Before heading back to my quarters, I stopped by the Medicine King’s Hall. Figured tossing that dumb bastard some Gold Wound Balm might make me worry a little less.
At first, I was going to walk in through the main gate like I owned the place. But if I showed up under my name and walked out with Gold Wound Balm, it’d definitely reach the ears of those sappy idiots in my family.
“Who the hell hurt you, Ahwa?”
“How bad is it? Where? Whoever it was, I’ll give it back double!”
“If you’re hurt, that means your brothers are hurting too…”
Ugh. Even thinking about it makes my skin crawl. I literally shuddered.
And if I said it was for someone else, they’d just pester me about who it was. I can’t exactly tell them Sahyeon came home stabbed with a sword.
Anyway, this is a Martial household crawling with people who train all day. There’s got to be a stockpile of Gold Wound Balm and bruise cream around here somewhere.
I vaulted over the wall. The medicinal smell that had been drifting faintly from nearby hit me full in the nose.
I muffled my footsteps and slipped into what looked like a storage room. There were too many tiny drawers to count. Just seeing how many types of medicinal ingredients they had gave me a pretty good idea of how filthy rich the Moyong Clan must be.
“Ooh… this’ll come in handy later.”
The laugh slipped out before I could stop it.
Come to think of it, I’m a future fugitive. When you’re on the run, emergency medicine’s a must. I should start hoarding ingredients now. I mean, with this much lying around, who’s gonna notice if a little goes missing?
Rare herbs go for a fortune, anyway. Just standing here, it felt like all of it had turned into my own private pile of gold bars.
“Wait for me, my little treasures.”
I’ll need to find a stash spot first, so I’ll come back for them later.
I started looking for the Gold Wound Balm. Unfortunately, this place looked like it was strictly for storing dried herbs. No processed medicine in sight.
I nudged aside the herb-slicing board and slipped out through the window. On a whim, I headed toward the main hall. Honestly, I felt a little dumb for being so stealthy—place was dead quiet. Not even a damn rat.
I didn’t even need to search that hard. Opened a drawer labeled Gold Wound Balm and found a stack of small metal tins, each about the size of my palm. Off in a corner were some nicer-looking ones too.
I picked up one of the fancy tins with a butterfly design etched into the lid. It was topical balm. Probably the expensive kind reserved for the Moyong Clan higher-ups.
Wouldn’t that kind work a little better?
There weren’t many of the fancy ones, so swiping two would be too noticeable. I took one regular and one premium, slipped them into my robe, and quietly closed the drawer.
Then I rummaged through a few more drawers and snagged three pain-relief and anti-inflammatory pill packs. The wax paper around them crinkled, and I glanced around just in case. Still silent.
When a wound’s healing, you’ve just gotta deal with the pain. These help a lot. Sure, alcohol works too, but that only dulls the pain—it slows recovery.
“Alright, time to bounce…”
I was all ready to skip out, humming to myself, when a ledger caught my eye. I almost ignored it, then doubled back and peeked inside. It listed all incoming and outgoing medicine. I even saw the entry from earlier, when Hyangah picked up a batch.
Figures this place would be fight central—most of the stock going out was Gold Wound Balm and bruise cream. Occasionally there were cold remedies or ointment for boils too.
“Boils, huh. Rough.”
I flipped a few pages ahead half-heartedly. Each entry logged the date, medicine type, symptoms, department, and name. One name snagged my eye.
Moyong Muhyeok.
More precisely, a large stock of basic medicine had been delivered to Moyong Muhyeok’s residence. Nothing too strange—it was mostly tonic herbs. But one ingredient caught my eye.
“…Motherwort, huh.”
I’m no herbalist, but I know this one. Country women usually drink it during summer while working in the fields. It’s easy to find—it grows wild—and it’s ice-cold in nature, so it helps prevent heatstroke. Supposedly great for blood circulation, so women on their periods drink it a lot.
Which obviously isn’t the case with Moyong Muhyeok. Maybe his body runs hot so he’s using cooling herbs?
Just in case, I mentally logged the other ingredients that came with it, then closed the ledger and put it back like I’d never touched it. I’ll ask Dang Iheon about it later if I get the chance. The Dang Clan bastards aren’t just poison freaks—they’re decent healers too.
Before anyone could walk in, I slipped out of the Medicine King’s Hall.
When I got back to Sahyeon, he was sound asleep. The blanket pulled up over his head rose and fell with each breath.
Looked like his roommate had brewed him some medicine—an empty bowl sat by the pillow. I moved it to the table and set down the Premium Gold Wound Balm and the three pill packs in its place.
Thought about leaving a note, but this was the servants’ dorm, and there was no brush or ink around. Whatever. He’ll know who left it.
The moonlight tonight was especially bright. Maybe that’s why the shabby room looked even starker… and Sahyeon’s hunched little bed looked even smaller. This probably wasn’t the first time he’d spent days sick and alone under those damp blankets.
I stared down at the lump of bedding for a while, caught in a weird mood. Then I vaulted back out through the window.
* * *
Inside the carriage heading toward the tea house to meet the Dang siblings, Hyangah was grumbling.
“You sent the message through Jaeyu, so you just know Young Lady Sohae will come rushing in like she’s on fire. You should’ve just told me to do it!”
