“Here we come~ We’re here! The medicine peddlers who came last year have returned again this year as promised~. For headaches, toothaches, menstrual cramps, back pain, take this when you’re in any kind of pain~. Lost appetite, lost taste for food, even runaway husbands will all return in one shot~. If they don’t come back, we’ll compensate you tenfold~.”

The man clapping his hands and rhythmically tapping one foot is my father.

No, to be precise, he’s Yuriella’s father, Thomas.

Instead of answering my prayer to turn back time, God answered the prayer of the wandering medicine peddler leader to save his daughter.

Well, to be exact, He only saved the body. The soul dwelling in that body is mine, Solas Moretti’s.

“Yuriella. Are you ready?”

Leon, the medicine peddlers’ coachman, handyman, and top recruiter for female patients, smiles broadly, showing all his neat teeth.

“Acupuncture? Or dancing?”

The understaffed medicine peddling troupe requires everyone to do at least two jobs.

The owner of this body I’ve possessed both dances and does acupuncture.

“Dancing first for now.”

Leon handed me a costume strung with long red beads like a curtain.

This body that came back from the dead feels even light clothing that reveals more than it covers as heavy. If I were to wear the armor I wore in my past life, I’d surely collapse flat on my back.

“Woohoo~ The stick is dancing!”

As I moved my arms and legs diligently following the body owner’s memories, the familiar jeers hit my ears again today. Yuriella is not a good dancer.

Though embarrassment washed over me like a wave, I raised the corners of my mouth and danced until the end. I have to earn my keep for the meals I’ve eaten so far.

“Well done, Yuriella! Your skills have improved so much since yesterday!”

Thomas, Yuriella’s father who finds me admirable just for breathing, clapped his hands until his palms might burst.

My nose stung. My father abandoned me on the streets as soon as I was born.

Or was it? Was it my mother who abandoned me? Whether it was a solo crime or a joint one, if they were going to abandon me anyway, if they had left me on the path where Thomas’ medicine peddlers were passing by, perhaps I wouldn’t have met the end of having my head cut off and dying in infamy.

They say a child raised with love knows how to give love, so maybe instead of killing people, I would have lived doing work that saves lives. Instead of being a loyal dog who dies with my head cut off by my master, I might have met a peaceful death surrounded by the warm gazes of my loved ones.

If that had been the case, I wouldn’t have become the owner of the holy sword Flama,

And Flama wouldn’t have become a demon sword because of an owner like me.

No, someone like me shouldn’t have been born at all…

“There is no life that shouldn’t have been born in this world! Don’t ever say such things again!”

Thomas’ thunderous voice snapped me back to my senses.

I turned my head to see Yuriella’s father scolding a young pregnant woman with a bulging belly as he took her pulse.

“You should think about having the baby and raising it well somehow. Asking for an abortion drug! We are people who save lives, not people who take them!”

“When I think about raising a child alone without a father, I get so scared…”

The pitifully thin woman sobbed, her shoulders shaking.

“…I wish lightning would strike down the bastards who killed the baby’s father… *sob* I wish they’d receive divine punishment…”

The woman’s husband died in battle at Colina Rosa, they say. Could he have been one of the people I killed?

“Yuriella. What are you spacing out about?”

The warmth of a gentle hand touched my shoulder. It was Leon.

“The patients are waiting.”

I handed the dancer costume to Leon and headed towards the wagon in the back where the makeshift bed was set up, gathering my acupuncture needles. The people waiting in line glanced at me curiously. They’re unfamiliar with our Eastern medicinal herbs and acupuncture.

The first time I held the needles, I was so nervous that cold sweat ran down my back. Thankfully, Yuriella’s body remembered everything. How to insert the needles, the effects of the strange medicinal herbs, even the little habits of the medicine peddlers she loved.

As I entered the wagon, a very annoying presence flew over to me with a sullen face.

[Why are you only coming now? Aery is busy. I’m a busy and precious being. Answer me today. Are you going to make a contract with me or not?]

A palm-sized spirit with a plump afro hairstyle flapped its two pairs of transparent emerald wings and glared at me with its tiny eyes.

“I won’t.”

[Why not? Do you still not believe that I’m the wind holy sword Aery?]

“That’s right.”

[Aery doesn’t lie. I really am the great holy sword Aery.]

“Even if you are, I don’t want to.”

[Why? Why? Why?]

“Because I don’t want to.”

[If you make a contract with me, you’ll become the master of the wind, you know? With my healing power, you can cure anyone. I can even blow mountains into the sea!]

