It was close to midnight when Na Rin opened her eyes.

‘Am I alive?’

For others, this might have been a meaningless question, but for Na Rin, it was a crucial one.

As a returnee, confusing whether this was the beginning of the 11th cycle or the start of the 12th could be a fatal mistake.

“Status window.”

The status scroll that she hadn’t called for in a long time unfurled before Na Rin’s eyes.

[Name: Ju Na Rin

Age: 4 years old]

‘Seeing that I’m 4 years old, I didn’t die.’

Na Rin let out a sigh of relief.

The past year’s hardships had almost been in vain.

If nothing else, she didn’t want to repeat the half-year journey from Shaanxi to Xinjiang.

‘Is there anything else different?’

Na Rin scrolled down the status window without much thought.

[Affiliation: Daeseong Academy First Year, Ilwol Gate Errand Runner.]

Good, good. It’s clearly reflected.

[Status: Semi-conscious Stage 1, Exhaustion Stage 5

Titles: Growing Young Sprout (Experience gained +100%), Heavenly Demon’s Attachment Doll (Demonic Tendency +1%)]

Huh?

Na Rin’s eyes stopped at the titles.

‘Heavenly Demon’s Attachment Doll?’

As she was about to raise herself in disbelief at the unfamiliar title, Na Rin realized that someone’s hand was resting on her stomach.

Long, slender fingers and well-shaped nails. The shadowed, curved bones and prominently standing veins.

‘A martial artist’s hand.’

As she blinked her eyes, which were difficult to see in the darkness, the face of the man shrouded in shadows gradually came into Na Rin’s view.

‘A master of the divine realm?’

Strictly speaking, he had a name, Dokgo Cheon, a position as sect leader, and the alias Heavenly Demon, but none of these titles resonated with Na Rin.

Not to mention the word ‘father’.

‘Why is this person… Ah. That’s right.’

Na Rin recalled her last memory before losing consciousness.

The warm embrace that held her securely and the blue flash that shattered the purple energy surging like dark clouds.

“Don’t worry.”

Na Rin felt her face burning for some reason.

She had never been protected by anyone in her life.

‘Ugh. How embarrassing.’

To think that someone known as the Blood Plum Blossom Ju Na Rin would lose consciousness during a sparring match.

If anyone who knew her past life found out about this, they would surely laugh.

“Have you come to your senses?”

It was Dokgo Cheon’s voice.

His voice, deeper than usual, indicated that he too had just woken up.

When Na Rin nodded, Dokgo Cheon lit a nearby lamp by blowing on it.

‘Igniting Sammaejinhwa with just a breath.’

Are you a dragon?

Na Rin barely restrained herself from jokingly asking that.

The reason was that Dokgo Cheon’s face looked surprisingly serious and worried.

Dokgo Cheon picked up a bowl placed on a nearby table, infused it with his internal energy to warm it up, and handed it to Na Rin.

“It’s a tonic to replenish your energy. I’ve warmed it slightly, so you can drink it right away.”

“… Thank you.”

As she reached out to receive the medicine bowl, Na Rin noticed the bandages wrapped around her arm.

It seemed that most of the treatment had been completed while she was asleep.

‘Hot!’

Her mind snapped to attention.

If she had received treatment, it meant she had also been diagnosed.

‘Did they discover my internal energy?’

No one knew that Na Rin had internal energy equivalent to 24 years of cultivation.

The only exception might be Dokgo Cheon, who had directly sparred with her, but she had asked him not to tell anyone beforehand.

‘But if the doctor found out….’

There would be no way to stop the rumors from spreading.

If the Seven Elders, the Ilwol Goddess, the guides, and even Gong Son Wu were to learn about Na Rin’s internal energy?

“Don’t worry. Your secret is safe.”

Dokgo Cheon spoke in a calm voice, as if he had read Na Rin’s troubled thoughts.

“Really?”

“Yes. So.”

Dokgo Cheon gestured as if to say not to worry and just drink the medicine.

Na Rin was still uneasy, but having no other choice, she obediently swallowed the tonic.

“Yuck, it’s bitter!”

“It seems I forgot to add licorice.”

Na Rin’s face contorted in all directions due to the bitter taste.

Shouldn’t licorice be added to medicine for children?

‘Well, I’m not really a child, but still!’

Dokgo Cheon smiled as if finding Na Rin’s scrunched-up face amusing, and took out a well-ripened date from a decorative glass bowl.

“Sucking on this might help.”

As Dokgo Cheon held out a ripe red date, Na Rin opened her mouth wide like a baby bird, saying “Ah.” She couldn’t take the date with her hands as she was holding the medicine bowl with both hands.

‘Does she want me to feed her? Me?’

Dokgo Cheon was a bit surprised but awkwardly rolled the date into Na Rin’s mouth.

Munch, munch.

With just one small red date, Na Rin’s cheeks puffed up.

‘Just like a squirrel.’

Dokgo Cheon smiled contentedly.

Meanwhile, Na Rin…

‘What is this person up to?’

She was thoroughly suspicious of Dokgo Cheon.

The ice-cold demonic sect leader and the divine realm master who had slashed at Na Rin as if to kill her.

That was all Na Rin knew about Dokgo Cheon.

Why am I alone with someone as important as the sect leader in a place like this… Huh?

‘Come to think of it, where is this?’

The soft and smooth touch of silk at her fingertips.

Furniture made of intricately carved ebony.

It was a noble’s room, not outright luxurious, but without a single carelessly decorated spot.

As Na Rin’s eyes rolled around, Dokgo Cheon spoke first.

“This is my bedroom.”

“What did you say?!”

Na Rin sat up abruptly.

