Surviving as the Villainess’s Servant in a Martial Arts Novel - Chapter 19
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 19
The Young Miss’s condition grew worse by the day.
I entered the room. The Young Miss, who would normally be sitting in front of the table, was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, I approached the bed chamber surrounded by layers of curtains. I could hear faint wheezing sounds from inside. I lowered my voice and spoke.
“Young Miss, are you awake?”
“….”
“How are you feeling? Are you able to move around?”
“….”
“You need to take your medicine… If it’s difficult for you to move, should I come inside? I could feed it to you little by little…”
“…Give it.”
With a rustling sound, a small hand emerged from behind the curtains. It was a pale and gaunt hand.
I swallowed a sigh and carefully placed the medicine bowl in the Young Miss’s hand.
After a moment, the Young Miss held out the medicine bowl again. It was completely empty inside.
“Now go.”
“Young Miss, since you’re up, how about having some rice porridge? You need to eat well, especially at times like this. You hardly eat anything…”
“Go…”
Her voice, which would normally be cold, strangely lacked strength. I was about to insist again but gave up and said dejectedly.
“Yes, then I’ll step out. Just in case, I’ll leave the rice porridge here on the table. If you need anything, please call me anytime. I’ll be right outside the door…”
“….”
“…Rest well, Young Miss.”
Click.
I closed the door and came out. A sigh escaped me naturally.
In stark contrast to how she had been raging just a while ago, the Young Miss could no longer even properly control her body.
The only improvement was that she now took her medicine regularly. It wasn’t because of my efforts… but because the medicine that hadn’t been working finally started taking effect after we changed the medicinal herbs.
Indeed, could the knowledge from the original story even be called knowledge? But that too was only temporary. The word ‘stopgap measure’ seemed fitting, as the medicine’s effects were minimal.
The pain only lessened for the brief moments after taking the medicine. But even that seemed precious to her, as the Young Miss no longer refused to take her medicine. Sometimes she would even ask for it first.
“Ah, ugh… Medicine… quickly, quickly…”
“Yes, yes! Young Miss, please wait just a moment! I’ll hurry and get…”
I couldn’t tell whether sharing the knowledge from the original story had been the right thing to do or a mistake.
The Physician was puzzled.
“The medicine is definitely working, but something seems strange.”
“What, what’s strange about it?”
“Since the medicine is taking effect, the energy should be gradually dispersing, but there’s no sign of it dispersing. No, rather, just when it seems to have dispersed, it appears to build up again. Like spring water.”
“….”
“I wonder what could be causing this…”
After hearing those words, I became anxious.
‘What if I gave her the wrong information?’
Thinking about it, I didn’t remember everything about 【Heavenly Emperor】 in detail. Naturally, my memories about Seo Yeon-ri were also fragmentary.
What if I was remembering something wrong? What if I had missed something more important…
‘Let’s not think like that.’
I vigorously shook my head to dispel the gloomy mood that was trying to take hold again. It was too early to despair since nothing had happened yet, and perhaps the situation might miraculously improve.
The Seo Family Estate became much busier.
Various goods were coming in, and strangers were frequently coming and going.
Among them, a particularly unusual guest was a certain monk, who appeared to be an ordinary monk but was actually a renowned master in the martial world.
When the monk saw me, he smiled warmly and put his palms together in greeting.
“Young benefactor, you work so hard. This old monk may visit Young Miss Seo’s quarters from time to time, so please understand.”
“Not at all, please feel free to visit, Monk.”
It turned out that this monk was someone the Young Miss had been indebted to since childhood. Seeing a master for the first time, I couldn’t hide my curiosity.
That day was slowly approaching.
As if the seizure was truly drawing near, the Young Miss writhed in agony more frequently, and the Master came to see her urgently more often. Sometimes he brought the monk with him.
After several days passed like this.
“Tie her up.”
The Master commanded me.
“Pardon?”
I doubted my own ears. But the Master only repeated himself with a somber expression.
“You must have heard about A-ri’s symptoms. When the seizure begins, A-ri’s thrashing becomes violent. In severe cases, she might injure those around her or tear at… her own body.”
“…”
“Tie her hands and feet firmly to the bed posts. We must restrain her movements as much as possible.”
