The sun was setting, bathing the entire sleeping chamber in pleasant orange hues and announcing that this utterly horrible day would finally soon come to an end. The day that had basically divided Jinshi's life into a before and after.

Even though the air had gotten a bit cooler now, it was still quite warm and also stuffy. Jinshi, who was still sitting in his bed, didn't show any sign of discomfort, though. He watched Maomao in silence and with a peaceful expression on his face, not seeming to suffer any pain at the moment.

The two of them had recently finished their meal the chief lady-in-waiting had brought them (Jinshi used to love Suiren's cooking, and she had made one of his favorite dishes. Maomao had hoped that eating it would help him remember at least something, but although he found it very tasty, her hopes were unfortunately for naught). The apothecary was now rummaging in her clothes once again and pulled out the sachet with the pain remedy, scrutinizing its content.

"Not much left in there. I'll have to make more soon,"

she thought and placed the sachet within reach on the table, right next to the carafe that had finally been refilled with fresh water in the meantime.

Next, she took out her bottle of disinfectant, some clean bandages, and also a few more sachets, containing various herbs. She gave them a quick sniff to determine their exact content and put the ones she might need on the table as well. All that without saying a word.

"You're really carrying a lot with you, don't you? Is all that stuff medicine?" Jinshi finally commented, watching her with obvious interest. He was still looking completely serene and didn't show any new symptoms, much to Maomao's relief. In fact, she had the impression that the current atmosphere wasn't very different from the calm conversations they used to have from time to time.

"Of course, sir. I'm an apothecary, as I've already said, so I always have to be prepared for emergencies and carry the most important medicine with me. Who knows when I might need it."

While Luomen had been taking care of Jinshi's wound, Maomao had been busy stuffing her clothes with as much medicine as she could carry and also packed a small bag full of herbs she might use for Jinshi's treatment in order to take it with her to the young lord's residence. Despite trying to keep a cool head as well as possible, she had ended up forgetting that bag in the Jade Pavilion's shed after all, but since she would have to take a brief trip to the Pavilion anyway to get her clothes and other personal things, it wasn't much of a tragedy to her.

Indeed. This time, she would have no other choice than to leave Jinshi's side for a while, since she did need her possessions if she were to live at his residence once more, especially her tools for producing medicine. However, she planned to wait until her patient would fall asleep again in order to spare him unnecessary stress, and ask Suiren to keep an eye on him while she was gone.

Letting out a soft sigh, she looked at a small tin of rouge she had found in her sleeve and stuffed it back inside. No, there was no need for make-up for now.

Seeing that it was the last item, Maomao got up and headed to the window in order to open it for a few minutes and air out the room a bit before nightfall.

"What's this?" the Moon Prince asked, curious, and pointed at a small package with herbs. Maomao turned back around to him. A light, refreshing breeze entered through the window, tousling their hair a tiny bit.

"This is used to make tea that soothes the nerves and promotes better sleep."

"And this?"

"Bandages. To change the ones wrapped around your head."

"And this one?"

"A remedy against fever."

"Oh? Do you believe I might get a fever?"

"I cannot say that for sure, but I very much hope you won't, sir. However, I am leaving it on the table, just in case."

"I see." He smiled at her. "As well-prepared as you are, I don't think there is anything bad that could still happen to me."

Maomao didn't say anything this time, but merely closed the window again and sat back down on the chair. Dark thoughts were about to invade her mind once more. She just couldn't stop them.

But she did snap out of it after all when there were noises coming from the direction of the door once again. Maomao lifted her head, and Jinshi turned his gaze away from her and towards the entrance. This time, those steps didn't sound like Suiren's at all...

Jinshi looked at Maomao again, as if asking her who the new visitor might be, but she merely shrugged and frowned slightly. She didn't have a good feeling about that.

And a few seconds later, the door was flung wide open.

"What happened to you? Gaoshun told me you have fallen and lost your memory! Is that true? I refuse to believe it!"

A highly agitated middle-aged man with an impressive beard stormed into the chamber without as much as a greeting, followed by a slightly tense-looking Gaoshun.

