The day he declared to the world he was going to marry his senior sister Ivy,
I got distracted while brewing her medicine and was just a little late — it triggered her heart issue, nearly ruining the wedding.
As punishment, he had me taken to a remote mountain he owned.
I suffered there until I died, my soul now wandering this world.
Five years later, Ivy's heart issue came back.
The royal physician said only my heart's blood could help ease it.
So he finally remembered me — but just to bleed me for Ivy's sake.
But our five-year-old daughter told him, I've been dead all this time.
He laughed coldly. "No wonder she's hiding — ran off with some man and popped out a bastard, didn't she?"
"Come out now, Diana, or I'll bleed this little brat in your place."
Ivy's sickness flared up again, and he finally remembered me — the wife he left behind.
He stepped down from his lavish carriage, eyes scanning the barren hills and the kneeling crowd of peasants, all pure disdain in his gaze.
"Where's Diana? Tell her to show herself. If she agrees to keep giving blood for Ivy, I'll take her back."
Silence. The villagers looked uneasy, none daring to speak.
He was getting impatient when finally, an old woman stepped out from the crowd.
"Who are you? Where's Diana?"
Bowed and trembling, the old woman replied softly, "Your Grace… Diana, she… she's…"
His face darkened with anger. "What now? Still hasn't learned after five years?"
"I came here personally, and she dares play hard to get? Does she think she's still the young lady of the Medicine King Valley?"
"That place is long gone. Tell her to get real and come out already."
The old woman lowered her head further, her voice heavy, "Your Grace… she's not coming. She can't."
He twisted the jade ring on his finger, trying to hold back his temper.
"Then go tell her. If she's willing to be Ivy's blood donor again, I'll let the past go."
But he didn't know — I've been dead for five years.
Right after I was dumped on that mountain, Ivy's people came.
In that dark, cold cave, they tied me up and drained me dry.
Then they cut me open. I was eight months pregnant.
They yanked the baby out while I was still alive and tossed us both behind the mountain like garbage.
Left to be torn apart by wild beasts.
Maybe it just wasn't the kid's time to die, because Sid Granny happened to come up the mountain and ended up taking her in and raising her.
And Ivy? She used my blood to brew her medicine. After that, she didn't have another episode for five years.
She thought she was cured—until she stopped taking the medicine, and it all came crashing back. Worse than before. The pain nearly drove her mad.
That's when Logan finally lowered his pride and came to this mountain looking for me.
Faced with his cold, pressing gaze, Sid Granny lowered her eyes and said quietly, "My lord… Diana passed away five years ago."
Logan's eyes twitched. The next second, he shouted, voice sharp as a whip, "You filthy commoner—don't dare lie to me! How could she be dead? She's the daughter of the Medicine King Valley master—a body like hers wouldn't die that easily. She could live past a hundred without a problem!"
Sid Granny dropped to her knees, silent.
Logan swept his eyes around and barked, "Search! Tear this whole mountain apart if you have to—just find her!"
"If she thinks she can fool me, I'll make her regret it."
His guards went door to door, even checked down the old dry well that hadn't seen water in years.
Still, nothing.
Logan's face turned several shades darker.
He motioned to the guards and had the elderly Sid Granny dragged over.
"Diana used to do everything I said. She wouldn't come up with a scheme like this."
"It's you people—you peasants—hiding her from me!"
"I'll say it one more time—bring her out. If not, don't blame me for what happens next."
He lost all patience. He tossed Sid Granny to the ground and crushed her fingers under his boot—ice-cold punishment.
I hovered helplessly in the air, my spirit passing right through the guards over and over, not a single one reacting.
And then, from behind them, a little girl—no more than five—squeezed through the crowd.
Her clothes were thin and torn as she threw her arms wide in front of Sid Granny, defiant and steady as a rock.
"You can't hurt Granny Sid!"
"My mother died five years ago! Even if you kill Granny, she won't come back!"
For a second, Logan looked as if he'd been struck—his pupils shaking so hard he nearly lost control.
"Wait… what did you just call her?"
His face froze, and step by step, he walked up to the girl.
"Say it again. Who did you just call your mother?"