“You might get dizzy if you get up so suddenly.”

“That’s not the problem…!”

Na Rin couldn’t finish her sentence and slumped back down.

She really did feel dizzy. But that wasn’t important at all.

‘Why am I sleeping in the demonic sect leader’s bedroom?’

Glancing at Dokgo Cheon with sharp eyes, she saw that he looked completely clueless about what the problem was.

It’s obvious he won’t give a proper answer.

He’ll just muddy the waters with irrelevant responses and drain my energy.

Someone who can give me the answer I want to hear in one go.

Na Rin knew only one such person.

“Where is Uncle Gong Son?”

“Uncle Gong Son?”

“Lord Earth King.”

“Ah.”

Dokgo Cheon’s expression turned slightly displeased.

It was because Na Rin had immediately asked for Gong Son Wu as soon as she regained consciousness.

‘That’s right. She was the child who entered Myeonggung through Gong Son Wu’s introduction.’

Feeling somewhat irritated, Dokgo Cheon spoke a bit curtly.

“He should be in Dongcheon Palace.”

Dongcheon Palace was the name of the guardian deity Earth King’s palace.

In other words, Gong Son Wu’s home.

“Did he go home by himself?”

“Yes.”

In reality, it was closer to Dokgo Cheon forcibly sending him back, but not knowing this fact, Na Rin found the situation utterly baffling.

‘How can this be?’

Moreover, he didn’t just

Though she didn’t know how the situation had come to this, now that she had regained consciousness, she couldn’t stay here any longer. Na Rin bowed her head to Dokgo Cheon and said,

“Thank you for treating me. Then I should…”

“Where are you going?”

“…? I have to go home.”

Though she wasn’t sure if there would be a carriage to Chilseong-ga at this hour.

“You say you’re going home?”

Dokgo Cheon’s expression turned solemn.

“Yes.”

“You can’t.”

“What?”

Only then did Na Rin realize that she was being held in Dokgo Cheon’s arms.

No, this was even more embarrassing than being held…

“You can’t go.”

Faced with Dokgo Cheon’s forceful attitude, Na Rin understood what ‘Heavenly Demon’s Attachment Doll’ written in the status window meant.

The Demonic Sect Leader. Heavenly Demon Dokgo Cheon had marked Na Rin as his doll, toy, or pillow to sleep with. That was exactly what it meant.

But there was something she still couldn’t understand.

‘Why on earth did I become an attachment doll!’

Na Rin felt suffocated, both physically and mentally.

[This is the timeline separator]

The next day.

As a result of spending the night wide awake while being embraced by Dokgo Cheon, Na Rin had dark circles under her eyes, uncharacteristic for a child.

“Explain.”

Na Rin tapped the table with her finger as if demanding an answer.

The man sitting across from her was a handsome man with his chest exposed as usual.

It was Gong Son Wu.

“What do you want me to explain?”

“Everything!”

“My, you know such difficult words. You must have studied hard at the academy, huh?”

“Uncle!”

“Alright, alright. Let’s see…”

Gong Son Wu scratched his head and glanced at Dokgo Cheon, who was just blinking while Na Rin sat on his lap.

‘It seems he followed the instruction not to separate from the child to the letter.’

If he had separated even once, they wouldn’t have been together until this hour.

If Dokgo Cheon, the cold-hearted man who had lost his emotions, had opened his eyes again, he would have immediately kicked Na Rin out of Myeonggung, no matter how late it was or how young she was.

Gong Son Wu began to speak, maintaining a shameless expression as he had prepared the night before.

“I was waiting outside the training ground until the sparring was over. Then I heard unusual lights and sounds, so I rushed inside, and you were already unconscious.”

Na Rin could infer that much on her own.

“And then?”

“A child’s body covered in wounds and unconscious, what else could I think? I immediately headed to the Medical King’s Palace.”

Na Rin’s expression turned serious.

‘The Medical King’s Palace, huh.’

Na Rin recalled her previous visit to the Medical King’s Palace to obtain medicinal herbs.

Judging by the stubborn nature of the Medical King’s Palace Lord, who insisted on not prescribing medicine without taking the pulse, he wouldn’t have just let it slide.

“Um… Did I receive treatment at the Medical King’s Palace?”

“Of course you did. The bandages wrapped around your body are all the handiwork of the Medical King’s Palace Lord.”

I see. Na Rin licked her dry lips nervously and asked again.

“Then… did they take my pulse too?”

“Pulse-taking, you say.”

Na Rin’s heart pounded as she waited for the answer.

Gong Son Wu rubbed his chin and looked upward. He looked as if he was trying to recall an old memory. Gong Son Wu’s eyes quickly scanned Na Rin.

‘She must really hate it.’

According to the Medical King’s Palace Lord, Na Rin’s meridians were abnormally wide.

Perhaps she had received some special training during her time in the Central Plains.

It’s called ‘Cutting Hair and Washing Marrow’.

It was a secret technique from the Central Plains that allowed one to maintain the soft meridians of a newborn even as they aged.

Gong Son Wu smiled and answered.

“No. Your pulse wasn’t taken.”

“Phew…”

Relieved, Na Rin’s body slumped like a deflated leather pouch.

Dokgo Cheon held her tightly to prevent her from sliding under the chair and said,

“Didn’t I tell you there was nothing to worry about?”

Right. That’s true.

But how could she not worry?

‘Still, it’s a relief.’

Na Rin finally relaxed after confirming that her secret of having 24 years worth of internal energy was kept, and that no one had died in the process.

Gong Son Wu smiled mischievously as if teasing Na Rin and asked innocently,

“Come to think of it, didn’t you refuse to have your pulse taken last time too?”