Precious Daughter of the Greatest Martial Arts Villain

Chapter 10

His voice, heavy with guilt, sounded like a confession to my ears.

“I don’t have the right to hold your hand. You would be put in danger because of me, and I cannot allow that to happen, so...”

He paused for a moment. When he began speaking again, he sounded pained.

“So... don’t get any closer. Don’t even think about holding my hand or thinking of a monster like me as your father.”

His voice trailed off into a whisper, barely audible, as if he were casting a spell.

“However, I will do whatever you want me to do, so use me as you wish. Then, once I am of no use to you, throw me away. It’s all right if you do that, little one.”

I forced my eyes to focus. In my wavering vision, I could faintly see him. He smiled awkwardly, as if he was smiling for the first time. So why did it look like he was crying?

I had no idea that was how Cheon Ma felt. I thought he had kept his distance because he didn’t have emotions.

He wasn’t wrong though. He had enemies everywhere, all waiting for him to show any weakness at all. As soon as he showed affection for me, I would become that weakness, his only weakness, which meant I’d be exposed to danger.

In a situation like this, his affection would be nothing but poison to me.

But...

I gripped his pinky as tightly as I could, with all my strength.

He stiffly looked down at my hand, as if he saw something frightening. Was he holding his breath? I couldn’t even hear him breathe.

I slowly raised my other hand. His breath seemed to catch in his throat as his red eyes locked onto mine. It looked as though he wanted to back away from me.

Please don’t avoid me.

Had he heard me? He didn’t back away.

In fact, though he hesitated for a moment, as soon as he felt my touch, he lowered his head slightly.

My hand touched his smooth cheek. I gently patted it.

“Iaght... Iaght. (It’s all right... It’s all right.)”

Cheon Ma slowly closed his eyes. Tears seemed to flow down his beautiful face.

I continued to pat his cheek until I lost consciousness, and Cheon Ma didn’t back away from my touch.

* * *

When I had closed my eyes, I’d felt as though I was dying, but...

“Huh?”

When I opened them, I felt incredibly light, as if I was going to float away at any moment. I felt rejuvenated and strong. It was the best I’d felt since I’d been born.

Ooh! It looks like the treatment worked.

Why did it feel like my eyesight had gotten better, though? Everything was clearer, as if a veil had been lifted. My vision was sharp. I could see every speck of dust floating in the air and even the tiny stains on the ceiling corners. Was I seeing things?

As I went to rub my eyes, I heard my nanny’s voice. “Miss! You’re awake!”

When I looked in her direction, I saw a weary-looking Seoryeong rushing in. It looked like she had been through a lot.

Feeling bad, I tried to smile brightly. She sank down in front of me, as if her legs had given out underneath her.

“A-ah... Miss... I thought you might have been severely injured... I was... so worried...” Seoryeong trailed off and began sobbing in earnest. However, she suddenly opened her eyes wide and grabbed my shoulders.

“Do you know how scared I was for you?! Please don’t ever do that again! It doesn’t matter if I die, but you must not be harmed in any way! Not a hair on your head! Even if I die! Do you understand, Miss Lihwa? Please promise me!”

My leaving her embrace to confront Bing Eunseol must have traumatized her.

“I’m sorry I worried y—huh? I can pronounce things properly now...?”

My lisp had magically gone away, like I had grown a new tongue or something. My pronunciation was accurate now.

I blinked in surprise. I thought Seoryeong would also be surprised, but her reaction was strange. She subtly avoided my gaze, and her tears had even dried up.

“None of this is your fault. All the adults are to blame. Miss, you don’t have to apologize, so please don’t. Just please promise me you won’t put yourself in harm’s way.”

“Okay, I prom—wait, that’s not what’s important right now, Seoryeong! My pronunciation is weird!”

“Uh, i-it sounds good to me. You are a genius, after all. It’s possible your pronunciation could have been fixed overnight!”

What did being a genius have to do with muscle development in the tongue? Baffled, I stared blankly at her.