As soon as Maomao saw him, she stood up again at once, tucked her hands into her sleeves and took a deep bow.

"Good evening, Your Majesty."

Jinshi gave her and the man a confused look each.

"Majesty?"

Yet regrettably no one had time to explain things to him.

The Emperor turned to Maomao.

"Say, apothecary-girl, is it really true that he cannot remember anything?"

Maomao averted her gaze towards the floor for a moment before looking at the most important person of their nation once again, who was waiting impatiently for her answer.

"It is, Your Majesty. Master Jinshi has suffered a head injury during his fall, hence the bandages, and has indeed lost his memory. He is currently unable to recognize once familiar people and places and has even forgotten his own identity."

The Emperor widened his eyes and then narrowed them again, showing that this was definitely not what he had wished to hear.

"Well, but I cannot tell him anything but the truth, even if it's a very unpleasant one,"

the apothecary thought, feeling both hot and cold under his gaze. She clenched her teeth, noticing that her palms had started to sweat.

"Can he be cured?"

"I cannot say with absolute certainty, but normally, the memory should return with time. However, it is unfortunately unknown how much time it is going to take."

The Emperor still didn't look satisfied with her words, but Maomao could only tell him what she knew, nothing more. Generally, that man was a quite benevolent ruler, but right now, he looked truly intimidating. Almost like a different person. Like someone whose words had the power to take someone's life away. Which was indeed the truth.

"Master Jinshi must be very important to him,"

Maomao pondered.

"Now, as the overseer of the entire Inner Palace, he sure has to be, I don't deny it."

It did cross her mind that there could very well be other and more personal reasons, however, she preferred to chase those thoughts away.

His Majesty raised his hand and pointed at her.

"You are going to take care of him. After all, you have already cured my daughter and one of my consorts."

"Understood." Maomao bowed again. She intended to take care of the young lord anyway. To get an official order to do so was something she had already expected more or less. It was hardly surprising.

The Emperor let his hand sink once more and turned towards Jinshi, squinting at him now, with a deep line between his brows. The other merely stared back at him, as puzzled as ever.

Then there was silence. No one spoke.

Until His Majesty suddenly let out a snort, gritted his teeth and grabbed the younger man's shoulders completely out of the blue, staring directly into his eyes with a highly concerned, yet quite hard gaze.

Jinshi was so startled, he couldn't move. So were Maomao and even Gaoshun.

"Have you really forgotten everything?" The Emperor's voice was like thunder. "Who you are, who I am? Truly everything? Your entire life?" Desperation and a deep sadness were lingering in his tone. He started to shake Jinshi. "Answer me!"

The Moon Prince didn't produce a sound, as if he had not only lost his memory, but also his ability to speak. His eyes opened wider and wider, and his chin had started to tremble, while his hands clutched his blanket with force. He looked almost like a mouse that was about to get eaten by a snake.

"Oh no!"

Maomao was staring at them, wide-eyed.

"He's causing him extreme stress!"

Gaoshun, who had been standing behind His Majesty the entire time, raised his hands and opened his mouth, as if he wanted to stop him. But according to the look on his face, Maomao assumed that he had never seen the Emperor act like that before and was quite at a loss.

"Your Majesty..." she intervened thus before the aide could say something.

"Quiet!" the Emperor snapped at her and gripped Jinshi's shoulders even harder now, burying his fingers into them, which made the younger man let out a pained whimper. "And you, answer me already! It just cannot be that you cannot remember anything!"

A few tears rolled out of Jinshi's eyes that were directed at the terrifying older man in a helpless and frightened gaze.

The apothecary, who had winced at the Emperor's harsh tone earlier, couldn't watch that horrible scene any longer. She opened her mouth to speak once more...

However...

"Aaah!"

The one who had let out that heart-wrenching scream was Jinshi. Breathing heavily, he grabbed his head with both hands and shut his eyes firmly, gritting his teeth. He was obviously suffering from an intense, almost unbearable pain.

"Alright, that's enough!"

the apothecary, who was still standing next to him, thought, horrified, and reached out in order to check on him.

