Preview
Short preview. The download is the full pack.
15 of 15 daily downloads left · resets in 18hSign in free for the tools
Transcript
0:00The End0:02The End0:06Mau Mau0:08Hmm?0:10Could you deliver some medicine to the Verdigris house for me?0:14Sure, Dad. I'll get right on it.0:18Try to be careful out there.0:20They're saying abductions are on the rise.0:22I know, I know. I'll stop by the herb plot, too.0:25Thank you. Don't be long.0:28I won't!0:50Mmm, it's taking too long to heal. Recipe's not right.0:54Oh, Mau Mau!0:56Hey, Pai Dean.0:58What? Have you been wounding yourself again?1:00Well, yeah. I needed something to experiment on.1:03You're so thin. Are you eating?1:06Feels to me like you're well-nourished enough for the both of us.1:09Mau Mau! If I find you playing around with the combustibles near the good mahogany again, I'll box your ears.1:17Or maybe we find another way to have you pay us back.1:21Your medicine's there on the counter, Granny!1:24Say hello to you old man for me. Greedy old hag. Always trying to turn me into a lousy courtesan.1:45You have got to be kidding me.1:47Ah!1:52Ah, damn. Dad is gonna be pretty worried when I don't come back.2:05What I wouldn't give for some good meat skewers right now.2:09Hopefully Dad's still eating properly without me around.2:12I'm not sure if I was sold off or ransomed, but either way the result was the same. I've been stuck here three months now.2:21Turns out palaces and brothels aren that different Given the choice I take Verdigris house over the rear palace any day Well lingering on it isn gonna do any good life one minute you an apothecary the next a servant2:37The rear palace is a garden of women cultivated to grow the Emperor's seed men are strictly forbidden from entering2:45The only people permitted access to this inner sanctum are the Emperor his kin and of course2:50eunuchs. Males who've lost a pretty important part of their anatomy and2:54trusted to keep the peace. Overall there are 2,000 concubines and servants and2:591,000 eunuchs set to protect them. Sadly, unlike the high, mid, or low ranking3:05concubines, we serving girls are considered expendable and can lose our3:09lives for the most trivial of infractions. We're valued less than even3:14the low ranking shut-ins, but at least they deign to pay us I suppose.3:19Mal-Mal, you've gotta help me!3:21Do you know what room this is supposed to be?3:24Oh.3:25That'd be the token for Wisteria 9.3:27Over there.3:28Right! Thank you!3:30The literacy's not all that uncommon among the servants.3:34In order to work in the rear palace,3:36they're taught the bare essentials of etiquette.3:39Reading and writing's a whole other story.3:42The raise I'd get for being literate would just line the purses of my kidnappers.3:45So I'm happy to keep that skill in my own back pocket.3:49The job isn't without prospects. You could well become a concubine if you have...3:54...assets.3:58Freckles. Flat chest.4:01Unfortunately, there's not a great demand for the skin and bones look.4:10Standing out around here can be its own brand of dangerous.4:13Better to keep my head down.4:16If I work hard, I'll be home free in two years.4:21Really need a drink4:25Hey, did you hear? Oh, they say a beautiful new unit's been posted to the central courtyard4:31It's practically all anyone in the palace has been talking about. Oh4:36I mean nothing wrong with a little lucky look to check the goods. Am I right now now?4:41A handsome Munich, huh?4:44They're only three months and six months old, right? Yes, princess Linglian4:48The prince aren't even out of swaddling clothes yet.4:51You don't think this cursed up is real, do you?4:54What are you talking about Don you hear anything Mau Mau The entire palace is buzzing with rumors of hexes and dark sorceries Because of all the heirs that have been dying in the rear palace5:06Each one of the Emperor's previous three children grew frail and died not long after they were born!5:11Doesn't that seem a little weird?5:13All three?5:14Yeah, and it looks like it's happening again!5:17The newborns are unwell?5:18That's right!5:19With the prince and princess both ill, the royal physician's been running back and forth5:23Back and forth between Lady Gyo-kyo and Lady Liwa!5:25Hmm...5:26If I'm not mistaken, since the Emperor didn't yet have one,5:30that makes Lady Liwa mother of the air Empress Consort!5:33Well, yeah. That's only logical.5:35Since there's no pre-established Empress Consort and concubine Liwa gave birth to a prince,5:40her position is assured.5:41Maybe so, but rumor has it that the Emperor's favorite lies firmly with Lady Gyo-kyo,5:47which allegedly is somehow connected to all of this curse business!5:50A hierarchical power struggle, huh?5:53Lady Lihua must be suffering the worst of the afflictions!5:56The court physician seems to be attending her the most!5:59Lady Lihua's sick also?6:01Yeah, mother and child both had the same thing, stomach and headaches, apparently with pretty bad nausea in the mix as well.6:07Stomachache, headache, and nausea...6:12I'm telling you this curse is gonna doom us all!6:15The only thing that'll doom us is gullibility!6:19Wha?6:49It's just a bunch of overexcited conjecture from bored-serving girls6:54But that said6:57It wouldn't hurt to take a little bitty peak would it?7:04Talk about opulence ladies of high ranking like their pillars smeared redder than red and their roof tiles yellowed enough to make the sun jealous7:14You're the cause of this lady you kill you have cursed my son7:19for what? Because you could only give birth to a daughter? That is preposterous. Do you really7:24think I would do that My sweet Shaolin is suffering from this as well you know I never seen Lady Lihua so furious But to take it out on Lady Giyokyo Master Jinshi7:37If you don't believe me,7:39you're welcome to examine my daughter7:41yourself! I'm not sure that would...7:43Well, uh...7:44That bumbling old eunuch in the middle is the palace