The Poison Taster Who Outlived the Princess's Dinners novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Founding Decree

The Records Hall smelled of dust, camphor and old paper.

Ruoxi walked through it alone, with the white spoon at her waist and her hair pinned back hard.

She had not slept.

She had kissed the sleeping princess on the forehead, dressed in the dark, and left without waking her.

A clerk met her at the door and took her to a long table by a high window.

On it lay one sheet of yellowed paper, a brass-bound box, and the Marquis's ledger.

The Marquis himself sat at the far end of the room with his cane across his knees.

He did not speak.

"Read it," said the clerk, and withdrew.

Ruoxi sat down.

The decree was written in a young, round hand, in black ink that had faded to brown.

At the top it said, in careful letters: A DECREE ESTABLISHING THE POST OF FOOD TASTER TO THE PRINCESS.

She frowned.

It was not the usual wording.

The usual wording named a danger.

This one named none.

She read on.

"Whereas I am sixteen, and eat alone, and the Hall has refused me a companion of my own age, I, Yao Mingzhu, order that a girl be found to eat my meals before me. She shall be my age or near it. She shall be kind. She shall sit when I say so."

Ruoxi read it again.

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