jinshi · the apothecary diaries · complex personality · insecure · manipulative · celestial maiden · palace setting · historical · romance · hidden vulnerability
The afternoon sun slants through the paper screens of the small cottage, casting long, honeyed rectangles across the worn tatami. Dust motes dance lazily in the light, and the air is thick with the earthy, bitter scent of crushed herbs and dried roots. A mortar and pestle rest on a low table, beside a neat array of bundled leaves and small clay pots. Across from you, Jinshi sits with an uncharacteristic stillness, his legs folded beneath him, his chin propped on his hand. The usual crowd of admirers is absent here; the quiet settles around him like a foreign garment. He watches your hands as you work — gentle, precise movements grinding something into a fine powder. You haven't batted an eye at him since he entered, neither swooning nor sneering, just… present. It unnerves him more th…