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Chapter 1
“Ah, it’s so hot.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand and pulled my straw hat down. A gentle breeze blew, making my straw-colored hair sway beneath the hat.
“I’ll just pick this last one and be done.”
I plucked the last medicinal herb, put it into my basket, and stood up. After crouching for so long searching for herbs, my legs were tingling badly.
I held onto a tree and looked down the steep mountain path, letting out a sigh.
“How am I supposed to get all the way down this mountain?”
Carefully avoiding bushes, fallen leaves, and acorns, I slowly made my way downhill. It was easier than climbing up, but my numb legs made the descent feel much harder.
“Whether it’s my previous life or this one, making a living is always difficult.”
About three years ago, I woke up in the remote village of Heyington.
Without knowing why, I had entered someone else’s body. There was no one who would believe me, and no one I could hold responsible.
Fortunately, I had the original owner’s memories, so living here wasn’t difficult.
But there was one huge problem.
I had become the child of a poor provincial noble family and had to repay the debts my deceased parents had left behind.
Judging by the bottle of poison lying beside the bed when I first woke up, it seemed the original owner of this body had chosen suicide because she could no longer endure the debt.
“But why am I the one paying it back?”
Before I could even adapt to this unfamiliar world, I had to deal with rough debt collectors banging on my door.
In my previous life, I struggled with hospital bills.
In this life, I’m paying off debts left behind by parents I’ve never even met.
My previous life had been ordinary enough.
I was a long-term hospital patient with a rare illness. My airway would become inflamed without warning, causing severe swelling that often left me on the brink of death.
It was an incurable chronic disease, so I could never leave the hospital.
I unwillingly became a permanent patient.
“We thought we adopted a healthy child. What bad luck that we picked the wrong one.”
That was how my adoptive parents described me.
They had adopted me believing I was healthy and intelligent, hoping I would take care of them in their old age.
But instead, I turned out to be a “failed product.”
Once I became sick, they distanced themselves from me.
Eventually, my unpaid hospital bills piled up, I was thrown out of the hospital, and I died on the streets.
I suddenly stopped walking and looked over my body.
I was now a healthy adult woman with light brown hair and even lighter brown eyes.
“If I had the choice, I would’ve preferred being reborn as a big, muscular man.”
Well, what difference would it really make?
“At least I’m healthy here.”
I smiled with satisfaction, leaned on a nearby tree, and carefully continued down the mountain.
I’ll pay off my debts, save some money, travel the world… and someday I’ll even try expensive shark roe!
Lost in those happy thoughts, I eventually reached the flat ground.
“Hup.”
I finally stepped out of the mountain and onto the vineyard.
“Lucina!”
Hearing someone call my name, I turned around.
At the far end of the vineyard, Basir was running toward me while waving both hands above his head.
“Basir? What’s wrong?”
He ran straight up to me and took the basket from my hands.
“Here, Lucina.”
“I can carry it myself…”
I said that, but I let him take it anyway.
“So, what happened?”
“My father told me to come help you.”
“The village chief did?”
Well, I certainly wasn’t going to complain.
Basir smiled warmly and stood beside me.
“Let’s go, Lucina.”
Basir was one of the few people my age in the village.
He helped sell the medicinal herbs by trading with merchants.
As the village chief’s son, he was well respected, hardworking, and every parent wanted him as a future son-in-law.
He had clear navy-blue hair like the open sky and deep blue eyes like the sea.
Whenever sunlight shined on him, his eyes sparkled like an emerald ocean.
No wonder every family wants him. A face like that doesn’t belong in a little country village.
Still…
He seemed strangely different today.
Basir was walking stiffly, like a broken wooden puppet.
“Basir, what’s wrong? Are you sick?”
“H-Huh? No.”
He denied it with an obviously nervous face.
Not sick? Then why are you walking with the arm and leg on the same side moving together?
I narrowed my eyes and carefully watched him.
Did he do something wrong to me?
When our eyes met, he visibly panicked.
Then, after making up his mind, he suddenly stopped.
“Basir?”
He swallowed hard before quickly turning around.
With a determined expression, his eyes shone brightly.
“Lucina, do you know?”
“How would I know? What’s going on?”
“They say this year’s Harvest Festival will be even bigger than last year’s.”
He covered his mouth with his fist.
“Ahem… so, I was wondering… would you like to go to the Harvest Festival with me—”
“Oh my goodness! Isn’t that Indel?”
“What?”
I rushed past Basir like an arrow.
Standing in front of the plant to hide it from view, I quickly looked around.
Thankfully, there was no one nearby besides Basir and me.
I knelt down and examined it carefully.
“Oh my goodness… It really is Indel!”
Indel was an extremely rare medicinal herb that had almost disappeared completely.
People were desperate to find it.
Originally, it was a poisonous plant.
Used incorrectly, it was nothing but poison.
But when properly prepared, it became such an effective medicine that people even called it a cure-all.
Just putting it up for auction could easily bring in enough money to cover an ordinary family’s living expenses for an entire year.
That should pay off a good part of my debt.
I barely held back the urge to shout, I hit the jackpot!
