Cho Gam was reading a medical book that was said to be newly created by a renowned scholar of Unweol Kingdom, checking if there was any useful content.

“My lord, my lord.”

At that moment, one of the 13th Prince’s eunuchs came running and approached him, saying,

“His Highness the 13th Prince orders you to come immediately.”

Is he sick somewhere? Is he not feeling well? Cho Gam grabbed his medical bag and ran to Wolmugung.

“This way!”

Cho Gam entered the prince’s study and went into a small adjoining room.

However, unexpectedly, the 13th Prince was perfectly fine, sitting with one knee bent by the bedside, observing someone.

The one lying on the bed was… the prince’s teacher.

“Your Highness? Is Master Yo ill?”

When asked in confusion, the 13th Prince nodded, then stretched out his teacher’s arm as if handing over a radish and instructed,

“Examine him quickly. He suddenly collapsed and is unconscious. His breathing is rough.”

“…”

Cho Gam sighed and approached the bedside.

‘I wonder if they’re on good terms or bad terms.’

“It’s a warm disease. With this severity, he must have been unwell for a while. How did it get to this point?”

A cautious voice was heard from not far away. Something cold like metal touched my forehead and then fell away, followed by a prickling, unpleasant sensation on my wrist.

“I called for him.”

“What? You did, Your Highness? No, why?”

“I thought he was faking it.”

“This disciple…”

This voice. It sounds like my disciple’s voice? I struggled to focus my scattering mind on the quiet voices.

But no more voices came. Just as my mind was about to drift again, I heard someone whispering.

“Did Master Yo just call Your Highness ‘this disciple’?”

The moment I heard those words, it was as if someone had pulled my mind out of a swamp, and the world became clear.

I opened my eyes and quickly tried to sit up, only to find my disciple and the royal physician Cho Gam standing side by side right next to me.

“Oh no. You mustn’t.”

As I tried to ask what had happened, Cho Gam laid me back down and cautioned,

“I’ve inserted needles into your arm.”

“What?”

Only then did I notice the silver needles sprouting pointy-pointy on my arm.

“Ugh.”

As I groaned, pained just from looking at them, Cho Gam smiled as if it was fine and asked,

“How are you feeling, Master Yo?”

“My body, my body is fine.”

The problem was that I seemed to have faintly called my disciple ‘this disciple’ before I regained consciousness…

I glanced sideways at my disciple to check. Fortunately, he didn’t look particularly angry.

Thank goodness. He must have heard ‘Your Highness’.

Anyway, whether it was ‘Your Highness’ or ‘this disciple’, I decided to pretend I hadn’t said anything. I don’t know. It was my subconscious speaking, so I don’t know anything.

“What happened?”

I deliberately asked in a weak voice.

Cho Gam grabbed my arm and, while picking up a silver needle, answered,

“His Highness urgently called for me saying Master Yo had collapsed. Did you know you had a warm disease?”

“Yes…”

I rolled my eyes again to look at my disciple. But when our eyes met as he looked down at me, I quickly averted my gaze.

“You need to rest thoroughly for three to four days.”

Cho Gam said as he plucked out the silver needles from my arm.

“I’ll send over the herbal medicine I’ve prescribed, so make sure to take it three times a day after meals.”

“Yes. Yes.”

After removing all the silver needles, Cho Gam placed them on a sparse cloth and added,

“His Highness was very shocked by Master Yo’s collapse. He’s been sitting like that for a full hour, nursing Master Yo without even sitting down.”

“What?”

“For His Highness’s sake too, it would be better to pay more attention to your health, sir. You fall ill too often.”

What is this nonsense? Who’s the cause of my frequent illnesses? Before the regression, I was very healthy at this time.

The last time I was seriously ill was because of the inkstone thrown by the Emperor.

This time, although the immediate cause of my illness was getting caught in the rain, my disciple bears some responsibility too. Didn’t he forcibly summon me, thinking my illness was feigned?

But Cho Gam truly seemed to believe that my disciple was very concerned about me.

Even while writing the prescription, Cho Gam continued to pour out similar admonitions to me.

As expected of a physician close to my disciple, his nagging was unbelievable.

Thanks to that, I didn’t feel awkward being in the same room with my disciple, but when Cho Gam left and only my disciple and I remained, I suddenly felt extremely embarrassed.

I fidgeted with the blanket and sneaked another glance at my disciple.

My disciple stood motionless, looking down at me. When our eyes met, he asked,

“Do you hate me?”

“Pardon?”

I was worried he might get angry again, so I looked at him in surprise. Suddenly asking if I hate him?

“No, I don’t. But why do you ask such a question?”

My disciple, who had thrown out such a strange question, turned away nonchalantly when I asked back.

He brought a medicine bowl and held it out to me.

After I drank a full bowl of the foul-smelling medicine, he took the empty bowl and left.

How long did I remain in that dazed state? A suspicion slowly arose.

Could it be that he’s feeling sorry for making me come to class while I was sick?

I don’t think my disciple, who hates me, would feel sorry for me, but it was suspicious that he wasn’t spewing malicious words as usual and was just staring at me intently.

I carefully got up from the bed and went outside. It’s so unsettling to see my disciple moving around without getting angry.

I wanted to check if he wasn’t getting angry even when I wasn’t around.

“You should lie down more.”

