Surviving as the Villainess’s Servant in a Martial Arts Novel - Chapter 21
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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 21
When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling… no, it was the familiar ceiling of the medicine room.
I blinked my eyes and let out a hollow laugh.
‘How many times is this now?’
I had hardly ever fainted before my possession, but somehow after working under the Young Miss, I seem to be fainting constantly.
Having such thoughts, I turned my head. I could see the dim moonlight seeping in through the window.
Right, it’s still night…
…Night?
‘Wait, when did I arrive?’
When I arrived at the Seo Family Estate, I was half out of my mind so I don’t remember well, but I’m sure it was before dawn.
Just as the Chief Steward came out to the main gate, I was so relieved that my legs gave out and I fell forward, then stretched out my right hand to give him the Nine-Leaf Purple Lingzhi I was holding…
Did I give it to him?
“Oh!”
I quickly sat up.
And at the same time, I ended up screaming.
“Ahhhhh!”
Because there was a pale figure sitting right in front of me.
A ghost wearing flowing white clothes like funeral attire, with long black hair hanging down. Especially noticeable was the cotton cloth covering her face…
‘Cotton cloth?’
“Young Miss?”
I asked without realizing it. Only then did the figure who had been looking down raise her head.
My mouth fell open.
‘Why are you like that?!’
You nearly scared me to death! —I almost said that but held back with effort. Instead, I asked the Young Miss who was sitting there blankly what I really needed to ask.
“Young Miss, are you feeling alright? Is your seizure over?”
“…”
“It should have been dawn when I arrived, so why is it still night… Oh, did I wake up quickly? And your seizure ended in the meantime? That’s a relief! The medicinal herbs I brought must have worked well…”
“No.”
The Young Miss’s low voice suddenly cut me off.
“It’s true that the seizure ended faster than usual. But you didn’t wake up quickly.”
“Pardon?”
“A whole day has passed. It’s the evening of the next day.”
A day? A whole day has passed?
I blinked in bewilderment. Then, belatedly coming to my senses, I looked over my body again.
Sure enough, as the Young Miss said, quite some time had passed and my body had been treated. Bandages were wrapped here and there, and especially my right ankle even had a splint attached to it.
I scratched my head and smiled awkwardly.
“Haha, I wasn’t even injured that badly, so why did you treat me like this…? Young Miss, don’t worry about it. This much will heal quickly.”
“…”
“That aside, are you alright, Young Miss? Are you all better now? Still, it’s only been a day since your seizure ended, shouldn’t you still be taking care of your body? What if you get worse like this! You need to think about your health.”
“….”
“Don’t stay here like this and go to your room for now. If you have anything you need me to do, I’ll come to your quarters first thing tomorrow. Or if you tell me now….”
“Why is everything so easy for you?”
“Pardon?”
I looked at the Young Miss in bewilderment. Somehow, the Young Miss’s voice seemed colder than usual.
“Is getting hurt nothing to you? Doesn’t it hurt? Doesn’t it make you angry? But what? It’s nothing? Don’t worry about it?”
“Young Miss….”
“How could I not worry about it? You, why have you been acting like this toward me since before? Why do you throw yourself in like you have no regard for your life? When did I ever want that? When did I ever ask you for such a thing?”
“….”
“This incident too. Whether I live or die, what business is it of yours? What business is it that you go off on your own to get medicinal herbs or whatever and come back in such a state? You could just watch. You could just pretend not to know like other people!”
The Young Miss fumed and then let out a scream.
“Do you perhaps pity me? Do you pity a life that can’t even control her body properly like others and has to live depending only on medicine? Are you doing this out of sympathy for me?”
“Then of course I pity you, how could I not?!”
I shouted without realizing it.
“A young girl my age can’t even get up because she’s sick, and when seizures happen she thrashes around so much her hands and feet have to be tied—how could I not pity that?”
“….”
“You asked what business it is of mine, right? Of course it’s my business. I’m the person watching over you from beside you! You probably don’t know well because you’re the one who’s sick, but watching someone precious to you dying… do you know how agonizing that is?”
“….”
“You know too when you see the Master’s complexion, don’t you? How agonizing and helpless that feeling is. You can’t die in their place, you can’t hurt in their place. All you can do is pray that they’ll please get better….”
