The Apothecary Diaries, Chapter 21 (part 1)

The Apothecary Diaries (Japanese: 薬屋のひとりごと, Hepburn: Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, “Apothecary’s Soliloquy”) is a Japanese light novel series written by Natsu Hyūga and illustrated by Touko Shino. Since 2011, it has been serialized online on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. In the following year, it was acquired by Shufunotomo, who initially published the series as a novel with a single volume in 2012 and then as a light novel series in 2014. The series is set in a fictional country modelled after Imperial China.