Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 44

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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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Chapter 44
Before long, it was the third day of course registration.
I’d wondered what would happen with the lectures that had too many applicants, but no one had explained the procedure.
Peng Zhongge finished his External Martial Arts class and brought all the gasping students to Gyomudang.
“My class only accepts those I personally call on. Does anyone else want to join?”
……
“Then I’ll confirm the roster as is. If anyone wants to add this course later, they can come find me separately.”
He announced which courses didn’t require a separate selection process.
These included lectures like Paedo, Quaido, Spear Method, and Fist Technique Method—where the students were already determined anyway—as well as less popular courses like Introduction to Military Strategy and Mechanism Formation.
“For the oversubscribed lectures, we’ll begin selection starting tomorrow. Make sure you know when and where your registered courses take place!”
The next two days had no required lectures scheduled, so I’d thought we might have a holiday.
Instead, it seemed they were staggering the time slots to filter students from the overcrowded courses.
“Why does everyone want to take this course so badly? Poison Flower Cuisine Class has the most applicants again this year, so we’ll hold it early tomorrow morning. Registrants report to Amwoolgwan by dawn.”
Since failing to get in might force you to fill your credits with another course, the selection competition for Poison Flower Cuisine Class went first.
But there was no real point telling applicants to “come whenever”—
Because practically everyone did anyway.
The next morning, almost all my classmates and many senior students gathered outside Amwoolgwan.
As more than a hundred students milled about, the martial instructor conducting the course finally appeared.
I sucked in a breath.
Just like with Gwak Docheon—
why didn’t anyone in this academy ever mention how beautiful these people were?
The woman swept forward in an ornate emerald robe, her long hair cultivated past her knees twisting between her fingers, her sleepy eyes brushing across the assembled students.
“The Poison Flower, Dang Soye……!”
One of the new students from Cheonmyounggwan cried out her epithet and name.
While it’s said that beautiful women often have epithets with “flower” in them,
Dang Soye carried not a trace of the martial artist about her.
She was simply a stunning beauty, like a single living bloom.
“So many applicants again this year?”
Entranced, I found myself staring at her face.
Dang Soye tucked her hair behind her ear, speaking in a languid voice.
“Master, please! I really want to study with you this year.”
“Would it be possible to increase the class size this time?”
While the new students stood bewildered, the senior students bombarded her with requests.
But Dang Soye barely seemed to listen, blinking a few times before finally speaking.
“Twenty students. Figure it out among yourselves.”
That was it.
Dang Soye shut the door with a bang and simply walked into Amwoolgwan.
“Huh……?”
What?
Wasn’t the instructor supposed to use their discretion to select students with aptitude for Poison Cultivation or whatever else?
She just told them to work it out themselves?
“Let’s not drag this out—settle it fast! Last year we just drew lots!”
As my classmates panicked, a senior student from Cheonmyounggwan stepped forward and drew all eyes.
He’d probably failed to get in the previous year, maybe the year before that too, and missed this class.
Was it because the instructor was beautiful?
The senior students could eat at Jinmidang or go out on expeditions instead, yet they all seemed desperate to take this course.
“I’ll make the lots…….”
“Bah, drawing lots among martial artists? We should decide by martial competition!”
That’s when one of my classmates stepped in.
“So you’re from the Harbin Peng Family…….”
“I am Peng Ho!”
He couldn’t move an inch in front of Peng Zhongge, yet here he had real presence.
“Ooh!”
A few of Peng Ho’s classmates from Cheonmyounggwan clapped their hands.
Perhaps because he was a scion of the Harbin Peng Family, the senior who’d proposed the lottery seemed startled and frowned.
“Now see here, Young Master Peng. You seem to have registered without understanding what this course entails—it’s not a class that requires martial aptitude. Anyone can attend!”
“I’ve heard this is a course where you dine with Master Dang. Surely something so desirable should go to the victor of a martial competition, as is only proper? That’s the way of the martial world!”
Peng Ho responded with a soft laugh, as if he’d been waiting for this.
“But they used lots last year too……!”
“If Master Dang believed lots were most fitting, she’d have instructed us to use them. Do you lack confidence, sir?”
He went ahead and deployed the “Choke?” move.
What? We’re fighting now?
Now that I’m a martial artist, surely I wouldn’t just let that slide?
In a situation like this, shouldn’t we first have a martial competition to decide whether to draw lots or fight?
Peng Ho would rank in the upper tier among my classmates, but I was curious how much the gap would be compared to a senior student who’d spent one or two years at the academy.
“Hey, you really confident about this?”
But the senior student lowered his voice instead of drawing his sword immediately.
“Hm?”