“I don’t need it.”

[Why! I’m the one who saved your wandering soul in the imperial capital! Do you think just anyone can do that?]

“Why did you save me?”

[Huh?]

Aery rolled its eyes to the side. The spirit always avoids this question.

“Was it your idea to put me in this body? Or did someone tell you to do it?”

[Umm…]

This question too.

Aery rolled its eyes to the opposite side this time, avoiding my gaze.

“A whole season has passed and you still haven’t answered. I won’t ask anymore. So get lost. Forever.”

[Tch. Don’t regret it later, okay? I won’t come even if you call for me?]

Instead of answering, I threw a wet towel, which hit Aery squarely on the forehead. “Yuriella, you meanie!” it cried out as it vanished into thin air with a poof.

I’m not sure if Aery is really the spirit of a holy sword, but I have to admit its healing ability is remarkable.

Since I woke up in Yuriella’s body, our medicine peddling troupe has been enjoying unprecedented prosperity. People who used to only look for digestive aids and virility boosters have spread the word about how they were cured by my acupuncture.

Yuriella was quite good at acupuncture even if she danced like a stick, but with Aery’s healing energy added, the effects were immediate, leaving even the medicine peddlers’ troupe members with their mouths agape in amazement.

“Now. Close your eyes. Breathe comfortably.”

As I inserted the silver needle into the patient who had just entered the wagon, a green light flowed from my fingertips, transmitted through the needle tip and slowly seeped into the affected area.

“Ooh, how refreshing. The tingling in my back is gone, doc.”

The man who had jeered at my awkward dance earlier now calls me ‘doc’.

“Doc’s hands are healing hands!”

He rapidly blinks his thick eyelids and gives me a thumbs up with his calloused thumb. Seeing as he doesn’t mention the green aura, it seems ordinary people can’t see it well.

Aery forcibly infused my body with healing energy, saying I would change my mind once I tried it. The green aura, which was supposed to be enough for one use, has been overflowing for three months now.

After finishing a tiring day, when everyone was asleep in the early dawn.

I packed some jerky and a few chunks of hard bread in a bundle and left the inn where the medicine peddlers were staying. Now that I had recovered enough strength to move on my own, even with this weak body, there was no reason to delay any longer.

My first destination is the Grand Duke’s castle.

I was curious about Frost’s recent situation. It would be difficult to meet him directly, but I wanted to see from afar if he was safe.

Then I need to go to the capital.

I should check on the families of the soldiers who died in battle. And find those who are still being pursued as wanted criminals.

I also need to find out what happened to Flama, which has become a demon sword. And I need to see that beautiful face of the emperor who made us traitors again. And I must take that one with me. To the hell he drove us into…!

But before I had taken five steps from the inn, the sound of horse hooves shaking the ground was heard, and men who looked like knights from a noble family came galloping up, raising clouds of dust, and blocked my path.

“We’re looking for a woman named Yuriella. We heard she’s a dancer with the medicine peddlers.”

I quietly lowered the hood I had pulled over my cloak and answered the middle-aged man at the front.

“I don’t know who that is?”

Not knowing what was going on, but thinking it best to slip away, I hurried my steps when–

“Yuriella! Where are you going at this hour?”

Yuriella’s father’s voice came from the entrance of the inn. Oh no.

The middle-aged man who had pulled his hood down low looked at me as I froze, then swiftly dismounted and strode over.

“Are you Yuriella? It’s good to see you, my daughter.”

‘Daughter?’

The large man spread his arms to embrace me, but I smoothly dodged.

“That man over there is my father?”

I pointed at Thomas, who came running over, pale as a sheet.

Sensing the atmosphere was not right, my father hid me behind his back and spread his arms to block the way.

“Who are you? Why are you doing this to my daughter?”

“Your daughter? Hah!”

The man lightly pushed Thomas aside and placed his thick hand, like a pot lid, on my shoulder.

“You are Yuriella Grande. The one and only daughter of me, Marquis Victor Grande.”

“No way.”

“The Iron Wall of the North does not lie.”

As the man removed his hood, a rugged face with a deep scar on the right cheek was revealed. Thomas hiccupped. He seemed to recognize the face.

I know this man too.

The Iron Wall of the North, Victor Grande. I remember seeing him in documents on His Majesty’s desk, who only has a handsome face.

The Grand Duke Frost Ielheim’s vassal and the North’s second-in-command, whom the emperor keeps a close eye on as a person of interest.

“Let’s go home, Yuriella.”

