"Bullying…." Yijun had a look of disbelief.
That's right. Maids must not do such things to high-ranking consorts. It was unthinkable.
"It's hard to believe," Yen said. If the other party was reluctant to understand it, Yen also didn't want to talk about it. She didn't like to talk about speculation.
However, it was crucial for her to explain why the maid had touched the bowl. She decided to honestly speak her mind instead of doing a poor job of pretending.
"Can you tell me about it?" he asked.
"I will. I just want to say in advance that this is just my speculation," she said.
"That's fine."
She talked about it first from the unique perspective of Consort Hui.
About her becoming the previous emperor's consort despite her young age and leaving her family as a result of that. Many women are educated to commit their body as wives to their husbands fully. It is more prominent for those who were well-bred. Even if it was said to be political, the fact that Consort Hui married the son of her deceased husband was severely unvirtuous.
"Did you see Consort Hui's Garden Party outfit?" Yen asked.
"…."
"She didn't read the atmosphere." However, everyone in her entourage had been wearing correspondingly white outfits. "Normally, maids are supposed to advise their consort on what to wear. Otherwise, they would wear outfits that will compliment her. But what we saw there, was as if only Consort Hui was clowning around."
Maids are people who support their master. That was what Hong and the other maids had told her. Even the things Yao said during the Garden party, she understood as reality. If she thought of it that way, it brings out a different side to the incident where those maids were arguing amongst each other about Consort Hui's outfit.
The young Consort Hui most surely wore that outfit as she was flattered by her maids and was told that it matched her. There was no doubt about it. In the inner palace, everyone around her is an enemy, so the only ones she could trust were her maids.
"It wasn't just that. Didn't they also swap the meals to trouble Consort Hui?" Yijun asked to make sure.
"That's right. As a result, she narrowly escaped death," she said. Fugu poison did not affect in the first moment. In other words, if it weren't swapped, she would have put it in her mouth thinking that the food tasting was excellent. It would have taken ten minutes.
"What a distasteful way of doing things." She picked up the bowl again and pointed with her finger.
"This here is probably the fingerprints of the one who poisoned it. They had held it by the edge when they mixed in the poison."
You must not touch the rim of food bowls — the reason being that you must not contaminate the place where the lips of the noble one's touch with your fingers. All maids know this.
"This ends my opinion," Yen said.
Yijun looked at the silver bowl as he stroked his chin.
"Can I ask one question?"
"What is it?" She replied to Yijun, who was bundling up the food bowl.
"Why did you cover for that maid?" he asked.
In response to Yen who looked at him dubiously, Yijun added that he was asking out of curiosity.
"Compared to a consort, a maid's life is worth almost nothing," she said even more so for a food taster.
Yijun gave a barely perceptible nod as if he understood her meaning. "I will explain everything to Ren-sama."
As Yijun left, Yen was lost in her thoughts and thinking. She really should have swallowed the poison yesterday, It tasted so good, her eyes sparkled in a dazed.