Free Web NovelThe deposed consort seemed to savor the broth slowly, then opened her mouth slightly in admiration.
“It is excellent!”
“Does it suit your taste?”
“Even the delicacies of land and sea I ate in the imperial palace did not taste like this. You are very skilled, Young Lady.”
Oh. It’s that good? Yeon Ryang, that man, is different from how he looks.
At the unexpected reaction, I smiled and waved my hands.
“It wasn’t me. My brother made it. I’m relieved that it suits your taste.”
“You have a very skilled brother, Young Lady. If I could, I would want to hire him as my cook.”
The deposed consort, sparing no praise, finished the broth cleanly as though she had never cut off grain.
It must really be delicious. I should go get myself a bowl too.
Smiling brightly, I cleared away the empty bowl.
“Tomorrow, should I catch pheasant and slice it thinly for you? Do you like fruit? What about wild raspberries?”
“Wild raspberries... When I was still at my family home, Father often picked them for me. He would wipe them one by one and put them in my mouth...”
The deposed consort smiled faintly and was silent for a long while. The way she stared blankly into the air made it seem as if she were chewing over memories.
Only after more than fifteen minutes did she answer.
“...Yes. I think I liked them.”
“Then I’ll bring you some wild raspberries tomorrow too. You must be tired, so I’ll take my leave now, Your Grace.”
“Yes. Thank you for the meal, Young Lady.”
I bowed my head, gathered the dishes, and left the room.
The nuns were the happiest to hear that the deposed consort had picked up a spoon.
Nun Seoljae recited Buddhist teachings with a pleased expression, and Nun Gakmun also swept a hand over her chest as if she could finally breathe.
“Thank you, Benefactor.”
Nun Wolam took my hands with a face so moved she looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.
Their reaction made it easy to understand how much they had been worrying over the deposed consort’s health.
“She ate all the meat soup I brought her. Since rich food may startle her stomach when she has eaten it suddenly, please don’t give her anything more today. Instead, I’ll make her another medicinal decoction this evening.”
“Understood, Benefactor.”
“It also isn’t good for Her Grace to stay in her room all day just because her strength has declined. Please have her walk around the courtyard for at least fifteen minutes while the sun is up.”
“But Her Grace’s legs are uncomfortable...”
“Ah, if Her Grace says her legs hurt, I’ll needle her Zusanli point, so have her take a walk first and then call me.”
“Yes, Benefactor. We will do that.”
“And by any chance, is there a stream nearby where softshell turtles live? I’d like to boil softshell turtle soup to strengthen the body... Haha.”
I flinched at Nun Seoljae’s subtle gaze and shut my mouth.
Fortunately, the nun did not seem to be trying to reprimand me. She answered in a benevolent voice.
“If you walk west for an hour, there is a large stream.”
“Thank you, Nun. Then I’ll be going.”
I respectfully pressed my palms together and hurried out of the hermitage.
The deposed consort mattered, but Yeon Ryang’s body mattered more.
There was no way to get spiritual medicine in these deep mountains, so I had to help his recovery by feeding him nourishing food at least.
The fact that Yeon Ryang would be the one making it himself was a minor issue, so I decided to let it pass.
What ingredients for nourishing food could I get around here?
Softshell turtles, crucian carp, loaches... catfish? If I did well, I might even be able to get deer antler.
As I sorted through ingredients that came to mind one by one, I slung the netted basket in the courtyard over my shoulder.
It was the moment my entirely unexpected life as a wilderness forager began.
*****
Every day, I combed through the mountains as if searching for lice.
I alternated between catching meat and fish, dug up every medicinal herb I saw, and sometimes gathered fruit as well.
Most of the fruit that formed where flowers had fallen was small and unripe, but now and then there were ripe ones, so I could cleanse my palate.
When I returned with this and that loaded into my basket, Yeon Ryang, who had been lying slanted against a rock near the hermitage, would greet me with a wave.
“You’re back?”
Seeing the man smirking with a blade of grass in his mouth made me laugh.
“Someone has been climbing mountains all day, while someone else is living easy, basking in the sun.”
“Let it slide for just a few more days, sister. When else will I get to enjoy the life of a layabout?”
“You know you’re a layabout, Brother? Get up and take this. I brought back a beehive.”
“So that’s why that one is so swollen?”
Yeon Ryang chuckled and pointed at Cane.
Clinging to the basket, Cane was chewing on bees stuck to its fur with a very sulky face.
“Cane. Are you still sulking?”
“KIT!”
Irritated, Cane rolled around on the ground and expressed its sorrow.
It was protesting the fact that it had been the one to harvest the beehive, so why was it not being allowed to eat the honey?
“Wait a little. Brother will scrape just the honey out of the comb for you. Let’s eat that.”
“KIII...?”
At that, Cane’s expression softened. It was such an easy-to-understand sable.
Yeon Ryang took the basket from me and checked its contents, speaking glibly.
“Ah, another full haul today. Sister, you could become an excellent head of household.”