“Sohae already ran off to the tea house. I asked on the way out earlier. She got there late last time and spent the whole meeting eating awkward silence, so I bet she’s planning to be early and wait this time.”
“Ugh, seriously…!”
I laughed, watching Hyangah swallow back something really nasty. That just made her even more exasperated—she started thumping her chest.
“This isn’t the time to be laughing, you know! Normally you’d be pissed about this sort of thing. Why are you acting so damn soft these days?! What if Young Lord Dang actually falls for that fox?! Then what?!”
“What’d the fox ever do to you? And I’m not soft.”
She’s one of my favorites, so I stopped myself before grabbing her by the collar. For now, I soothed her instead. Narrowing her eyes, Hyangah asked cautiously,
“Did you… maybe send an assassin to the tea house?”
“What? Are you kidding me? That’s not my style…”
I slipped up and squawked a bit. The fact that a Sect bastard like me, who’ll do anything to achieve a goal, was getting emotional about this—seriously, what the hell.
I fidgeted with the hair ornament Hyangah had so carefully pinned in, glancing out the window. We must’ve passed the busiest district, since it was starting to quiet down out there.
After watching the streets for a moment, I asked,
“Hyangah, do you know where this carriage is going?”
“Huh? To the Cheongo Tea House, obviously. Isn’t that the meeting spot?”
“Right. This carriage is headed to the Cheongo Tea House.”
For a moment, Hyangah looked totally lost, then suspiciously reached out to feel my forehead. I guess she figured I was talking nonsense because I’d lost it.
I smiled faintly and gently wrapped my hand around her wrist.
“Well then, shall we head to our meeting?”
* * *
Sunlight was sliding across Moyong Sohae’s pale skin as she sat by the window. When she frowned slightly, her attendant jumped and quickly tilted the parasol to block the light.
Only then did Sohae relax her expression. She absentmindedly ran her fingers along her teacup and asked,
“Did I hear that right?”
“Yes, I passed along the message exactly as I heard it, My Lady. And I was told Lady Yeonhwa’s carriage is already headed this way.”
It must’ve been the fifth—or tenth—time, but Jaeyu still answered steadily. Moyong Sohae had arrived at the Cheongo Tea House a full fifteen minutes before the agreed time and was waiting. Since this was the biggest and oldest tea house in the area, it wouldn’t seem weird to “coincidentally” run into someone here.
But now that the meeting time had already passed, even Sohae couldn’t avoid getting impatient.
With the situation dragging like this, Jaeyu was nearly shaking from nerves. If something had gone wrong, she had no idea what Moyong Sohae might do to her.
Soowa, who used to serve this role, was still locked up. Jaeyu had once snuck near where she was being held, and although she couldn’t get past the Moyong Clan guards, she’d clearly heard Soowa sobbing and begging to be let out.
Moyong Sohae hadn’t mentioned Soowa’s name once—as if she had no intention of releasing her. Maybe she’d already forgotten she existed.
Jaeyu kept glancing nervously between the street and the passing carriages. A part of her regretted this whole thing. Maybe she should’ve waited and watched longer before relaying the message. What if Moyong Yeonhwa had just used her to stir something up?
If she didn’t prove useful, she could end up just like Soowa. That fear had driven her to speak too soon.
“Lady Yeonhwa said she’d be meeting Young Lord Dang and Young Lady Dang Choye tomorrow, around midday, at the Cheongo Tea House.”
Jaeyu kept mentally repeating that line, biting the inside of her cheek in mounting panic.
Then, in the distance, a carriage came into view. Four armed escorts were walking alongside—warriors in the Moyong Clan’s uniform.
Moyong Yeonhwa had finally arrived.
“There—there’s the carriage!”
Jaeyu barely hid the relief in her voice. Moyong Sohae’s hand stopped cold on her teacup, then her lips curled into a wide smile.
“Well, it seems my dear Iheon is running a bit late.”
“Y-Yes, seems like it.”
“You shouldn’t be seen, so slip out the back and go.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Jaeyu bowed quickly and retreated. She already knew where the tea house’s back exit was—she’d gotten the details straight from the owner in advance. She darted out a small side door near the kitchen and ducked behind some trees just outside.
Running into Moyong Yeonhwa or Hyangah on the way out would be a total disaster. And a tiny part of her still worried—what if she’d mistaken the carriage?
She wouldn’t be able to breathe easy until she knew she was right.
The carriage stopped right in front of the tea house.
The coachman stood respectfully at attention beside it, so maybe the passenger was still fixing her appearance. Jaeyu narrowed her eyes, trying to make out more details. No matter how she looked at it, it was definitely Moyong Yeonhwa’s carriage.
Her brothers adored her so much they had it custom-built for her. It was made of black steelwood—insanely durable and just as insanely expensive—and bore the Moyong Clan crest, large enough for anyone to recognize.
Technically, it was more extravagant than Moyong Wi’s, the Clan Head’s. Though lately, Yeonhwa had been too obsessed with training martial arts to even glance at it.
At this point, she didn’t even need to see who was inside. There was only one person who ever rode that carriage—Moyong Yeonhwa.
Feeling a bit lighter, Jaeyu quickly turned and walked away from the tea house. If Hyangah had come with Moyong Yeonhwa, then for the next few hours, the Moyong estate would be blissfully free of all its irritating people.
Thinking about how best to enjoy this brief freedom, she was practically giddy.
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