“I’ll come back later.”
The door closed, and silence descended upon the room once more.
I quietly stared at the place where Father had disappeared.
“Ah……”
Plop.
A lukewarm tear rolled down my cheek.
The greatest knot in my heart, the deepest wound I had carried.
The guilt, fear, and sorrow I had never been able to shake off despite experiencing countless deaths all flowed out with my tears.
How long had I been staring blankly into empty space like that?
Eventually, my head began to throb.
‘Even so, I don’t want him to see me looking sick.’
The words Father had said to me were still lingering in my ears.
And yet, the fear I had harbored for so long did not disappear so easily.
‘He sent so much medicine, and if he sees that I’m still sick…… he’ll worry.’
I hurriedly took out a medicinal pill and my acupuncture needles.
Gulp.
After swallowing the pill, I skillfully administered acupuncture to myself.
After a while, my ragged breathing gradually settled down.
That was when it happened.
Tap.
Tap-tap.
At the small sound of something knocking against the window, I turned my head.
“……An otter?”
An otter with a white-tipped tail was sitting on the windowsill.
‘Why is an otter here of all places……?’
Startled, I quickly got up and threw open the window.
“You’re…… that one from before……?”
From the shape of its eyes, nose, and mouth to its slightly plump belly and the faintly white tip of its tail.
It was the same otter I had happened to rescue from a jar before.
“Kyuuung!”
The little creature dropped the bundle of papers it had been carrying in its mouth onto my hand, then cried out brightly as if it had been waiting for this moment.
I asked with a bewildered expression,
“What…… is this?”
At that moment.
-It smelled good! It smelled really good, so I brought it!
“……!”
I froze completely.
Wh-What was that sound just now……
“……What?”
The otter tilted its head and wagged its tail again.
-They were going to put it in the fire, so I grabbed it and brought it quickly! It smelled good, so it would’ve been a waste! I have to give it to our sick baby!
“……”
My heart began pounding violently.
I slowly looked at the otter.
It was merely crying as usual.
“Kyuu, kyuu.”
Yet the words were crystal clear inside my head.
‘No way…… So I wasn’t mistaken last time, either?’
Back then, I had thought I had simply misheard it.
But this time, there was no room for doubt.
‘Can I understand the language of spiritual beasts now?’
It was unbelievable.
I asked in a trembling voice,
“You…… brought this?”
-Yes! They were going to burn it, so I quickly snatched it away!
“……Burn it?”
-Fire! Whoosh! So I grabbed it and ran away!
I hurriedly picked up the bundle of papers the otter had dropped.
It was a thick bundle of letters, tightly tied together with string.
The moment I carefully untied the knot and checked the paper on top, my breath caught in my throat.
“……This.”
The handwriting was familiar.
I recognized it at a glance.
It was Father’s handwriting.
Meanwhile, the otter beside me was sniffing the bundle of letters, poking its nose toward them.
-The smell of good medicinal herbs! I’ve never smelled anything like this here! It’s super precious!
At those words, I finally realized.
Father had always sent precious medicinal herbs along with his letters.
Because he wanted me to get better as quickly as possible.
And the otter, following the scent of those medicinal herbs, had found the letters that were about to disappear into the flames.
Letters that, despite all those lifetimes, had never once managed to reach me.
“……So that’s what happened.”
The tears I had been holding back finally fell, one quiet drop landing on the letters.
“My lady!”
Suddenly, an urgent voice came from outside the door.
“Ryujin?”
An ominous feeling flashed through me at the voice, so different from usual.
I hurriedly threw open the sliding door.
“What happened?!”
Ryujin said, gasping for breath.
“It’s, Young Family Head……!”
At his next words, I shot to my feet.
***
Tat-tat-tat-tat—.
“The Young Family Head searched Lord Yeon So-taek’s residence! He’s summoned all the other physicians, too!”
The moment I heard Ryujin’s words, I ran toward the end of the corridor without another thought.
Fortunately, perhaps because the medicine had taken effect, my body felt much better than it had moments ago.
My skirt tangled around my legs, and I was so out of breath that my lungs felt ready to burst, but I couldn’t stop.
“My lady, you mustn’t run like that!”
Ryujin hurried after me, desperately trying to stop me.
The closer we got to the residence, the louder the murmuring grew.
And when I finally reached the door—
I held my breath at the sight before me.
Everyone had been summoned to the spacious main reception hall, including Grandfather and the physicians of the family.
At the center stood Father.
And in front of him……
‘Huh?’
My eyes widened.
‘Uncle……?’
Yeonso-taek was sprawled on the floor, covered in blood.
‘Wh-What should I do?’
After freezing for a moment, I hurriedly looked around.
‘I need to hide first!’
I quickly slipped behind the nearest pillar.
If Father found out I had come, there was no doubt he would immediately send me back to my quarters.
