***
By the time Ryu Jin and I returned to the detached residence, the sun was almost down.
I brought Ryu Jin into my room and first gave her a warm place to sit.
However, she barely perched on the edge of the cushion, her entire body tense and rigid.
She looked as though she would bolt away the moment someone shouted at her.
“Wait here for a moment.”
I took a medicine box from the drawer.
I quickly gathered water to clean her wounds, clean cloth, medicinal powder for disinfection, and ointment to reduce the bruising before returning.
Then I sat down in front of her again.
“Give me your hand.”
Ryu Jin’s eyes widened.
“Pardon…?”
“We need to treat it.”
“…I’m fine.”
I quietly looked at her.
“You’re not fine.”
At those words, Ryu Jin fell silent.
After hesitating for a moment, she very slowly held out her hand.
Her hand looked terrible up close.
The palms were scraped raw, and several thin cuts ran across the backs of her hands. There was even a yellowish bruise remaining on the inside of her wrist.
I carefully wiped her wounds with a damp cloth, as gently as possible.
“Tell me if it stings.”
“…It doesn’t.”
As expected, she was lying.
The moment the medicinal powder touched her wound, her fingertips trembled ever so slightly.
But Ryu Jin gritted her teeth and made no sound.
Pretending not to notice, I applied a thin layer of ointment before wrapping a clean cloth around the back of her hand.
I tied it firmly enough that it wouldn’t come loose easily, but not so tightly that it would hurt.
After finishing the bandage, I glanced at her wrist and the back of her neck.
“You’re hurt elsewhere too, aren’t you?”
Ryu Jin’s shoulders flinched.
“N-No, I’m not.”
“Liar.”
Ryu Jin didn’t say anything more, but I didn’t press her either.
What she needed right now wasn’t an interrogation, but reassurance.
“Let’s just take care of this today. We’ll look at the rest again tomorrow.”
Ryu Jin, who had remained silent for a long time, cautiously looked at me.
“…Young Lady.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re strange, after all.”
I smiled faintly.
“What is?”
“I just… I’ve thought about it before.”
She spoke as though she had seen me before, too.
When I tilted my head in confusion, Ryu Jin carefully explained while watching my reaction.
“You’re the only one who never points out the way I speak, Young Lady.”
Perhaps because Ryu Jin had grown up in the slums of the northern region, her speech was particularly distinctive.
The servants of the prestigious Medicine King’s household must have looked down on her even more because of it.
I answered casually.
“What does the way you speak matter?”
Ryu Jin’s eyes trembled slightly.
“I heard you’re very good at your work. That’s all that matters to me.”
I looked straight at her and added,
“Because from now on, you’re my personal servant.”
“Pardon?”
“Regardless of how you speak or where you come from, you’re a warm, strong, and capable person. That’s the kind of person I need.”
“How could Young Lady possibly know…?”
“I just get that feeling.”
I looked at her and giggled softly.
“I look forward to working with you from now on, Ryu Jin.”
Ryu Jin froze as though she had stopped breathing.
She couldn’t say anything for a long while before finally parting her lips.
Then, in a very small, hoarse voice, she answered,
“…Yes, Young Lady.”
She bit her lip tightly, and her eyelashes slowly grew damp.
***
That night.
After confirming that all the servants sharing her quarters had fallen asleep, Ryu Jin carefully opened the door and slipped outside.
Following a route she knew well, she quietly made her way toward a corridor behind the main hall where hardly anyone would see her.
Then she pulled out the thin dagger she had hidden inside her clothes.
Click.
The blade slid out of its sheath with a low metallic sound.
As though pleased by the sound, Ryu Jin raised the corners of her lips slightly.
‘Now, shall I go over everything?’
Ryu Jin often secretly wandered around and watched the martial artists train.
She memorized their movements and practiced alone at night once every three or four days.
Ryu Jin steadied her breathing and planted both feet firmly on the ground.
Once.
Twice.
Swish, swish—
The tip of the blade cut through the air.
Precise angles.
A trajectory that never wavered.
Even though she had never formally been taught by anyone, her body moved as naturally as flowing water.
Once she saw someone wield a sword, she could never forget its trajectory.
And whenever she wielded a sword, she felt as though she was no longer a worthless orphan, but someone precious and free.
Whoosh—!
After making one final swing with the dagger, Ryu Jin slid the blade back into its sheath and grinned.
Swish, swish.
The leaves caught by her blade split cleanly in half before falling to the ground.
‘I’ve reached the level I was aiming for. Normally, this would be when I started preparing to leave…’
If the fact that she had secretly learned swordsmanship were discovered, there was no doubt she would receive severe punishment from the Medicine King’s household.
So she had made her own plans to leave this place before anyone found out.