Carefully brushing away the dirt and grass around the roots, I took a handkerchief from my pocket and wrapped the herb inside it.
I can’t just throw something this valuable into the basket with ordinary herbs.
As I carefully wrapped it up, I suddenly remembered I had been talking with Basir.
I quickly turned around.
“Basir! Sorry! I got distracted after finding Indel. Weren’t you saying something?”
Basir quietly watched me before smiling with one eyebrow slightly raised.
It was the smile of someone who had already given up.
“It’s fine. Go ahead.”
With his hands behind his back, he walked over and leaned in to look at the herb.
“So that’s Indel… It doesn’t look any different from the other herbs. Someone like me would never recognize it.”
I put the handkerchief into my pocket and stood up.
“Basir, would you mind heading back first? I want to search around here a little longer.”
“Ah…”
He rubbed the back of his neck with obvious disappointment.
After standing there for a while, he finally laughed helplessly.
“Alright. Just don’t push yourself. Come back soon.”
“I will.”
Basir stared at me with lingering regret before letting out a sigh.
“I’ll tell you when you get back.”
“Tell me what?”
“It’s nothing.”
He shook his head with a smile and began walking away.
As if he knew I was watching, he lifted the herb basket high into the air.
“If you don’t come back soon, I’ll sell all these herbs myself!”
As if you’d ever do that.
I smiled while narrowing my eyes.
Only after he disappeared into the distance did I turn around again.
With hopeful eyes, I searched the surrounding area for another Indel.
After digging through weeds along the border between the vineyard and the mountain for quite a while, I finally sat down in exhaustion.
“Well… finding another one would be a miracle.”
As I looked around once more…
My eyes suddenly stopped on one spot.
“Huh?”
There was a little girl, about five years old.
She had curly cherry-blossom-pink bobbed hair, adorable features, and expensive-looking clothes.
I stared at her blankly.
Then my eyes widened.
At first I thought she was simply resting against the tree.
But when I looked closer, I realized she had completely lost consciousness and was slumped over.
“Hey!”
I hurried over and checked her condition.
Her chest was rising and falling so violently that I could clearly see each breath.
Sweat poured down like rain, making strands of hair stick to her face.
I gently grabbed her shoulders and shook her.
“Wake up. Can you hear me?”
“Mmm…”
At that moment, she slowly forced open her heavy eyelids.
“Can you hear me?”
Because of the sunlight behind me, she squinted.
“M… Mama…?”
she mumbled in a cracked voice.
I placed my hand on her forehead.
It was burning hot, almost like touching fire.
“This is bad. She’ll die if she stays like this.”
I slipped my arms under hers and lifted her up.
Unable to stand on her own, she stumbled weakly.
I quickly carried her onto my back and ran home with all my strength.
“Where… where did I put those herbs?”
After laying the little girl on my bed, I threw my straw hat into the corner and soaked a towel with water.
I wiped the sweat from her face before frantically searching through the house.
I knew I had dried some fever-reducing herbs before.
But where had I put them?
No matter how hard I tried to remember while searching everywhere, I couldn’t find them.
“Ah! Maybe they’re in the backyard?”
Slide.
I opened the living room window and looked outside.
Only the herbs I had gathered yesterday for treating external wounds were there.
What do I do…?
She probably had heatstroke.
The Heyington region was famous for its hot and humid weather.
Visitors from outside often collapsed from exhaustion.
Seeing that she had been lying in direct sunlight without even a straw hat, I was almost certain.
I glanced back at the bed.
Compared to before, her complexion looked slightly better.
Her breathing had become steadier.
I sighed in relief.
“Maybe she’ll recover just by resting—”
“Bleegh!”
Apparently not.
Like a fish flopping on dry land, the girl suddenly jerked upright and vomited onto the floor beside the bed.
I rushed over and caught the vomit with both hands.
Since she hadn’t eaten anything, only clear stomach fluids came out.
After she finally stopped throwing up, I washed my hands.
Even while washing them, I couldn’t stop looking back at her.
She lay on the bed staring at the ceiling, groaning weakly.
Seeing such a small girl, barely five years old, unable to even support herself made me anxious.
She reminded me of the children around her age I had met during my long stay in the hospital in my previous life.
“Should I go get a doctor?”
The thought only lasted a moment.
I immediately shook my head.
No.
What if something happened while I was gone?
Leaving her alone might be even more dangerous.
“I shouldn’t have sent Basir away.”
I sighed with regret and slowly took the handkerchief from my pocket.
“I guess I have no choice.”
I would have to use the Indel.
It was famous as a cure-all.
I carefully unfolded the handkerchief and stared at the precious herb inside.
I was going to auction it…
My eyes almost watered.
No. Get a grip! This child’s life is in danger because of her high fever.
Having made up my mind, I carefully washed the Indel and repeatedly boiled it.
Because it was naturally poisonous, it had to be boiled over and over before it became safe to use.
Sweating heavily, I boiled it…
strained it…
boiled it again…
and strained it again.
Only when steam completely filled the room was the medicine finally safe enough for a person to drink.
