Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: A Rude Awakening
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To borrow my friend's expression.
The child I was reincarnated as was, as she put it, like a ‘butterfly’—the prettiest in the family, but also the most fragile and destined to die young.
The kind of character who dies early to make the protagonist awaken their powers through grief.
‘Destined to die young.’
I can’t tell you how absurd it felt when I first opened my eyes.
The current family head has five sons and three daughters.
Three of the sons were confined due to an incurable illness, and I am the daughter of the second of those sons.
For reference, the heroine is the daughter of the third son.
When I first woke up, I really tried to make the best of it, you know?
‘Right, I’m someone who knows the ending, aren’t I? I can do anything!’
Right, I could do anything!
‘Thanks to the story my friend told me, it wasn’t hard to figure out my abilities.’
And then,
I died a spectacular death.
Why? Just why!
My first life didn’t go as planned.
I tried to step in and heal important patients before the heroine could grow up.
‘Her ability is incredible, isn’t it?’
‘Her ability is incredible, isn’t it?’
That’s when I realized.
That a girl with no backing, only talent, would be treated like a slave.
‘Get away! Getting close means death!’
‘Get away! Getting close means death!’
‘Over there, that little girl…!’
‘Over there, that little girl…!’
‘She’s bait!’
‘She’s bait!’
At a young age, before I could even fully grow.
One of the major patients from the original story went on a rampage due to madness, and I was dragged there to try and heal him. I got caught in his frenzy and died.
My first death.
I opened my eyes.
Huh? And just like that, my second life began. I put my death behind me and lived my second life.
‘I worked my butt off, learned pharmacology, and grew up well while hiding my abilities just enough!’
This time, I died falling off a cliff with the heroine’s father—another major patient—while trying to stop him from falling during a bout of ‘delirium’!
‘Damn it! I’m not living according to the original story, I won’t!’
Twice was more than enough.
In my third life, I immediately threw the original story and everything else out the window and left the family behind.
‘Overcome my terminal illness and go home!’
My goal was to get my hands on the imperial treasure.
It was a bead-like treasure that would grant a wish if certain conditions were met.
The original protagonist also makes a wish on it in the end.
I decided to get it and go home.
‘Should I thank my friend for drilling the story into me, or grab her by the collar and tell her I think I was reincarnated because of her?’
My third life.
As a regressor who knew the original story, I used every means possible to delay my terminal fate and became an adult.
And then, a death ending in the imperial palace.
My third death taught me a great lesson.
Even if I reached the highest position as an individual, it was impossible alone.
The deep-seated hatred of Easterners ingrained in the nobles was not something I could overcome by myself.
If only I’d had power.
“A family.”
I, too, needed one of those damn families the lords of the eight great houses were always going on about.
“Haa.”
In the end, it meant going back to the original story.
“Tsk. What can you do.”
At this point, I had no choice but to realize that I couldn't get out of here without dealing with the members of this damn family.
I clicked my tongue and left the building.
“W-wait, Lady Biyu!”
I heard a maid, having belatedly come to her senses, call out from behind me, but I ignored her.
‘This route is useless anyway.’
I tried revealing some of my abilities in my second life, too.
But the problem was my aunts, who controlled the family from the shadows.
‘They blocked any word of me from reaching the family head.’
Because their own sons had to become the next head, of course.
That’s why I left the family in my third life.
Honestly, forget the original story; a big reason I left was because I figured nothing would work out with those aunts around.
‘Now that I’ve decided to ride the original story’s coattails again.’
The standard move would be to go meet the heroine.
‘But there’s something I have to do before that.’
Timeline-wise, the heroine is still only two.
For now, she’s safe.
So, let’s go pave the way for her to stay safe in the future.
‘The protagonist, our baby princess, is destined to become the precious family head, after all.’
Me, the family head?
I’d never do something so troublesome.
I’ll just smooth the path the heroine is supposed to walk and give her a little push. Then, when she enters the imperial palace, I’ll get my hands on that ‘treasure’.
‘Then I’ll have to meet that person first.’
I hurried on my way.
* * *
The old residence of the Heuk family, vast enough to be compared to a village.
It was built with the money the pioneering family head, Heuk Ahwa, received for saving the emperor’s life when he first came to the Western Continent.
