The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 6 (Light Novel)

you hate me so much?” he asked, his face now less like a wild dog and more like a puppy. Love, hate—some people wanted the world to be so black and white. Why wouldn’t he give her the choice of a gray area?

“I suppose I don’t hate you as such,” she said. She might even think of him favorably. Certainly, she regarded this noble more positively than she had back when they’d first met.

Jinshi pursed his lips, not very pleased with this evasive answer. Maybe he was hoping she would come right out and say she loved him, but quite frankly, Maomao wasn’t at a point where she could bring those words to her lips. The best she could manage was that she wasn’t without a certain affection for him.

He didn’t want to relinquish the sensation that still lingered on his lips.

Jinshi first heard this story when he was more than ten years old, after Gaoshun had seen him teasing Basen for trying to keep his distance from the ladies-in-waiting.

“Women are such fragile creatures,” Basen said. “I think it’s too soon for me.”

What could Jinshi say to that? There was nothing. Instead, he held out his cup, silently asking for more juice.

She wished it could stay this way.

Just when she was expecting to feel a rush of wind against her body, she felt a pressure against her belly instead.

I’m not certain I can control my strength—but may I hit you?”

Instead of answering, she murmured, “I don’t want to be an enemy.” Jinshi gave her a sidelong look as if to ask whose enemy she meant. “To Empress Gyokuyou,” she said

The best she could manage was that she wasn’t without a certain affection for him.

Maomao? What are you doing here?”
So he had noticed her at last. Maybe he would never have been so pliant if he hadn’t. It just went to show how intent he had been on his game. “So you’ve come to see your daddy!”

Are you ready to take me up on...what I proposed?”
To be fair, he had never actually proposed anything. But even Maomao wasn’t dense enough to miss what he was referring to. The night of the banquet in the western capital, Jinshi had told Maomao the true reason he’d brought her along. Well, all right, he hadn’t actually told her in so many words—but she felt it was correct to understand that he sought to marry her.