Chapter 112
A half-day had passed. Yanghui returned with a bright face.
“I’m back, Lady!”
Following her, Manbok entered and placed a huge pack in front of Yanghui’s room.
Yanghui, with an excited face, unpacked the goods and set them out on the wooden floor, beginning to sort through them. Yuseol, sitting in front of her, picked up a white seashell and examined it carefully.
“Do you use shells like this for makeup ingredients, too?”
“I’ve never used one before, but its color is so iridescent and mysterious that I plan to grind it into powder. I feel like it will add a gloss to the skin.”
Yanghui answered and slightly dampened a cotton cloth with water to wipe the seashell. Yuseol, who was impressed by her delicate touch, as if she were a master artisan, asked casually.
“Did you deliver the things you took?”
“Yes. I discreetly handed them to the owners, and they took good care of them. I hope we hear back soon.”
“Yes, I hope it’s good news.”
Yanghui nodded and continued to speak in a soft tone.
“The marketplace was just as I remembered, bustling with people and filled with things to see. But… I keep seeing a terrible sight I witnessed for a moment.”
“A terrible sight…?”
“A drunkard had collapsed in front of a scallion pancake shop, and his complexion was completely pale blue. He was still breathing, thankfully, but I heard people whispering that he wouldn’t live for more than a few days.”
“A pale blue complexion?”
Yanghui shook her head, as if she couldn’t understand it at all.
“From what I vaguely heard, he’s one of the people addicted to a panacea called a ‘mysterious tonic.’ But how can someone get addicted to a tonic? Is it really that delicious?”
Yuseol, who had been tilting her head in confusion, suddenly looked at Yanghui.
“Wait, how pale blue was his complexion?”
Yanghui shuddered, finding the memory horrific.
“His complexion…? Hmm… it was as dark and blue as the deep sea. He was clearly breathing, but he looked just like a dead person!”
It was truly a rare and strange thing for a person’s body to turn blue.
But her father also died looking like that… could it be a coincidence?
Yuseol, feeling bewildered, asked.
“Have a lot of people died like that after taking the tonic?”
Yanghui shuddered once more.
“Yes. People are dying, turning pale blue every other day.”
“Every other day….”
The more Yuseol thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. It was because she had heard something similar from the court physician who had examined her father right after he passed away.
The physician had been very perplexed, saying he had never seen a pale blue complexion like her father’s before, even in cases of poisoning. Soon after, he had changed his words, saying it must have been a mistake, but the memory remained, unsettled.
“It’s a truly strange thing. No, it doesn’t seem like a trivial matter.”
She mumbled to herself in a daze and asked casually.
“Do you happen to know how people are getting that medicine?”
“I heard that at first, people who came from Hwanghae were giving it away for free. But now, they’re lining people up at the dock and selling it at a high price.”
“Even though there are rumors that people are dying from the medicine, they’re still lining up to buy it?”
“Yes. That’s what I heard. They say that if you drink a moderate amount, it’s good for fatigue recovery, so maybe that’s why? But considering how they’re drinking it to the point of death, it must be because of its addictive nature….”
Yuseol, who was listening intently to Yanghui’s words, had a look of concern on her face.
“And if it’s from Hwanghae….”
Hwanghae was Meisa’s country. Were Meisa’s people deliberately releasing a highly addictive, deadly poison to ruin the country?
No, there was no reason for Meisa to ruin a country that was about to become her own. Yuseol, who couldn’t understand it at all, looked at Yanghui.
“Even though people are dying, are they really still selling it…?”
“Yes. I think the sellers from Hwanghae think they only need to make money. But why aren’t the higher-ups taking this seriously?”
As Yanghui said, it was truly strange. The government office wasn’t moving, even though people were dying.
No, she shouldn’t worry too much. She had to solve the problem at her feet first.
Yuseol’s serious expression softened.
“It would be good if you could look into it more later.”
Yanghui nodded as if it were not a difficult task and placed the seashell into a small mortar.
“Yes, Lady. When I go out to the marketplace again, I’ll ask the merchants about it.”
“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”
When the conversation briefly stopped, Yuseol suddenly looked at the gateway. In the distance, by the pond, a woman wearing a sseugaechima was looking at Yuseol.
She had a feeling it might be a woman sent by Meisa. Wouldn’t it be better to go into her room rather than being watched like this?
At that moment, a gust of wind blew, and the woman’s pink sseugaechima fluttered faintly. The sunlight shone on the woman’s face. When Yuseol saw the familiar facial features, she stopped all movement.
It seemed to be Deok-eun, her friend from childhood. But Yuseol felt strange to see her again like this, as she hadn’t expected to. She felt nervous, and a sense of longing arose. Even though she didn’t know how Deok-eun felt about Sahwa, she was still a friend to Yuseol.
So, even though she didn’t know why Deok-eun was coming and going from the palace, she hoped she was safe. This feeling wouldn’t change, even if she had joined hands with Meisa.
At that moment, Yanghui spotted Deok-eun and became more guarded.
“I don’t know who she is, but why is she looking over here?”
Yuseol greeted Deok-eun with a nod and answered in a small voice.
“I think there must be a reason why she has to.”
As if she didn’t want to meet them properly, Deok-eun soon disappeared behind the pond.
Yanghui furrowed her brows as if something was bothering her, then she turned her attention back to the seashell.
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