Precious Daughter of the Greatest Martial Arts Villain

Chapter 4

Cheon Ma’s visits stopped after those ten days, which naturally made me think that Bing Eunseol’s visits would also stop, but she continued to come see me until I was well over a year old.

She was quite clever; instead of drawing suspicion to herself by stealing all my gifts at once, she came daily to discreetly steal them little by little.

As for the elixirs, she’d sit and drink them in my room and use qi training to absorb them.

Thanks to this, her internal qi grew day by day, and she became more beautiful over time.

However, when Cheon Ma still ignored her, Bing Eunseol began to take out her frustrations on me.

“G-g-guh...”

My teeth chattered. The biting cold was freezing me to the core, permeating my entire body.

It was so cold that I couldn’t think, like I had been stripped naked and kicked out of the house in the middle of winter. My hands and feet were so cold it was agonizing.

“Please, my lady! Please stop! Please!”

“You spoil her too much. Her mother is from the North Sea Ice Palace. Don’t you think she should be able to handle a little cold?”

“My lady!”

“How dare you raise your voice at me?! I was going to stop here if you had kept your mouth shut, so this is on you.”

She lightly waved her hand. Instantly, the cold surrounding me intensified.

Despite the clear summer weather outside, I could see the puffs of air escaping from my lips. Gradually, I began to lose feeling in my hands and feet.

Bing Eunseol refrained from causing me visible harm, such as pinching me or smacking me on the back.

Maybe it was because she was scared she’d be found out, or maybe it was simply out of annoyance, but she had begun to use her martial arts skill to torment me. Using her ice qi, she used her main weapon, her ice attack, on me.

At first she couldn’t control her ice qi freely to this extent, but after stealing and drinking my elixirs, her internal power must have grown significantly.

Since Seoryeong was holding me tightly, her body was also as cold as ice. I could see how her nails had turned blue from rubbing my arms up and down.

I can’t let this go on any longer.

As I gritted my teeth, which had started to come in, I rolled my eyes and pretended to faint.

I wished I could have foamed at the mouth, but my saliva had frozen so that was, unfortunately, out of the question.

“M-miss! Miss!”

Seoryeong frantically caressed my face, as her tears fell onto my cheeks.

It was so cold that the places where her tears dropped felt hot like a burn.

“Wh-what should I do? M-miss... Oh, no... Miss...”

“Did she faint over that? Ugh, stop being dramatic. Take her outside so she can get some sun.”

Every time Bing Eunseol abused me, she would throw us out of the room once she was done, spouting some nonsense about sunlight being the best remedy to combat the cold. Of course, sunlight was good, but the recovery process was slow.

Today she had another reason for kicking us out.

She wanted to absorb the energy from the elixir that had come in as a present for me yesterday.

If someone interrupted her during qi training, she’d lose the opportunity to increase her internal power.

Seoryeong pleaded with Bing Eunseol.

“W-wouldn’t it be faster if you shared your internal qi with Miss Lihwa, my lady?! Please warm her up! At least a little!”

“Does it look like I have an infinite amount of internal qi? Get out of my sight while I’m still feeling generous. Or do you want to keep going? Your choice.”

At her irritated voice, Seoryeong swallowed her tears.

As we left the room, Bing Eunseol commanded that no one was to be allowed in for the time being.

“Yes, my lady.”

The servants knew what she was doing to me and Seoryeong, but they pretended not to because they were all Bing Eunseol’s people and not my original servants.

No one seemed to find it strange that my staff had completely changed.

Cheon Ma had completely stopped visiting, and the followers only sent gifts.

Not a single person seemed curious as to what was happening to me and why Seoryeong’s complexion had worsened.

It was to be expected, since the Demonic Sect had a history of kidnapping promising children when they were young and turning them into successors. Ak Wuryeon was one of those kids.

The Demonic Sect didn’t require the next leader to be the offspring of the previous leader.

