“I have a fever. I might really collapse at this rate.”

“Anyway, it’s more troublesome to talk now. It was better when I couldn’t speak.”

Un Ryeong placed me in front of her and spoke as if trying to brainwash me.

“This level of fever is common for young children. You’ll be fine after sleeping. Tsk tsk, such a fuss over nothing.”

“But…”

“This is why I say there’s no need for you to train. You won’t achieve greatness anyway, miss. Your mental fortitude is too weak.”

In truth, Un Ryeong’s words were not wrong.

‘Nam Gung Lin: Average physique. Average comprehension. Just average talent.’

Unfortunately, Nam Gung Lin was born with unremarkable abilities.

This fact had been described several times in the Heavenly Demon Sovereign as well.

‘I heard my father was exceptionally talented even within the Nam Gung family.’

The people of the family who thought I would have inherited outstanding abilities were greatly disappointed, I was told.

Un Ryeong always whispered to me:

“The family head will be very disappointed when he sees you. To think that someone like you was born after consuming such an excellent father.”

At those times, I wouldn’t say anything in response.

Any attempt to argue against Un Ryeong’s words would only result in hunger anyway.

“Your mediocre talent will remain the same no matter how much you train. Master Hyun Jong saw it correctly.”

Un Ryeong emphasized further:

“So there’s no need for you to go out and train. No one cares if you don’t train anyway.”

This too was true.

The children of the Nam Gung family start martial arts training at age 5.

But I didn’t go to training. More accurately, I was prevented from going.

Un Ryeong interfered every time I tried to go train, and Nam Gung Hyun Jong didn’t allow me to train.

Whenever I expressed my desire to train, Nam Gung Hyun Jong would click his tongue and call me “pathetic”.

“You know how important today is, right?”

I nodded quietly at Un Ryeong’s words.

As she said, today was an important day. It was the day my grandfather, who had been away for a long time on Murim Alliance business, was returning to the family.

Right now, a banquet was in full swing at the Nam Gung family estate.

“Don’t wander around outside. Stay quietly in your room. You know what will happen if you catch the family head’s eye, don’t you?”

“…”

“On such an important day, don’t cause a commotion by drawing other people’s attention unnecessarily.”

After saying that, Un Ryeong left my room with an annoyed frown.

Usually, she should have stayed with me until I fell asleep, but Un Ryeong had never done so.

‘That’s fortunate for me.’

I shivered from the cold.

There was a limit to how many layers of clothes I could wear.

The clothes given to me were also of poor quality.

Sometimes Un Ryeong would appear wearing nice fur clothes, and I vaguely thought she was embezzling what was meant for me.

‘I feel dizzy.’

I could feel the fever rising in my head.

I realized I couldn’t delay any longer.

If I spent the winter like this, I might really freeze to death.

Once the presence completely disappeared, I made my way outside.

Escaping the Nam Gung family estate alone was nearly impossible.

‘So let’s first find the artifact within the Nam Gung estate.’

The artifact I was trying to bring to Ji Cheon Wu wasn’t anything too special.

I recalled a passage from the Heavenly Demon Sovereign:

[Ji Cheon Wu looked at the dagger in his hand. He could feel a buzzing vibration.

‘Must be my imagination.’

He sometimes felt like the sword he was holding was trying to speak to him.

‘Only the chosen one will be able to hear and see.’

Whenever the dagger rang, he remembered the phrase inscribed on it, but Ji Cheon Wu didn’t think much of it.

If he wasn’t the chosen one, then there was no one in this world who was chosen.

So the dagger was nothing more than an antique.

Though it was a useless and annoying sword, it had its uses in the cold winter. Because heat radiated from the sword.]

A sword that radiates heat!

‘That’s useful.’

It was a useless sword for Ji Cheon Wu, who would become impervious to heat and cold in the future, but not for me.

‘It’s something I really need right now.’

Un Ryeong neglected me even in the cold winter.

Thanks to that, I always shivered from the cold on the icy floor.

‘I’ll freeze to death at this rate. Ji Cheon Wu barely uses that sword before discarding it anyway.’

Ji Cheon Wu discovered that sword in an old warehouse within the Nam Gung estate.

While cleaning the warehouse, he picked up a worn-out dagger and felt warm energy emanating from it.

At the time, he thought it was quite a useless sword, but once winter came, he realized how important its function was.

Getting to the archives wasn’t difficult.