The marquis held out his hand to me. They say all the northern commercial rights are in those thick hands that once beat down demon beasts and barbarians.

“I don’t want to.”

I need to check on the Grand Duke’s situation and then go to the capital. I have neither time nor reason to waste on a wealthy nobleman who’s only known for being a miser.

“If you refuse, I’ll cut off that man’s head for the crime of kidnapping you.”

My newly appeared father pointed at the man who had been my father until just now.

“Kidnapping? You told me to take her away and never show my face again, whether she lived or died!”

So the Grande marquis was a heartless man who abandoned his child as soon as it was born.

“When did I ever say that?”

He’s quite the brazen liar, denying it so easily.

“Why do you suddenly need me?”

When I asked the reason for his sudden desire to play father, the marquis smiled brightly and spread his arms wide.

“Yuriella Grande. You will become the mistress of the North.”

“Mistress of the North?”

“Frost Ielheim’s companion. The position of Grand Duchess awaits you. Isn’t that reason enough for you to return home? Hahaha.”

The heartless liar was an ambitious man who wanted to become the father-in-law of the empire’s one and only Grand Duke.

“You’re insane.”

As I spoke my simple opinion, the pot lid-like hand cut through the air and struck my cheek.

For a moment, my vision went black.

*

I, who had been an orphan without any ties in the world, now had a father. Two of them!

A new father so kind and warm that it shamelessly made me think I did well to come back to life.

A birth father so terribly cold and unfeeling that it made me wonder again why I came back to life at all.

My new father has been grabbing the bars of the front gate every day without fail, crying up a storm and getting beaten by the guards, ever since I was brought to the marquis’ estate as if kidnapped.

My birth father has been diligently persuading me with his hands, feet, and other tools every time I say I won’t marry the Grand Duke. If beating someone without leaving marks is a talent, it’s quite a remarkable one.

Of course, regardless of my consent, he’s been going back and forth between our estate and the Grand Duke’s like a busy bee between flowers, negotiating the terms of the political marriage.

“Ughh…”

I barely managed to raise my trembling body and knocked on the door.

The pea soup I ate four days ago was my last meal. They haven’t given me water since yesterday either. Even in the notoriously cruel underground prison of the imperial palace, they at least fed prisoners once a day.

“Fooood…! Water too…!”

— BANG!

“Hey! You blockhead!”

Instead of a maid with a food tray, the Grande marquis’ eldest son, Dolman Grande, kicked the door open and stormed in.

“You lowborn trash! It should be an honor to even be the Grand Duke’s foot rag! How dare you refuse to marry him?”

That’s right. I’d rather be the Grand Duke’s foot rag than his companion.

“You should say something that makes sense– Ugh!”

Dolman Grande’s fist sunk into my solar plexus before I could finish speaking. I bit my lip, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of hearing me groan, and a trickle of blood flowed down my chin.

“You stubborn thing!”

As Dolman was about to kick me while I was down on the floor, Marquis Grande came in and stopped him.

“Dolman. That’s enough~.”

The marquis clicked his tongue, looking at my state as if I were pathetic.

“We can’t leave marks on a child who’s about to enter the bridal chamber.”

“Bridal chamber?”

Dolman’s eyes widened.

If I hadn’t been grimacing in pain, my eyes would probably have been about three times bigger than his.

The marquis approached, bent one knee, and lifted my chin.

“Tonight, use that passable face of yours to properly melt the Grand Duke’s icy heart. Give me an Ielheim bloodline. If you succeed, I’ll let you enjoy all the wealth and glory of a marquis’ daughter that you’ve never had before.”

“You’re going to make her consummate first? Even if she’s lowborn, our family has its dignity.”

The undignified Dolman spoke of dignity.

“If the Grand Duke dies before we can marry them off, won’t we be left empty-handed?”

“True. I hear he’s been on the brink of death more than once with sudden attacks of demon poison.”

“Shh! Shhh!”

The Grand Duke’s health condition is being treated as top secret.

The reason I hadn’t tried to escape from this house despite having had several opportunities was to find out about the Grand Duke’s recent situation, but I hadn’t gained any information until now.

“The Grand Duke… is gravely ill?”

A chill ran down my spine. No news hadn’t been good news after all…

“Yes. He became terminally ill after being injured by a demon sword, and could die at any moment. No medicine works against the demon poison, and even divine power is ineffective. No one can save the Grand Duke. Unless the healing holy sword Aery, which has been lost for 500 years, were to appear.”

The holy sword Aery?

Really?