The Young Miss I saw after a long time looked both familiar and strange. I finally saw her with her face veil removed, wearing only light cotton cloth, but she looked worse than I had imagined, making my heart heavy.
The Young Miss’s body was smaller and thinner than I had thought. Seeing her unconscious and sprawled on the bed, my mouth opened involuntarily.
“Do, do we really have to go that far? She looks completely powerless right now…”
“…”
“This, tying her up like this… it’s too much like treating a beast. The Young Miss must be suffering too, but to forcibly tie her up like this…”
“Child.”
The Master spoke in a low voice.
“This is for A-ri’s sake.”
“…”
“Hurry.”
In the end, I had no choice but to tie the Young Miss’s wrists.
My heart was pounding. It was even worse seeing the Young Miss lying there motionless like she was dead. Just like when Mother had collapsed, it seemed like she might never wake up again.
When I came to my senses, I was drenched in cold sweat. My hands were trembling so badly that I couldn’t even remember how I had left the room.
And that very night.
“Aaaaah!”
The Young Miss’s seizure began.
* * *
“Let go of this, let go of thiiis-!”
“A-ri, get a hold of yourself. Get a hold of yourself!”
Sharp screams leaked out from inside the room.
I paced restlessly in the courtyard of So-nang Garden, staring at the door. The Chief Steward beside me also looked anxious.
“Will she be alright? The Young Miss…”
“She’ll be fine. She’s overcome this every time.”
Currently, only the Master and the Monk had gone inside the room.
They said it could be dangerous if there were people around, so they did it that way. I could understand that, but I was initially puzzled that even the Chief Steward couldn’t enter.
But that didn’t last long either. As time passed, the screams from inside the room were becoming more desperate.
“Ahh… ahhhhh…!”
It was like sobbing, like the sound a wounded beast makes as it dies. The more I listened to the sounds, the more tormented I became, so I couldn’t bear it and turned to look at the Chief Steward.
“Can’t we use a lot of medicine? Or even the Paralysis Powder you used on me last time…”
“We’ve already tried everything. Not only Paralysis Powder, but she also took medicine right before the seizure began, yet there was no effect. She simply has to endure it herself.”
“What happens if… she can’t endure it?”
For a moment, the Chief Steward looked at me with sad eyes. I could read the answer in that gaze.
The Young Miss would die.
Seo Yeon-ri would die.
Even as I thought “no way,” my heart pounded like crazy.
That couldn’t be. The Young Miss hadn’t met the Main Character yet, had she? I couldn’t remember how old the Young Miss was when she met the Main Character, but she must have been at least older than now.
She couldn’t die. Nothing would happen…
Would that really be the case?
‘I’ve possessed this body and started interfering with the original story. I gave the medicine formula several years earlier than when it was delivered when the Main Character arrived… What if the future has been moved up?’
Then in the end, again…
“Huk.”
My vision blurred.
I staggered.
That was the moment. Some fragmentary scene flashed before my eyes.
[“Huh, to think I’d actually see Nine-Leaf Purple Lingzhi in my lifetime…!”]
Inside some shabby hut sat an old man with a long white beard, and he was carefully examining a medicinal herb with nine leaves.
The person sitting across from him asked back.
[“Is this really that precious?”]
[“Of course it’s precious! Actually, it might not seem so precious to martial artists. Unlike other spirit medicines, this herb doesn’t greatly improve internal energy. But do you know why Nine-Leaf Purple Lingzhi is called a spirit medicine?”]
[“I can’t even guess. Please enlighten me, Medical Sage.”]
[“It’s because it helps achieve harmony in the body. If there’s biased energy in the body, it disperses and fuses it to help achieve yin-yang equilibrium. If someone born with biased yin or yang energy consumes this, they can instantly restore their broken balance.”]
[“…”]
[“Moreover, it restores even the body that has been weakened by disrupted energy flow, so for such a constitution, it’s no different from an ancient medicine. So if this medicinal herb isn’t a spirit medicine, then what could it be?”]
Suddenly, the voice became unclear and I heard the old man asking with confusion.
[“So where did you get this?”]
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you suddenly swaying…”
“I have to go.”
“Where are you going… Hey, hey!”
I started running.
I felt like I knew where I needed to go.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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