notices the girl, she also notices the scent wafting around the room. It smelled like herbs and medicine, trying to mask the smell of sickness. She scrunched her nose; she does not like that smell. It reminds her of when she and her father were treating sick women in the brothel.
Well, it seems that Lady Mikage is truly sick, and that sickness needs to be cured.
Her father nods to Nagi. “I cannot attend to the young lady. You must observe her symptoms and report to me what the symptoms are so I can diagnose her.”
Nagi furrows her brows. “Why me?”
Her father lets out a long-suffering sigh. “I have already told you why. I am a man, and I am not allowed to examine the girl as such.”
Nagi sighs. “I guess if I check up on her, we can go home as soon as possible.” Even though the residence is colder than their home, she was still in a stranger’s home. It was enough to make her not want to stay any longer than necessary.
The attendant, a girl who looks to be her age with dark blue hair and eyes, bows to her, watching her every move. Nagi doesn’t want anyone to observe her doing her job, because it'll discourage her from focusing on the most important parts. Still, she pretends she does not notice everyone watching her move.
Before she goes in, however, she is stopped by her old man, grabbing her by the shoulders and forcibly turning her around. She looks at her with a sigh. “Did you change your mind, old man?”
“No,” he replies. “But I have to remind you to take this seriously, Nagi. Don't try to give us answers and solutions you got just from checking. Give us results. Making mistakes here will not, and never will be forgiven, Seiko.”
Nagi wants to say that he was exaggerating, although she focuses deeply in his eyes and realizes that her father is being serious with her. If she makes a callous mistake that could cost the life of the Mikage heiress, not only will she be blamed and put to death, but her father. She sighs, smoothing her kimono and tucking a strand of her white hair behind her ear. She turns back to the silhouette. “Okay. I'll take this seriously.”
She doesn’t look back, entering the quarters of Mikage Reia. The stench of medicine and sickness hits her like the waves by the shore once she enters the room. She looks around— the room happens to be lived in, and it was filled with various objects and paraphernalia that befit a girl like her. The only thing that differs in this room is the smell of defeat and fear.
And…
Nagi sniffs some more, and she frowns.
That scent is familiar.
She has smelled it in dying courtesans’ rooms, stubborn and unable to grasp the fact that beauty is not everything to them, and there are better ways to gauge their beauty.
She shakes her head— now’s not the time to remember these things. She has a job to do.
She hears a cough at the center of the room, lying on the futons with a blanket covering her boy up to her abdomen. Her eyes focused on the purple-haired girl, the same age as her, whose eyes were cinched shut, body trembling, face pale, and mouth hacking with coughs. Her breaths were shallow as well, and her physique, from what Nagi could observe, was alarmingly skinny.
Has she not been fed?
She steps closer, taking a closer look, to see that her face was gaunt and hollow, losing too much fat in the weeks since she became ill. It was rather concerning.
Nagi sighs, regretting coming here. But she also did not want a life to die because of her own carelessness, so she forced herself to put in more effort for the heiress. Maybe she'd even get a reward for her help.
Hm… she'd like that. A reward for being a model medic, who was able to help her father deal with the illness that had been ailing Mikage.
She looks at another assistant, a red-haired woman that Nagi had mistaken for a boy when they first came in, however, noticing her curves, immediately backtracked before she could air out her confusion. “May I examine her?”
The girl nods, glancing at her mistress with a worried expression. “You may.” There was some underlying request there, please save her. Well, Nagi is trying her best.
As soon as Nagi gets permission, she kneels next to the girl's body, as she slips a hand through the futon covers before taking her frail, bony hand from under the sheets. She studies the girl's pulse for a moment— it was faint, yes, but it was there. It was rather concerning for her pulse to become weak like that.
She uncovers her body— the girl was wearing a plain purple kimono, thin and light for the hot summer weather and the simplest one so it would not be too difficult to bathe her. Her purple hair was a mess, tangled around her like a heap of webs. She was pale as all hell, as if she were a ghost rather than a young girl, and surely, there must be a reason why that is.
