“It’s fine. It’s not like I was scratched or anything.”

I hadn’t seen the wound directly, but it must be like that. It’s probably just a red mark, at worst it might bruise a bit. This time I covered my neck with both hands.

“I can treat it myself, Mas- I mean, disciple.”

“I have an excellent ointment for quickly removing bruises. Let me apply it for you.”

“It’s fine.”

The problem isn’t the ointment, it’s you! I shook my head and stepped back cautiously.

But I couldn’t retreat any further. As soon as those words ended, the fake cherry blossom-like smile of the 13th prince also faded.

That smile bloomed again, but I had already seen his true expression revealed for a moment. The disciple asked with a smile drawn like a frozen winter lake:

“To apply the ointment, I’ll need to touch your neck. Master, do you dislike my hands touching you?”

“That’s not it-”

“It seems so.”

I had tried my best to make a good impression on the disciple and get along well. I’m not sure why things are already going sideways after only a few days since my regression. Worry washed over me like waves. What if I end up getting killed by my disciple again?

But there’s no helping it. It’s better to incur his dislike now than to take off my top and expose my neck in front of the disciple.

The disciple probably hates me right now anyway. During this time, I was keeping some distance because I didn’t like the disciple.

Right. Back then, I was keeping my distance from the disciple. So I should keep my distance now too. Let’s put off trying to make a good impression on the disciple for a bit later. Even though my name is on his kill list, it’s not for a few more years that he kills me, right?

“A-A disciple shouldn’t carelessly touch their master’s body.”

But these words were of no use.

“It’s an order.”

Because of that one whisper he breathed into my ear as he approached me.

I pressed my lips tightly and looked at him with resentment, and only then did the corners of his mouth lift less artificially. He seems to like the sight of my anger.

Suddenly I remembered that in my past life, the disciple often smiled like that. Back then, I thought it was just a habit. …Was it perhaps a smile that came out whenever he was mocking me?

* * *

Following his order, I had to enter a nearby room. But even after entering, I couldn’t easily sit down and had to linger by the doorway.

“Are you worried about what this disciple might do to you? I don’t understand why you’re so concerned between two men.”

The disciple joked with a pretend gentle smile towards my behavior, but those words only made my heart clench more. I may act like a playboy, but I’m not actually a man.

However, this was just my own circumstance.

“Don’t let anyone enter.”

The disciple ordered the single guard he had brought, who responded “Yes” and immediately closed the door. The disciple then reached out his hand, gesturing for me to come closer.

“Your Highness…”

“Come here, Master.”

It was useless to resist. I finally approached hesitantly. Even then, as I stood there blankly, the disciple pulled me to sit in a chair.

As I was forcibly seated, everything went dark before my eyes.

He’ll tell me to take off my top so he can apply the medicine, right? Taking off one layer won’t immediately reveal that I’m a woman, but what if he tells me to take off the undergarments too? Then it would really show.

My vision darkened with the overwhelming feeling. I clasped my hands tightly together as I watched him take out the ointment and open the lid, filled with dread.

“Lower your collar.”

But unexpectedly, after dipping his finger in the ointment, the disciple ordered this.

“What?”

I looked up in surprise, and he instructed again.

“You’ll need to lower the collar so I can see the wound.”

“Ah… I don’t need to take off my clothes? Just lowering it is enough?”

When I asked foolishly, a subtle smile appeared on the disciple’s face.

“If you want to take them off, you may.”

“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant.”

You idiot! You could have just quietly lowered your collar, why did you have to say something like that? Before my mouth could spout any more pathetic words, I quickly lowered my collar to show my neck.

The disciple’s finger, coated with ointment, came up over it. I was afraid he might impulsively break my neck while applying the ointment, but nothing like that happened.

Rather, his touch as he applied the ointment was gentler than I expected. Strangely so, considering the hatred he harbored for me.

“Your Highness.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No. That’s not it… Your Highness. May I ask one small question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you perhaps save delicious things to enjoy later?”

I really need to tell my mouth to shut up.

“Why do you ask that? Turn your head to the left.”

Why am I asking? Because it’s strange that you, my disciple who hates me, are applying medicine so carefully and gently.

But thinking it would be better not to say more, I decided to keep my mouth shut. When I went quiet, the disciple also stopped talking. He just carefully moved his hand along the wound on my neck.

All I could do was clench my fists tightly, extremely tense, trying not to let my body react.

Finally, when the disciple withdrew his finger, seemingly finished applying the ointment. As the tension released, my shoulders automatically slumped down. The sound of the ointment lid closing seemed similar to the sound in my heart right now.

I looked at the disciple as I raised my collar. His expression had already returned to normal, as usual. Not an angry face, nor a stimulated one.

When our eyes met, he handed me the ointment he had applied and said:

“Apply this frequently. The bruise will fade quickly then.”

I received the ointment and glanced at him furtively.

I thought he would say something more to me. But he was fixing his clothes as if applying the ointment had concluded all his business.

