Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 26

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 26
Maeng Ryeongji’s face twisted into an ugly grimace.
“Did you ask how my blood relative’s eyes, nose, and mouth are arranged?”
“Yeah.”
Her expression and tone were eerie, as though she’d suffered some grave insult.
Of course, I hadn’t posed any impertinent question, so I simply nodded without concern.
“Gwek-ack!”
But then Maeng Ryeongji suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth.
She began to mime violent retching.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“The moment I attach the word ‘handsome’ to that bastard’s face, my energy starts to reverse. Hell, Seol Suryeo. Be careful from now on. I nearly fell victim to Demonic Possession by Fire!”
…………
“Ahem. The leopards and bears the Beast Palace raises are far more handsome than he is.”
Really—even accounting for the fact that he’s her real older brother, was such an extreme reaction necessary?
Couldn’t I make an objective assessment of whether someone was attractive or not?
I had no male siblings myself, but I could certainly say my father was handsome.
“So what about Muwi? Is he as muscular as you are?”
“…His martial arts are exceptional. His External Martial Arts especially are inborn—he was always brutishly strong. Before coming to the Academy, I never even saw him sitting in the lotus position, but apparently he came here and forgot to eat, just consumed Yeolyang Dan and Sunyang Dan. When I saw him a few days ago, Fire Energy was radiating off him so intensely you could feel it from a distance.”
When I phrased the question more tactfully, I finally got a proper answer.
It was quite gratifying that he’d mastered the Yeolyang Gong so brilliantly, though I had to admit that rippling musculature wasn’t my preference.
“Your older brother is the palace lord, right? What’s he doing now? Is he at the Beast Palace?”
“No. He said something about wanting to see more of the world. He joined the Murim Alliance.”
“Really? The Murim Alliance headquarters?”
“The Luoyang branch.”
Wait—the Luoyang branch of the Murim Alliance?
That’s practically nearby.
I’d thought that even after graduation, I’d have to travel all the way to the Southern Barbarian Lands during holidays to see him.
But he was close enough that I could see him whenever I went out.
It made sense now that Maeng Ryeongji had wandered about alone without attendants before entering the Academy—her brother must have been nearby.
“You mentioned Maeng Hojin the lesser knight. I’d like to meet him if the opportunity comes up.”
When I brought up the name I’d memorized during Basic Internal Energy class, Maeng Ryeongji’s face grew stern with disapproval.
“You absolutely don’t need to meet him. If you want to see a handsome man, the elder brother of Namgung Min is supposed to be quite attractive.”
“Oh? Really? Where did you hear that?”
“Maeng Hojin mentioned it.”
A young master of the Namgung Great Family, no less.
From what Maeng Ryeongji said, it sounded as though Maeng Hojin harbored considerable resentment toward the influential noble clans of the Central Plains, just like his sister.
Yet despite that, he still acknowledged the man’s appearance—which made me rather curious.
‘Hmm, or maybe not? When a man calls someone handsome, he might not match my taste.’
But the young master of the Namgung Great Family, having already graduated, would be unlikely to learn a new martial art from me.
The most promising candidate remained Maeng Ryeongji’s brother.
I found myself genuinely hoping that when I set aside the elder-sibling bias she clearly carried, he would turn out to be even more attractive than I expected.
* * *
It had been fine coming to Inbon Hall and bantering with Maeng Ryeongji.
Unfortunately, the rabbit dish she’d prepared was dreadful.
“Is rabbit supposed to taste like this?”
……There must be a reason South Koreans don’t eat rabbit even though they eat beef, pork, and chicken.
Maeng Ryeongji had apparently hunted extensively yesterday and boiled the meat, but it was tough and reeked of gaminess.
Honestly, even a Bigu Dan seemed more palatable.
“Maybe Central Plains rabbits just don’t taste good? The rabbit my blood relative prepared in Yunnan didn’t taste like this.”
Maeng Ryeongji remained composed, but So Un’s expression was equally grim.
“Miss, how did you dress the rabbit?”
“Hm? Well, of course I separated the bone from the meat!”
“That’s……”
So Un hesitated a moment, then finally couldn’t hold back and poured out her thoughts.
“You didn’t cut out the tendons properly, did you? It’s not just tough—it’s hard and rubbery. And it looks like the blood didn’t drain fully either. If you’d soaked it in wine overnight instead of cooking it the same day—oh, but there’s no wine here anyway. Still, at the very least, you should have served it with greens!”
“All that was necessary?”
After So Un delivered a lengthy lecture on proper butchering and cooking methods,
Maeng Ryeongji could only nod blankly.
“Cooking should be left to a professional chef. No matter how much you explain it to an innkeeper or a servant, they’ll never do it like a chef.”
At that moment, Gu Won-ui—apparently having come up to the dormitory—casually interjected into our conversation.
It meant So Un had to explain it directly, not Maeng Ryeongji.
Maeng Ryeongji spoke as though she’d been waiting for this.
“Would it be alright if I asked…?”
So Un cheerfully agreed, of course.
“If you give me just one portion each, I’ll cook it!”
Right. Better to share the precious meat than waste it.
Though I did wonder if it was too much to saddle her with a tedious task that wouldn’t even earn Merit Points.
But since So Un seemed to want a stable supply of ingredients, it worked out well for everyone.
“Your bearing suggests you’re a culinary genius—would it be alright if I joined in?”
Gu Won-ui said this while studying So Un’s face.
“Hmm, what can you do?”
But Maeng Ryeongji put her hands on her hips and objected.
“Me? I’m good at everything. I’m great at memorizing orders, at carrying food without spilling, at counting change without mistakes.”
“…This isn’t an inn. We don’t need a server.”
“Hey, that’s harsh. I can hunt too, and help with cooking.”