The girl underneath her groans, her eyes still clenched shut. Nagi wishes she could see those periwinkle eyes flourish for her again, before remembering that she still could not do her job properly. If she wants to see the girl open her eyes again, then she must look for symptoms.
As she studies the girl, she can't help but remember that this is the same girl whom she locked eyes with a few months ago, whilst she was all alone traveling town, and she was riding into… well, wherever she was going. She was so energetic and full of life there, and was always the talk of the town when they mentioned her. Nagi sometimes finds herself looking forward whenever the parade of the clan would be near her direction, just so she could get a glimpse of this perfect beauty.
She turns to the servant in the room. “When did she start falling ill?”
The girl sighs, “A few weeks ago. It was after the Mikage family returned home from their trip to the capital to meet with the emperor and discuss marriage agreements with the mistress and his son. She received many gifts from the family, a lot to fill a whole wagon. The mother of the prince insisted that she bring home the beauty products that she had given her, the main reason why they brought home at most three wagons to fit all of the presents given to them.”
Nagi frowns, trying hard to ignore her stomach turning at the idea that this girl, currently sick and pale in front of her, is about to get married, and focus on the stark detail the attendant had told her.
“Powder?” She asks, tilting her head. She looks at the girl lying down. She was breathing shallowly, almost looking like she was not breathing at all if Nagi had not looked closer. She must be having trouble breathing and sweating for the likes of it, too. Even though it was summer, the hottest time of the year, she was shivering as if they were in the grip of winter. Nagi notices the beads of sweat on the heiress's face, and with a gentle touch, she places a finger on the unconscious girl's cheek and smears it. When she lifts to study it, her finger pads were wide, while a small part of the girl's face was smeared, her true tone of skin tone a bit tanned, came out.
Nagi abruptly stands, as she wipes the powder on her kimono. She turns to look at the servant with them, her eyes blazing in an unfamiliar way. It is not like Nagi to be so on fire. In fact, she was the opposite of that sentiment, preferring to stay by the sidelines, passive and silent.
But she could not stay silent on this, can she?
It was a simple mistake— one that could cost many peppers their lives.
“Can I see the powder?” She asks, and the intensity of her gaze must have gotten the red-haired servant to follow her orders, as she stands and opens one of the drawers in the room, only to scoop out a compact powder that did not look suspicious at all… if you were not used to the risks it brings. Seeing that powder, with hunger in Nagi’s eyes and the motivation to solve it, she extends her hand. The servant lets her have the powder. Immediately, she yanks the powder open, reviewing the contents, her eyes filled with this… unique glint as she herself feels as if she is set on fire, on the brink of exhilaration.
She has never, not once, been excited or felt this strongly for anything in her life. So why now? Why would this make her feel so strongly? It was a girl she barely knew getting poisoned. That is not enough to warrant her losing her composure and sniffing powder she knows is poisonous. She thinks it’s too risky for the hassle-free life she wishes to live. The red-haired girl — she hasn’t even asked for her name, is that rude of her to do? — stares at her weirdly, but she doesn’t say anything.
“Who gave Reia this powder?” Nagi asks; the servant blinks at her brusqueness of addressing her lady with her first name, but Nagi continues to press with her questions. “Was it a gift? Did she purchase it? Who gave this to her?”
The servant was short of breath. “It was… it was one of the gifts the empress sent her when she visited the palace.”
Nagi assumed as much. She never had any reason to depend on her intelligence; she has a near photographic memory, if she can focus hard on the trials before her, so she remembers taking note of the servant saying that the Mikage family journeyed to the palace in the capital and was given multiple, various presents by each member of the royal family, especially the mother. Now, Nagi has enough resistance to withstand the idea and audacity to accuse the empress of poisoning a mere heiress of a small province her father is in charge of, so…
“Powders are usually made of lead…” Nagi says, but she still continues to sniff the powder like it was some flower. “So… that may be the cause of her illness. Face powder.”
The servant gasps as she looks at her mistress.
“You might want to wipe the face powder off.”
The servant does exactly that, whispering apologies to her mistress as she uses something to wipe the face powder off her face.
Nagi, finding her work done because of something so simple, leaves the room to report to her father about the incident.
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