Caravan

The caravan stirs up excitement in the inner palace. The merchants bring all kinds of goods. However, something gives Maomao a bad feeling.

Maomao and Maomao

The spring garden party concludes without incident. Maomao returns to her regular life as Concubine Gyokuyou’s taster. Meanwhile, novels become popular in the rear palace. Maomao wonders how this came to be, as novels were typically considered low-class. But behind the scenes lies Jinshi and his goals as manager of the rear palace.

After Yule

After losing Canute, Thorkell decides to halt his advance in central England. Thorkell hears that the end of the war between Denmark and England is near, and bemoans the end of the war. However, he later gets wind of an interesting piece of news.