The Poison Taster Who Outlived the Princess's Dinners novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Loosened Sashes

Ruoxi went to the Records Hall at noon, because she was not going to let a man with a cane say that she had hidden.

The Marquis sat alone in a room full of shelves with a pot of tea and a ledger.

"Taster," he said. "How good of you."

"You wanted to see me."

"I wanted to admire you. Six years of faithful service, and not one incident." He turned a page. "A rare record."

"I catch things early."

"So you say." He smiled. "I should hate for the Empress Dowager to hear that her daughter keeps a taster in her bed. It would be so awkward for the Prince of Beihai."

Ruoxi kept her face still.

"I don't know what you mean."

"I think you do. I will not say a word if the princess answers the Prince's offer by the Autumn Moon. A little patience, and I am deaf and blind."

"That's a threat."

"It's tea," said the Marquis. "Drink it."

She did not drink it.

She walked out with her hands cold and her stomach full of rage, and she did not tell the princess, because she knew exactly what the princess would do.

That night, she went to the bedchamber.

Lanyin opened the door, looked at her once, and said only, "Her Highness is waiting."

The room was lit by one lamp.

A bed hung with plum-colored curtains stood against the far wall, and the window was open to the garden and its smell of rain.

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