physician?7:47That quack's a bill short of a duck.7:49He seriously still hasn't noticed?7:51After all the time he spent7:53with the concubines?7:55Or could it be that he just plain doesn't know?7:59Infant mortality preceded by headaches, stomach aches, and nausea,8:03as well as the exhaustion Lady Li was exhibiting.8:06The cause is obvious, and it sure as hell isn't a curse.8:10But how do I clue them in?8:13If only I could find something to write with.8:25It was barely a month before the sorry news spread around the palace.8:33The infant prince had finally succumbed.8:36I do recall.8:41If only I could find something to write with.8:48I heard the Emperor's been visiting Lady Gyokyo a lot recently as a way of showing his love for the surviving princess.8:54And how's Lady Li Hua doing?8:56What makes you think I know anything about that?8:58Your trivia's oddly selective.9:01Finally, there you are.9:03You need to report in with the matron of the serving women. Immediately.9:07Huh? She's being summoned?9:09What do you think that's about?9:11All right. Now that everyone's here, if you could all please head inside, we can get this underway.9:16Serving girls getting summoned by high officials is never good.9:20ever good could this be punitive or just a new work detail9:37I would like to thank you all for coming on some short notice9:44Who's the arrogant looking woman supposed to be I am Jin she the manager of the rear palace9:56Wait, that's a man. Oh, yeah10:00Shaolin was going on about a beautiful-looking eunuch a while back.10:03I guess that must be him.10:05Yeesh, what a waste.10:06Grade A quality jeans and no way of proliferating them.10:12Huh?10:13You with the freckles stay here?10:15Oh, crap!10:19Thank you all so much for your time.10:22You may return to your rooms.10:23What was that about?10:25Why me?10:27Did I step out of line somehow or...10:29Wait, is this because of the warning?10:32Of course!10:33I'm the only one of the serving girls here who can actually read!10:36That message was a trap designed to single me out!10:39I've really gotta go-10:40Now, now, miss.10:43Didn't you read?10:44I told you to stay.10:46Keep quiet and follow me.10:53It was a trap.10:55I must admit, this is perplexing.10:57When I had looked up your record, it claimed you were illiterate.11:02Yes, well, I am... but of lowly birth, it must be some kind of mistake.11:07Good luck getting me to confess!11:09Feigning ignorance keeps things uncomplicated just the way I like it.11:13Speaking of complications, how did this guy even find me out?11:17I made absolutely certain nobody saw me leave those notes.11:23Doesn he have anything better to do than this I mean it not like he has a palace to run Please this way Thank you11:33I wonder what my punishment will be.11:35I hope I at least make it out of here alive.11:42I've brought her, as requested.11:44Come in.11:45Sorry to drag you all the way up here.11:57That's good.11:59So it was you.12:01For saving the life of my precious Ling Li, I am in your debt.12:06Please, my lady, I fear your gratitude is far too generously given.12:10I won't hear of it.12:12Who could be more deserving than my child savior?12:14I can never thank you enough for what you've done for us.12:18Forgive my impudence, but maybe you have the wrong person?12:21Perhaps there's been a misunderstanding.12:23I don't want to get beheaded for lying, but I don't want to get wrapped up in all this crazy court stuff either.12:31Concubine Gyokyo was kind enough to let me hold on to the notes you found.12:37Are you aware that this particular fabric is used in the serving girl's clothing?12:41Well, I suppose it does look familiar.12:44Yes, I am quite certain any of the palace girls would recognize it.12:48Especially one like yourself who works amongst the laundry Tell me True did you tear apart a skirt for want of good paper I can believe he reasoned that out already13:02Now that we've established it was you,13:04would you care to explain why you put13:05that flower on the window?13:17I placed it there that day because I deduced13:19the cause of the illness it was the white makeup powder in the brothels I grew up around there were13:26many courtesans who used the same high-end powder to lighten their skin it poisoned them slowly13:32draining away all of their vital spark little by little until there was nothing left they traded13:40the fullness of their lives for a fleeting moment of beauty and lost everything in the bargain13:49Before this, I was an apothecary.13:55I am familiar with poisons.13:58Then that's the powder.14:08It was used by the baby's nurse as daily ritual.14:12She claimed it had a better whitening effect compared to similar popular cosmetics.14:15She fell ill not long after Lingli so I permitted her some time to rest All fully compensated of course Kind of you Ignorance is truly a sin as a mother I should have paid more attention to what my child was eating14:32That's in his mind too14:33Had I only been more aware of the things around me a needless loss of life could have been avoided the poor prince14:42After I saw the message I went to tell concubine Lee Hwa of its troubling contents14:48But it seemed like everything I said only served to make her believe me less.14:56So then… now that you know the truth, what do you intend to do with me?15:07Well, starting today, you're going to be my new lady-in-waiting!15:16There are some qualities Mau Mau just can't mute.15:19Curiosity, a thirst for knowledge, and a sometimes troublesome need to right that which is wrong.15:26Not good, not good, not good, not good, not good, not good, not good, not good, not good, not good, not good, not good.15:34Ah, there you are! Welcome back to Mau Mau!15:37I'm just looking at your low profile now!15:38So, you're gonna tell me what happened?15:39And so, Mau Mau became a lady-in-waiting of concubine Gyokyo, the Emperor's most cherished love.15:46An unprecedented elevation in rank for one so young.