He had brought Eastern architecture with him, and every corner of the place was magnificent and splendid beyond compare.
This massive estate is divided into an eastern and a western wing.
And.
“So biiig!”
I had to walk diligently to reach my destination.
I waddled along with a water bottle slung over my side.
‘This baby body is so inconvenient, no matter how many times I’m in it.’
Including my regressions, I’ve lived in this body for some 40 years, but it’s still undeniably inconvenient.
The place I live in is the eastern wing.
Three patients live here.
I was on my way to find the one among them who could help me.
“Ugh, when will I ever get there, Biyu…”
Heuk Biyu. It was the moment I was grumbling my own name and rounding a corner.
Thump!
I tripped over something and fell.
“Oof!”
This childish voice was not one I made on purpose.
“Owwie…”
Ouch, my nose.
I wasn’t particularly angry.
Because the moment I lifted my head, I knew I’d arrived at my destination.
No, to be precise, I’d found my target.
‘I knew it was around here.’
I shot to my feet and dusted off my knees. It was scraped and bleeding, but it was fine.
Then, I pondered.
“Hmm.”
A large man was lying in the hallway at my feet.
*Hiss—.*
Steady breathing. He was asleep.
I had just tripped over this massive leg.
I crouched down next to the man. His jet-black hair was strewn about carelessly.
He was an incredibly handsome man. Look at those sharp, well-defined features.
Despite his large frame, his pale complexion gave him a pure and sickly air.
The culprit who made me fall.
The name of this pale, ethereal-looking handsome man sleeping on the floor was Heuk Birang.
The heroine’s father.
And he was also my uncle.
‘I’ve found him, but…’
How do I wake him up?
I pondered for a moment, then quickly raised my hand.
Smack!
‘A nice, solid sound.’
My tiny palm slapped the man’s cheek.
“Wake up, wake up, Unca!”
Wake up, you. This is no time to be sleeping.
*Hoo.*
‘It hurts so much!’
It hurts! My hand hurts! My arm hurts too!
Unbelievably, this uncle of mine didn’t wake up even after twenty slaps!
“Eek.”
I expected it, but…
‘His symptoms are worse than I thought, aren’t they?’
My hand, as small as a maple leaf, was bright red.
‘I forgot. A baby’s body… has terrible durability.’
I tried to click my tongue, tsk tsk, but my underdeveloped tongue couldn’t even do that properly, only making a sound like someone sucking on a pacifier.
‘Guess I should heal myself first.’
I opened the water bottle dangling at my side and poured a little into the cap.
The moment I dipped my finger in, the water surged.
*Fwoosh!*
As the water enveloped me, the scrape and the stinging pain vanished without a trace.
‘Mm, good.’
My first ability.
As long as I touch water, I can heal my own body completely.
Of course, there are conditions.
It has to be very, very clean water.
‘And it can only heal injuries on my own body, right?’
I can’t heal others. That’s why I became a physician and an apothecary.
It’s also related to my second ability.
My lips jutted out in a pout.
‘What should I do?’
It’s not like my uncle sleeps on the floor as a hobby.
‘Is this guy’s… cheek made of steel?’
Even if it was just a kid hitting him, how could he not wake up after being slapped like that?
‘Is it because my fists are made of cotton?’
But I can’t back down now.
I absolutely have to talk to this man today. Now that I’ve woken up in my fourth life, today has to be different from my previous lives!
‘This is the last resort!’
Grunting, I climbed onto my huge uncle’s chest.
This time, I raised my adorably-sized fist and brought it straight down.
‘Oh, wait. If this hits his philtrum, won’t it hurt quite a bit?’
I thought I might be in the wrong spot and was about to move.
*Thwack.*
My wrist was caught.
For a moment, a sickening ‘Crack!’ sound came from my chubby wrist.
“Haaam.”
My body was lifted into the air.
“This is a first for an assassination attempt.”
I’ll say this much, it wasn’t the gentle kind of levitation you get when playing ‘airplane’.
I was just dangling there, held by my clothes.
When I looked up, I saw a man with his eyes half-open.
Vivid blue eyes.
A golden aura shimmered wildly in his irises.
It was a trait of the men of the Heuk family.
“What are you, short stack?”
Heuk Birang. A main character from the original story was staring down at me.