But as soon as I took about three steps out of the room I had been lying in, my disciple came in and advised. The empty bowl he had taken out was nowhere to be seen.

“I was worried about Your Highness.”

My disciple strode over and wrapped one arm around me from behind as if to support me.

“Cho Gam said that Master needs to rest well. Stay here today. I’ll call for a carriage tomorrow.”

Before I could refuse, saying it was fine, I found myself back in the room I had come out of, sitting on the bed.

My disciple made me lie down again and covered me with the blanket.

As I stared blankly in bewilderment, this time he made a wet cloth and placed it on my forehead.

Swept up in his quick movements, it was only when I saw him about to leave that I hurriedly called out to him.

“Your Highness.”

My disciple turned to look at me from the doorway.

I mustered up courage and asked.

“Have you calmed down?”

It was inconvenient to stay here for a day, but it couldn’t be helped. My legs weren’t working well right now, so if I insisted on leaving, I might collapse again.

But I wanted to know if my disciple was still angry or not. If he was still angry, he might try to poison me while I was asleep.

Seeing that he called a physician, that possibility seemed small. But still, just in case.

“…”

Instead of answering, my disciple just stared at me silently.

Is he still not over it? He took care of me since I collapsed in his room, but is he still angry?

Damn. That magnolia ornament. It’s becoming nothing but trouble, even though he won’t be able to wear it anyway.

But unexpectedly, my disciple strode towards me.

I don’t know why he’s coming, but feeling uneasy, I leaned my upper body back. My disciple placed a chair at the head of the bed and sat down.

Aren’t you sitting too close…?

As I squirmed uncomfortably at the awkward seating arrangement, my disciple asked,

“What exactly do you want?”

“Wh…at?”

Unable to understand my disciple’s words, I deliberately dragged out my response.

I asked if he was angry, but he’s asking what I want? Why did the question suddenly go there?

Of course, there is something I want from my disciple. For him not to kill me and let me live a long life. But that’s not what he’s asking about, right?

“I don’t quite understand what you mean…”

“I’m curious about what exactly Master wants that this disciple cannot give. What is it?”

“Pardon?”

“What is it? What Master wants. The thing that everyone except this disciple can give to Master. What exactly is it? What exactly is it that you so easily accept from others but remain as unyielding as iron only to this disciple?”

I stared at him blankly. I truly couldn’t understand a single word of what my disciple was saying.

It’s amazing how two people speaking the same language can fail to communicate like this.

Because I couldn’t understand his words, and he didn’t get an answer to his words, we just stared at each other endlessly.

The faint sound of wooden boards being struck by eunuchs to mark the time could be heard from beyond the door.

By now, he should have withdrawn. But my disciple, seemingly determined to get an answer from me, steadily exercised patience.

“What I want, only Your Highness can give.”

In the end, I answered his question from my perspective, omitting his intentions.

What I want is for you not to kill me.

My disciple’s pupils trembled faintly. Did he understand my words?

“What do you mean?”

He didn’t understand.

“Speak plainly.”

Moreover, he speaks ambiguously himself but tells me to speak plainly.

Feeling this wouldn’t do, I turned away and curled up under the blanket to avoid his gaze.

“Do you think Master is some kind of cat? Hiding your head doesn’t hide everything.”

My disciple coldly mocked me from outside the blanket, but I curled up even more and pretended not to hear.

“Master.”

Though my disciple’s voice became stern, I stubbornly persisted.

I’m a kitty, you fool.

How long did I hold out like this? A sigh was heard beyond the blanket, and shortly after, footsteps receded and the sound of a door opening was heard.

It seemed my disciple had given up on getting an answer from me and left.

Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief and cautiously lower the blanket, but to my surprise, my disciple was still standing in front.

“!”

I tried to dive back under the blanket in shock, but this time my disciple was faster.

He lifted the blanket upwards, blocking my escape route, and looked down at me coldly.

Unable to tell him to lower the blanket or say ‘What I want is for you not to give me poisoned wine’, I just looked up at him helplessly.

My mind was still in turmoil. I had just asked if my disciple’s anger had subsided… how did the situation end up like this?

Fortunately, my disciple met my gaze briefly, then muttered something inaudibly and very softly before lowering the blanket back down.

As the blanket covered my head and everything turned dark, I curled up like a snail again.

Staying like that, I heard footsteps receding and the door sound again, but this time he didn’t leave immediately.

After a long while, when I cautiously poked my head out, my disciple was gone and the lamp that had been lit in one corner of the room was extinguished.

Only then did I feel relieved and came out from under the blanket to lie comfortably on the bed. But I still had no idea what my disciple was thinking.

‘What does he think I want that makes me as unyielding as iron to him? What on earth was he trying to say?’

Even if the teacher dies, I don’t feel the refreshing sentiment of having completed my revenge.

While Yo Yohwa was lost in thought on the bed, Hwa Ryeo paced the back garden of Wolmugung with his hands behind his back.

He recalled his teacher who died after drinking the poisoned wine and his teacher who had collapsed in the chair. Through these two experiences, he came to realize. It seems he doesn’t actually want his teacher to die after all.

But he didn’t want to give up on revenge either. Even if he gave up on revenge, the chances were high that his traitorous teacher would bring him poisoned wine again.

Hwa Ryeo looked down at the plum blossom tree, now bare and withered with even its last petals fallen.