“I heard that your personal maid mistreated you behind everyone’s back.”
His voice was calm, but there was something heavy weighing it down.
“That injury on your hand… was caused by that maid too, wasn’t it?”
“Ah…”
I looked down at my hand, wrapped in cloth.
With nothing else to say, I quietly nodded. My grandfather could not hide his anger.
I was simply bewildered and surprised by the sight of him like this.
“…It’s because I, as the head of the family, was away.”
Suppressing his emotions, Grandfather apologized in his usual calm and rational tone.
“I will make sure everyone understands that nothing like this is to happen again. So, you need only focus on recovering your health. Understood?”
I couldn’t bring myself to answer immediately and remained silent for a moment.
Even though my uncle had been preventing me from meeting my grandfather, deep down, I had always believed that Grandfather simply did not care to have me as his granddaughter.
After all, to someone who placed the family above everything else, I was bound to be nothing more than an eyesore.
Don’t get the wrong idea.
I forcibly suppressed the warmth rising in my heart.
He’s only angry because the absolute rules of the family were violated.
There was no way Grandfather genuinely worried about me—the girl who had brought the family to this state.
After experiencing several failures in my previous lives, I had learned a painful lesson.
If you wanted to earn someone’s favor, you could not rely on baseless hope.
You had to prove your usefulness.
Because in the end, I—the sick and useless one—had been abandoned and killed.
So, in this life, I would not trust anyone.
“Ahem.”
When I remained silent, Grandfather cleared his throat and added,
“Now that you’ve recovered enough to wake up and walk around, I suppose I should send word to the Young Patriarch.”
“…To Father?”
“Yes.”
My heart gave a painful jolt.
Whenever I thought of Father, my feelings became complicated.
Longing. Guilt. Sadness.
And the fear that he might come to hate me someday.
At the very end of my previous life, Jeok Yeon-hu had told me that Father had worried about me until the very end.
But the person who had told me that was none other than Jeok Yeon-hu—the very man who had laughed as he claimed he had personally killed my father.
The person I trusted least in this world.
That was why I could not completely believe his words.
Perhaps he had lied to make me suffer even more, or perhaps there had been some other reason.
When my expression darkened, Grandfather spoke firmly.
“More than anyone else, the Young Patriarch needs to know about your condition.”
His tone was decisive, yet strangely, I felt as though his words carried another meaning.
You are not alone.
But even if Father learns about my condition… he won’t reply anyway.
In every previous life, I had sent letters to Father countless times.
Although my uncle disliked it, perhaps he could not stop his daughter from sending letters, so he would personally summon a messenger right in front of me and have the letters delivered.
“I granted your wish, so if, by some chance, the Young Patriarch ever returns, you had better stay as quiet as a mouse, just like you always do. Understood?”
Every time I sent a letter, he made me feel guilty for doing so.
But not once did I ever receive a reply.
“See? Didn’t I tell you your father finds you a nuisance?”
“He only cares because failing to cure his only daughter would damage his reputation as the Young Patriarch. You’re nothing but a burden to your father.”
Eventually, I came to believe my uncle’s words—that Father found me troublesome.
“I heard that if you make eye contact with the Young Patriarch, he might drag you straight to the afterlife!”
“They say he gets excited when he sees blood!”
“That’s why he volunteered to leave for the battlefield!”
Moreover, during the long years I went without seeing Father, all sorts of rumors spread about him, claiming that he was an extraordinary and terrifying man.
And so, to me now, Father was someone I dearly missed yet found difficult to approach—someone who felt impossibly distant.
Still, since it is Grandfather’s wish, I suppose I have no choice but to obey.
I quickly lowered my head.
“…Thank you.”
Grandfather let out a faint sigh before slowly getting to the point.
“I came here today partly to check on your condition, but there is also something I wish to ask you.”
His green eyes stared straight through me.
“The pill you gave me. Can you make anything else besides that?”
“Yes.”
I answered without hesitation.
“You acquired such skill merely by reading a few books while bedridden?”
To tell the truth, of course I had done more than merely read books.
But I could not reveal everything.
“I read some books… and I also watched my brothers while they were studying.”
I hurriedly added,
“As for the pill… I’m not really sure, but I just felt that mixing the ingredients that way would work.”
It was said that such talent appeared only once in a generation within the Yakryeong Family.
Someone possessing that talent could instinctively recognize the effects of medicinal ingredients without having to learn about them.
And I had decided to make full use of that fact.
“……”
Silence followed my lie.
I nervously glanced up at Grandfather.
He stared at me for a long while with inscrutable green eyes before finally speaking.
“I see. Truly remarkable.”
It was a compliment, yet there was something strangely ambiguous about it.
“Then was the reason your health suddenly improved because you made medicine and took it yourself?”
It was the question I had expected.
And I already had an answer prepared.
“…I’m not sure.”
“What do you mean?”
Grandfather raised an eyebrow.
“Brother Dopyeong asked me to sort some medicinal herbs, so I tasted some of the scraps.”
I nervously fidgeted with my hands under Grandfather’s gaze.
In truth, there was another reason I had brought this up.
“I don’t know if they actually helped. But since I don’t know exactly what each one was…”
“……”
“I-I thought that if I could study together with my brothers, I might be able to figure out what kind of medicinal ingredients they were…”
I cautiously raised my head.
“……?!”
Whoosh—
Contrary to my expectations, Grandfather’s expression had turned icy.
“Dopyeong… made you sort medicinal ingredients?”
An unexpected question followed.
Why does he keep asking about such trivial things?
Unsure, I carefully told him the truth.
“Yes. Brother gave me the opportunity to touch and sort medicinal ingredients.”
“I see. And how long have you been sorting medicinal ingredients?”
Just as a child normally would, I counted by folding down my little fingers one by one.
“One, two… um, three years.”
“Hah. Then you’ve been doing it ever since your father left…”
Grandfather could not finish his sentence. Instead, he pressed his wrinkled brow repeatedly.
Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, he grabbed my shoulders.
“Wait. Did you say you actually ate medicinal ingredients without knowing what they were?”
Nod, nod.
When I merely nodded, Grandfather’s eyebrows curved into a deep frown.
“You reckless little thing! What if you had suffered some kind of side effect?! I thought you were a docile child, but you certainly have a reckless streak.”
“I-I’m sorry, Grandfather…”
I shrank back under his sudden scolding and nervously watched his expression.
Then, all of a sudden, he held out his hand.
“Your hand.”
Confused, I placed my hand in his.
He carefully checked my pulse, then gestured again.
“Come closer.”
I cautiously shuffled forward on my knees until I was right in front of him.
“Open your mouth and stick out your tongue.”
“Eeeeeh—? (Like this—?)”
“That’s right.”
Grandfather examined the inside of my mouth and my tongue, then carefully listened to the sounds coming from my stomach.
Only after that did he nod in relief.
“Your qi and blood are still somewhat disordered, but their circulation is much better than before. Your physical condition has definitely improved. Heaven must have helped you.”
In truth, it was because after regressing nine times, I had finally discovered a way to improve my condition, even if only temporarily…
I simply nodded without saying anything.
“Regardless, it is fortunate. With your health in this condition, you should be able to increase your activities outside a little more than before.”
The moment I heard Grandfather say that, a thought crossed my mind.
Perhaps I can even ask for this.
“That reminds me, Grandfather.”
I clasped both hands tightly against my chest and gathered all the courage I had.
“There’s something I’d like to ask you for.”
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