Chapter 57

Ryu Do-gyeong cleared his throat and shot me a pointed look, as if it were somehow my fault. He’d been the one going on and on about “princess” a moment ago, lapping it up, and now this.

“Don’t just stand there gaping. Go lie down. I’ll bring the tray in myself.”

“No, I’ll do it. How can I make a guest—”

“What’s a patient supposed to do. Don’t argue, just get in there.”

Ryu Do-gyeong pushed at my back, steering me toward my room, then headed for the kitchen with surprising ease.

He used to come here often enough, back in the old days — but since we’d reconnected, this was his first visit, and yet his movements were oddly natural, like he’d never stopped.

Click. The door shut behind me.

I stood there behind the closed door, pressing a hand to my chest, dazed. My father’s words — that’s some real devotion — kept circling in my head.

All this, over something as small as a cold. Ryu Do-gyeong, hauling in bags stuffed to bursting.

…Why is he like this? It’s so confusing.

Flustered as I was, something deep in my chest itched in the strangest way.

Was it the fever? Or something else? It felt like my temperature was climbing even higher.

Ryu Do-gyeong brought the porridge in himself. Steaming abalone porridge, and a neat little dish of watery kimchi beside it. Anyone could see how much care had gone into the meal.

I sat curled up in the corner of the bed, peering up at him, feeling strangely shy.

“…Thank you.”

“Eat it all. Don’t leave anything.”

But once I actually picked up the spoon, my throat burned at the thought. Could I even get this down…

More than that, Ryu Do-gyeong stood there with his arms crossed, watching me like a supervisor, which made the whole thing unbearably awkward. When I kept fiddling with the spoon without actually eating, his brow furrowed at once.

“What. Don’t even have the strength to lift a finger?”

“No, that’s not it…”

“Tch. Honestly.”

He clicked his tongue, short and sharp, then dropped down to sit beside me without hesitation.

“What, then. Want me to feed you?”

“…Sorry?”

Startled, my eyes went wide, and Ryu Do-gyeong, acting like it was nothing at all, started unbuttoning his shirt cuff.

“You wanted to be treated like a patient. So I’ll treat you like one.”

When did I ever say that?

Before I could even ask, he rolled up his sleeve, baring a solid forearm. The casualness of the motion startled me so badly I threw up both hands in protest.

“No! I’ll eat it myself!”

“Dropping the formal speech now?”

“…I’ll eat it myself. Please.”

Of course I’d slip into informal speech in a moment like this.

There was no way Ryu Do-gyeong could understand what it meant for me to have to open my mouth for my former crush, who knew every embarrassing thing about me.

“Just hold still. Don’t spill it.”

He brushed off my resistance without effort and took the spoon from my hand. He blew gently on the steaming porridge to cool it, then brought the spoon to my lips.

“Ah. Open.”

“Mmmng…”

“Whining won’t make me put the spoon down. Open your mouth or not?”

My dignity. Gone.

Faced with that warning look, I gave in and opened my mouth. The fragrant abalone porridge slid inside.

“Chew. I’m not stealing it back.”

Caught off guard, I chewed and swallowed without meaning to, and only then did the corner of Ryu Do-gyeong’s mouth ease into something like satisfaction.

He made sure I ate another two spoonfuls before he finally put the spoon back in my hand.

“You eat well.”

Well, of course I did, it was just that good.

Chef Jukseonjae, you’re a legend. Had the man known, while he cooked, that this porridge was meant for me and not for Ryu Do-gyeong?

Anyway, to think someone with that level of skill had made this abalone porridge for me. I should be entering it in some cooking competition immediately…

“Keep eating.”

Looking satisfied, Ryu Do-gyeong crossed his arms again and let his gaze wander slowly around my room.

Back when I was a kid living at Jaedamjae, he used to wander in and out of this room all the time.

But that was then, and this is now. He probably doesn’t even remember.

His eyes moved slowly over the bookshelf, as if searching for something. Then his gaze stopped on the desk.

“…There’s not a single old photo here.”

He said it casually, like a throwaway line, but there was a bitterness threaded through his voice.

“Yep…”

I buried my nose in the bowl of porridge and scrambled for some kind of excuse.

“I moved all of them into an album back when I was living outside. I haven’t taken it back out since I moved back in.”

“Is that right.”

Ryu Do-gyeong stared steadily at me. His gaze was so intent that I found myself gripping the spoon for no reason at all.

