©日向夏・主婦の友インフォス／ 「薬屋のひとりごと」製作委員会
As annoying as it was when Maomao found Jinshi, after this episode it’s hard not to think there’s another character who will have to help her up. Apothecary’s Diary was very careful in introducing Lakan, giving us a glimpse of him and his interest in Maomao before he fully appeared in this week’s episode, and time His appearance is enough to make me wish he would be pushed right back into the shadows where he belongs. Lakan seems interested in Maomao because she’s from House Verdigris (or so everyone says), and the implication seems to be that he has some sort of relationship with a courtesan there who could be her mother. Either way, that seems to be what the images suggest, and even if her hair color and hairstyle are a coincidence, Lakan’s retelling of the mystery woman’s personality This is still very suggestive.
It makes sense that Maomao’s mother worked at Verdigris House, given her relationship with the landlady and her father’s relationship with the establishment, so in many ways, that was the least of the problems that arose from the conversation. of Lakan with Jinshi. Far more troubling is Lakan’s claim that he did something that made the woman in question less valuable. In his account, the courtesan sold “her skills, not herself,” implying that she would sing, dance, and play (both music and board games) with her customers, but don’t have sex with them, so listen to him smugly. saying that he did something to her can’t help but make me think that sexual violence was involved. The fact that he is now showing interest in Maomao is disturbing, especially since his request to Jinshi was about using Maomao’s deduction skills for Lakan’s benefit. This is not a man to be trusted.
On the plus side, Maomao is more than capable of keeping herself safe, and when her sense of self-defense is gone, Jinshi will be right there. (The fact that Jinshi cannot completely eliminate Lakan speaks volumes about the other man’s high status and the political bonds Jinshi walks on.) Maomao’s role in Jinshi’s household is that of a strange combination of maid and internal detective, and that’s something the impeccable Gaoshun is happy to work with. His strategy for getting her to investigate the poisonous puffer fish case is brilliant: first, he lures her with drugs poisonous, he then offered to take her out to eat non-poisonous puffer fish to ensure that she was fully focused. He is also willing to follow Jinshi’s orders without question to keep Maomao from actually ingesting the poison (or at least from throwing it out immediately), meaning he plays both sides at once. excellent way in between. There may be something to his choosing Basen as Maomao’s companion during her investigation although at this point all we have is the fact that he looks “familiar” with she.
Although Maomao solved the case, it should be noted that there was one part of it that remained largely unsolved. She knows who poisoned the second victim, but the question remains of what happened to the first victim. It’s entirely possible that it’s just an unfortunate coincidence due to a lack of local knowledge on how to safely prepare the seaweed in question, but that seems too easy. The poisoner in the second case must have known about it somewhere, which probably means he was told about it by the poisoner in the first case. It may be too late to find the original poisoner or even worry about it, but it shows the disturbing ease with which the poisoners gained access to the palace’s food supplies. -or at least the food of the people they want to reach. that could be worse. Jinshi may want Maomao in his house for reasons unrelated to her discernment when it comes to poisons (as we saw when he had a shoujo delusion about her welcoming him home), but keeping her close may have other benefits for him. Now if she would stop making Junji Ito’s face when he surprised her, maybe he would feel better about their relationship.
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The Apothecary’s Diary is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
