<Chapter 7>
Unyeong sat down to have lunch with Seol Do-jin, who had come to visit her quarters.
“Um, Yeong-ah.”
“Yes, Brother.”
“Well, I mean…”
“Yes?”
Seol Do-jin looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t quite get the words out.
Unyeong looked at him curiously.
Seol Do-jin had turned sixteen this year. He was tall and well-built. His features were so similar to Seol Ja-dan’s that they could have been mistaken for copies.
However, unlike Seol Won-pyeong and Seol Ja-dan, the corners of his eyes drooped slightly, giving him a gentler impression.
And like the others, there were no visible signs that Seol Do-jin had trained in martial arts.
‘I really wonder what kind of martial arts he practices.’
Unyeong was a martial arts fanatic and well-versed in martial theories. As someone who loved researching martial arts, she found the Seol family’s traditional martial arts style incredibly intriguing.
‘If I asked him to show me… Hmm. He probably wouldn’t. Should I spy on him?’
Still, she was a precious young lady of the Seol household. It wasn’t like they’d kill her for trying to catch a glimpse of their martial arts.
‘Why does this household have so many secrets? Seriously, it’s frustrating.’
Finally, as if making up his mind, Seol Do-jin spoke.
“Isn’t this… too much?”
“Huh? Too much?”
Unyeong blinked and repeated his words.
‘What on earth is he talking about being too much?’
To her eyes, it was just a well-prepared meal. When she mentioned wanting to eat meat, the chef had worked his magic and produced a feast.
“I-I mean the meat. Doesn’t it seem like there’s too much meat?”
“This?”
The table was filled with five different meat dishes and three kinds of fish. To Unyeong, it looked like a typical spread.
From what she remembered, the Seol household’s chefs were very skilled. Since she had only eaten porridge since waking up, it was time to verify if her memory served right.
“Let’s eat, Brother.”
“Alright. Let’s eat. Yeong-ah, you should eat lo—”
Chopchopchop! Before he could finish, the rapid clattering of chopsticks rang out. Seol Do-jin froze with his chopsticks still raised.
Unyeong’s chopsticks were moving at an unbelievable speed, scooping up pieces of meat into her mouth.
The first thing she grabbed was dongpayuk (braised pork belly).
The tender meat melted on her tongue as soon as it touched. Her cheeks puffed out slightly as she chewed.
‘Whoa, this meat melts in my mouth.’
Next came a massive duck wing. It was so big it seemed impossible to fit in her small mouth, but somehow, she managed.
Her stuffed cheeks moved steadily as she kept chewing.
Seol Do-jin stared at her in a daze and thought,
‘A master… a true master! A meat-eating master has appeared in the Seol household!’
When it came to meat, Unyeong had already reached a level of mastery. While porridge made her feel full quickly, meat was a different story.
She could eat it quickly, in large amounts, and without pause. So her chopsticks never stopped moving.
‘She didn’t eat meat like this before she got sick…’
Since she had been very ill, he couldn’t help but worry a little.
But his concerns were short-lived.
The fact that she could eat this much meant she had fully recovered.
Pleased to see Unyeong eating so well, Do-jin also picked up his chopsticks.
The meat was truly delicious.
“Hurry up and drink it, Yeong-ah. It’s for your own good.”
“Yes, Brother.”
After finishing a satisfying meat-filled meal, a dark, murky decoction was placed in front of Unyeong.
It was a digestive medicine prescribed by Physician Son.
But why did she have to drink such a thing after happily eating meat? Unyeong’s body had always digested meat well.
Maybe she should’ve listened when Seol Do-jin and the nanny told her to slow down.
But the food had simply been too delicious.
The Seol family’s chef was truly the best. It tasted exactly as she remembered. The meat practically clung to her tongue.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say his skill was the best in all of Hubei.
She hadn’t even overeaten… so why this medicine?
With a small sigh, Unyeong glared at the bowl.
“My lady. It’s not good if it cools down. Please drink it now. Bottoms up.”
“O-okay…”
Even as she responded, her hand hesitated.