The people who were sending me gifts were just ordinary followers. The core members of the leadership didn’t even bother to spare a glance at me, so it was only natural that nobody knew what was happening.

Once we got to the garden, I finally spoke up.

“Sowwie... nan... e... My fawt... (Sorry, nanny. My fault...)”

“Don’t say that, Miss! None of this is your fault. I’m the one who should be saying sorry. Because I’m so weak... I can’t even protect you... It hurts a lot, doesn’t it?”

“I’m feen. I’m feen. (I’m fine. I’m fine.)” I shook my head vigorously to reassure her.

Of course, when this had first started, I thought I might actually freeze to death. I even really fainted, but surprisingly enough, I gradually became more resilient.

It would get insanely cold, but I stopped fainting after a while, and I recovered more quickly each time. It seemed like my body was adjusting out of a stubbornness to survive.

Seoryeong smiled sadly as she tidied my slightly messy hair, and then led me to the sunniest spot in the center of the garden.

“Miss, shall I make you a flower crown to cheer you up?”

Your hands are still icy from trying to save me. Are you sure you can do it?

Seoryeong quickly hid her hands behind her back, laughing faintly as she noticed my gaze.

“They’ll warm up more quickly if I move them around like this. Sit and sunbathe while I make it. I’ll be back with your flower crown soon.”

“Swohwy, swohwy. (Slowly, slowly.)”

“Don’t worry. I’ll do it slowly.”

It had been about two months since I’d started to talk properly instead of just babbling. It was also the same day I’d managed to stand by myself for the first time.

Seoryeong was delighted that I seemed to be growing much more quickly than other babies, although, the first time she heard the badly pronounced words coming from my mouth, she almost fainted.

This was our little secret. I knew Eunseol would torment me even more if she knew I could understand and communicate with people.

I continued to crawl and didn’t speak, so that the other servants wouldn’t catch on. It made people think I was a little lacking.

I could hear the servants whisper about how I was pretty but dumb and that no one would want me.

Bing Eunseol had no plans to kill me right now to hide the shame, because she was addicted to the sweet presents that continued to pour in for me.

The gifts from the followers were surprisingly luxurious and high-end.

Besides the elixirs, it was common for me to receive one-hundred-year aged medicinal herbs. It seemed like the Demonic Sect followers were quite wealthy.

As long as the gifts kept coming, I’d be safe. The more I was perceived to be stupid, the safer I’d be.

I really need to learn martial arts quickly.

Bing Eunseol wouldn’t bat an eye if I went wild trying to learn. She’d just scoff at the idea that the bumbling fool was trying to learn something useful.

Yeah, keep on underestimating me, lady. In the meantime, I’m going to do whatever I can to build my strength. Once I grow strong enough to get out of here, I’ll be sure to get rid of you on my way out!

Just thinking about that day would make the pain Bing Eunseol would inflict on me seem sweet. The servants were gossiping about me like I was their favorite mode of entertainment.

Well, they could torment me all they wanted, because I was going to pay them back several times over.

I clenched my fists and then looked around.

Seoryeong was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she’d gotten distracted and drifted too far while picking flowers, like last time.

I was imagining her frantically rushing back toward me with her skirts flapping in the wind and laughed when—

“Huh?”

I quickly glanced around. It felt strange, like I was being stared at.

I squinted as I scanned my surroundings.

“Huh? Huhhh?”

A suspicious feeling crept over me. I felt a gaze on me. My instincts were generally pretty accurate, having been honed from Bing Eunseol’s torment.

However, no matter how many times I looked around, I didn’t see even a shadow of a person.

Had I just imagined it?

Maybe I was becoming overly sensitive from constantly being watched by the servants. I tried to shake off that feeling and focus on picking flowers.

I wanted to make a flower crown for Seoryeong, but because my fingers weren’t dexterous enough for something like that, I was starting to gather flowers to make a bouquet for her instead, when...

“Miss.”

I sharply turned my head.

“What are you doing here?” Ak Wuryeon asked, looking slightly irritated.