Genius Physician CH 1

fThe sole stain on Yakryeong, a prestigious family of physicians and one of the Four Great Clans.

“I heard they squandered the entire family fortune buying up every rare elixir they could find.”

“Even the family head went to the imperial palace to secure more money… They say the household is in complete ruin.”

“One useless brat is about to bring down an illustrious family!”

That brat was me.

Yeon Ryeonghwa, the terminally ill youngest daughter who had turned seven that year.

“Cough, cough!”

As the morning air rushed deep into my lungs, my insides churned as though I had been forcibly dragged back from death.

“Ugh, it stinks!”

My personal maid, Hongdan, entered the room and openly wrinkled her nose.

When she threw the windows wide open, the cool early-summer breeze swept into the room.

“Ugh.”

My feverish body was already racked with chills. The cold air seemed to make it even icier, and I instinctively curled into myself.

Clack—!

Hongdan dropped a bowl of stone-cold porridge beside my head as though she were throwing it away.

“Eat. It’ll be troublesome if I actually have to dispose of a corpse.”

“…”

I pulled the thin blanket up over my shoulders without answering.

Hongdan paid me no mind and immediately began rummaging through my room.

“Should I wear this ring today?”

Before leaving to search for a cure for my illness, Father had bought me all manner of glittering trinkets so I would have something while I was left alone.

But since I was barely allowed to leave my room in his absence, such things held little meaning for me.

“It fits perfectly! I’ll be taking this one, my lady!”

I considered telling her no, but decided against it.

Now isn’t the time to waste my strength.

My body was currently in the worst possible condition.

If I wanted it to move as I intended, I needed to conserve every scrap of energy I had.

After slipping on the ring, Hongdan draped a necklace around her neck as though it belonged to her as well. She twirled around and admired herself in the bronze mirror.

“Oh, and you need to finish the work the young master gave you within two hours. He’ll come by to check later, all right?”

She really never changes.

Only after the door closed did I slowly release the breath I had been holding and force myself upright.

A woven bamboo mat had been spread out in one corner of the room, covered with a disorderly pile of medicinal herbs.

My assigned task was to sort them according to their type and medicinal properties.

No—more precisely, it was work my older cousins had pushed onto me.

At some point, they had begun foisting their own duties onto me, knowing that no one cared enough to intervene.

But right now, there was something far more important than that work.

Shall I begin?

Tap, tap, tap, tap—

I moved my tiny feet, then crouched in front of the mat.

After pushing aside the dried astragalus and yellowed licorice roots, I selected a few herbs that were still in good condition.

“Hmm. This should be enough.”

Rustle—

My hands moved swiftly as I placed the ingredients inside the small medicinal mortar in the corner and ground them together.

Scrape, scrape.

The low, steady sound echoed through the room.

This should keep me going for six hours.

I hastily rolled the mixture into a pill and tossed it into my mouth.

“Ugh…”

Its bitterness nearly brought tears to my eyes, but I somehow managed to swallow it.

Next, I retrieved a small cloth bundle hidden deep inside the wardrobe.

Inside was an essential item carried by every member of House Yakryeong.

Several slender silver needles lay neatly arranged within it.

Taking the needles with me, I stood before the cracked bronze mirror on one side of the room.

My reflection stared back at me.

A tiny, emaciated girl.

Her face had turned blue from coughing, and her lips were utterly devoid of blood. It was a face so familiar that I had long since grown sick of seeing it.

I picked up one of the needles.

Prick—

Watching the mirror, I accurately located the acupuncture point and inserted the needle.

For a moment, it felt as though my breath had stopped. Then the air trapped deep within my chest gradually began to escape.

“Whew.”

After exhaling, I stared at the girl in the mirror and gave a nonchalant scoff.

How could a mere seven-year-old perform acupuncture on herself?

The answer was simple.

It wasn’t my first time.

In other words—

“…I’m back again.”

I had regressed.

And not just once.

I had returned a full ten times!

Cheonmyeong was a nation protected by the Four Guardian Gods.

Within it were four illustrious families that had inherited the powers of those almighty divine beasts.

The Cheonmyeong Imperial Family, which served the White Tiger.

House Geomcheon, which served the Azure Dragon and was known as the sword of the imperial family.

House Jeokhyeon, which served the Vermilion Bird and studied the principles governing the world.

And House Yakryeong, the renowned family of physicians that served the Black Tortoise and healed the sick.

Among them, House Yakryeong was an unbending family that valued integrity and righteousness above all else.

Yet its fortunes had begun to decline before everyone’s eyes.

All because of one terminally ill youngest daughter afflicted by a mysterious disease.

Even so, I survived.

I survived by consuming the rarest medicinal ingredients in the world, all procured by my father.

