Though I strained my ears, I couldn’t hear a thing.

Was it because he had learned martial arts? I did recall reading that Yeo Ha-ryoon had possessed a keen Qi sense, even as a child.

“Want some?” I asked. I pulled out another sweet rice cake and offered it to him, mouthing a signal with my lips.

Act as natural as possible.

Yeo Ha-ryoon immediately understood my intent. He took the rice cake and brought it to his mouth.

“This is good,” he said. He meant it.

“Right? The kitchen chef made them himself.”

A few moments later, a young woman emerged from the woods. She was tall, with a refreshing and open-hearted air about her.

“Ah, it’s the benefactor!”

A familiar face.

“Oh, hello!”

“Have you been well, Benefactor Brat?”

It was Gongsun Yeong. Ever since I saved her, she had taken to calling me “Benefactor Brat.” Some of the household staff gossiped behind her back about her overly casual speech, but I knew the truth. Her lighthearted words carried the weight of a solemn promise.

I wondered why she had come all this way, leaving her sister’s side.

“I’m gathering flowers for my sister,” she explained. “She loves flower tea.”

In her large hands was a bouquet of flowers—all of them pulled out roots and all. Whether it was due to her immense strength, an intention to brew the roots into the tea as well, or simply her straightforward personality, the option of merely picking the flowers had apparently never occurred to her.

“Benefactor Brat, you’re supposed to be a great doctor, right? You must know a lot about medicinal herbs too.”

“I haven’t studied much about herbs, so I don’t know much. My specialty is ‘Art of Cutting Flesh’—surgery. But shouldn’t you be the one taking medicinal herbs, Noona?”

“I’m stronger than anyone, so I’m fine. Look.”

She picked up a stone and squeezed.

Crack—

Watching the stone crumble to dust in her hand, I was inwardly stunned.

Wow, I really do need to learn martial arts.

She continued, “My sister cried herself to sleep worrying about me yesterday, and now she’s caught a cold. I’m too simple-minded to know what to gather besides flowers like these… Besides, she’s going to be the matriarch of our clan. She can’t afford to be sick.”

And that sister of yours wants to give the matriarch position to you.

—The matriarch of the Gongsun Clan must be strong and righteous. It is not a position for someone as weak and wicked as I. Yeong. My dear Yeong.

I sighed. “I can help you find some mugwort. But before that, couldn’t you just have a servant brew some tea?”

“She won’t drink it unless I make it for her. My sister gets picky when she’s sick.”

Gongsun Yeong then looked at me earnestly. “…And thank you. Really. It’s not enough that you saved my life, but now I’m indebted to you again.”

She flashed a bright smile. “Want to brew the tea with me? My sister has been wanting to meet you alone, anyway.”

***

What was it about Gongsun Yeong that made Gongsun Hyeon so utterly devoted to her?

In the novel, Gongsun Yeong dies early on. As a result, all descriptions of her are filtered through Gongsun Hyeon’s memories. Memories of the dead are always beautified. The Gongsun Yeong that Hyeon remembered was something like this:

—Sister, don’t worry. With you by my side, what is there to fear in this world? I will work hard at both martial arts and my studies to become a great person.

The reality was this:

“Here’s the mugwort…”

“Hup!”

Dududududu!

Like a human rice-planting machine, she began to rip mugwort from the ground with terrifying force. A fair number of weeds were mixed in. That’s right. She couldn’t tell the difference between weeds and mugwort. No matter how many times I showed her, she couldn’t remember. However, her ability to completely decimate the surrounding area, leaving not a single blade of grass behind, was nothing short of genius.

D-Does everyone who learns martial arts become like this?

I glanced to my side. Even Little Heavenly Demon was speechless, staring blankly at Gongsun Yeong.

Apparently not.

This is different from the description in the novel. I mean, the part about her working hard is the same, but something is fundamentally different!

The absurdity of this situation was one thing, but the speed at which the pile of greens was growing was genuinely frightening. I gave up on trying to gather any myself. I knew a human could never win against a machine. Instead, I sorted the piles into weeds, mugwort, and flowers.

This one looks fancy… it must be an expensive orchid… Probably a hundred, no, a thousand times more expensive than mugwort… Right. Let’s just blame it all on Noona. It’s the truth, isn’t it? I told her to pick mugwort; I never told her to desertify the garden.

I smiled brightly. “Noona, we’ve gathered enough. In fact, it’s way too much.”

“Oh, really? I can get more…!”

“No. I think it’s best if we stop.”

“Okay. Is there anything else you need besides mugwort? I can chop some firewood for you.”

—My Yeong, like the snow, like a flower… my kind and gentle Yeong…

Where is the snow and flowers…? This is just a human farming implement.

I realized with a shudder that 80% of memories about the dead are a scam. And the rose-tinted glasses through which Gongsun Hyeon saw Gongsun Yeong were apparently made of titanium.²

“This mugwort… there’s so much of it. After we make the tea, we should share it not only with Gongsun Hyeon-noona but with everyone else, too.”

