“Now That the Eunuch Charade Is Over...” Merciless Line Draws Buzz as the Novel The Apothecary Diaries: The Late Lady's Treasure Release Is Announced, Fans Say “Double the Treat”

The all-new novel The Apothecary Diaries: The Late Lady's Treasure, based on The Apothecary Diaries, a series with more than 57 million copies in circulation, will go on sale on Wednesday, December 9. The book adapts a new episode set between Season 2 and Season 3 of the anime, and fans are paying close attention.

This new novel was written from a plot that original author Hyuganatsu wrote for the theatrical release. It also includes episodes that could not fit into the film The Apothecary Diaries: The Late Lady's Treasure, which opens on Friday, December 11. The story follows Maomao and Jinshi, who travel to a city on the water to fulfill the wish of a consort who died five years ago to “return to her hometown,” and find themselves caught up in a new incident.

The end of the book also features design illustrations of original characters and production comments by Touco Shino, who illustrates the original novels and created the character designs for the film. In addition, first-print copies of the novel come with a special wide special wide book band (obi) featuring the film's key visual.

Also, on Wednesday, December 9, the same day the novel goes on sale, serialization of the manga The Apothecary Diaries: The Late Lady's Treasure will begin on Sunday Webry. Built around the plot newly written by Hyuganatsu, the story is set to unfold simultaneously across three media: the novel, the manga, and the film.

In response to the announcement, social media users have commented, “If I fill in the details with the novel version, I get to enjoy it twice over!” “I've followed the original, the manga adaptation and the anime, and before I knew it I was hooked for good,” and “Since the original author wrote the novel version, this isn't anime-original material but is treated as canon.” Another comment reads, “The way ‘now that the eunuch charade is over’ is phrased is merciless... There is a tension that makes it feel as though Jinshi can no longer escape his position, and that one line alone pulls you in.” Hyuganatsu also revealed in a quote post, “I had said I wrote about 40,000 characters for the screenplay, but that was wrong. I wrote 70,000. So I turned the original plot into a novel, including the parts that were cut for the film.”