Still, Gu Won-ui threw out jokes with practiced ease and acted friendly toward Maeng Ryeongji.
Maeng Ryeongji, who was rather kind to students who weren’t from the Nine Sects and One Hall or the Five Great Noble Families, eventually accepted his proposal.
“Seol Suryeo, do you have any skill at hunting?”
“More or less.”
Gu Won-ui asked me with a peculiar gleam in his eyes.
Back when I was at the Ice Palace, I’d often caught bears and the like, but I had no intention of joining the permanent hunting and cooking crew.
“If there’s leftover food, I’d appreciate being called over, and I’ll help with hunting sometimes. But basically, I’m going to stick with eating this.”
Even if it doesn’t taste great.
There was no reason to give up training and work time to hunt when free health supplements were being provided.
“You’re really going to keep eating the Bigu Dan?”
“I ate nothing but this all yesterday, and it was actually quite fine. My stomach doesn’t get hungry, I feel comfortable, and my body feels lighter during training. It really does seem like it’s made with nutrition in mind.”
“But it has no flavor!”
“Flavor is something you just endure while eating.”
Even the chef at the Jinmi Establishment had spoken of it as being good for the body.
The martial instructors at the Academy didn’t seem to lie anyway.
The fact that everyone made such a fuss about how it was different from ordinary Bigu Dan made me think that maybe eating this for about a year would purge Turbid Qi from my body and make it suitable for martial arts training.
“Hmm…? Do you know something about the secret of the Bigu Dan?”
“First time hearing about it.”
Gu Won-ui looked at me meaningfully, but of course I knew nothing whatsoever.
“Secret or not, I can’t eat anymore! No matter how badly I cook rabbit, it’s better than this Bigu Dan!”
Well, sure. I respect that.
There’s naturally individual variation in taste.
I wished the three of them a pleasant meal while I once again filled my belly with Bigu Dan for lunch.
“Ugh!”
I was the one eating.
Yet for some reason, Maeng Ryeongji shuddered, covered her nose, and looked horrified.
It wasn’t really that bad, was it?
* * *
In any case, since I’d barely eaten any of the rabbit stew, I ended up having made a pointless trip up and down the mountain to the dormitory.
Still, there was meat left over from yesterday’s hunt.
And since So Un was planning to cook dinner starting now, I might be able to eat something that actually tastes like food by evening.
‘It seems not many students spend every spare moment doing Manual Labor Training.’
Actually, I found it harder to understand them cooking leisurely than I could understand them not grasping why I’d eat Bigu Dan.
I even asked the instructor at the Task Assignment Hall whether only students from Inbon Hall had this much free time.
Only about five or six students came running as soon as class ended and took on work.
Some stayed at the Training Ground to practice, but it seemed my way of thinking—choosing to work first, separate from diligence—was unusual.
“Student, do you have work you’d like to do?”
“If there’s no teaching work, please give me whichever task grants the most Merit Points.”
“My, all odd jobs are pretty much the same.”
Was it a problem that I had the spirit of a Korean in me?
I wanted to pay back my debt quickly and then save up a bit so I could eat leisurely.
Even though I had no intention of graduating, I felt anxious to fill my graduation credits as quickly as possible.
In any case, I finished chopping firewood at lightning speed after accepting the task.
Then I went to meet Eun Hyeon.
“You’ve rested well, right? No trembling in your legs or anything?”
“I’ve made a complete recovery.”
Eun Hyeon offered a faint smile, claiming that plenty of time had passed since her External Martial Arts class ended, yet her breathing wasn’t entirely stable for someone in such good spirits.
If her words were true—that the exhaustion from the iron rings and running should have been fully recovered in the short time that had elapsed—then she must have trained again in between.
It seemed she’d squeezed in another practice session instead of completing her Manual Labor Training or taking proper rest.
“All right, then. Let’s spar. I’ll mark your robe with ink?”
Still, her condition didn’t appear so poor that she couldn’t draw on her full strength, so I decided to show her what I’d promised right away.
I drew my sword with a flourish and coated the tip thickly with ink.
Of course, not Excalibur—just the blade I’d brought from Beihai Ice Palace originally.
“Then… I humbly request your instruction.”
Hmm, quite the serious fellow, aren’t you.
It felt rather awkward for us to observe such formality with each other as fellow disciples, but I accepted her bow by taking a ready stance.
“Try to mark me just as you would when sparring with your master!”
“Understood!”
Without any signal, we crossed blades.
Ting! Clang! Ting!
Our swords met dozens of times over.
The gap in our skill wasn’t as overwhelming as when Myeong Gyeong and Eun Hyeon had fought.
But it was enough to see through Eun Hyeon’s techniques, which I already knew.
She attempted the same method as before—thrusting forward then stopping—just as she had against Myeong Gyeong.
I evaded her attacks without difficulty, either stepping backward or deflecting with my blade.
Clash!
With a violent collision, we both bounced back, creating distance between us.
As I retrieved my sword and shook out my tingling arm, in that brief moment before I could reset my stance, I pressed the middle finger of my left hand against the blade.
Whoosh!
Perhaps she saw my hesitation as an opening.
Eun Hyeon unleashed the ornate swordwork of the Hwashan School and rushed toward me.
I barely managed to meet her strikes with one hand, narrowing the gap until it became almost dangerous.
Finally, when our bodies drew close enough that I could reach out and touch her—
Ting.
I flicked my ink-stained finger across her collar.
Surviving as the Doomed Heiress of Beihai Ice Palace (Serialized)
Author │ Sashiang Noru
Published by │ Kim Ju-hyeong
Publisher │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 401, Ace Tech Tower 8th, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Homepage │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Sashiang Noru 2026
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and no content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this shall result in criminal and civil legal liability.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————