That was why she had endured all kinds of discrimination and beatings while waiting for the right moment.
But…
‘Why did Young Lady save me?’
It was something she had never expected.
The only daughter of the young family head who had saved her.
Ryu Jin had occasionally heard rumors about the young lady who lived in the detached residence.
“You have no idea how foul-tempered she is.”
“No, she’s the culprit who turned the Medicine King’s household into this mess!”
“I heard she throws things at her servants day and night.”
“And apparently she’s so ugly that you can’t even look at her when you’re sober!”
The personal servants would often gather in the medicine-preparation room and gossip about the young lady.
They all said she had a nasty, vicious temper and an appearance so ugly that she was unbearable to look at.
But the young lady who had come to save her was a little—no, very—different from what everyone had said.
‘She’s so small… and she looks so white and soft.’
Ryu Jin swallowed hard.
‘Could she have known about me?’
Perhaps she had.
Just as Ryu Jin had continuously heard people talk about the young lady behind her back, perhaps the young lady had also happened to hear about or see her at some point.
‘That tiny, pale, beautiful young lady knew about me…’
Just knowing that made her heart strangely flutter.
Ryu Jin bit her lips tightly.
‘But why?’
Even so, why had she saved her, and why was she treating her so kindly?
Was it really because she needed her?
How could she know anything about her just from seeing her in passing?
‘Once she finds out that I can wield a sword, Young Lady will punish me too, anyway.’
No matter how much she had been saved by her, there would be no reason for the young lady to protect her again by breaking the family rules.
‘And… she looked weak.’
Yet whenever she thought of the young lady, she somehow felt a sudden sense of anxiety.
‘Everyone hates Young Lady so much… What if something happens to her with such a small body?’
Ryu Jin unnecessarily moistened her dry lips with her tongue.
She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as she thought, then soon opened them wide as though she had made up her mind.
“I’ll put off leaving for now.”
Something unexpected had happened, so she would simply postpone it for a while.
Ryu Jin tucked the dagger back inside her clothes.
Her gaze lingered for a moment toward the detached residence where the youngest young lady would be sleeping.
Etching an unfamiliar emotion she had never experienced before into her heart.
***
Several days later.
“Young Lady, everything is ready.”
“I’ll be accompanying you, Young Lady.”
“Great, then let’s go!”
Early in the morning, after getting ready, I headed to the marketplace accompanied by my personal servant Ryu Jin, who had grown considerably closer to me over the past few days, and Heo Jinbyeok, whom Grandfather had assigned to me.
The voices of people bustling back and forth, the smells of all kinds of ingredients and medicinal herbs, and even the mouthwatering aromas of delicious food—
A colorful array of sights unfolded before my eyes all at once.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this before.’
Although I had lived through many years, I had never once visited a marketplace.
That was only natural, since I would become short of breath and collapse after walking even a short distance.
“Please have some before you go!”
Gulp.
The smell of street food tickling the tip of my nose made me swallow involuntarily.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve never been able to freely eat anything other than porridge all this time…’
Maybe now I can?
It seemed I had unknowingly stood there, staring blankly at the dazzling array of snacks.
“Young Lady? What are you looking at?”
Ryu Jin asked while staring intently at me.
“Uh, huh? Nothing! We should go! Let’s go buy the needles first!”
Startled, I awkwardly took the lead and walked as quickly as possible.
Like a dignified and imposing person who aspired to become the head of the family!
I walked proudly, hiding the fact that I had nearly fallen prey to the temptation of snacks.
But before long, I realized that my hands and feet were moving in sync as I walked, and I became a little embarrassed.
“Young Lady, have you come to look at needles?”
A merchant’s call reached me at just the right moment.
I nodded and approached the stall.
“What would you like? How about these silver needles or iron needles? If you purchase these, I’ll throw in two more for free!”
While I carefully examined the needles, Ryu Jin moved right beside me.
“S-Sparkly…”
As someone completely obsessed with swords, perhaps she liked anything sharp, because Ryu Jin’s eyes were glittering like a cat’s.
“Do you like them?”
“Yes. They look perfect for stabbing. And he said he’d give us two more, so how about these?”
Ryu Jin added the murderous comment with unnecessarily innocent eyes, but I firmly shook my head.
“Silver needles are too soft, and iron needles can cause metal poisoning.”
Tap.
I lightly flicked the tip of a needle with my finger.
“I’m going to take a quick nap, so you handle the patients yourself. Got it?”
“Just try telling anyone about this!”
In my previous life, Yeon Dopyeong would sometimes secretly dump his patients on me because he didn’t want to work.
Of course, that only happened after my physical condition had improved somewhat.
After going through several lifetimes like that, I had personally treated patients and used various types of needles myself.
Thanks to that, I knew very well what made a good needle.
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