Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

It seemed that the crown prince would still continue discussing the matter of the poppy juice, but since they were about to touch politics because the topic was about the handlers of poppy juice, so Yui Mei was requested to leave.

Yui Mei also decided to leave such discussion to the distinguished people, and she still had to report to Yang. Besides, she needed to come up with an idea on how to deal with those poppy juice addicts.

At any rate, the one who would directly encounter those addicts wouldn’t be the VIPs like the crown prince, but the people like Yui Mei who were present in the actual scene.

And so, Yui Mei left the crown prince’s palace and headed towards the lodging house. As luck would have it, she saw Yang just when she reached the neighborhood — well, it would be more appropriate to say that she was probably waiting for Yui Mei’s return. When she whispered to Yang that “there’s something confidential that I would like to inform you”, the woman prepared a room.

Yui Mei then explained to Yang the same things she discussed with the crown prince.

“Drug addiction…Goodness me, those courtesans who can get close to the bigshots, of all things…”

Yang clutched her head as she spoke after listening to Yui Mei.

“This will be troublesome. If, by any chance, it spreads through the palace, starting from the courtesans to the Four Imperial Consorts, then…”

“Then it’ll be terrible, right?”

Yui Mei agreed with Yang’s concern.

If poppy juice addiction did occur within the palaces of the four imperial consorts — more so if it was a close aid of the consort, what a situation it would be.

That’s because people couldn’t help but worry whether the four imperial consorts were also addicted themselves.

Their health would be questioned, and their credibility would be doubted. It may even lead to replacement of the four imperial consorts in the future. 

If that happened, the delicate balance of power structure within the Hundred Blossom Palace would drastically change, and it would also affect politics, naturally.

Yang probably had the same line of thought as Yui Mei. She tiredly rubbed her temples, trying to keep the oncoming headache at bay.

“Ugh, my head is hurting just thinking about it. We have to hurry and investigate this, but the Year End is coming and it’ll be so busy.”

“Ahm, er, please do your best.”

Yang heaved a deep sigh while thinking about the great task that awaited her, and Yui Mei could only sympathize and cheer her on.

‘Really, those guys who brought the poppy juice tobacco are nothing but scoundrels!’

She wanted to scold them for being nuisances,be it health or increasing the work to be done, and doing such a terrible thing.

Yang rubbed her temples for a while, before speaking.

“Still, I really can’t imagine just how those ‘addicts’ behave, unfortunately.”

Yang seemed perplexed. Apparently, it was a difficult thing to imagine if they had never seen it before. 

But it couldn’t be helped.

The human’s imagination has its limits, after all.

“His Highness the Crown Prince is also of the same opinion, but he did understand how dangerous it is. But then, I believe that even if you haven’t seen it at this time, you will recognize it if you encounter it, you know? At any rate, you can’t hold a conversation with them most of the time.”

Poppy juice addicts usually didn’t look any different from normal people around them.

However, these addicts were usually under the feeling of euphoria and they were unusually positive while the medicine was still effective. As the medication wears off, the withdrawal symptoms would appear. They would have goosebumps on their skin, and their bodies would be racked by convulsions, and they would feel intense pain all over their bodies.

Their tears and snots would flow freely, alarming the people around them, to the extent that they would scream with “what’s up with this guy!?”.

No matter who encountered this scenario, they would surely flee away.

The furrow between Yang’s brows deepened as she listened to Yui Mei’s explanation.

“I see, it’s getting more puzzling the more I hear about it.”

Yang muttered. It was as if she understood it, but she still couldn’t properly imagine and it was bothering her. She rubbed her arms in disgust.

‘Yeah, I understand how ghastly it is when you imagine it.’

Yui Mei had also been assigned to treat those drug addicts in her previous life, but she still couldn’t get used to it until now. 

There were cases when the young, inexperienced nurses got dragged down by the thoughts of the addicts, and so discussing it after work as part of mental healthcare was truly indispensable.

Yui Mei didn’t want anyone else to go through such difficulty if she could help it.

“Well, it’s still best if we don’t run into people like that, after all.”

“Absolutely. Really, I hope the damage won’t be widespread.”

Yui Mei and Yang looked at each other and nodded.