“Ahem, you’re not even the strongest in your cohort, are you? Rumors have been thick that this year the second son of the Sword King of Changcheon and the direct disciple of the Huashan sect master are coming, but I haven’t heard anything about you.”
“What……!”
And Morong Cheong, plus his joint position heir, are also standing over there saying they’ll take this class! You’re not even the first successor designation of the Peng family, so think this through carefully!”
He pointed to several senior students and whispered to Peng Ho.
“Ha, naturally I’d be in the top twenty……!”
Peng Ho threw his chin up and glanced across the more than hundred students scattered about.
His gaze caught on several of his classmates.
There was Namgung Min’s group at Cheonmyounggwan, and at Jijeonggwan they seemed aware of disciples from Mingseong and the Wudang sect.
‘Oh.’
Whether he was checking Meng Lingzhi and me, our eyes met for a moment.
Within our cohort alone we’re roughly in the top five, so it would be a close thing.
“……It’s not that I have no confidence in beating you. I just don’t want to clash with a position heir deliberately.”
“Ahem, I’m not without confidence in making the top twenty myself, but there’s no need for us students to shed blood over this!”
Peng Ho’s voice grew a bit quieter.
“So what will it be? Are we drawing lots? Decide quickly.”
A senior student urged him on, arms crossed.
“Y-yes, quite so.”
In the end, Peng Ho nodded with an extremely quiet voice.
No, if that’s all it was, why did he butt in so loudly!
“Good thinking. I’ll go make the lots right now!”
The senior student who’d successfully persuaded Peng Ho scurried off.
So Woon, who truly had no confidence, visibly relaxed.
“Wow, now I have a chance too.”
“Phew…….”
Namgung Ayoung felt the same way.
Right, if we’d fought, students who hadn’t awakened their internal energy would have been automatically disqualified.
Since there were far more students without confidence in making the top twenty than with it.
The atmosphere among the children gathered here was generally one of satisfaction.
“I’m going to head out. This doesn’t seem like a lecture worth sitting in on.”
Yet among all this, Namgung Min showed the exact opposite of the relieved students.
What, leaving without even drawing lots?
“Huh, Min?”
“Ayoung, if you want to listen, then listen. There’s no need for you to take the same class as me.”
Hmm, true enough.
Unlike me, a fake model student, she genuinely doesn’t seem very interested in going outside to eat delicious food.
In any case, with a competitor eliminated, I was grateful and gave her a wink.
Namgung Min, failing to understand the meaning of the wink, tilted her head and turned sharply away.
The tall follower whose name I still didn’t know followed after her, but Namgung Ayoung hesitated for a moment and stayed in her seat.
“I’ve brought sticks equal to the number of people! Only those who draw a stick with the character ‘Match’ written in red ink will take the class. Everyone understands, right?”
Whether he’d prepared it in advance or not, the senior student who’d insisted loudly on drawing lots brought out a large container and handed it over.
“Fairly, let our friend here draw last!”
“Of course that was my intention. Go ahead and draw first.”
Peng Ho made a timid objection.
The senior student came out calmly, unbothered.
If you got so scared you backed down, you should have stayed quiet.
You’re hopeless, Peng Ho!
“…….”
Peng Ho drew the lot with a bold gesture.
There was no writing on the stick at all.
“Next.”
The senior student passed him over emptily and urged the student standing beside him to draw a stick.
Failure.
Failure.
Failure.
Failure.
“What? The passing lots didn’t all cluster on one side?”
“Oh, I succeeded!”
Success.
With odds slightly under one in five, it was hardly surprising that far more students failed to secure their course registrations.
“Ah…….”
Despite drawing lots, Namgung Ayoung had fallen just short of pulling a passing lot.
The senior student circled once through the gathering place of Cheonmyounggwan and Jijeonggwan students before approaching our group.
So, four chances left? Twenty-six people remaining.
While the seniors and classmates from Inbongwan were drawing their sticks, I steadied my mind.
“What are you doing?”
As I breathed slowly and brushed my hand across my chest, Meng Lingzhi and Gu Wonui took notice.
“Clearing my mind.”
“Hmm?”
Though the martial world knew no secret to drawing lots well.
The modern age had proven an unscientific causal relationship.
It was nothing other than the desire sensor.
“When you convince yourself you don’t need to win, winning comes more easily.”
I shared this method with Meng Lingzhi as a friend.
Then I focused only on my breathing.
The moment desire at last surrendered to emptiness.
I drew the lot.
Surviving as the Terminally Ill Eldest Daughter of Beihai Binggong (Serialized)
Author │ Musk Deer
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
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ⓒ Musk Deer 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder and may not be used in any form or manner without permission from the publisher and author.
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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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