“Then the ones with me in them.”

“…Sorry?”

“Are the photos of us together in the album too?”

My heart dropped. I hadn’t expected him to zero in on exactly that.

As if they would be.

In truth, I hadn’t even been able to put them in an album.

Through all those long years living apart from Jaedamjae, with just me and my father, Ryu Do-gyeong had been the person I missed the most and avoided the most at the same time.

Afraid that seeing his face would make me want to see him. Afraid I’d want to hear his voice. Afraid I’d want to meet him. Afraid I’d want to whine and lean on him, the way I used to.

So the photos of the two of us together hadn’t gone into any album — I’d shoved them into the one place I could never reach without trying.

Because I hadn’t had the courage to take them out and look.

I swallowed down the words I couldn’t let myself say. I couldn’t tell him all of this, not now.

Forcing myself to look unbothered, I pressed my lips shut and shook my head. Meaning there weren’t any. It might have looked like I’d lost them, too.

“…..”

At my denial, Ryu Do-gyeong’s brow creased briefly. Was he disappointed? He let out a short, dry laugh.

“Ha.”

The dry sound cut through the quiet of the room.

“…Guess I’m the only one who kept your pictures, then.”

Something in my chest ached at that. It sounded almost as if he’d thought of me even during the years I wasn’t there.

He wiped the bitterness from his face and turned away.

“Finish eating and take your medicine. I’m going to go see Grandfather.”

He strode toward the door, but as he reached for the handle, he stopped short. With his back still to me, his lips parted.

“I’ll have the pictures copied and sent over.”

“…..”

“Keep them in your room once you get them. Don’t shove them away somewhere.”

“Consider it payment for the porridge,” he added briefly.

With that, the door closed.

If he meant photos, he had to mean the ones the two of us had taken together, back then.

I couldn’t tell what he was really after, wanting me to keep hold of them. What on earth did Ryu Do-gyeong actually think of me?

Even after the door shut, I kept staring at the spot where he’d been standing for a long while. Maybe I’d just eaten too much porridge. My throat tightened out of nowhere.

Through the window, I could see Ryu Do-gyeong, far off, about to step out through the main gate of Jaedamjae. It looked like he’d finished talking with Grandfather and was heading back to Jukseonjae.

Just as I turned my head, a useless pang of longing still lingering —

“Hey, Joo Sae-i.”

A sharp voice cut in from outside the door. I didn’t even need to check to know who it was.

Joo Su-yeon. My cousin, the same age as me, the daughter of my enemy, the one who’d tormented Woon Seong-ha, the one itching to get rid of me… there were too many ways to describe her.

I shoved the medicine bag and the shopping bag Ryu Do-gyeong had left behind out of sight, behind my back.

Su-yeon had her sights set on Ryu Do-gyeong as her own fiancé candidate. If this looked the least bit strange, I’d be the one who ended up humiliated.

But it seemed I was already too late — Su-yeon had walked into my room without so much as asking, and now stood there glaring at me with her arms crossed. Jealousy and contempt burned in her eyes.

“Why was Do-gyeong oppa here? And what’s with all those bags he was lugging around?”

In moments like this, the direct approach was best. If I just let it slide, she’d jump to her own conclusions, get irritated, go running to my uncle, my uncle would move to keep me in check, I’d fail again and end up dead, the country would collapse, the whole world would suffer…

“Isn’t it obvious? He came to see how I was doing.”

“Checking on you? Don’t make me laugh. You probably pulled some trick on him. Pretended to be sick and whined until he came, didn’t you?”

Well, Su-yeon, the thing is, Ryu Do-gyeong doesn’t come running even when you cry and beg and fake being sick… Hasn’t that lesson sunk in yet?

Su-yeon strode closer and shoved my shoulder roughly. My feverish body swayed, but I gritted my teeth and held my ground.

Up close, Su-yeon’s face was twisted with fury. The moment I saw that expression, a flicker of déjà vu ran through me.

…She looks just like him.

That greedy gaze, that complete lack of hesitation about trampling other people.

My uncle, Joo Su-deok, the man who’d driven my father and me to our deaths in my first life. For a moment, that terrible man’s face seemed to overlay itself on Joo Su-yeon’s.

Blood runs thicker than water, they say. It seemed she’d inherited every bit of that ugly nature, intact.