‘I can’t let that happen. I need to find out what’s going on.’
Holding my breath behind the pillar, I watched the situation.
There were dark bruises around my uncle’s mouth and eyes, and his torn collar was stained with dirt and blood.
The dignified and immaculate appearance he usually pretended to maintain was nowhere to be seen.
Step.
Father took a step toward him.
In one hand, he held a thick bundle of letters, while his other hand was swollen red, as though he had just been throwing punches.
Yet his expression remained completely composed.
If anything, he was so calm and cold that it was chilling.
“Yeon Baekgang!”
Grandfather, who had witnessed the scene, shouted furiously.
“What in the world are you doing?! Violence in Yakryeong!”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward Father at once.
But without even blinking, Father replied in a low, icy voice.
“I did it all for Yakryeong.”
Father abruptly rolled his stiff shoulder and gave a crooked smile.
“To cure a sick family, you have to cut out the most rotten person first.”
“What are you talking about? What did So-taek do to warrant this?”
Father pulled a book from inside his robes and held it up.
“This book contains a record stating that one patient died because of Yeon So-taek’s misdiagnosis.”
The hall fell silent.
“It also contains the complete record of how he covered up the incident.”
Father smiled coldly and placed the book on the table where everyone could see it.
At Grandfather’s signal, one of the senior physicians closest to them hurriedly picked up the book and flipped through the pages.
His face went pale in an instant.
“It’s, it’s true. It’s all true!”
“And that’s not all.”
Father continued calmly.
“While Father and I were away from the family, Yeon So-taek left the physicians-in-training to handle the patients while he did nothing but idle around and enjoy himself. Even the patients he personally treated were plagued by misdiagnoses.”
“It’s a lie……!”
Yeon So-taek shouted with a pale face.
“They’re fabricated documents!”
Saliva mixed with blood splattered onto the floor.
“I’m not capable of something as complicated as fabricating documents. Beating people up, on the other hand, is another matter.”
Father casually shrugged and gestured behind him.
Gu Seolpyeong, Father’s trusted subordinate and a skilled warrior, moved forward with his men.
The crowd parted, and someone was dragged out.
It was Yu Jinbok, the chief steward of the inner residence.
His face was also covered in bruises and swelling, as though he had been thoroughly beaten.
The moment his knees hit the floor, he slammed his forehead against it.
“I-I-I’ve committed a crime worthy of death! Please, please spare me! I’ll tell you everything!”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward him at his desperate cries.
Father gave a crooked smile.
“Once I beat him, he told me everything.”
Yeon So-taek squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, his face filled with desperation.
“It’s all lies! Besides, Yakryeong’s family rules are strict! You can’t simply beat someone like this and search my safe without permission!”
“If it had ended there, I wouldn’t have gone this far.”
Father looked down at him with eyes even colder than before.
“Yeon So-taek intercepted the letters exchanged between Ryeonghwa and me.”
The hall erupted into a commotion.
Yeon So-taek clenched his teeth and shouted,
“Do you have proof?”
“……”
“Bring me even one piece of evidence! Just one!”
Yeon So-taek raised his voice as though he had finally found a way to survive.
“Look! Aren’t you falsely accusing me without a shred of evidence?!”
“That’s right!”
At that moment, Yeon Dopyeong, who had been standing toward the back all this time, hurriedly stepped forward.
“There’s no way Father would have done such a thing!”
Soon after, Geum Suryeon also cried out with tears in her eyes.
“Young Family Head!”
She spoke to Yeon Baekgang in a trembling voice.
“My husband has worked day and night to protect Yakryeong while you were away on the battlefield! Surely you cannot be unaware of his efforts when the fact that Yakryeong has not collapsed until now is proof enough!”
“That’s right. Isn’t it too much to accuse my father of something like this without any evidence?!”
The hall grew noisy again.
Several physicians also exchanged glances and whispered among themselves.
“If there’s no evidence……”
“It would be difficult to punish him under the family rules.”
“If the misdiagnosis and cover-up are true, he could lose his qualifications as a physician, but even so, expelling him from the family……”
“The matter of the letters hasn’t been proven.”
Hope slowly spread across Yeon So-taek’s stiffened face.
Yes.
Knowing this would happen, he had burned all the letters.
The matter of the misdiagnosis and cover-up would have to be dealt with somehow, but at least there was no way to prove that he had intercepted the letters.
If he could just endure that accusation, there was still a way to survive.
“There is evidence.”
But then.
A clear, distinct voice cut through the hall.
In an instant, every gaze turned in one direction.
I slowly stepped out from behind the pillar.
“Ryeonghwa!”
Father’s eyes widened in shock.
“Why are you here……!”
I did not answer.
Instead, I carefully pulled the bundle of letters from inside my robes.
A thick bundle, its edges blackened by fire.
Holding it in both hands, I slowly walked forward.
“This is the evidence!”
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