The moment I climbed the stairs, the conversations going on here and there subtly died down.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward me at once.
“That’s Lady Yeon Ryeonghwa, right?”
“She really came to attend classes.”
“I heard she’s seven… She’s even smaller than I expected.”
“Will she even be able to sit properly at the desk?”
The whispers tickled my ears.
There was more curiosity and doubt than outright malice.
Some even looked concerned when they saw my small frame.
“I heard she’s not in good health either. I wonder if she’ll be all right.”
“Even if she managed to endure the Ip-gwan Examination once, classes will continue from now on.”
“She won’t collapse from pushing herself too hard, will she?”
What they said wasn’t entirely wrong.
They knew I was a sickly seven-year-old child.
Just because I had achieved a good result in the Ip-gwan Examination didn’t mean their perception of me would suddenly change.
‘I just have to show them again, starting today.’
Pretending not to hear the whispers, I entered the classroom.
The first classroom was high-ceilinged and spacious.
At the front was a raised platform for the physician in charge of the lesson, and below it were twenty low desks arranged neatly in rows.
The medicinal herb cabinets covering the walls were filled with dried grasses, roots, and fruits sorted by name.
I found an empty seat at the very front and sat down.
The boy sitting beside me stiffened in surprise. He looked about twelve years old.
He glanced at my face before cautiously opening his mouth.
“Um…”
The boy hesitated as he looked back and forth between the desk and chair in front of me.
“Should I bring you a cushion? The desk looks a little high.”
“I’m fine!”
I shook my head and sat upright on the chair, and the boy smiled as if relieved.
“But if you have trouble during class, tell me. I’ll call the physician.”
“…Thank you.”
I knew he meant well.
But it was also clear that he regarded me not as another physician trainee, but as a young child who needed to be looked after.
Just then, the classroom fell quiet again.
Rattle—.
The door opened, and Yeon Hwi-cheon entered.
He was wearing a neatly pressed physician trainee uniform, with his physician trainee tablet and needle case hanging side by side from his waist.
He still wore the same gentle smile he had shown since the entrance ceremony, but there was fatigue beneath his eyes that he had failed to conceal.
‘He doesn’t look well.’
I unconsciously studied Yeon Hwi-cheon.
I had heard that his mother had called him away separately.
I didn’t know what had happened, but his body seemed slightly stiff whenever he moved.
Then, all of a sudden, I remembered the uneasiness I had felt during the Ip-gwan Examination.
‘If someone tampered with the exam…’
The first person I suspected was, naturally, Yeon Hwi-cheon.
He hadn’t been pleased about me taking the Ip-gwan Examination, and he had been wary of me even before that.
Of course, that alone wasn’t enough to conclude that he was the culprit. I had no evidence whatsoever.
‘Still, we’ll have to keep running into each other from now on.’
I thought it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on him for a while.
As I was thinking that, Yeon Hwi-cheon’s gaze briefly settled on me.
For some reason, his eyes seemed colder than usual, but it lasted only a moment.
“Ryeonghwa, you came too.”
He soon smiled warmly and took the seat behind me.
“It’s your first class, so you’re probably nervous, but don’t push yourself too hard. If there’s anything you don’t know, you can ask me.”
The physician trainees around us looked at him admiringly.
“As expected, Young Master Hwi-cheon is so kind.”
I didn’t answer and instead opened the book I had received beforehand.
A moment later, the physician in charge of the class entered the classroom.
He was a man who looked to be in his mid-forties.
With his neatly tied hair, immaculate physician’s robes, and expression devoid of even the slightest hint of a smile, he looked extremely strict.
His name was Jin Ha-rim.
He was a senior physician in charge of basic pharmacognosy at Yakryeong’s medical academy.
As Jin Ha-rim stood before the platform, all the physician trainees rose from their seats in unison.
“Greetings, Physician.”
“Sit.”
He answered curtly before looking around the classroom.
When his gaze reached me, it stopped for a moment.
“Yeon Ryeonghwa.”
At the sudden call, I stood up.
“Yes.”
“If you feel unwell during class, don’t force yourself to endure it. Tell me immediately.”
As expected, concern came first.
Jin Ha-rim thought for a moment before turning his gaze to the boy sitting beside me.
“Seo Jin-woo. If Lady Ryeonghwa has any difficulty, keep an eye on her.”
“Yes, Physician!”
Seo Jin-woo’s excessively loud response drew small laughs from here and there in the classroom.
I forced myself to maintain a calm expression as I sat back down.
‘I even got a caretaker assigned to me on the first day.’
At this rate, I was going to be treated like a patient all day long.
Jin Ha-rim waited until we were seated before opening the lid of a large wooden box placed beneath the platform.
Inside were various root herbs mixed together that looked quite similar.
“Today’s lesson is herb identification.”
He took out three roots and laid them across the table.
At a glance, they were all long roots with a yellowish hue.
Their size and shape were almost identical as well.
“Hwangjeonggeun, Baekseogeun, and Gumeonggeun.”
Jin Ha-rim pointed to each herb in turn.
“These three herbs look very similar once dried. However, their medicinal properties are entirely different. In particular, if Gumeonggeun is mistaken for Hwangjeonggeun and consumed, it can cause severe abdominal pain and vomiting.”
The expressions of all the physician trainees immediately became serious.
“Today, you will distinguish these three herbs using only your eyes and sense of smell. Accurately sort all the herbs in the basket within the allotted time.”
Tension spread throughout the classroom.
The first class was already a practical exercise rather than a simple theory lecture.
When Jin Ha-rim raised his hand, attendants placed small baskets filled with herbs on each desk.
A pile of yellowish roots spilled out in front of me as well.
“Begin.”
The physician trainees immediately picked up the herbs.
Some examined the wrinkles on their surfaces, while others brought them to the tips of their noses and repeatedly smelled them.
“Which one is Hwangjeonggeun?”
“This one has a lot of fine roots…”
“Wait, didn’t Baekseogeun look like this too?”
Confused murmurs poured out from all around me.
Seo Jin-woo, sitting beside me, was also sweating as he compared two herbs back and forth.
Then he noticed that I still hadn’t touched a single one and whispered worriedly.
“Lady Ryeonghwa, are you all right? If it’s difficult, I can tell you their characteristics.”
“No.”
I looked down at the herbs in the basket.
It wasn’t difficult at all.
They were far too familiar.
In my previous life, I had handled these three herbs countless times.
Back when there was no one to properly teach me, I even learned to distinguish them by tasting them myself.
Because of that, there had been times when I accidentally chewed Gumeonggeun and suffered from a stomachache for days.
Thanks to that, I could distinguish them even with my eyes closed by now.
Rather than their size or shape, I examined their cross-sections and scents one by one.
The one with a faint bluish tint was Hwangjeonggeun.
The one with a fine grain and a sweet scent was Baekseogeun.
The one with scattered black spots near the stem was Gumeonggeun.
My hands never hesitated once.
One by one, the herbs were divided into three groups on the table.
Around me, the sounds of physician trainees still pondering over the herbs continued.
But before long, the basket in front of me was completely empty.
“I’m finished.”
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