The Terminally Ill Youngest Daughter of a Medical Dynasty Is a Genius Physician - Chapter 2

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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 2
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After that, nine more times.
I met death without fail each time.
But the tenth life was different.
At last, I had discovered a formula for a medicine that could temporarily alleviate the symptoms of my illness.
Thanks to that, this time I mixed the decoction according to the recipe I’d memorized the moment I opened my eyes, and was able to use Acupuncture to unblock the stagnant meridians.
‘But it’s only a temporary measure.’
With the medicinal herbs I currently had, I couldn’t last long.
Before my body developed a tolerance, I had to obtain better herbs.
The problem was that all the precious medicinal herbs of the Yak-ryeong Clan were kept in the Central Medicine Storehouse.
Only those who had passed the formal examination and were appointed as a Certified Physician could enter that place.
Since medicinal herbs dealt with matters of life and death, it was a rule that admitted no exceptions.
As I was not yet a Certified Physician, I had no right to enter.
‘I need to find another way.’
Bang!
Just then, lost in thought, the door was wrenched open roughly.
“Miss!”
Hong Dan-i entered once again, carrying a bowl of cold decoction.
“What’s this? You still haven’t finished?”
I had been in the process of selecting only the medicinal herbs I needed for my own medicine, leaving the rest untouched.
Apparently mistaking my scattered arrangement for work still in progress, Hong Dan-i set the bowl down carelessly and crossed her arms.
“For someone with a terminal illness, you certainly move slowly.”
She shook her head as if in pity.
‘It was always like this.’
After Grandfather and Father left the family, even the servants looked down on me.
They understood that I, crushed beneath such terrible guilt, would say nothing in protest.
Of all of them, Hong Dan-i was especially harsh.
“I’m going to sleep for a bit, so wake me when you’re done. If you haven’t finished by then, the young master will be coming, so know that.”
Hong Dan-i climbed onto my bed as if it were her own room and pulled the silk quilt up over herself.
“Yaaaawn…….”
She stretched, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, and flicked her hand dismissively.
“Miss.”
I did not answer.
But Hong Dan-i continued as if it were obvious.
“Go close the window, would you. There’s a draft coming in.”
I moved slowly toward Hong Dan-i.
As if hearing my footsteps, she kept her eyes firmly shut as she added:
“And bring me some water too. My throat is dry……aaaah!”
Splash!
The lukewarm decoction spilled down over Hong Dan-i’s head.
“Ptuh, ptuh! Ack!”
Hong Dan-i spat out the decoction that had entered her mouth and jerked upright with a shriek.
Her hair hung limp, soaked dark with medicine, and her clothing was streaked with black stains.
“Wh-what are you……!”
I stood beside the bed, looking down at her with an expressionless face.
Hong Dan-i’s eyes went wide with disbelief.
That’s right. She couldn’t believe it.
The old me would never have dared to do such a thing.
I let the bowl fall from my hand to the floor.
Crash!
“Aaah!”
The empty bowl shattered with a tremendous clatter.
Sharp fragments scattered in all directions, and the bed became soaked with decoction.
‘But things are different now.’
As I stepped forward, Hong Dan-i instinctively backed away.
But soon the wall blocked her path, and she could retreat no further.
“P-please, Miss! Why are you doing this!”
I met her gaze and spoke quietly.
“Why aren’t you getting up?”
“W-what on earth…….”
Hong Dan-i’s lips trembled.
“I need to clean this up.”
I stared down at the soaked bedding.
“It’s filthy. My bed.”
Hong Dan-i watched me, her eyes wide with panic.
I frowned slightly and glanced around the room.
While searching for something else to throw, my gaze landed on a large white porcelain vessel set out for decoration.
The moment my hand touched the porcelain—
“This is real!”
Hong Dan-i’s true colors revealed themselves. She scrambled to her feet and shoved me hard.
Thud!
For all the medicine I’d taken, my body remained as frail as a sheet of paper.
One push was all it took for me to stumble backward.
I landed squarely on shattered porcelain. Sharp fragments tore across my palms and scattered across my body.
And then.
The door burst open without warning, and a familiar voice rang out.
“What’s all this commotion?”
Hong Dan-i’s face lit up.
“Young Master!”
She brightened as though a rope had been thrown down to rescue her.
I looked down at my palm, blood seeping from where the porcelain shards had cut it, then turned my head.
Slightly rumpled, pale brown hair.
Sharp eyes and green irises that bore witness to the pure bloodline of the Yak-ryeong Clan.
The man who stepped through the door was Yeon Do-pyeong, Uncle’s son.
“Hey, terminal case!”