No one paid any attention to me, and the guards on duty readily let me pass because I was still a child of the Nam Gung family.

‘Is this the place?’

I nervously surveyed the warehouse. The warehouse was in a very dirty state, having been neglected for a long time.

‘The Heavenly Demon Sovereign definitely said it was here.’

It said he found it behind some old books in the warehouse. With trembling hands, I began to search the warehouse.

My fingers were slowly freezing due to the already cold weather.

My head was burning up and my vision was becoming blurry.

That’s when it happened.

I hid my body at the sudden presence I felt.

“Is there something you want to eat?”

“I want to eat sweets.”

“Alright, you’ve trained hard, so let’s go eat some sweets.”

“Yes!”

“It’s cold, isn’t it? Come here.”

Since this was inside the Nam Gung estate, it was probably a conversation between some distant relatives of mine.

At the warm exchange between mother and son, I suddenly felt a pang in my nose.

‘This is really annoying.’

A child’s body is indeed troublesome.

Even the smallest things would make me feel emotional.

A tear fell.

“It’s okay.”

I muttered softly.

It really was okay.

Because I’m not really a child.

My breathing became rapid.

I realized I didn’t have much time left.

If I stayed like this, I might collapse in this old warehouse.

‘Then I might really die.’

If I die, would I be able to meet Nam Gung Hyun?

And my mother who died giving birth to me?

That’s how the life of an extra usually is.

Nam Gung Lin’s tragedy wasn’t even properly described in the Heavenly Demon Sovereign.

It just said she grew up with a nasty personality from the start.

[Nam Gung Lin was always filled with malice. Ji Cheon Wu couldn’t understand why her personality was so twisted when she should have grown up loved in the Nam Gung family.]

I felt wronged.

‘If I die here, I won’t even be an extra.’

That couldn’t happen.

I sincerely wanted to live.

‘I’ll survive and live well, just to show them.’

I tried hard to raise my body.

As soon as I got up, I felt dizzy.

Finally, I began to search the warehouse while gasping for breath.

At the edge of my vision, I saw a glimmering light.

‘Found it!’

With the last of my strength, I touched something that was shining. Then I hugged it to my chest. A warm energy spread throughout my body.

But perhaps because I had moved my body in such a strained state?

My body could no longer endure and staggered.

‘Ah, I’m going to get hurt.’

If I collapsed like this, I would surely be badly injured.

I tightly closed my eyes.

But there was no ensuing impact.

Someone had caught me as I was about to fall.

‘Grandfather? He shouldn’t be at the family estate…’

Through my blurry vision, I saw the expressionless face of my grandfather, Nam Gung Jin Cheon, looking down at me.

Why was he here?

Grandfather shouldn’t be in this old warehouse, but attending the welcoming banquet for himself.

Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d seen him since eight years ago.

From his expressionless face, I felt an indescribable aura.

As if he was angry…

Was there anyone in the Nam Gung family who could anger grandfather? No, did such a person even exist in this martial world?

‘If someone angered grandfather, they wouldn’t survive.’

Nam Gung Jin Cheon was a person with a temperament as formidable as his martial prowess.

He would never let someone who angered him live.

I became curious about who dared to anger him.

But I couldn’t continue that train of thought. Because I lost consciousness right then.

[This is the timeline separator]

The banquet welcoming Nam Gung Jin Cheon’s return was in full swing.

Nam Gung Hyun Jong looked around.

Nam Gung Jin Cheon was nowhere to be seen.

He frowned.

A man quickly approached his side. There was urgency on the man’s face.

He came up to Nam Gung Hyun Jong and whispered carefully.

“They say Nam Gung Lin collapsed in front of the family head.”

Nam Gung Lin.

Hearing that name, Nam Gung Hyun Jong furrowed his brow.

That child left behind by his brother Nam Gung Hyun occasionally irked him.

Nam Gung Hyun Jong clicked his tongue.

He didn’t know how Nam Gung Jin Cheon had come to see Nam Gung Lin.

Nor why the child, who should have been quietly in her room, was wandering around.

‘This has become troublesome.’

He shook his head.

Of all days, Nam Gung Lin had caused an incident on the day his father returned.

Usually, Nam Gung Hyun Jong didn’t care what Nam Gung Lin did or where.

After all, that child’s talent was mediocre and her personality was violent.

No one in the Nam Gung family liked Nam Gung Lin.