Without realizing it, my grip tightened around the Mystic Spirit Root.
“Kyuu…”
The otter gazed up at me with moist, pleading eyes.
“Ah…”
I would be lying if I said I did not want it.
But the otter had found it first.
I held the Mystic Spirit Root out to the creature.
“…It belongs to you.”
“Kyuu?”
The otter’s eyes widened before it carefully accepted the Mystic Spirit Root and hugged it against its chest.
Even then, it continued staring at me for a long while.
Then it approached me once more on its short, hurried legs.
Plop.
The otter placed the Mystic Spirit Root on my lap before swaying its tail from side to side.
“…?”
“Kyung!”
At that moment, a clear, melodious voice rang distinctly inside my head.
Thank you.
“What?!”
Startled, I spun around and searched the room, but there was no one else inside the storage building.
“What was that? Where did that voice come from…?”
While I was distracted, the otter darted away on its short legs and slipped through a gap beneath the window.
It disappeared in an instant, before I had any chance to stop it.
Only the rich medicinal fragrance and the high-grade Mystic Spirit Root it had left behind remained inside the storage room.
I had no idea what had just happened, but regardless, this was an incredible stroke of fortune for me.
My eyes gleamed as I gripped the Mystic Spirit Root tightly.
Good. Let’s do this.
Two hours later.
Patter, patter, patter.
After tucking everything I had hurriedly prepared inside my robes, I hastened forward on my short legs.
Now that I was back inside the body of a seven-year-old, my strides were so small that traveling anywhere took much longer than expected.
I have to hurry before the medicine wears off.
Its effects would last for only six hours.
If I delayed any longer than that, my condition would rapidly deteriorate.
I’m here!
“Haa… haa…!”
I bent over with both hands braced against my knees, struggling to catch my breath.
A long roof covered in blue tiles stretched before me, supported by pale jade-colored beams.
The largest and most magnificent building in the center of the Yakryeong estate towered over me.
It was the main hall where the family head resided.
Perhaps because Grandfather had returned after such a long absence, the hall was already crowded.
Servants, physicians, and even members of the collateral branches had gathered in small groups, all waiting for a single person.
Yeon Baekyu, the head of House Yakryeong and the man hailed as the greatest physician of his generation.
Today was a day when the entire family celebrated the return of its head.
And I was someone who was not supposed to be there.
After all, I was considered the source of every misfortune that had befallen the family.
“Huh? Lady Ryeonghwa?”
“I heard she couldn’t even get out of bed.”
“Good heavens. How did she get here…?”
“How can she still have the nerve to show her face?”
As I walked forward with my head held high, several people turned toward me at once.
Their gazes contained a mixture of surprise, displeasure, and undisguised disgust.
Terminally ill.
Defective.
The cause of the family’s downfall.
A useless burden.
This was the first time someone like me had walked into the main hall on her own two feet.
Just as I was about to cross through its main gates, a large shadow stepped in front of me and blocked my path.
A burly, middle-aged man dressed in gray robes stood before me.
It was Yu Jinbok, the Chief Steward of the Inner Household, who oversaw all domestic affairs within House Yakryeong.
He folded his arms and stared down at me, speaking in a low and intimidating voice.
“My lady.”
Even when faced with a direct descendant of the family, he did not bow his head.
There was not the slightest trace of warmth in the way he addressed me.
“Considering your poor health… what brings you here?”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
He seemed puzzled that I, someone commonly called a living corpse, had walked all the way here without assistance.
But I had no intention of satisfying his curiosity.
“I don’t believe I’m obligated to explain such things to you.”
I answered coldly and gestured with my eyes for him to move aside.
The Chief Steward’s expression grew even colder.
“This is not a place you are permitted to enter, my lady.”
I did not retreat a single step.
Instead, I raised my chin.
“I came to see Grandfather.”
The Chief Steward’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
“Today’s celebration is being held to welcome the family head home. He is currently meeting with the young master before the ceremony begins. Because of your poor health, orders were given that you be excluded from the event.”
He spoke as though he were merely informing me of an obvious fact.
As though my lack of qualification to enter the main hall had long since been established as one of House Yakryeong’s rules.
The reason he treated me this way was obvious.
My uncle, Yeon Sotaek.
I had only learned the truth during one of my previous lives, but whenever Grandfather returned, Sotaek deliberately reduced the amount of medicine I was given so that my condition would worsen.
After every family ceremony, Grandfather would visit my residence.
But by then, I would always be so gravely ill that I could not even regain consciousness.
Naturally, I had no memories of properly meeting him.
Then, one night during a previous life, I accidentally overheard something.
“Contact with outsiders aggravates her symptoms, Father.”
“We do not know the cause of her illness, so it would be best to eliminate as many potential risks as possible.”
“For now, all we can do is preserve her strength.”
Yeon Sotaek had been using plausible arguments to drive a wedge between Grandfather and me.
As a result, Grandfather gradually stopped visiting me.
Even on the one day each year when he returned to the estate.
Eventually, everyone came to believe that I had completely fallen out of the family head’s favor.
The members of the family seized the opportunity to treat me even more harshly.
But I had no intention of allowing that to happen again in this life.
I slowly raised my injured hand.
The blood had already dried halfway, but the wounds were clear enough for anyone to see.
“I require immediate treatment.”
“My lady, that is…”
“The patient comes first.”
I widened my eyes and strengthened my voice.
From the corner of my vision, I had caught a glimpse of Grandfather emerging from the inner hall.
“Do you intend to violate House Yakryeong’s absolute law?”
The atmosphere around us instantly changed.
The Chief Steward’s tightly closed lips trembled, while quiet murmurs spread among the nearby servants.
I deliberately clenched my injured hand into a tight fist.
The cuts left by the porcelain fragments split open once more, and bright-red blood beaded across my palm.
Turning away from a bleeding patient went directly against the principles of House Yakryeong.
My corrupt uncle and his followers might disregard those principles, but Grandfather was a relentless traditionalist.
There was no possibility that he would overlook such a violation.
The Chief Steward’s eyes wavered.
“…My lady, I will assign an attendant to treat your wounds.”
“The main hall is the closest place where I can receive treatment, and Grandfather is already inside. Why should I go anywhere else?”
“…!”
“Open the way so that I may see Grandfather immediately.”
I did my best to keep my voice low and clear.
Just then—
“What a commotion.”
A voice as cold as a blade cut through the main hall.
The Chief Steward and everyone who had been whispering around me turned in surprise.
An elderly man with a long white beard stood before the main hall.
His fearsome face and fiercely gleaming green eyes were enough to overwhelm everyone in his presence.
The family head had appeared without making the slightest sound, and the air instantly froze.
Everyone lowered their heads in unison.
Yeon Baekyu.
My grandfather and the head of House Yakryeong.
The man renowned as the greatest physician in all of Cheonmyeong.