The next thing she felt was a pair of strong arms that had wrapped themselves firmly around her, squeezing her desperately.

Jinshi had let go of his head, torn himself from the Emperor's iron grip with all the strength he could muster, and, not being able to find any other way to escape, had hugged Maomao with such a panic that the petite young woman nearly lost her balance and the ground under her feet.

"Aaaah! Aaah..."

"Master Jinshi!"

Trembling from head to toe, he clung to her, burying his face into her shoulder and letting out a choked "Maomao..." as if begging her to protect, to save him. As if she were a natural, no, his personal pain remedy. She felt his shaking hands on the small of her back and his cheek pressed to her neck.

The apothecary was petrified like a statue, completely taken aback, and didn't have the tiniest clue what to do first, since she never had to deal with anything like that before. But then she shook her head, forcing herself to return to her senses, and started to clumsily rub circles into Jinshi's back. Her thoughts were racing.

His muscles felt stiff and tense under her fingers, and his heart hammered violently against her body.

Maomao couldn't help thinking that he would probably have tried to run away, if she hadn't been there, so she was glad she was. She couldn't blame him for it, since anyone would have been terrified in his place as well, even without memory loss. And that fear was more than he was able to take in his current state.

Gorgeous like a nymph or not, he was still only human, after all.

And that fear of his had ended up intensifying his headache many times over.

"At this rate, he might indeed develop a fever!"

His face felt quite hot against her shoulder.

"I have to calm him down and do something against his pain!"

"Excuse me please, Your Majesty," Maomao finally spoke, trying to sound composed and began to stroke Jinshi's soft, disheveled hair with one hand. He still refused to lift his head, as if wanting to hide from the entire world, to not see anyone or anything anymore. His tears were soaking her clothes. "He needs a lot of rest. To exert pressure on him like that is only making things worse, as you can see."

"I understand... I seem to have lost control over myself for a moment..."

The features of the Emperor, who had been watching the panicked Jinshi with his eyes wide open in perplexity and disbelief, had softened again, making him look more like he usually did. He seemed to regret his actions now.

His Majesty approached the younger man and carefully placed his hand on the latter's still trembling back. "Forgive me... I think I should leave now..."

Maomao felt Jinshi flinch at the touch and hug her even tighter.

***

Still looking a bit lost, the Emperor then took his leave, leaving all the mess he had created behind. Maomao allowed herself to take a deep breath and gather her thoughts. There wasn't any time to ponder about what had happened, for her top priority right now was to take care of the frightened Jinshi.

"Please calm down. He left, Master Jinshi, he won't hurt you anymore. No one will hurt you," she whispered into his ear as soothingly as she could while continuing to massage his back. The young lord sniffed and relaxed a bit at her words, but still held her so tightly that she could barely move, standing right next to the bed he was sitting on.

Since his breathing had gotten calmer already, she assumed that his headache must have subsided a little, but judging by the way he kept hissing out in pain from time to time, it was still pretty severe and prevented him from thinking clearly.

"Maomao..." he whimpered.

"Shhh. Everything is alright." The apothecary didn't have any experience with comforting people, but she did her best. "Don't cry."

She really hoped that this last incident and the panic attack caused by it wouldn't result in any bad consequences for his concussion and general health. He had gone through more than enough already, she found.

They suddenly heard hurried steps again and froze on the spot. Both of them. But this time, it was only Gaoshun, who had accompanied the Emperor to the exit and was now rushing back to his master.

"How is Master Jinshi doing, Xiaomao?" he inquired, worried, as soon as he had entered. Most likely he had never seen the young man act like that before either, perhaps only when the latter had been a little boy.

"A bit better. But it will surely take a while for him to calm down completely."

"Can I help you perhaps?"

"Yes, thank you, Master Gaoshun. There is a small sachet with a pain remedy on the table next to the bed. Please take out three pills and give them to me, I cannot reach them on my own right now. And please pour some water into one of the cups."

The aide quickly did as told. But before he could hand her the water, Suiren, who had been busy at some other part of the residence, entered the room and opened her mouth, startled, once she spotted her young master tremble violently and desperately cling to the apothecary with his head on her shoulder.

