The return of the granddaughter of the Namgoong family

After Seop Mugwang left, only Ilhwa and the head of the medical hall remained in the room.

Given that Ilhwa had nearly died at the hands of someone before, the head of the medical hall was a little tense, but she made an effort to maintain a bright smile.

“You seem to be training very hard. Still, it would be best to be a bit more careful. Let me take a look at your wound.”

Ilhwa extended her arm to her.

When the head of the medical hall looked at her with surprise, Ilhwa spoke.

“I think I have internal injuries. Could you check them?”

“I can check, but… it will require my internal energy. Is that alright?”

Ilhwa nodded willingly.

“Wow, I didn’t expect you to offer it so easily. Could it be that you’re starting to trust me?”

Even after their first encounter, where Ilhwa nearly died, the head of the medical hall still smiled brightly.

She took Ilhwa’s thin arm and immediately closed her eyes, focusing on taking her pulse.

The faint energy that seeped in searched through Ilhwa’s body via her blood vessels.

‘Someone who’s not from Namgung, but in a key position.’

In reality, her role as the head of the medical hall was nominal, and her influence within Namgung was minimal, so it was unclear whether she truly held a position of power.

However, as the leader of the medical hall, she held the lives of people in the Namgung faction in her hands.

If she chose to, she could easily poison and destroy the people of Namgung.

‘Just like when I was with the Blood Sect.’

When the head of the medical hall’s energy passed near Ilhwa’s lower abdomen, there was a slight hesitation.

Her brow furrowed.

As the energy lingered and then moved again, a quiet voice entered her mind.

— Do you have someone you wish to kill?

The voice echoed in her head as the medical hall leader continued to search Ilhwa’s blood vessels.

Slowly, the head of the medical hall opened her eyes.

Her energy quickly retreated.

For a brief moment, their gazes met.

The head of the medical hall tilted her head with a smile.

— What do you mean by that?

Despite the simple question, Ilhwa responded through their mental connection, showing her willingness to converse.

Ilhwa smiled and replied.

— Just what I asked.

— Hmm…

The head of the medical hall let go of Ilhwa’s hand and leaned back in her chair.

Her eyes, filled with confusion and curiosity, were locked on Ilhwa.

— I did have someone like that before. Why do you ask, my dear little cat?

— Is it still true?

— Fortunately, no, that person is dead now.

A chill emanated from her smile, an unsettling one.

It was the same expression Ilhwa had seen on Dokwol in her past life.

Filled with poison, as though someone could die from it at any moment.

In her past life, whenever she displayed this expression, it wasn’t long before a member of the sect would die.

The cause of death was always different, but Ilhwa knew they had all been poisoned.

— Then when do you think you’ll want to kill again?

— Hmm?

The head of the medical hall tilted her chin and raised an eyebrow.

Her expression seemed to question why Ilhwa would be curious about something like that, but she answered earnestly.

— If someone touches the people I love, I might want to kill them.

— Do you have someone you love?

— Hmm… So this was what my little cat was really curious about?

— Is it Namgung?

The head of the medical hall raised an eyebrow, her gaze drifting to the moxibustion herbs on the table.

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

— Hmm, that’s a hard question to answer. I could say yes, or I could say no.

Ilhwa slowly nodded.

— Oh, did I get an answer?

— Yes.

From this conversation, at least one thing was clear to Ilhwa.

She wasn’t ‘Dokwol,’ not yet, at least.

That was enough for now.

Ilhwa turned her gaze away slowly.

— Blood King Poison.

With a snap, the moxibustion box in the head of the medical hall’s hand shattered.

— Choryeon.

When Ilhwa’s gaze returned to her, the head of the medical hall was no longer smiling.

Ilhwa’s lips curved into a cold smile.

— You’ll need to help me.

***

The Blood King Poison was the hidden old notoriety of Choryeon.

Choryeon had originally been an assistant in the palace under the Emperor’s court, but one day, an incident occurred where the second prince of the imperial family was poisoned.

The person pointed out as the culprit of the incident was Choryeon.

However, when the Imperial Guards were dispatched to capture her, she had already disappeared without a trace.

