Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Embrace
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Jegal Yeongyeong was in pain and seeking out Yuseong!
Upon hearing the words delivered by her maid who had come to his home, Yuseong bolted upright.
“What happened?”
He asked urgently as he hurried after the maid.
“I don’t know. The Young Lady is clutching her stomach. She’s breaking out in cold sweats and in so much pain.”
There was no way to diagnose from this information alone.
The only way to ease her suffering was to get there quickly and treat her.
When Yuseong first sprouted the seed of divine power in this world, he had thought it would take a long time to learn a recovery skill.
Healing was a skill he hadn’t picked up until well over five years into his previous playthrough.
Yet he had achieved it in less than a year.
Why was that?
Was it his time working as a physician at the Luoyang Medical Hall?
It had helped greatly.
He hadn’t been dragged into the military, and with a clear mind focused solely on treatment, he could steadily build his divine power.
Even so, his growth rate hadn’t satisfied him.
He wanted to accumulate divine power even faster.
After all, there was an optimal age for learning martial arts.
It wasn’t for nothing that they said children with flexible muscles and bones were best suited to it.
The recent acceleration in his divine power growth was largely thanks to Jegal Yeongyeong.
Even after realizing that treating Murim warriors at the Luoyang Medical Hall was the most efficient method, there were limits to selectively taking only them as patients.
She had created the Medical Pavilion out of nowhere and brought him into the Murim Alliance.
When he mentioned wanting to make needles from Heavenly Fortune Stone, she adjusted the itinerary of the Qingcheng Sect mission group to pass through the Sichuan Tang Clan without hesitation.
Helping an entire sect or family yielded far greater gains in divine power than treating one warrior at a time.
Of course,
Things had gone smoothly wherever Yuseong went, so it was a win-win.
Even so, it didn’t diminish Yuseong’s gratitude toward Jegal Yeongyeong.
She hadn’t even sent him out expecting him to resolve it—it was just an extra achievement.
Though he rarely expressed it, he had always been thankful to her.
Now she was writhing in agony.
Especially someone with such a sensitive constitution.
‘I’ll fix this too, help her get used to sustained healing, and at least give her a break from the headaches for a while.’
Once he left for the Nangong Family, she’d have to endure those throbbing headaches again while he was away.
While he was still here, he wanted to do his utmost to help her.
***
Jegal Yeongyeong had struggled with martial arts training even as a child.
Unrelated to her preference for reading books.
“You should at least diligently learn the family’s martial arts for self-defense, right?”
“It hurts. I’m not refusing—I just can’t do more.”
Her father had scolded her for whining.
The misunderstanding had only recently cleared up.
She simply couldn’t endure pain, and her body was so sensitive that even a light touch made her collapse.
She had barely reached first-rate warrior level, but even a minor injury in sparring would leave her doubled over.
Becoming a true martial artist was out of the question.
If she hadn’t excelled at studies either, she would have been utterly useless.
That same constitution tormented Jegal Yeongyeong even now.
Her face gaunt from rapid deterioration over a short time, she lay slumped on the bed like she had collapsed there.
She could barely move her waist.
Her breathing was ragged.
The strength drained from her grip on the bedsheets, and involuntary groans escaped her lips.
“Ugh…”
The squeezing pain in her abdomen had turned into the sharp slicing of a knife.
Nausea rose, and dizziness overwhelmed her.
Struggling to fight the vertigo, she closed her eyes, only for stars to burst in her vision.
‘It hurts so much…’
Far worse than the headaches from studying the Comprehensive Analysis of Celestial Divination Formations.
When could she escape this pain?
After an eternity, help finally arrived.
Even in her delirium, when her eyes met Yuseong’s as he entered her bedroom, she endured the pain to speak.
“S-sorry. It’s your day off…”
“What are you saying? Don’t worry about that. Next time something like this happens, call for me right away. Where does it hurt?”
Yuseong’s voice rose.
Not in anger, but out of concern for her, so even amid the pain, a faint smile tugged at Jegal Yeongyeong’s lips.
“H-here…”
Jegal Yeongyeong fumbled with her hand near her lower right abdomen.
Her fingers caught on something.
‘This is the affected area, but…’
Something was covering the spot that needed examination, so without hesitation, she pulled it down.
In that moment, her only thought was to properly expose the injury.
“...!”
Ignoring Yuseong’s face flushing red at a glance, she endured the pain, pulled down her undergarments, and lightly pressed the sore spot—
“Right… hah!”
Her breath caught.
Reflexively, her waist bent, amplifying the pain.
Just like before when she lay enduring it on the bed, this jaw-chattering agony wouldn’t subside for a while.
But then.
“Haaah… I-I think I’ll live…”
The pain vanished in an instant, and an involuntary moan slipped out.
Even the headache, barely noticeable amid the abdominal torment, was completely gone.
Feeling normal again, Jegal Yeongyeong sat up.