"Xiaomao, what in the world happened here?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have the time to explain it to you right now, Lady Suiren," Maomao replied and reached out with her free hand, somehow managing to grab one of the small herb packages from the table and sniffing it to make sure she had gotten the right one, before continuing to speak. "Could you please brew some tea out of these herbs? It's a mixture of dried valerian, chamomile, and lavender and will help against Master Jinshi's anxiety."

"Understood." The elderly lady took the package from her and hurried out once more. She had grasped the urgency of the situation and didn't ask any more questions.

Next, Maomao turned to Jinshi again.

"Sir?" she addressed him softly. "Would you please take your head from my shoulder?"

He immediately flinched again, and she could feel his heart rate accelerate once more.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

she thought, not quite understanding what the matter was.

"N-No... please stay with me... Maomao..."

Oh. So that was it. He had assumed that she wanted to leave.

"I'm not going anywhere, Master Jinshi. I just want to give you more of that painkiller, but with you pressing your face against my shoulder, I can't."

'A-Alright ' '

He finally raised his head and looked at the apothecary, who felt her stomach tighten and furrowed her brows at the sight of his pale face. The young lord appeared weak and sick, and his sad and dull violet eyes showed such a deep exhaustion as if he hadn't slept for days.

Maomao gulped and kneeled next to him on the bed, allowing him without a word of objection to press her against his chest, as if she were a pillow. Then she showed him the three pills on her palm.

"Here, please open your mouth, sir. Your hands are still shaking, so I'm going to help you take the medicine, alright?"

Jinshi nodded and opened his mouth. She placed the pills on his tongue, and once he had swallowed them, Gaoshun helped him drink the water.

"There. And after you have drunk the tea Lady Suiren is preparing right now, you should feel a lot better soon."

"Thank you... Maomao..." he managed to utter and gave her a weak kiss on the forehead.

The apothecary was baffled first, but then, a shadow darkened her face.

"No need to thank me..." she muttered. Gaoshun was standing next to them, watching them both with concern.

And while they were waiting for the tea, Maomao grabbed Jinshi's collar and revealed his shoulders. The Emperor's hands had left marks on them that looked quite painful.

The line between the aide's brows deepened at the sight, while Maomao felt her blood starting to boil.

"Why? Just why?"

she thought with gritted teeth.

"As if he hadn't had enough pain for today already!"

It was pretty rare and took a lot for her to get seriously furious, but now she sure was. Emperor or not, but that certainly was no way to treat an injured patient, who was also completely innocent! She was the one who had deserved His Majesty's wrath, not Jinshi!

And even rarer did it occur that she questioned the authority of the people standing above her and criticized their actions (except for Jinshi's, perhaps), but if the Emperor hadn't left, she might even have lost control over her expression and started to glare and hiss at him, the most powerful man of the entire nation, just like a cat protecting her kitten. What luck that the situation hadn't gotten to such a point, for she didn't even want to picture what might have happened otherwise.

As lost in thought as she was, Maomao needed a moment to realize that Jinshi had started to gently rub her back and looked up to him. Her anger disappeared instantly when she spotted his questioning, worried gaze.

"Maomao?" he asked hesitantly and in a slightly trembling voice.

"Oh no! Did I scare him with my expression just now?"

she thought, startled, and hurriedly softened her features. The old Jinshi would have never gotten truly scared by her face, but this new one... might.

"Don't worry, Master Jinshi. It's nothing."

She covered up his shoulders again and made a quick mental note to prepare an ointment for him the next day and carefully rub it into those marks so they would heal faster.

A few minutes later, Suiren returned with the calming tea, and Maomao helped Jinshi to drink a few cups of it with little sips.

Its effect already started to show shortly after: the Moon Prince gradually relaxed and placed his cheek on top of Maomao's head.

***

"Why did all this have to happen? Just what have I done to him?"

the apothecary thought about half an hour later, full of bitterness and regret, as she was sitting on Jinshi's bed and watching him fall asleep again while holding his hand.

No, she couldn't leave him alone like that. No way. Her stuff would have to wait.