Yeon Do-pyeong’s brow furrowed as he took in the scattered medicinal herbs on the floor.
“Did you make this mess yourself?”
Hong Dan-i’s eyes glistened with tears as she rushed to speak.
“Yes, that’s right! The Young Lady pushed me—”
“You’ve arrived at just the right moment, brother.”
I bit down on the pain and pushed myself upright, cutting off Hong Dan-i mid-sentence.
“What?”
Whenever he came looking for me because work was delayed, I would bow my head and apologize.
But this time was different.
As I met his gaze with an expression entirely unlike my usual self, bewilderment flickered across Yeon Do-pyeong’s face.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you anyway.”
I pointed at the chaotic pile of medicinal herbs with my index finger.
“From now on, you handle your own work.”
“Hey, what are you saying right now—?”
Yeon Do-pyeong stared at me in disbelief.
“The medicinal herb sorting you’ve been leaving to me, the exam preparation—all of it. You’ll do it yourself from now on.”
I made my meaning crystal clear.
“They were always supposed to be your responsibilities anyway.”
There was a time when I lacked self-worth, when I feared Yeon Do-pyeong.
If I fell out of his favor and caused trouble, it would reach Father’s ears, and he was already suffering on my account.
I couldn’t bear to become an even greater burden to him.
So every day I tried to do their work for them—even with my damaged body.
Now I understand.
How foolish that was.
Having lived through countless regressions, I have walked this earth far longer than Yeon Do-pyeong standing before me.
And I’ve learned that to protect myself, I cannot simply cave to others’ expectations—I must stand firm in who I am.
“What’s gotten into you?”
But Yeon Do-pyeong would not submit to my words so easily.
“You’re in good spirits today, I see?”
He shrugged dismissively.
“You think that changes anything? If you act like this toward me, you’ll be cast out from the family—” He stopped short.
Swish.
I opened my palm in silence.
Between the gouges left by the porcelain shards, blood was seeping through.
Yeon Do-pyeong’s gaze flickered at the sight of it.
“Are you injured?”
“Yes. It’s bleeding, so I need immediate treatment.”
I spoke while holding his gaze steadily.
“Please attend to it, brother.”
As I extended my wounded hand, Yeon Do-pyeong’s lips parted, then closed again.
I moved toward him slowly.
Close enough that the blood pooling at my fingertips would stain the cuff of his robe.
“What, are you mad? Why should I—other physicians can—”
“If you’re a member of the Yak-ryeong Clan, you should know how to treat a wound like this.”
I added quietly.
“If you have the talent for it.”
……!
Yeon Do-pyeong’s pupils trembled violently.
That reaction alone was enough.
My suspicion had been correct.
“Well, if you truly don’t wish to, there’s nothing I can do.”
I withdrew my injured hand.
“Brother, you’re aware of the Absolute Law of the Yak-ryeong Clan, are you not?”
Yeon Do-pyeong flinched.
Yes. He had no words left.
The most absolute law of the Yak-ryeong Clan, a family celebrated for medicine, was singular and uncompromising.
“The patient comes first.”
Looking at my own circumstances, one could see how thoroughly that law had been abandoned.
But it would be different before the family head.
As I struck at the facts without the slightest hesitation, Yeon Do-pyeong’s eyes darkened noticeably.
“Your visits to my room were only because Uncle ordered you to look after me, your patient.”
Most of the Yak-ryeong bloodline inherited talent in medicine naturally.
But Uncle, who now served as acting family head, had no leisure to develop his own gifts while managing the household.
The Elder Aunt’s son, the most promising successor candidate for the next generation, was similarly occupied with studies and training.
Which was why Yeon Do-pyeong, known to possess exceptional medical talent, had been assigned to monitor my health.
“Yet you’ve never actually examined me—instead, you’ve foisted herb classification on me. And why? Because—”
Tap.
I stepped closer, crossing the last distance between us.
“You have no talent for medicine at all.”
The most fatal weakness in a house of healing like the Yak-ryeong Clan.
It was the rarest of misfortunes—to be born without the gift of medicine.
Perhaps even harsher than a terminal illness.
Until now, because Yeon Do-pyeong had thrust his responsibilities onto me, that truth had remained hidden.
But now everything was different.
“Wh—what—!”
Whoosh—!
Yeon Do-pyeong’s face flushed crimson in an instant, the heat spreading even to his ears, rendering them a dark, burning shade.
He had likely never imagined it.
That I, who had always complied quietly, would ever contradict him so directly.
Then it came.
Knock, knock.
A cautious sound drifted from beyond the door.
“Young Master, the family head is asking for you.”

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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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