The Snow Soul Herb, said to grow only in the heart of the frozen Bingseol Ridge.

The Crimson Blood Root, said to take root beneath soil drenched in blood.

Even rare medicinal ingredients that the imperial family itself struggled to obtain.

Thanks to them, I escaped death time and again.

I was never completely cured, but I miraculously managed to keep breathing.

And so, clinging to life, I reached the age of seventeen.

“My lady, terrible news has arrived from the battlefield…”

That was when I learned of my father’s death.

The funeral hall was filled with an icy silence.

But that silence was closer to disgust than mourning.

“In the end, it was all because of that girl…”

“He threw himself onto such a dangerous battlefield just to save one sickly child…”

Every accusation whispered behind me was directed at me.

I collapsed before my father’s remains and sobbed in anguish.

I knew better than anyone that they were not wrong.

Father would go anywhere if it meant obtaining medicine for me.

Because of that, he had never noticed the abuse my uncle, Yeon Sotaek, inflicted upon me.

He had not only exhausted the family fortune, but failed to take care of himself.

Father had no other children.

I was his only direct descendant and the sole heir who could succeed him.

A useless, terminally ill daughter who could never become a physician.

If someone as broken as I was ultimately failed to become one, Father would also lose his position as the Young Patriarch.

After learning that, I could no longer ask him for anything.

I have to get better.

All I could think about was taking the medicine Father sent me and somehow recovering.

Only then will I stop being a burden to him.

But my body always betrayed both my father’s wishes and mine.

As the years I spent locked alone inside that cramped room dragged on, and I endured Uncle Sotaek’s constant abuse, I gradually began to strangle myself with guilt.

It’s my fault.

I was the shackle around Father’s ankle.

I was the one who had ultimately driven him to his death.

If Father had never had a child like me…

Step—

As I sobbed helplessly, Yeon Sotaek’s shadow fell over me.

His sharpened contempt pierced me without fail.

“Do you know how your father died on the battlefield?”

He asked the question through gritted teeth.

“They say he cursed you in bitter resentment until the very end.”

Thump.

My heart sank.

I stared up at him, stunned.

“He said none of this would have happened if it weren’t for you… He died miserably, regretting everything.”

He lowered his head and whispered into my ear.

“He died because of you.”

“Ah…”

The tears gathered in my eyes spilled helplessly down my cheeks.

“I-I’m sorry…”

I barely managed to whisper.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… Hngh…”

But my apology never found anyone who could receive it.

It merely scattered into the smoke rising from the candles honoring the dead.

Exhausted from crying, I eventually lost consciousness where I sat.

I did not know how much time had passed when a bitter wind cutting against my skin awakened me.

“…!”

Shhk.

At that moment, cold metal pressed against the back of my neck.

It was a sword blade.

Any trace of sleep vanished, and I hurriedly pulled myself away from the blade.

When I raised my head, a familiar man stood before me.

Red hair and red eyes.

Flawless white skin that made those blazing colors appear even more vivid.

Lips curved into a graceful smile.

“Hello, Yeon Ryeonghwa.”

“…You.”

My one and only fiancé.

Jeok Yeonhu.

He had been my sole comfort while I lived as a defective thing perpetually hovering near death.

He had appeared beside me like a miracle when I turned ten.

The only person who remained by my side when I had always been alone.

The only one who taught me what warmth felt like.

“About your father.”

A gentle smile spread across Jeok Yeonhu’s lips.

“You were all he worried about until the very end.”

“What…?”

I could hardly believe what I had heard.

“They told me he died resenting me…”

That was why I had foolishly muttered those words even with a blade pressed against my neck.

“Heh…”

Jeok Yeonhu twisted his lips into a sneer.

“But I was there.”

At that moment, my thoughts ground to a halt, and my mind went completely blank.

“I killed him myself, you see.”

Even then, he looked directly into my eyes with a tenderness so cruel it was chilling.

“Tell me. Do you truly believe you were terminally ill?”

When I failed to answer, his lips curved upward once more.

As though he found the entire situation unbearably amusing.

“What… do you mean…?”

Jeok Yeonhu did not answer.

He merely gave his wrist a light twist.

Whoosh—!

In the next instant, a scarlet arc sliced across my vision.

The dreamlike reality crashed into me as vivid, searing pain.

Something hot spread from my throat, and the world rapidly receded into darkness.

“Aah!”

My eyes opened once again.

I hurriedly sat up and looked around.

Everything was sickeningly familiar.

The room where I had spent my entire life.

The pain crushing my entire body.

And even the emaciated seven-year-old girl reflected in the bronze mirror.

“I’ve… gone back into the past?”

That was my very first regression.