The disciple, who had returned to his usual perfect appearance in the blink of an eye, smiled gently when our eyes met and said:

“Then this disciple will take his leave now, Master. Enjoy your outing.”

Should I say thank you? I should, right? He hasn’t bared his teeth at me yet, and I’m supposed to be acting as if I haven’t regressed, right?

How would the past me have reacted? I disliked the disciple, but I wouldn’t have ignored his help.

“Your Highness… enjoy your outing as well.”

The sound of the door closing was heard. It feels like a whirlwind has passed through. As soon as I was left alone, all the energy drained from my body.

I sat back down in the chair and rested my head on the desk. I tried to make a good impression on the disciple to reduce his grudge a bit. But it seems to be going in reverse. It feels like we clashed even faster?

Should I move up my escape plans even earlier?

* * *

Feeling unsettled, I couldn’t go out of the room right away and rested a bit, then belatedly noticed a mirror hanging on the wall and approached it.

When I lowered my collar and checked my neck, I could understand why the disciple was shocked. That bastard Sun An. His grip was stronger than I thought, as there was already a dark bruise on my neck.

I clicked my tongue and raised my collar to hide the bruise, then made sure to take the ointment with me as I went outside.

As I was walking towards the place I had agreed to meet Sun An, I saw him standing by the doorway. When he spotted me, he quickly ran over.

“Where did you go?”

“That’s what I want to ask. Where did you go? You bring me here and then disappear on your own!”

“I thought I saw my cousin.”

“Your cousin?”

You abandoned me and disappeared alone because you thought you saw your cousin? What’s wrong with seeing your cousin together? I became even more puzzled by this incomprehensible explanation.

Sun An waved his hand as if it wasn’t worth worrying about and turned around, saying:

“Just come this way. I had set up an appointment with Grandfather, but when I actually came, you weren’t here, so I was flustered.”

“Grandfather?”

“My maternal grandfather.”

I followed Sun An in a daze, then belatedly realized and whispered softly in surprise.

“Suddenly an appointment with Grandfather? What are you talking about?”

The Yu family conducts dangerous and suspicious activities in the shadows. Sun An’s maternal grandfather is the head of that Yu family. I couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to find a hideout?”

“Do we need to meet Grandfather just to find a hideout?”

“Did you think a hideout was something you could just buy with money from a street vendor?”

Well… when you put it that way. But I didn’t expect to suddenly meet the head of the Yu family here, so my steps became heavy.

Seeing me walk stiffly due to nervousness, Sun An glanced at me and clicked his tongue.

“I don’t know what I said to you while drunk that’s making you act like this.”

“You said Grandfather was scary.”

Sun An sighed and lightly patted my back.

“Forget about that and relax, just follow me. You’re just meeting Grandfather as his grandson’s friend. If you walk so tensely, it’ll look even stranger.”

Even with those words, there was no way for the tension to suddenly dissipate. It was especially bad since I had just gone through an emotional whirlwind with my disciple before this.

As I kept looking around anxiously no matter how much he tried to soothe me, Sun An shook his head and started walking again.

“It’s here.”

Sun An only stopped and informed me when we arrived in front of a door with red curtains hanging down to the floor. Then he called out loudly towards the other side of the door as well.

“Grandfather, it’s me.”

Even though permission to enter hadn’t been given from inside, Sun An pushed the curtain aside and nodded for me to go in.

“Can I go in?”

When I mouthed the question, Sun An nodded.

There was no choice now. It would be stranger to turn back at this point.

Besides, I absolutely needed to find a hideout. No matter how scary the head of the Yu family might be, the most dangerous person to me was my disciple, the 13th prince.

‘Don’t be nervous, Yo Yohwa. I’ve already died once, after all.’

Finally, I took a deep breath and stepped inside.

After walking a few steps, I saw a wide, long chair against the wall and an old man sitting stiffly on it. He looked to be about the same age as my grandfather. Could this old man be the Yu family head?

I was very nervous because of all the stories I had heard from Sun An before my regression. But surprisingly, seeing him in person, he looked a lot like Sun An, so he wasn’t as scary as I had imagined.

And next to him…

‘That’s my disciple!’

The 13th prince who had just applied ointment to my neck and left was there. Again.

The deep breath I had managed to take became useless. Forgetting to calmly observe my surroundings, I stared blankly at my disciple.

If Sun An hadn’t come up beside me and patted my back, I might have even gaped openly.

But before I could make such a blunder, Sun An spoke first.

“This friend is Yo Yohwa, Grandfather.”

Then Sun An made a confused sound and asked the Yu family head while looking towards the 13th prince:

“Who is that person, Grandfather?”

It seems the 13th prince wasn’t there when Sun An made the appointment with the Yu family head. Of course, at that time the 13th prince was with me.

Damn it. Even so, how could the person my disciple needed to meet be Sun An’s maternal grandfather of all people!

As I was inwardly clicking my tongue, I belatedly felt my heart sink. Wait. Wait. Wait. The reason I came here is for a hideout, right?

The disciple shouldn’t know that I’m trying to find a hideout!