Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 27
A mark no larger than a fingernail appeared on Eun Hyeon’s sleeve.
In that split second, he grasped what had happened.
“Finger Technique!”
“That’s right.”
Eun Hyeon and I withdrew our swords in unison and stepped back.
After sheathing our blades, we regrouped in the center of the Training Grounds.
“So you thought it wasn’t your master’s intention. ……Indeed, striking with fingertips rather than a blade would be far easier.”
“Yes. But if he knows to defend against it, there are plenty of counters. It’d be better to feint the same move and strike at an opening instead.”
If he could unleash Finger Wind from a distance like the Flick Finger Divine Ability, that would be another matter.
But that requires far more refined control of Inner Energy than sword energy.
And Eun Hyeon has consumed Mountain Poison, so he can’t use it anyway.
In the end, he’d have to get close and strike directly. If the swordmaster perceives the Finger Technique and refuses to allow any distance, the method falls apart.
“I see.”
Eun Hyeon accepted my advice.
“……I’ve learned so much. Truly.”
“Don’t mention it. I just know grappling a bit better, that’s all.”
I’d simply thought of Finger Technique first because I’ve been using the Han Eum Mark for some time.
Yet he marveled as though I’d devised some brilliant counterstrategy.
“Anyway, are you willing to practice this method? It does seem more promising than continuing to attempt the Twenty-four Plum Blossom Sword Technique.”
I asked to gauge whether Eun Hyeon would insist on passing the test by meeting his master’s original intent.
“Of course I will. Please teach me.”
He answered without hesitation.
In fact, despite the weapons masters mentioning swords, sabers, fists, palms, fingers, and Hidden Weapon Technique several times during class,
he blamed himself for not thinking of Finger Technique sooner.
“Do you know any Finger Techniques?”
“I’m not practiced with them, but…… my master taught me two varieties before.”
That would be enough then.
There was no need to teach him my own Finger Technique.
“It’d be good to practice until you’re comfortable with it. I’ll spar with you for about two hours.”
“……Thank you.”
“I’m training too, so it’s no trouble. Besides, this time I’ll attack properly as well.”
We began sparring again without delay.
Eun Hyeon came at me with full force, combining the Twenty-four Plum Blossom Sword Technique as he searched for openings in my defense.
Like Myeong Gyeong had, I refrained from using Inner Energy, meeting his strikes with the Ice White Divine Sword—the martial art most natural to me—and landing Han Eum Marks with each exchange.
“Huff, huff…….”
“Are you struggling much?”
After two hours had passed, Eun Hyeon looked no different from yesterday.
His clothes were torn, and he gasped for breath with an exhausted face—a pitiful sight indeed.
Before I knew it, this was the first time since entering the Academy that I’d fought with such intense focus and enthusiasm.
“I’ve taken up much of your time.”
Eun Hyeon executed a proper Cupped Fist Salute to thank me, and I awkwardly mirrored the gesture.
People from the Northern Sea Ice Palace do perform the Cupped Fist Salute, but I rarely followed such formality when sparring with palace disciples, so the gesture felt foreign to me.
“Will you challenge your master again tomorrow?”
“Not yet…… Miss, would you be able to help me once more tomorrow evening?”
It seemed the Huashan Sect rarely emphasized Finger Technique; he’d improved from two hours ago, but still seemed clumsy.
I’d been hoping he’d ask, so when Eun Hyeon bit his lip and made his request,
“I don’t mind, but wouldn’t it be better to ask Myeong Seong—a senior from your own Huashan Sect who practices the same martial arts—for help?”
But as I was about to rinse the ink from my hands and head back to the Dormitory, a better thought occurred to me.
Myeong Seong was said to be the direct disciple of the Huashan Sect Leader, wasn’t he?
Perhaps Eun Hyeon could even learn unfamiliar Finger Techniques from him.
And rather than imitating by eye as I did, he could ask Myeong Seong—who practices authentic Huashan swordsmanship—to spar with him as Myeong Gyeong had.
Besides, they shared the same Dormitory, so there’d be no need to arrange secret meetings. It seemed more practical all around.
“He would never help me. Nor do I wish to ask him.”
But Eun Hyeon gave a flat denial.
“Hmm? Are things not well between Senior Disciple Brothers?”
Myeong Seong’s expression hadn’t been favorable when he spoke of Eun Hyeon either, had it?
I was gauging his reaction, wondering if I’d broached a sensitive matter,
“Wait. You’re not Senior Disciple Brothers? So the generational ranking is……?”
I belatedly realized that my master Myeong Gyeong and Myeong Seong shared the same generation character.
Even if Eun Hyeon hasn’t received his sect name yet, are both Myeong Gyeong and Myeong Seong First Generation Disciples?
“He’s my Martial Uncle.”
“I see.”
“The Sect Leader held my Martial Uncle Myeong Seong’s talent in high regard and took him in as the youngest disciple, though he arrived late.”
Good grief—they can’t be many years apart, yet the hierarchy’s gotten tangled up rather badly.