“Er, well... oh, yeah! M-Miss, I’ve prepared rice porridge for you!”

As I watched Seoryeong, I couldn’t help but think how suspicious she was acting.

Well, whatever, I guess I should stop acting like a fool then.

I supposed I had no reason to keep up the act since Bing Eunseol was gone, anyway. Truthfully, I felt embarrassed every time I spoke, because of my pronunciation. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I decided I was going to look on the bright side.

“Miss, here’s the porridge. Now say, ‘Ah~’”

“Ah...”

I obediently opened my mouth like a baby bird and ate the porridge.

But where was Cheon Ma? I would have thought he’d be by my side when I’d woken up, but only my location had changed, and it was still just the two of us, Seoryeong and me.

Had I dreamed it all?

The confession from Cheon Ma, who had told me not to get close to him, and how I had patted him on the cheek... Had all of that been a dream?

I was delirious at the time. Not because of the abuse, but because I was mad at myself for putting Seoryeong in danger. I’d needed help desperately, so when Cheon Ma had shown up just in time, it felt like a dream.

It was actually somewhat comforting to think that I had dreamed it all, since I was planning on escaping from the Demonic Sect anyway. I didn’t want to form any attachments to anyone besides Seoryeong.

I tried to hide my disappointment as I put down my cup of water. “What happened to that woman?”

I had never referred to Bing Eunseol as my mother. At first, Seoryeong tried to correct me, but she stopped mentioning it at some point.

“M-Miss, it’s time for you to wash up, isn’t it? Please wait a moment while I prepare the bath for you.”

Seoryeong avoided my gaze again and suddenly acted very busy. I didn’t have to press her any further to figure out what had happened.

So she’s dead.

She probably didn’t last long once she was trapped in the room with all her limbs cut off.

I had wished for her death constantly while she was abusing me, but I didn’t feel good at all about this.

Seemingly sensing my feelings, Seoryeong clumsily changed the subject.

“Goodness, it’s been about a month since you’ve washed up, but you still smell good.”

“A month?”

I had been unconscious for a month?

As my eyes widened in surprise, Seoryeong tilted her head and then clapped her hands.

“Ah! I forgot to tell you. You woke up after a full month.”

How badly did she beat me up for me to be in a coma for a month? The little pity I’d felt for Bing Eunseol evaporated instantly.

It wasn’t enough for a child abuser to suffer in the same way. Getting punished tenfold and even a hundredfold wasn’t enough.

I erased any and all emotion toward Bing Eunseol and headed toward the bath.

A little while later...

“Wh-what’s this?!”

I was stunned when I saw my face in the mirror. I thought my face had gotten prettier, but maybe that was all in my head. The problem was my eyes.

My black eyes had changed to a light blue color.

“Why... are my eyes like this?”

“Well, uh, you were in critical condition, so you took medicine. Just think of it as a side effect from that. It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“Well, no, but, Seoryeong, where are you looking?”

She was staring off into space as she was talking.

This was the third time she had avoided my gaze.

“What? No, I just thought there was something over there... Oh, would you look at that? The water is going to get cold. You should hurry up and get in.”

Yeah, right! The water is still steaming!

As I stared at her suspiciously, Seoryeong lifted me up and plopped me into the tub.

“Ack! ...Huh? It’s not hot...”

“It’s the perfect temperature, isn’t it? Since you don’t have to worry about getting burned anymore, I ran the bath even hotter than usual. I was told this would be about the right temperature for you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Pardon?”

“Why wouldn’t I get burned anymore?”

Seoryeong flinched and mumbled, “Because I’ll be here to take care of you?”

“Oh, is that so...?”

“Yes...?”

“Really?”

“O-of course!”

Seoryeong looked like she was going to cry if I continued pressing her. Instead of continuing to tease Seoryeong, I started thinking about the strange phenomenon that had happened to me.

I was completely oblivious to the fact that the North Sea Ice Palace had declared revenge on Cheon Ma.