Chapter 54
Once a suspicion took root, it continued to grow endlessly.
Had he been deceived as well?
Then why had that man brought up Namgung Jeong?
Was it simply to deceive the young lady? Was Namgung Jeong completely unrelated?
But where had he been when the Xiao Family Manor was attacked? Could it be that he didn’t even know his sworn elder brother had been killed?
Or perhaps all of this…
‘What if it was Namgung Jeong’s plan?’
I bit my lip tightly. Then, before long, I shook my head.
‘No. It’s still, still… too early to judge.’
It was difficult to believe that everything I’d seen of Namgung Jeong had been a lie.
The way he’d said he didn’t dislike idiots, the way he’d said he wanted to take me as his disciple because he valued righteousness over talent, the way he’d told me to treasure my connections as he bid me farewell, and so on.
Above all, he had really liked the Manor Lord.
Whenever he was with the Manor Lord, even his expression was different. His whole demeanor would relax as though he were dealing with his real older brother, and he would keep smiling.
It didn’t seem like all of that could have been an act…
‘Am I being too naive?’
I smiled bitterly. Even so, I didn’t want to make any definitive conclusions until I’d confirmed it myself.
‘To do that, I need to move.’
I struggled to get to my feet. My entire body felt as though it had been shattered from the fall off the cliff, proving that it hadn’t been some mere illusion, but I gritted my teeth and endured it.
I slowly took one step after another. Hoping that I could meet the young lady again as soon as possible.
***
My destination was Jiangxi Province. Because the young lady had clearly said so at the time.
“After that, Father and I will cross Nabushan Mountain and head to Jiangxi Province. There is a Jiangxi branch of the Xiao-song Merchant Association there. Once we arrive…”
If the young lady had escaped safely, she would have headed to Jiangxi Province as originally planned. But there was no way I could know which direction Jiangxi Province was in when I didn’t even know where I was.
For the time being, I decided to simply walk without a destination. If I found a village or some people, I’d ask them for directions then.
“Huff, huff…”
But no village appeared even after I’d walked for quite some time. After leaving the riverside, all that appeared was a desolate plain. There wasn’t even a private residence in sight, let alone a main road where people traveled.
As I crossed the plain, the trees gradually grew denser, and soon the entrance to a mountain valley appeared.
I wondered whether I should keep going, but there wasn’t any other suitable path, so I entered the mountain. It would be nice if I could get out of the mountain before sunset.
I clutched my spasming leg. Sweat was pouring down like rain.
‘My condition is getting worse.’
I hadn’t been in good shape from the beginning, but as time passed, the pain around my chest where the man had struck me grew increasingly severe.
Eventually, I stopped where I stood. A small groan escaped between my teeth.
“Ugh…”
The problem was the strange chill that accompanied the pain.
If it had only been pain, I could have somehow endured it, but this bizarre cold was impossible to bear.
The chill that began in my chest gradually spread deep into my body. In an instant, it stole away my body heat and froze my limbs. An aching pain spread throughout my body as though I were suffering from frostbite.
When I finally felt as though even my head was freezing over, I briefly lost consciousness.
When I came to, I was lying face-down on the ground. Only then did a sense of urgency wash over me.
‘This won’t do. If I keep hurting like this…’
Would I be able to endure it until I reached Jiangxi Province?
I didn’t know the way, and there wasn’t a person around.
At this pace, would I even make it halfway?
And what if my body reached its limit and I collapsed before then…?
I shook my head at the increasingly pessimistic thoughts.
It would be better to take even one step during the time I spent thinking like this.
Just as I finally managed to calm myself and get my body up…
“…Hng…”
I suddenly raised my head. I’d definitely heard something.
“Ugh… hng…”
I quietly listened, and only then did I think I knew what the sound was.
Sobbing.
Someone was definitely sobbing!
‘There’s someone here.’
I wanted to immediately rush forward, but I forced myself to calm down.
Just moments ago, I’d nearly gotten into serious trouble because I’d acted carelessly and been struck from behind.
I quietly approached the direction of the sound.
The closer I got, the louder the sobbing became.
Half nervousness and half curiosity, I cautiously walked toward the sound.
And when I secretly looked beyond the bushes…
“……!”
“Sniff…”
There was a little girl there.