“What? Are you telling your younger sister, who isn’t even twenty yet, to act as the head of household? You have no conscience. Give that back. You don’t get dinner tonight.”
When I snorted and tried to snatch the basket away, Yeon Ryang nimbly dodged and hugged the basket protectively.
“Whew, absolutely not.”
His movements were so clean and free of waste that my face twisted on its own.
...Somehow, him saying it’s hard to walk for long feels like a lie. Isn’t his back already healed?
After putting some distance between us, Yeon Ryang emptied the basket and checked the day’s harvest.
“Wow, you brought back a lot of river snails. If we stir-fry these with seasoning and have a bottle of strong liquor with them, it would be incredible.”
“This is a temple, Brother. And what kind of patient drinks liquor? Stop talking nonsense and split the beehive for me. Cane is waiting.”
As I scolded him and sat down beside him, Yeon Ryang skillfully split the beehive and moved the honey into a new jar.
Cane also circled around Yeon Ryang with sparkling eyes, then received a bite of honey and looked blissful.
I had not known this, but Yeon Ryang had talent for housekeeping.
Of course, he was good at cleaning ingredients and cooking, but he also repaired the hermitage’s broken doors and furniture in no time with just a hammer.
When the basket I had been carrying around developed a hole, he even wove me a new one that fit my body. He was a man with many talents.
“How do you know how to do things like this?”
“Haha, if you live long enough, you end up doing everything. Sister, could you go to the kitchen and bring the basket with the wild raspberries and one small jar? I’ll preserve them in honey.”
“Okay.” freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Yeon Ryang answered as if it were nothing special, then drew well water and began scrubbing the river snails vigorously.
By the time I came back with the wild raspberries, he had already finished cleaning them and was shaking dirt from the medicinal herbs.
“Give me the herbs, Brother. You’ll damage the roots.”
“I was going to, even if you didn’t say it. If I touch them for no reason, I’ll get scolded badly.”
Yeon Ryang chuckled and set down the herbs. He lightly rinsed his hands, then picked out ripe wild raspberries and placed them into the jar.
Their color was so red and pretty that my mouth watered on its own.
“Brother. Can’t you use internal energy to freeze the wild raspberries just a little? I want to eat them cold.”
“Sohae. Your brother can’t even circulate energy right now.”
“Ugh, what’s that? Useless. Grandfather could freeze a cup just by touching it.”
When I grumbled, Yeon Ryang shook his head as if telling me to say something that made sense.
“What? Compare me to someone I can actually be compared to. The Poison King exists beyond the heavens, sister. Someone like me isn’t even dirt under the Poison King’s toenails.”
His incredulous voice made me curious.
“Is my grandfather that incredible?”
“Yes. If you asked the Divine Sect... I mean, the Demonic Sect to name the orthodox martial artist they fear and hate most, it would be your grandfather. If you gathered only the believers the Poison King turned into corpses, they would form a mountain of bodies and sea of blood.”
Come to think of it, Peng Jiyun had said something similar too.
“The Poison King’s disciple colluded with the Demonic Sect? What kind of bullshit is this? Search the entire {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Central Plains, and you won’t find anyone who hates the Demonic Sect as much as that man.”
Right. She said Grandfather hated the Demonic Sect. Is there some story behind that?
When I looked like I knew nothing at all, Yeon Ryang scratched his head roughly.
“Sohae, you said you were the granddaughter who learned the Poison King’s secret martial arts. Did you not even know what kind of person your grandfather was?”
“Of course I didn’t. Do you think my grandfather would have treated me like a Demonic Sect bastard?”
“Well. I suppose not. He would have given you candied haw skewers instead.”
Yeon Ryang nodded as if he understood. I decided not to mention that the candied haw skewers Grandfather had given me were poisoned candied haw skewers.
As he poured honey into the jar, he continued slowly.
“Your grandfather lost his beloved during a battle against the Divine Sect. His grudge was so deep that the Poison King spent five years single-handedly smashing six of the Divine Sect’s districts and slaughtering its believers before finally stopping his revenge.”
“...Huh?”
“Now it’s become a story from the distant past, but the Sect still shudders at the mention of the Poison King. There was no other orthodox martial artist who charged in like a demon with swords stuck all over his body.”
“Uh? Grandfather did that?”
“Yes. That was not even when he was called the Poison King as he is now. They say a mere junior of the martial world, barely past thirty at most, went on such a rampage that even the Alliance couldn’t control him. Of course, I only heard all of this.”
At the unbelievable story, I covered my mouth.
Good heavens. I had expected something bad had happened to him, since I had heard he missed the time to marry, but...
As I lost the ability to speak and only rolled my eyes, Yeon Ryang shrugged as if surprised.
“You really don’t know Moonlit Fairy Okhwan? She’s famous in the Sect. The Tang Clan must have done a good job keeping mouths shut. Well, it has been more than a hundred years, so I suppose she could have been forgotten.”
At the name that came from Yeon Ryang’s mouth, I wanted to scream.
Okhwan?
The owner of the wooden tablet the Martial Alliance Lord brought was Grandfather’s beloved?
