Chapter 17: The Marquis Speaks First

They went in by the side gate, three women in plain robes with mud on their hems.

The guard on duty saw Ruoxi, saw the princess behind her, and opened the gate without a word.

Lanyin led them along the covered walk to the back of the Hall of Everlasting Peace.

A carved side door stood open a hand's width, and a man's smooth voice came through it.

"I regret to say this in front of Your Majesty," said the Marquis.

Ruoxi stopped with her shoulder to the wall.

Mingzhu stopped beside her and gripped her wrist.

Through the gap, Ruoxi could see the long hall and the gold screen.

The Marquis knelt before it, with the faded decree flat on a tray in front of him.

"The post of taster was not made by the Hall," he said.

"Search the decree, Majesty. You will find no poisoner in it, and I will not insult you by saying so twice."

"There was never any danger."

"And for eight years the palace has paid a food taster, six of them to the same young woman, on the strength of a fiction."

Ruoxi's face burned.

"The princess has kept this from her mother, from her brother, and from the court."

"She has kept it from the taster herself. I think that is the cruelest part."

"A girl from the outer city has been made a servant, and a favorite, in a play."

"A favorite," the dry old voice behind the screen repeated.

"Forgive me. I use the word as the court will use it."

"My own view is that the princess is young at heart and badly advised."

"But a woman who has deceived the whole palace for eight years cannot be trusted to judge a marriage."

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