“Nanny, I think this is too hot. You know I can’t handle hot drinks well. If I just wait for it to cool a bit…”
“But earlier, you seemed to eat hot meat just fine. Go on and drink it.”
The nanny’s teasing made Unyeong speechless.
She felt wronged. Her body was good at digesting meat.
‘It’s just how I was born! Should I just tell them everything?’
Unyeong herself hadn’t known until she went to Beocheo.
When she was young, she just ate whatever she was given. After falling ill, she only had porridge. So she hadn’t realized her body was naturally suited to eating meat.
Actually, there was much more she hadn’t known.
“You were born with the Celestial Martial Body (Cheonmu-jiche).”
This was the first thing Master Deung Noya said after checking her body once she recovered at Beocheo.
When Unyeong didn’t understand, he explained.
The Celestial Martial Body was a physique born for martial arts.
Strong and durable bones and muscles, thicker and more robust meridians than others—it was a constitution that allowed energy to flow without obstruction.
She also had exceptional perception, able to understand martial arts others couldn’t grasp, and innate memory for martial forms and postures.
Thus, once she saw a martial technique, she could easily remember and reproduce it.
However, because her body had always been weak, Unyeong didn’t believe him.
“But why is there so much poisonous energy built up in your meridians? How strange. That poison must’ve kept anyone from noticing your true physique. Only someone like me could recognize it.”
He then went on and on, boasting about himself.
Well, he was brilliant. But hearing the same thing dozens or hundreds of times got tiring.
What mattered was that Unyeong had the Celestial Martial Body and that there was poison accumulated in her meridians.
After pondering for days, Deung Noya finally asked,
“Did your mother happen to practice poison-based martial arts?”
Poison martial arts?
Unyeong couldn’t answer. She knew almost nothing about her mother.
No one in the Seol family had ever spoken directly about her.
What little Unyeong knew came from gossip among servants or malicious comments from cousins.
“Yes. The lady did practice poison martial arts,” So-gyo answered.
It was the first time Unyeong had heard this, and she was shocked.
“I see. That makes sense. Your mother likely mastered advanced poison arts. She probably had many poisons in her body with built-up resistance. That said, it’s not impossible for someone who practices poison arts to bear a child.”
Of course. Many such women had children.
“But in your case… I suspect your mother suffered a major internal injury while pregnant. She lost control of the poison, and it flowed into the fetus—you. Tsk tsk.”
Then how had she survived?
“Well, because you have the Celestial Martial Body, you were able to withstand the poison. You must’ve fought it in the womb. Remarkable. That’s why you were able to be born.”
Unyeong had asked then—was her mother’s death her fault?
That mattered. Because she remembered her father Seol Ja-dan always looking at her with sorrow in his eyes.
“Your mother didn’t die because of you. If poison leaked into the fetus, it meant she was already beyond saving. Rather, thanks to you absorbing the poison, she was able to hold on a bit longer.”
Upon hearing that, she thought she might have cried.
There was no reason for Deung Noya to lie to her, so his words felt like salvation.
“But it seems the energy suppressing the poison has weakened. If you had trained in martial arts earlier, it could’ve been overcome more easily. Tsk.”
Clicking his tongue, Deung Noya added with a mischievous look,
“Well, it’s not like there’s no solution. Try looking around. There are plenty of books—something’s bound to catch your interest.”
And that was the beginning of martial arts-obsessed Seol Unyeong.
‘Nanny, I was born with the Celestial Martial Body. The thing about the meat… well, it’s like… my body wants it. It’s not just me being greedy, okay?’
Tch, what’s the point in thinking about it. It’s not like she could say any of this out loud.
Unyeong tightly shut her eyes and drank the medicine.
It was bitter. And there was a lot of it, too.
Gulp, gulp. She swallowed the endlessly bitter liquid.
“Oh my, my lady. You even drink your medicine so well. How admirable.”
“Our Yeong-ah. Truly amazing. To drink such bitter medicine without fuss.”
The nanny and Seol Do-jin both chimed in with smiles.
Unyeong, grimacing, looked at them… then let out a soft laugh.
Well, if everyone was happy, that was enough.
But her mouth still tasted terribly bitter.
Disgustingly bitter.
No, truly bitter.