“Oh? Okay, okay! Our Benefactor Brat is so kind! To think of something like that.”

You’ve destroyed this many expensive plants; we need to create accomplices.

An old army senior of mine had a saying: If you eat alone, you get sick alone. By the time the truth was discovered, the mugwort tea would be in everyone’s stomach.

I smiled radiantly. “I don’t really know how to brew tea.”

“Okay. Okay. That’s fine.”

At that moment, Little Heavenly Demon, Yeo Ha-ryoon, spoke up, his face pale. “I… I will be returning. If something happens, let me know.”

“Alright. Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“…Hyung-nim.”

“Good, my dear younger brother.”

Even while picking mugwort, I hadn’t forgotten to continue brainwashing Little Heavenly Demon.

***

After the mugwort harvest, Yeo Ha-ryoon disappeared.

Tsk tsk. He’s still a kid. He got bored and ran off.

Clicking my tongue, I looked to my side. You can’t just boil mugwort and call it tea. There’s a process to it, and the results of that process were now beside me.

What was that process? First, you wash the mugwort, keeping only the leaves and discarding the stems. Then, you dry the washed leaves in the shade before roasting them over a fire. After that, you cool and dry them again. This process must be repeated several times to complete the tea.

Even the serving maids from the Gongsun Clan joined in, and after a full day of dedicated work, we had something that at least resembled tea leaves. I couldn’t guarantee the taste, though.

It doesn’t matter. What’s important is Gongsun Yeong’s sincerity.

Gongsun Yeong had been involved in the entire process, making it with her own hands. It felt less like she was helping and more like she was hindering the maids’ work, but that wasn’t the important part.

When the preparations were finally finished, Gongsun Yeong beamed. I thought her smile was lovely, but I didn’t say it out loud.

“I hope my sister likes it.”

“She will, Noona.”

“Our Benefactor Brat! Honestly, you always know just the right thing to say.”

She laughed heartily and ruffled my hair. Her large hand completely covered my head. It was a warm hand.

A young lady from a prestigious clan, a martial artist, had gone through this tedious process without a single complaint. The servants watching her all had bright expressions, as if they were looking at the spring sunshine. Gongsun Yeong was the kind of person who energized everyone around her.

So that’s why Gongsun Hyeon cherished her so much.

To be jealous of someone who has what you lack is the mark of a petty person. Gongsun Hyeon, by contrast, was a great soul.

Once the tea was ready, Gongsun Yeong brought out an ink-black tea set. There were many beautiful white and blue sets, but she said Hyeon specifically preferred black. She filled the pot with hot water to steep the leaves, then immediately discarded it. The first infusion is always thrown away; the second brew is where the deeper aroma and flavor lie.

After pouring the second infusion, she lifted the tray herself and headed straight for the room where Gongsun Hyeon was staying.

“Sister, I brewed some tea!”

A small voice answered from within. “I am not feeling well at the moment…”

It was a clear dismissal. Gongsun Yeong just laughed boisterously. “I knew you’d say that.”

With that, she slid the door open without permission. Excessively boisterous. Or should I say, unreservedly frank?

I hesitated, wondering if I should follow her in, but she gave my backside a gentle nudge with her knee. “It’s fine. Come on in.”

Inside, I could see a bedchamber with a thin bead curtain drawn around the bed. The silhouette of a woman was faintly visible through the beads. She was wrapped in black clothes.

“You’re not going to drink my tea?”

“…Yeong.”

“I made it with Benefactor Brat after we picked mugwort together. I even got help from the Divine Physician to add some other things that are good for the body.”

As we passed through the curtain and drew closer, I saw a pale, thin woman sitting there. She was so gaunt that the outline of her vertebrae was visible behind her neck. She sat hunched over like a cat, which made her thin frame look even more grotesque.

The Black Ice Poison Dragon, Gongsun Hyeon. She wore black, rarely smiled, and her occasional schemes were said to be like poison, hence the nickname.

At the head of her bed was a Go board, the black and white stones locked in a chaotic, muddy battle. The unconventional brawl on the board was strangely unnerving. She placed a stone down.

Tak.

What in the world was she thinking, staring at that board? If I hadn’t read the novel, I probably would have judged her solely by her appearance. As I saw it, if Gongsun Yeong was a heroic warrior, then Gongsun Hyeon was a master strategist. But she wasn’t in the same vein as a Zhuge Liang or a Zhou Yu.

Xun Yu[1].

It was a strange thought. The woman before me was called the Poison Dragon. She never smiled, never let anyone get close.

She cleared the Go board.

“You have come. I have wished to see you for some time, but I can only apologize for showing myself in this state.”

Normally, you would have invited me to a formal meeting. But Gongsun Yeong just barged in regardless.

Gongsun Yeong grinned like a large dog and poured her sister a cup of tea.

Slosh—

The sound of the pouring liquid echoed awkwardly in the quiet room.

“Not at all,” I said. “Please, speak comfortably. Gongsun Yeong-noona does with me.”

“This fool… Haaa…”

Gongsun Hyeon shot her sister a glare, then finally sighed.