She looked about eight or nine years old. She was leaning against a tree with her face buried between her knees, crying.
‘Why is a child crying here?’
Feeling both relieved and sorry for her, I finally stepped out from behind the bushes.
“Um… are you all right?”
“Hic!”
The girl suddenly jerked her head up. Her eyes, red from crying, widened as though she’d been quite startled.
She stared blankly at me, then belatedly and hurriedly covered her mouth with both hands. After that, she frantically looked around, somehow seeming completely terrified.
I silently watched her.
For a while, the only sound echoing through the quiet mountain was the girl’s hiccupping. After a moment, the girl finally opened her mouth.
“Who… hic! are you?”
I hesitated for a moment.
“Me? I’m…”
“…Hic!”
“Someone who got lost?”
“……?”
Seeing the bewildered look on the girl’s face, I awkwardly scratched my head.
It wasn’t as though I could tell her, ‘Actually, the place where I worked was destroyed, and I came all the way here while fleeing.’
So I gave her a suitably vague explanation.
“Well… I was traveling with my family when we got into an accident. I got swept away by a river and ended up drifting along. When I came to, I’d washed up all the way here. I was looking for a village, but…”
“…Hic!…”
“…And you? Why are you crying here? Where are your parents? Who did you come here with?”
“Th-that… hic! I…”
The girl couldn’t bring herself to answer even while hiccupping incessantly.
I didn’t press her. While waiting for her answer, I looked her over.
The girl was obviously very pretty.
With her tiny face, distinct features, large, clear eyes, and long, slender neck, she was clearly the type who would grow into a beautiful woman once she came of age.
Somehow, just from her face, she looked like a noble young lady from a wealthy family, much like the young lady.
But surprisingly, she was dressed in shabby clothes. Not only that, her clothes were covered in dirt and torn here and there.
Did she roll down the mountain?
I considered several possibilities as my gaze lowered.
Then I froze.
“Uh, you…!”
“Y-yes?!”
My startled voice made the girl raise hers in surprise as well.
I grabbed the girl’s ankle and exclaimed,
“You’re injured!”
Just as I said, the girl’s ankle was terribly swollen.
Where had her shoes even gone?
She was barefoot, and the soles of her feet were completely scraped up and covered in blood. Even worse, her left ankle was swollen an ugly blue.
‘This doesn’t look like a simple sprain. Could she have even fractured the bone?’
Remembering the time I’d sprained my own ankle before, I frowned.
Then I heard a flustered voice.
“Um, um…”
“Gasp, sorry. Did I grab it too hard? Did it hurt?”
“No… no. It’s fine, but…”
“It’s fine? This? It obviously looks painful. Isn’t that why you were crying? If we leave it like this, it’ll only get worse. Is there anything I can use for first aid…?”
At my muttering, the girl’s eyes widened.
Perhaps because of the surprise, her hiccupping had stopped without her realizing it.
I said lightly that it was a good thing her hiccups had stopped, then looked around. But there was no way there would be anything useful in such a remote forest.
‘Can’t be helped.’
I grabbed the hem of my skirt and tore it with a rip.
I felt a brief pain in my chest when I exerted force, but it wasn’t severe and was bearable.
I took the long strip of cloth and began wrapping it around the girl’s ankle.
It was the ankle compression method that Physician Im had taught me before. When I’d said that my ankle was still not fully healed and hurt whenever I moved, the physician had compressed my ankle with a bandage to ease the pain.
I’d learned the compression method then and used to wrap my own ankle with a bandage until it healed.
‘Who would’ve thought I’d use it like this?’
I tightened the makeshift bandage firmly, feeling a strange sense of novelty. Sure enough, the girl’s complexion looked much better.
I carefully lowered her foot and said,
“How is it? Does it hurt less?”
“Yes. Th-thank you…”
“It was nothing. Still, this is only temporary treatment. It’d be better to have a physician look at it later and treat it properly. Until then, you should try not to move as much as possible…”
“……”
“Where are your parents? Seeing you alone, it looks like you got separated from them… Did you get lost? Do you remember where you got separated?”
“……”
“Should I help you? I can’t do much, but I think I can at least search the surrounding area…”
“Yes, yes!”
The girl suddenly spoke desperately.
“Please, help me…!”
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