After that, she gained the alias Blood King Poison.

Why she was in Namgung was unknown, but in the end, Choryeon was indeed the murderer of the second prince.

When the second prince went out for some leisure, he stayed in the village where Choryeon had lived. When a neighboring woman refused to serve the prince, Choryeon reportedly killed everyone in the village.

The only one who survived, Choryeon, went mad with revenge and fought her way into the palace, eventually killing the second prince. It was a tragic tale that could only be heard without tears.

‘The story I heard from Dokwol is really helpful.’

In her past life, Ilhwa liked the medical hall but didn’t care for Dokwol.

More precisely, she had no interest in Dokwol.

However, Dokwol always liked to chat beside her whenever she visited. This had been part of her past that she’d only casually heard.

‘By the way, I see that I was already under some kind of suggestion. He’s thorough, isn’t he?’

A suggestion was a type of mental manipulation technique.

Normally, a person under suggestion wouldn’t realize it. But when the one who cast the suggestion made a specific sound or took an action, the suggestion would activate, and the person would fall under their control.

Ilhwa had thought she was free because the Blood Demon hadn’t placed a blood bond on her, but it seemed the Blood Demon had no intention of letting her go so easily.

‘He didn’t put a full bond on me so that I could kill him myself, but at least he’s maintaining some control over me.’

She didn’t even know when the suggestion had been cast on her.

Judging by the fact that she couldn’t remember, it seemed to have happened before she was five years old, when her memories were lost.

‘There are two ways to break a suggestion. One is to kill the person who cast it, and the other is to fully submit to the suggestion and wait until it dissipates.’

Either eliminate the cause or wait for the suggestion to lose its power.

‘The reason I was able to break free today is probably because the person who cast the suggestion wasn’t around. The connection was weak, so it could be severed easily.’

This meant that the Blood Demon could come and manipulate her at any time. She had to find a way to break the suggestion before that happened.

‘What happened last night was probably a warning.’

A threat for trying to break free on her own. A warning that no matter how much she struggled, she wouldn’t be able to escape his control.

If she ignored the warning, he would surely come to find her.

At least within a day or two.

‘If possible, I hope to be recognized as a child of Namgung before that happens.’

Once she was recognized as a child of Namgung, she would belong to the Namgung faction.

The Blood Sect hadn’t yet gathered enough power to make a public appearance in the central plains. While they were secretly working beneath the surface, infiltrating the martial world to consume it from below, they wouldn’t go so far as to reveal themselves by taking her away and causing a conflict with Namgung.

‘Once I’m recognized as a child of Namgung, I can figure out a way to break the suggestion.’

She had asked the head of the medical hall to find a way to break it. If that didn’t work, she would have to eliminate the suggestion and return to her original self.

‘Before that…’

“Ha! Haah!”

Ilhwa, who had arrived at the training ground early in the morning, stopped when she heard the loud, forceful kiai coming from inside.

‘With a child’s body, there are limits to what I can do.’

She had clearly realized this after last night.

A child’s body was not very convenient for moving freely.

Because of her age, people tried to protect, watch, and control her.

So, in order to actively intervene in Namgung’s growth, she would need an adult—someone with power—who could shield her.

Someone who could be her shield at times and blind others’ eyes at others. Someone who could do things for her that she couldn’t accomplish with a child’s body.

‘It would be good to have at least one reliable subordinate.’

Ilhwa stepped into the training ground.

“Ha! Ha!”

On the sparring stage inside, someone was practicing with a sword.

It was the squad leader of the 11th rank of the Red Dragon faction, the same person who had practiced swords with Ilhwa the day before.

He had been training since early morning, even before the sun rose, which was the answer to the question Ilhwa had been seeking.

‘Change starts with a small commitment. Even if that commitment is despair.’

His face was covered in sweat, and his martial arts robe was soaked through.

This meant he had been training for a long time already.

‘In that sense…’

Looking at the squad leader of the Red Dragon faction, who was unaware that she had arrived but still diligently training, Ilhwa’s lips curled into a slight smile.

‘The change has already begun.’