Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: The Matriarch's Audience
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And just like that, two weeks flew by.
‘I did tell them to send them packing.’
My dad, my uncles… Were they just letting off some steam?
They were driving people away with more viciousness and cruelty than I’d anticipated, and it was becoming a problem.
What started with low-ranking warriors had escalated past the mid-ranks; now, high-ranking warriors were showing up.
“Heuk Bihu, today I will absolutely…!”
“Get lost.”
“Aaaargh! You think you can just avoid me like this?!”
I paid them no mind and kept working on my medicine.
‘How many home runs is that?’
‘Niece. If I take the medicine and get a little better… will a day come when I can summon my divine beast without any problems?’
Maybe it was because I told them I’d seriously focus on making their medicine, but they seemed to be cooperating with even more gusto.
It had gotten to the point where even my eldest uncle was asking me this in a serious tone.
‘He really seemed to cherish his divine beast…’
Because of his madness, he couldn’t even summon it, I think he said.
And perhaps it was thanks to the brilliant Raon and Baembaem the Dokgaksa snake, a divine beast truly worthy of a renowned physician.
‘Wow, I’m making progress so quickly.’
Compared to when I was three in my previous life, my current skills were astonishing.
Exactly two weeks into these chaotic days, the final boss finally appeared in the east wing.
“It's been a while, brother-in-law.”
It was my third aunt's husband.
The same man who fought with my eldest uncle when I went to ask for permission to go out before.
‘Still as burly as ever.’
Holding a giant glaive in one hand, he looked ready to use force to take us with him.
“Hey, little one. You're my niece, right? Name's Heuk Biyu.”
I dusted off my clothes and stood up.
My dad was already next to me, so there was no need to call him.
My aunt's husband put on his most menacing expression, as if trying to scare me.
“It'd be best for you and your father to listen while I'm being nice. I don't want to threaten a kid. If you don't come along, I'll have no choice but to draw my weapon…!”
“We’ll go.”
“I have no choice but to—huh?”
“I said, let's go.”
My third aunt's husband, Bae Seong-hyun, blinked, wearing an uncharacteristically artless expression.
A moment later, even as we trotted along behind him, he couldn't hide his suspicion.
“…Why are you following me?”
His expression screamed, ‘If you were going to come this easily, what was all that fuss about?’
I ignored it completely, of course.
Finally, my third aunt's husband brought us to a certain place.
‘What is this place…’
I froze on the spot.
‘Why on earth did he bring us here?’
Before my eyes was a massive building.
I held my breath for a moment, looking at the grand path spread out before us.
Surprisingly, the place Bae Seong-hyun had led us to was the largest building where the family head resided,
the Matriarch's Hall.
‘Why did he bring us here?’
I was sure the one who sent the warriors to pick a fight with my dad was my third aunt, Heuk Gyera.
‘So I thought we'd be going to my aunt's residence.’
My first aunt, Heuk Haran, is the most difficult person, but she hasn't taken notice of me yet.
I'd noticed that what I did during the test—the one I took right after waking up in this world—still hadn't reached the higher-ups.
The fact that no one had come for me yet meant someone had buried my test results, hiding my performance.
‘If the family head or Heuk Haran had heard about it, they would have sent someone to the east wing.’
It was something I'd experienced plenty of times in my previous life.
And the general manager in charge of testing the children classified as collateral branches and other riffraff was none other than,
my third aunt, Heuk Gyera.
‘I knew that this time, word would reach her ears first.’
Based on experience, I judged it was better to be noticed by this woman than by Heuk Haran, which is why I displayed my abilities without hesitation.
‘So I naturally thought it was Heuk Gyera who had summoned us this time…’
I thought she would take issue with how we treated her warriors.
I let out a soft hum.
‘Why the Matriarch's Hall?’
The place where the family head resides and oversees all important matters, its name is Heukjanggak.
It's a place that even direct descendants cannot enter freely.
Things just got bigger.
And so, having arrived in front of the Matriarch's Hall, we were waiting to be allowed inside.
“Ahem, brother-in-law. Surprised to be at the Matriarch's Hall? You'd better brace yourself. This time, you might be slapped with a tracking scent and a confinement order too.”
“…”
“Well, if you get on my good side... I could put in a good word for you with the Matriarch. In exchange for a little help for our Heukgak-dae, of course.”
“…”
“…Brother-in-law, are you listening?”
My dad was completely ignoring my third aunt's husband.
Then, his voice became inaudible. My dad had completely blocked it out with the wind.
It was then.
My dad suddenly said something.
“This might not be the right time for this, but there's something I need to tell you.”
“Hm?”
“A woman's image keeps flickering before my eyes. Why is that?”
“A woman? What woman?”
“That is…”
My dad's eyelids drooped. I was startled.
‘His eyes have lost their focus!’
He had a dazed look on his face.
As if he were dreaming while walking. His unfocused, cloudy eyes looked like those of a sleepwalker.
“Dada!”
“Hmm?”
By the time my dad's gaze turned to me, his focus had returned.
“What did I just say?”
“…”
For a moment, I felt a chill run down my spine, but I didn't show it and calmly repeated what he had said.
The flickering woman.
If I had to guess, it could only be one person. It was probably my mother.
“…Dada, you know. You still don't wemember Mom, wight?”
“That's right.”
He was slowly regaining his memories of his brothers and me, but should I tell him it's strange that he only can't remember Mom?
“But since you started wemembering me, you'll wemember Mom soon too, wight?”
After a moment of silence, my dad's reply came.
“…I suppose so.”
For some reason, I had a fleeting, ominous feeling, but I forced myself to ignore it.
* * *
A short while later, we entered the Matriarch's Hall.
“Are you nervous?”
“Ung. Well, sowt of.”
I've only been in this hall a few times, and none of them were good memories.
‘But.’
This time, I just have to make it a triumphant one.
That's the privilege of a regressor, isn't it?
This is perfect. The Matriarch's Hall is a much better stage than Heuk Gyera's house.
We arrived in the vast front courtyard of the Matriarch's Hall.
A path ran through the center of the courtyard toward the building, and on either side of it stood countless people.
At the end of the path was a flight of stairs.
At the top of the stairs, I could see familiar faces.
Women with hair as jet-black as my dad's. It was my first aunt, Heuk Haran, and my third aunt, Heuk Gyera.
When we reached the foot of the stairs, I could see the matriarch standing one step above my aunts.
The matriarch, Heuk Moran.
“So, you've come.”
She was also my grandmother.
Strands of black hair were visible here and there among her graying ones.
“How long it's been since I've seen these faces.”
In the Heuk family, regardless of gender or age, the most skilled physician always becomes the head.
There is only one condition: they must be of Heuk family blood.
Under these same conditions, my grandmother had become the head with her overwhelming abilities.
“So you were all alive.”
My grandmother, Heuk Moran, despite her age, had a straight back and perfect posture.
The only peculiar thing about her was that her eyes were covered with a strip of bright red silk.
‘The blind matriarch.’
Ten years ago, after failing to cure the emperor's illness, she had lamented and stabbed out her own eyes.
Among those with natural abilities, there are some who try to gain even greater power by sacrificing a part of their own body.
Through this method, the matriarch, Heuk Moran, became an even stronger physician and family head.
“It seems everyone is here, is that right?”