The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 4 (Light Novel)

“This will be my pillow”—and put his head smack on Maomao’s knees. The crown of his head was pressed up into her stomach, and his arms were wrapped around her back.
“Master Jinshi...”

After a long moment, it was Maomao who spoke first: “I’m sorry, but might I ask you to protect me, Master Jinshi?”

She was going to be the adult here. Interestingly, though, the little shit received a knock on the head anyway, without Maomao’s having to do anything.

Jinshi gazed at Maomao’s face. There was blood on it, and her left ear was swollen, although it had been smeared with ointment. None of this would have happened to Maomao if she had never gotten involved with him. The thought made his heart ache.

May I ask, sir, what exactly you’re doing?”

She felt something damp and warm brush her neck—no, surround it. She felt teeth; she realized she was being sweetly, gently bitten.

“Do you know what it means now?” Jinshi asked

There was no way a man who had taken command of an army—and had the scar on his face to prove it—could continue pretending to be a eunuch in the rear palace. Jinshi must have finally gone back to being whoever he really was. Maomao didn’t know his real name; she couldn’t have used it even if she did. The worlds they lived in were simply too different.

What really startled Maomao, though, was the former consort’s resemblance to Jinshi.

I did wonder. Could it be

But it seemed sleepiness was not what Jinshi was trying to endure. He pulled on her wrist again, and when she sat down facing him, he grabbed the upper part of her other arm.

“When I looked at your injury, I meant to act as calm as I could,” he said. His unsettling face got closer and closer to hers; she could feel the heat of his breath on her skin. “I’m surprised... I mean, I think I seemed calmer than I expected.”

Am I nothing more than my face?”

Maomao instinctively shook her head. “Frankly, a bit of a scar might do you good,” she said, more honestly than she had meant to. Jinshi was too beautiful; he could only put those who saw him out of sorts. And those around him focused too much on his looks. Even though he wasn’t as flowery and delicate as he appeared, Maomao thought; he was made of sterner stuff. In her opinion, only a small handful of people around him understood that.

“Don’t you think it makes you look more manly than before?” she said. She noticed his lips tighten when she said that. He looked around uneasily, blinked, and shook his head

Don’t go getting a scar,” Jinshi said.

“I could say the very same thing to you, sir.”

Jinshi frowned. “I’m a man. What’s it matter on me?”

“Oh, you quite surpass ‘a man.’”

“As if I cared.”

“Then I don’t care either. If one scar is enough to obliterate my value, then so be it.”

“And after you gave me such a piece of your mind.” Jinshi didn’t sit up, but he didn’t let go of Maomao’s wrist either. Some of the warmth was beginning to return to his hand. “Am I such that one scar would obliterate my value?” he asked, his hand tightening on her wrist