A moment later, Liya came to her senses and suddenly realized what she’d done. She instinctively covered her mouth.

Mu Nanyan hadn’t caught her muffled muttering. Still, Liya’s strange reaction left her puzzled.

“What’s wrong? Why are you covering your mouth? Is this not to your taste? That can’t be…”

Mu Nanyan furrowed her delicate brows. Had she gotten something wrong about the original story? That was impossible. It was only Liya’s preference—nothing hard to remember.

Red bean glutinous rice balls weren’t exactly a complicated name, either. Liya had to be putting on a front, too proud to let her guard down.

Fine. With me here, she definitely wasn’t going to eat them on her own.

“I get it. You can’t enjoy your food with me around, right? Anyway, I’ll leave these here. Help yourself if you want some.”

Mu Nanyan set the rice balls on the table. She glanced at Liya, who was leaning against the wall without a word, shrugged, then went out to the courtyard to check on the medicinal brew.

Mu Nanyan kept one eye on Liya, too. On the surface, she was crouched beside the little clay stove, stirring the herbs inside.

But out of the corner of her eye, she kept watching Liya.

Sure enough, as soon as Mu Nanyan left, Liya visibly relaxed. She looked around to make sure Mu Nanyan wasn’t in the room, then tiptoed over to the table.

As she looked at the rice balls, so familiar yet so strange, Liya couldn’t help pouting. Her chest felt heavy, and complicated emotions began to stir inside her.

“I’ll just try a tiny bit… Just a little.”

Liya thought back to Mu Nanyan. She really was so gentle and beautiful. Could someone like that really be the culprit who tried to assassinate the Demon Emperor?

Holding a rice ball, Liya glanced toward the door. The courtyard was filled with a bitter smell, but the rice ball in her hand filled the room with a sweet fragrance.

Could Mu Nanyan have moved the medicine outside to keep its bitter taste from getting on the rice balls?

The thought popped into Liya’s head, and it startled her. Since when had she started taking that woman’s side?

“Liya, don’t lose your head. She’s a bad woman, an enemy of the Demon Clan. Don’t let her fool you! And these rice balls might just look good on the outside.”

“For all you know, she put poison in them.”

Though Liya said that, she still instinctively popped a rice ball into her mouth. The next moment, her eyes flew wide…

“This taste! It’s like—so much like it. N-no, this is the taste!”

As if she couldn’t quite believe it, Liya tried another one. It really tasted like her childhood—soft and sweet, just like her mother’s embrace.

Remembering Mu Nanyan’s every move from earlier, Liya almost saw the blurry image of her mother from memory overlap with Mu Nanyan.

“Hmph. At least she’s good for something when it comes to making sweets.”

“If she really can make an antidote, then maybe I can talk to the Demon Emperor about letting her stay with the Demon Clan as the lowest-ranking maid.”

Liya watched Mu Nanyan busily working outside and muttered under her breath.

Then she looked at the rice balls on the table, opened the little cloth pouch she carried with her, and stuffed every last one inside.

Something this delicious was worth savoring slowly. If she could, she’d like to share a few with her sisters, too.

Once she was done, Liya patted her little pouch with satisfaction. The corners of her mouth lifted despite herself, and a faint smile appeared.

“Hey, is the antidote ready yet?”

By the time Liya appeared before Mu Nanyan again, she’d put on a stern expression.

“Almost.”

Mu Nanyan looked at the pitch-black liquid in the pot. Its bitter smell seared her nostrils.

It was hard to imagine that this stuff was even fit to drink.

“All right. Try it first.”

“Okay.”

Mu Nanyan nodded, scooped up a spoonful, and swallowed it without hesitation.

It might not look like much, but this stuff really was good for you.

As the medicine went down, a sour bitterness churned in Mu Nanyan’s stomach. She almost threw up.

She dug her nails into her thigh in pain, finally managing to suppress the nausea.

“How do you feel? Is it working?”

Liya eagerly grabbed Mu Nanyan’s hand and used magic to examine the state of the poison inside her body.