The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 2: The Apothecary Diaries (Manga), Volume 2
- ISBN
- 9781646090716
- Publisher
- Square Enix
- English release
- Pages
- 178
- Chapters
- 5–8
The Apothecary Diaries manga 2 contains chapters 5 to 8 and opens with an imperial request to attend Consort Lihua. This is Square Enix’s English manga by Natsu Hyuuga, Nekokurage and Itsuki Nanao, not the light novel with the same volume number. Continue from manga Volume 1: the request depends on an earlier poisoning case. The opening analysis examines the obstruction between permission and practical access, and does not supply a novel-to-manga or anime-to-book handoff.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
An order from the emperor gives Maomao responsibility without making Lihua’s attendants willing to let her work. They reject her porridge as beneath their mistress and ridicule the servant delivering it. Maomao can cite the order, but argument alone does not secure entry. Jinshi’s intervention combines authority with flattery to move the obstruction; it does not itself solve Lihua’s illness. The final displayed page makes the attendants’ apparent certainty more troubling when Maomao notices powder on Lihua’s skin. The scene supports a reading of hierarchy as an obstacle to care even when the highest authority has requested help. This analysis reads only printed pages 3–19 of the licensed Square Enix/PRH manga preview, within chapter 5. The remaining treatment and its outcome are outside that excerpt.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links on this page are affiliate links, which cost you nothing extra. They never influence what appears on this site or what the commentary says about it.
Lines from this volume
“Disdaining the emperor's will... ...simply does not suit such beautiful and wise women as yourselves.”
Jinshi fixes in one sentence what Maomao could not fix all chapter, and the method is the problem. The emperor has ordered her to attend Consort Lihua, and Lihua's ladies-in-waiting have knocked the meal she arranged to the floor, sent her back to the kitchens and told her to get out. Jinshi does not argue with them. He pairs the emperor's authority with a compliment, and they agree at once: why, he is most certainly right. It works, and it teaches them nothing. The next pages show what they still do not understand. One of them has kept making up the sick consort with the same banned face powder, because it is the prettiest, and Maomao has to powder the woman's own face and call it poison to make the point. Flattery moved the ladies aside. It changed nobody's mind.