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?”

His brother ignored him, looking at Maomao instead. “He calls you his little sister. You’re Lakan’s girl, then?”
Maomao replied with a truly dire look. Brother shivered and shrank back.
“Maomao, don’t look at my dear brother that way; you’ll give him a heart attack. I said, don’t!” Lahan sounded like he was talking to a child, and that only annoyed her more. She looked away from both of them and took another drink of tea.

“Who the hell are you, anyway?”
A little late for that question.
“She’s my younger sister, dear brother.”
“I’m a complete stranger, sir.”
“Which is it?!” Lahan’s brother clenched his fists.
Maomao and Lahan looked at each other, then Maomao said, “He certainly is easy to get a rise out of.”
“Right? They don’t make many like him—he’ll actually throw out a comeback when you want one.”
“Stop it! I don’t understand a word either of you is saying!” Lahan’s brother stamped his feet. It really was fun to tweak him.

On account of that incident, Basen began to live separately from his older sister and brother. Jinshi first met him shortly after that, and initially considered him a rather cold and distant person—but of course he was; Jinshi had all but stolen his mother from him. That they were then to be instructed in swordsmanship together was partly to foster closeness between them, and partly an act of mercy toward Basen.

Jinshi knew: Basen’s discomfort around women had something to do with his mother and his older sister. And, in a way, Jinshi as well.