If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 7

Yuseol dreamed she was sitting alone on the snowy path of vast Museolwon.

The sun rose in the sky, then snow fell, and then rain. Throughout admiring the scenery, she felt somehow lonely.

It seemed as if someone should appear and guide her to paradise, but there was no news. She was accustomed to a life of waiting, but there was no way to soothe her desolate heart.

She suddenly recalled the man sitting on the stone wall. He was a character who had not appeared in her previous dreams. She was endlessly curious about who he was and why he had said those words.

‘Refuse the poison.’

She wondered what would have happened if she had refused the poison as he said. Perhaps she would have suffered as a fugitive and ended her life that way.

Suddenly, an intense pain struck her. It felt as if her head had been pierced by a sharp harpoon. She clutched her head with her hands, gasping for breath.

Just then, someone spoke to her.

“Miss? Miss. Are you conscious?”

The boyish, beautiful voice was Myoyeon’s. Was it just an auditory hallucination…?

A cold wet towel was placed on her bewildered forehead.

“You’ve been sleeping for a week already. Please wake up. Everyone here is worried about you.”

Yuseol opened her eyes, listening to the anxious, beautiful voice. Myoyeon, sitting by her bedside, welcomed her with hollow eyes, as if he had suffered from long hours of nursing.

“Miss?!”

“…….”

“You’ve finally woken up!”

But how….

Her voice, calling his name, cracked weakly.

“Myoyeon-nim? Myoyeon….”

Myoyeon knelt closer, as if concentrating on her faint call, and looked at Yuseol.

“It’s truly a relief you’ve woken up.”

“Huff…. What in the world….”

Yuseol, who struggled to raise her dying body, only managed to sit leaning against the wall with Myoyeon’s help. She wanted to ask him many things, but she couldn’t resist the surging thirst.

“Water…. I’m so thirsty….”

Myoyeon fumbled on the desk, poured a full glass of water, and held it to Yuseol’s lips.

“Here you go. Please drink quickly.”

Yuseol, who with difficulty held the water glass, gulped down the water without breathing. It felt as if life-giving water was pouring into her parched body. Her heart pounded heavily and rapidly, as if it had been revived.

“Haa, haa…. What in the, how….”

She had clearly drunk the deadly poison from the bowl. She thought her body, which had burned terribly, would simply melt away. It was impossible to regain consciousness after experiencing such a thing.

“But back then….”

“…….”

“Back then, clearly….”

She was dying.

It was deadly poison. Although the recipe was not widely known, there were rumors that it was made from poisonous mushrooms and snake venom. Recently, no one who had consumed that medicine had survived.

As Yuseol’s eyes filled with confusion, Myoyeon spoke.

“You lost consciousness after drinking the poison that day. For a moment, your pulse became faint, and the government officials checked your pulse and then left.”

Yuseol, listening to the story, asked, puzzled.

“But they just left….?”

“There was a slight problem, but the guest in the sarangchae resolved it.” (t/n: the men’s quarters or guest quarters in a traditional Korean house.)

Myoyeon, who had answered, wrung out the wet towel from the basin and placed it back on Yuseol’s forehead.

“Your condition was so critical that your pulse couldn’t be felt, so I was worried, but I’m happy you’ve woken up like this.”

Myoyeon, who paused for a moment, narrowed his eyes slightly.

“It was a huge relief that you ate the chimanocho before the police officers burst in.”

“Chimanocho?”

“Yes, that medicinal herb that the guest in the sarangchae obtained has detoxifying properties. If you eat it when bitten by a snake, it brings down fever and relieves paralysis.”

Yuseol recalled the side dish that was unusually sweet and spicy. Although it was a large portion for one meal, she had forced herself to eat it out of consideration for the effort put into serving it.

To think she would survive by unintentionally eating that herb. She hadn’t wished for it, but she was deeply indebted.

Yuseol, deep in thought, looked at Myoyeon.

“I would like to express my gratitude to the guest in the sarangchae.”

Myoyeon replied with a slightly troubled expression.

“If your paths are destined to cross, you will meet them.”

“They must be very busy. I’ve only heard about them since I arrived here, so I’m curious about who they are.”

“That person… is a mysterious individual. Their eyes are enigmatic, and they are quite reticent.”

Yuseol nodded and closed her eyes weakly.

As time passed, her headache subsided. Once she felt a little better, her heart felt stifled, as if she was cornered. She had become a dead person overnight, so she had nowhere to return. How should she live from now on…?

Suddenly, tears came. She didn’t feel sad, but she couldn’t control them. It felt as if she would live with these symptoms for the rest of her life. That, too, was pitiful, so she covered her eyes with the back of her hand and sobbed silently.

The room became quiet. Myoyeon left the room as if to give her time alone.

“You’ll need to recover, so please rest for a while.”