Speaking of herbology, one of my favorite manga right now is Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Pharmacist's Monologue). I love the main character. She's small and does her best to make herself plain, but she's smart, knows all about herbs, and has a somewhat twisted personality. For example, she loves poisons more than anything.
The story begins when Mao Mao is kidnapped and sold to the Emperor's palace, where she is basically a servant in the concubine section, where men aren't allowed unless they've been snip-snipped. She soon catches the attention of the beautiful eunuch(?) in charge, who becomes fascinated with her, perhaps because she's the only person who treats him like a bug.
It's basically structured like a medical mystery series, with Jinshi coercing Mao Mao into helping him when something odd happens. Meanwhile, their relationship kind of develops and elements of her upbringing (she was an orphan raised in the Red Light district by an old doctor) become more important.
It won the 2019 Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Award for best print manga. I think an anime version is inevitable.
Essay Pro