After breaking a "curse" on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster...and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated historical mystery series!

Caught poking around in the Fox Village chief's derelict storehouse, Maomao is bundled off to a cliffside fortress and put to work crafting elixirs and tending to the injured. With the endgame of her captors' treasonous plot now clear, Maomao begins to dread what it will mean for Kyou-u and his friends. As the kidnapped apothecary's allies back at the palace consider marching on the insurgents and the winds of war begin to howl, will fate spare Maomao and the other innocents in the conflict that lies ahead?