Yuseong’s outstretched palm glowed with golden light.
Now that the pain was gone, she took in the situation.
He had healed her without using needles or even touching the spot with his hand.
Across empty space.
“Healing works without needles or palms touching?”
“Y-yes…? What did you say?”
Yuseong turned his head aside, unable to properly look at her face as he asked back, and Jegal Yeongyeong noticed something odd.
Her gaze dropped down.
“...!”
Her black undergarments were caught around both thighs.
It was the one from the Western Regions that she cherished, as she had a fondness for such imports.
‘Right, I pulled them down earlier!’
Jegal Yeongyeong’s eyes widened like saucers.
The saving grace was that her long garment hem draped forward, covering the vital area…
Even so, her appearance mortified her.
As she hurriedly pulled up her undergarments, she caught sight of
Gulp.
Yuseong’s Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed, head still turned aside.
His ears, cheeks, and nape flushed bright red.
His body fidgeting, unsure what to do.
His Adam’s apple bobbed again.
Jegal Yeongyeong’s eyes narrowed.
Her gaze flicked momentarily to the bedside table.
A single book lay there.
[Essentials of Observing Men's Hearts]
Meaning the essentials for peering into men’s hearts.
Having failed to drop formal speech due to the barrier of being older, Jegal Yeongyeong had decided to leverage her strengths and seek methods from books.
She had sent her maid to obtain it.
From that rare tome, Essentials of Observing Men's Hearts, the physical reactions Yuseong was showing clearly indicated…
‘He’s weak to this sort of thing!’
She saw a breakthrough.
***
Gulp.
Beyond Yuseong’s swallowing,
Swish.
The sound of her undergarments brushing her garment hem as they slid up her thighs tickled his ears.
To block the strange imaginings creeping in, Yuseong recalled the moment he had just treated Jegal Yeongyeong.
The agonized sight of her when he first entered the bedroom.
Aside from when she sought him out, he often saw her working in the Murim Alliance,
Where she led with confidence and cool-headed eyes.
Seeing such a woman disheveled and waiting for his help stirred pity and a desire to comfort her.
Spotting where her hand pressed, Yuseong immediately suspected appendicitis.
‘I returned to the Murim Alliance after months away and only treated the Chief Strategist’s head, not her full body.’
It must have worsened in the interim.
Pain in the lower right abdomen, especially tender when pressed.
If appendicitis advanced, the appendix could rupture, leading to peritonitis and sepsis, even death.
In the modern world, surgical removal was best.
And that was no different from a death sentence in this era unless treated by someone of Divine Physician caliber.
Of course, Yuseong was the exception.
To relieve her pain as quickly as possible, he used the skill from a distance.
Seeing Jegal Yeongyeong instantly ease brought relief.
Though she let out another suggestive moan like last time, he tried to ignore it.
Some things were impossible to ignore.
Her undergarments pulled down in her delirium.
Even hidden by the garment hem, that only stimulated his imagination more.
Perhaps because he had just treated those courtesans, her hem’s interior appeared vividly in his mind, as if he had x-ray vision.
‘Hah…’
He had started replaying the treatment to forget, only for his thoughts to drift there again.
Self-loathing at entertaining such notions while she was in pain.
Then, in the awkward atmosphere, where Jegal Yeongyeong looked especially beautiful, a soft voice reached the embarrassed Yuseong.
“Medical Pavilion Leader. Thank you for helping. You can look now.”
“Ahem, it’s the Chief Strategist’s business—of course I had to.”
Yuseong looked at Jegal Yeongyeong’s face.
The sweat beading on her forehead told how much she had suffered.
Even so, recalling the earlier incident made it hard to meet her eyes.
His gaze dipped slightly.
‘Huh… It feels like she’s getting closer…?’
It wasn’t an illusion.
Before he could react, their upper bodies pressed together, and Jegal Yeongyeong buried her face in his chest.
The fragrance from her hair.
And.
Always hidden by her scholar’s robes, he hadn’t realized, but this was unexpectedly substantial…
Clinging to him, she spoke.
“Thank you again. Earlier, I really thought… I was dying… It was so scary…”
He couldn’t coldly push away someone who had feared death.
Yuseong gently patted Jegal Yeongyeong’s back.
‘What do I do now?’
Jegal Yeongyeong’s eyes darted about.
She had succeeded in embracing him, but had no idea what came next.
Should she procure related books…
But asking her maid for those felt awkward…
All sorts of thoughts swirled.
Unable to think of a proper move, she squirmed, hugging his torso tighter.
Her chest ached a little.
Just then.
“Medical Pavilion Leader, is our Young Lady alright?”
The voice from outside the bedroom made Jegal Yeongyeong hastily pull away.
“Y-yes, I’m fine now.”
“T-then, it’s late, so I’ll head back.”
“Yes. See you tomorrow morning.”
Yuseong’s retreating steps were unsteadier than usual, but Jegal Yeongyeong didn’t notice.