When Does Maomao Find Out Jinshi Is a Prince?

Maomao recognizes Jinshi's royal status in light novel Volume 4, Chapter 20, "The Ambush," when a soldier addresses him as the heir and Jinshi explains that the title no longer belongs to him. She learns pieces earlier, but his true biological parentage is not directly confirmed to her until Volume 13.

Spoiler scope: the identity trail from Maomao's first suspicion in Volume 1 through Ah-Duo's explicit disclosure in Volume 13, including the Volume 3 scene adapted in anime Episode 36.

There are four different Jinshi reveals

The story separates suspicion, physical proof, royal status, and biological parentage by several volumes.

The official English novels usually describe Jinshi as the Emperor's younger brother rather than the generic word "prince." His court identity and biological parentage are different things.

Volume 1: Maomao almost solves the biggest secret immediately

Near the end of Volume 1, after the Ah-Duo and Fengming case, Maomao notices Jinshi's resemblance to Ah-Duo.

She already knows the strange history surrounding two births: Ah-Duo gave birth to the Crown Prince's child at almost the same time that the Empress Dowager gave birth to the former Emperor's younger son. One infant was believed to have died. Luomen, Maomao's adoptive father, was later punished and driven from the rear palace.

Maomao considers a radical possibility: what if the babies were switched? That would explain Jinshi's resemblance to Ah-Duo, Luomen's punishment, and the supposed imperial younger brother's unusual circumstances.

Then she rejects her own deduction as absurd. She has already sketched the hidden family tree in her head, but lacks proof she is willing to accept.

Volume 3: the waterfall proves Jinshi is not a eunuch

The cave scene happens in Volume 3, Chapter 19, "The Hunt (Part Three)." Jinshi and Maomao escape an armed attack by going through a waterfall and sheltering in a cave. During an awkward attempt to climb out, a frog startles Maomao and the two tumble together.

That accident gives Maomao physical proof that Jinshi cannot be the eunuch he has pretended to be.

Jinshi prepares to explain, but Maomao retreats into deliberate denial and insists on treating the discovery as if she had encountered only the frog. Knowing an enormous imperial secret is dangerous, so she would rather know less.

The anime's Episode 36, "Ka Zuigetsu," adapts this stage. It does not mark Maomao's acceptance of his public royal identity.

Volume 4, Chapter 20 is the royal-identity reveal

During the Shi-clan climax in Volume 4, Chapter 20, "The Ambush," Jinshi arrives in military gear after taking command of the force attacking the stronghold. Maomao already knows he is not a eunuch, but she still has not been handed a simple label for who he is.

Then a soldier addresses him as "Milord heir."

Jinshi corrects the title because Gyokuyou has safely delivered a royal son. Maomao connects the implication: a non-eunuch man could not move through the rear palace as Jinshi had unless he shared imperial blood or possessed extraordinary imperial authorization.

Her internal response is essentially: so that is who he really is. Suspicion becomes recognition of his public royal status. The birth that changes his place in the succession also connects this reveal to Gyokuyou's rise to Empress.

Maomao still does not know everything about Jinshi

The Volume 4 epilogue makes the limits clear. Maomao understands that Jinshi has returned to the identity he used before pretending to be a eunuch, but she thinks about how she does not even know his real name.

Recognizing him as royalty does not mean she has received every detail of his official biography or hidden birth.

By Volume 5, his royal status is no longer an open mystery. The novels identify Jinshi as the Emperor's younger brother, and he cannot simply return to his role as the beautiful administrator of the rear palace. That is separate from whether Jinshi becomes Emperor: royal identity does not settle his future in the succession.

His public identity and biological identity are different

"The Emperor's younger brother" is Jinshi's official family position, not his biological relationship to the reigning Emperor.

• Jinshi was born to Ah-Duo and the man who became the reigning Emperor.
• At nearly the same time, the Empress Dowager Anshi bore a son to the former Emperor.
• Ah-Duo and Anshi switched the infants.
• The baby raised as Ah-Duo's son later died.
• Jinshi grew up under the identity of the former Emperor's surviving younger son, making him publicly the reigning Emperor's younger brother even though he is biologically the Emperor's son.

Maomao had guessed most of that structure in Volume 1. Volume 5's epilogue confirms the swap to the reader from Ah-Duo's perspective, not directly to Maomao.

Volume 13 confirms the parentage directly to Maomao

That direct confirmation comes in Volume 13, "Ah-Duo's Truth." Ah-Duo tells Maomao that Yue, or Jinshi, is her son by birth. She then asks whether Maomao had also guessed that her son and the real imperial younger brother were switched.

Maomao admits that she had considered exactly that possibility. Her lack of surprise pays off the Volume 1 deduction: the truth is something she has long suspected, not an entirely new idea.

Jinshi's own knowledge is a separate issue. Whether Jinshi knows Ah-Duo is his mother cannot be answered by assuming that he knows everything Maomao does.