“….”
The Young Miss said nothing. I paused for a moment and took a deep breath. Rather, after pouring everything out, I felt like my mind was becoming organized.
After calming down considerably, I slowly continued speaking.
“Actually, I’m in a similar situation to the Master. You might know this, Young Miss… I also have a sick mother.”
“….”
“I don’t know the exact cause. I don’t know the name of the illness either. Like you, Young Miss, there’s no cure. So until now, she’s been enduring only with medicine. But… even that has become difficult now. She collapsed recently. Fortunately she passed the crisis, but if things continue like this, eventually….”
“….”
“You’ve been asking since before, haven’t you? Why I go to such lengths. It was because of Mother. I thought if your body got better, Young Miss, I might ask you about my mother’s situation. I’m sorry for only telling you my true feelings now. At first, that was all it was, but….”
I hesitated for a moment and smiled bitterly.
“At some point, I started worrying about you, Young Miss.”
Thinking about it, it was like that from the beginning.
A child who acted as if she had given up on living.
She wouldn’t try to attach herself to anyone, and no matter how much you approached her, she would try to push you away. Because she believed she would die soon.
That appearance sometimes overlapped with Mother’s.
Mother always said ‘it will get better,’ but she was strangely resigned. She wouldn’t try to find more methods, and her appearance of withering day by day sometimes seemed like someone preparing for death.
That’s why I approached you even more, Young Miss. That there would be a way, that I knew a way. So please, don’t give up on life.
Because then Mother wouldn’t give up either.
‘It might have been sympathy, but it might also have been a sense of kinship.’
That’s how it was at first, but now….</
“I wish you wouldn’t be in pain, Young Miss.”
“….”
“I told you earlier, didn’t I? There’s nothing harder than watching someone precious to you suffer. Now when I see you in pain, it makes me suffer too.”
“….”
“Haha, I guess I’ve grown attached to you without realizing it through all our bickering. Oh, but don’t worry. It’s not that love thing I mentioned before or anything like that.”
I rambled on, not knowing how to wrap things up. Then I suddenly turned to look at the Young Miss. Her small hands, clenched tightly, were trembling.
I simply smiled.
“You understand, right?”
Belatedly, the Young Miss opened her mouth.
“I am….”
That’s when it happened.
A fierce wind began to blow.
Whoosh-.
I frowned at the sudden gust of wind. Then I looked ahead and my eyes widened.
The Young Miss’s cotton cloth had been lifted up.
‘Huh?’
I saw the pale face I had glimpsed in my dreams.
Her snow-white skin, as if sculpted from snow itself, looked so transparent it was almost pale, and her long eyelashes cast a melancholy shadow beneath them.
Her beautifully shaped round forehead flowed smoothly downward, with neatly arranged eyebrows, a sleek high nose, and small lips that were plump with a light pink tint.
Most of all, her sparkling black eyes that seemed to have stars embedded in them caught my attention….
“Wow.”
I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
Then I hesitated. The eyes that were momentarily revealed looked strangely distorted. They seemed somehow stained with fear and resignation….
‘Huh, why is she like that?’
Maybe she’s surprised because her face was revealed?
I quickly came to my senses and spoke as if nothing had happened.
“Wow, Young Miss, you’re so beautiful~! You really look like you could rival any child actor… Oh, what’s a child actor? It’s just someone who’s pretty.”
“….”
“Anyway, why have you been hiding such looks until now? People around here kept saying there must be something wrong with your face, so I really thought that was the case. Geez, I can’t even show our Young Miss to those people….”
“…Ah.”
“What? What did you say? To leave? To get lost? Hey, honestly, it’s not like I wanted to see it. And it’s hard for me to leave right now anyway. If you look at my foot….”
“You’re not affected at all?”
“What?”
I blinked. But the Young Miss asked again with infinite seriousness.
“You… you’re not affected at all? Even after seeing my face, you don’t feel anything?”
“What?”
“Don’t you feel strange? Like, wanting to do something to me, or seeing only me and nothing else, or wanting to follow all my commands….”
“No, what?”
“You’re really not affected at all? Really… you’re fine?”
I stared blankly with my mouth open.
This can’t be.
Our Young Miss is overly self-conscious.
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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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