“It must be awkward, attending the Academy together.”
“A bit, yes.”
“Ah. So that’s why Myeong Seong’s faction received the Academy Admission Token, and you took the entrance exam instead?”
“Sigh.”
Eun Hyeon let out a deep breath and laid out the whole story.
Until now, the disciple who won the Cheong Woon Tournament—held yearly within Huashan—had been the one admitted to the Academy.
This year, Eun Hyeon had claimed first place, yet the Sect Leader gave the token to Myeong Seong instead.
“So you beat your Martial Uncle?”
“My Martial Uncle didn’t even participate.”
Despite Eun Hyeon’s youth, his voice carried an unmistakable undercurrent of resentment he couldn’t quite conceal.
Had Myeong Seong deliberately avoided it, afraid of losing?
The Cheong Woon Tournament was little more than a test of nerve, after all.
With neither Myeong Seong nor Eun Hyeon having displayed their full strength while channeling Inner Energy, it was impossible to say definitively who was stronger.
But it hardly seemed certain that Myeong Seong, despite being the senior, would inevitably prevail.
“I see… you must have wanted to come to the Academy rather badly.”
I’d rushed here the moment I became eligible for admission, driven by my Terminal Illness, but the other students’ ages varied widely.
Coming next year wouldn’t have made much difference for most.
For someone from one of the Nine Sects and Ten Families, why take the exam at all?
I found myself suddenly curious about his reasons.
“Because my Master is here.”
Eun Hyeon’s brief answer painted the whole picture.
I’d wondered during the entrance exam why he alone had no one from his Master’s Lineage or family to cheer him on, when the other students had been crowded with supporters.
From this morning’s conversation, he seemed close enough to his direct master.
But his relationship with Myeong Seong, his Martial Uncle, and his Senior Disciple Brothers felt decidedly strained.
Even Myeong Gyeong had seemed surprised that Eun Hyeon brought a friend.
“Now that I’m here too, if there’s anything you need help with, don’t hesitate to ask.”
……
“And when you recover your Inner Energy, I could use your assistance from time to time.”
He didn’t answer in words, but something shifted subtly in his eyes.
Being the first friend of a boy who looked like a protagonist—there was something undeniably romantic about it, wasn’t there?
For a moment, an ugly thought flickered through my mind: what if my Terminal Illness becomes the catalyst for his awakening?
But by the end of my past life’s memories, that sort of novel—where secondary characters died for dramatic effect—had already fallen out of fashion.
Besides, if I quietly built up a debt of gratitude this way, wouldn’t he be more likely to help me treat my Severed Pulse Condition later?
“Thank you, Miss.”
Just before we parted ways to head to Jijeong Hall and Inbon Hall respectively,
Eun Hyeon spoke quietly.
“See you tomorrow!”
As his one and only friend, I answered with genuine warmth.
* * *
After making a new friend so cheerfully in the other dormitory, I returned to Inbon Hall to find
“Wow, this time the smell is actually appetizing!”
Maeng Ryeong Ji, So Woon, and Gu Won Ui were roasting a wild boar.
The kitchen certainly had a hearth and cauldrons,
but they’d chosen instead to whittle wood into skewers, thread the meat on them, and roast it over an open flame.
Hiss……
Ah……
For children who’d eaten nothing but Fasting Pills, it was an overwhelming sight—visually and olfactorily both.
Every new student belonging to Inbon Hall had poured outside and stood drooling as they watched.
“You’re here, Miss?”
Wait—were they preparing something separately in the kitchen too?
So Woon noticed me as he carried an enormous cauldron out of the dormitory and broke into a smile.
I offered my arms to help him with it, but So Woon, martial artist that he was, declined politely and set it down on the ground without any trouble.
When he lifted the lid, a fragrance entirely unlike lunchtime wafted out and hit my nose.
“It’s rabbit hotpot. This time the seasoning came out just right. Please, have a taste.”
The earthy perfume of mushrooms mingled with the sharp brightness of wild garlic, layered beneath the deep, savory richness of rabbit meat.
The aroma alone was truly magnificent—rich enough to make one’s mouth water.
“…….”
Despite the crowd of children waiting, So Woon was the first to ladle broth from the pot and offer it to me.
It was genuinely kind of him.
Yet I found myself hesitating, unable to accept it.
‘This is clearly poisonous mushroom!’
There, plainly visible in the hotpot, floated a luminous, fluorescent blue mushroom of decidedly suspicious appearance.
Whether juice had leached from it or not, the entire broth had turned a murky indigo.
Even the rabbit meat bore a purple tint seeping through its flesh.
The whole thing presented an appearance one absolutely should not consume.
Northern Sea Ice Palace Surviving a Terminal Illness Young Miss (Serialized)
Author │ Saehyang Noru
Publisher │ Kim Joo Hyung
Publishing House │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae Hyuk
Address │ 401, 11 Digitaro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8)
Email │ [email protected]
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ⓒ Saehyang Noru 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder. The contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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