Daldal: Main story

Chapter 26

"How come there's no sound of the girl coming and going?"

Ae, lingering near the gate that led to the outer courtyard, grumbled. The girl who had gone to the main courtyard to get medicine had been missing for two hours.

As the day passed, Eun-oh's condition worsened. His body was hotter than the previous day, and his breathing sounded abnormal, indicating that it might not be a simple injury. It was evident that if left untreated, he would likely die.

The anxious Ae knocked on Mr. Cho's door, but it was in vain. The only response from beyond the door was an unpleasant sound, demanding them to go away. In the end, the girl decided to go to the main courtyard.

Ae felt that she needed to do something, anything, to ease her troubled mind.

How much time had passed?

With a creaking sound, the heavy door of the gate opened. In came the pale-faced girl.

Approaching the anxious Ae, she was about to ask what had happened when she glanced at the girl's empty hands and clicked her tongue.

"I knew it would be like this. Look at this. Even if they have something, they won't give it up."

Seemed like those arrogant people...!

Ae criticized them as if spitting out a curse.

However, Nayeon shook her head, explaining it wasn't the case.

"No, it's not that, Ae. It's not that they refused..."

"If they didn't refuse, then why do you have nothing?"

"Wait. W-w-well, the young master..."

When Nayeon mentioned the young master, her expression became pale, as if she might collapse at any moment. Ae raised her voice at the girl's words.

"The young master? You saw the young master?"

"Uh-Yes."

"How did that happen?"

"I asked for medicine, so I was waiting. While waiting..."

The girl hesitated as she recounted the events that occurred in the main courtyard.

"Suddenly, the young master appeared."

At that moment, Nayeon almost fainted upon seeing the young master. His handsome face now looked like a demon to her.

"He asked who was sick..."

Barely holding herself up after almost collapsing, Nayeon trembled as she responded to the young master's inquiry.

She explained that Eun-oh, the boy who was framed before, was very sick. Upon hearing this, the young master remained silent for a while, making the girl anxious. She was afraid that he might get angry, questioning why a mere servant boy being sick was worth coming all the way here to beg for medicine. She worried he might scold her or even threaten her with a sword pressed against her throat.

However, much to her surprise, after a while, the young master said something quite unexpected. He simply told her to wait.

"What does that mean? Just wait? Is he saying to let Eun-oh die?"

"I don't know. I was too scared. I couldn't ask anything more"

"Oh, dear..."

The weary face of the girl looked as if she had encountered the messenger of death. Ae sighed sympathetically.

"Anyway, you've been through a lot. Just wait, whatever that means. Let's go inside. It's cold; let's get warm."

Continuing from yesterday, today was bitterly cold. Holding the girl frozen stiff with both cold and fear, Ae led her towards the warm quarters, away from the biting winter.