Morning came gently to the Kang residence.Birds chirped among the garden trees, and the air smelled fresh after last night's rain.
For Han Eun-bi, the day felt… different.Not because of work, but because her mind kept replaying the events at the pavilion.Kang Min-ju, Lord Jun-yeol's younger brother, who had been burning with fever, was now recovering.
And somehow, Eun-bi felt relieved —perhaps because, for the first time since she arrived in this strange world, she had actually been useful.
While she was hanging laundry in the backyard, a cheerful voice called out from behind.
"Hey! You're that weird maid, right?!"
Eun-bi turned, frowning in confusion.A young man stood there — dressed casually, hair slightly messy, a grin so bright it could rival the morning sun.
"Uh… who are you?" she asked suspiciously.
"I'm Kang Min-ju!" he announced proudly. "You're the one who told the physician about the warm compress, right? That was genius! I thought I was going to die from those bitter herbs that old man kept forcing on me."
Eun-bi blinked. "You're… Lord Jun-yeol's brother?"
"Yep! But don't worry, I'm way friendlier than he is," Min-ju said with a wink. "You can actually talk to me without freezing to death under his death stare."
Eun-bi snorted a laugh. "You're awfully brave to talk about your brother like that."
"Who else will? Everyone in this house is terrified of him. But honestly, he only looks scary — deep down, he's—"
"Min-ju."
The voice was calm, low, and carried that familiar chill.
Eun-bi and Min-ju turned at once. Jun-yeol stood there, his expression unreadable as ever, though there was the faintest flicker of exasperation in his eyes.
"You just recovered, and you're already shouting around the yard," he said coolly. "Do you want to get sick again?"
"Father and Mother would be thrilled to know I'm alive enough to shout!" Min-ju grinned. "Fresh air is good for my health!"
Jun-yeol gave him a long, steady look, then turned to Eun-bi."You're the one who advised the physician?"
Eun-bi froze. "Y-yes, my lord. But it was just coincidence. I didn't mean to meddle in family affairs."
He paused for a moment, then said quietly,"It's fine. Sometimes small things save much larger ones."
Eun-bi blinked.…Was that— a compliment?
As Jun-yeol walked away, Min-ju watched him with a mischievous grin."See? That was his version of saying thank you."
Eun-bi chuckled. "Then I'll take it as an honor."
Later that afternoon, Eun-bi was asked to deliver medicine to Min-ju's room.But when she entered, she found him sitting cross-legged on the floor, sketching on a wooden board.
"What's that?" she asked curiously.
"A phoenix," he said proudly. "They say our family crest is based on this bird of immortality.But mine looks more like a tired chicken."
Eun-bi examined it and burst out laughing. "If immortal chickens looked this cute, I'd adopt one."
Min-ju laughed too. "You're funny. No wonder my brother's been acting weird since yesterday."
Eun-bi choked on her own breath. "E-excuse me?! Weird how?!"
"Relax! I didn't mean in a romantic way," Min-ju grinned. "He just… looks confused every time you talk. Maybe because he's never met anyone as strange as you."
"Yeah, that's fair," Eun-bi sighed. "Even I surprise myself sometimes."
That evening, Eun-bi sat beneath a tree with her small notebook — the one she'd been secretly filling with sketches and random notes since she arrived in Joseon.She flipped to a blank page and whispered,
"The letter said, 'The one who writes shall open the path.'Does that mean… I have to write something?"
Dipping her brush in ink, she wrote softly across the corner of the page:
'Sometimes, fate doesn't wait for the right time — it arrives with the person you least expect.'
The breeze stirred the paper, and for a brief moment, the ink shimmered faintly — as if alive.
Eun-bi stared at it. "I don't know what's happening… but something's definitely changing."
That night, inside the main hall, Lady Yoon Hye-sun — Jun-yeol's mother — spoke gently to her husband.
"Ever since Min-ju fell ill, this house has been quieter," she said softly. "And I've noticed something… different about Jun-yeol."
Kang Seong-won raised an eyebrow. "Different?"
Hye-sun smiled faintly. "His eyes… they're not as cold as before. There's a bit of warmth in them now."
Seong-won sighed. "Maybe it's the pressure of family matters weighing on him."
But Hye-sun knew better.It wasn't burden — it was change.Something, or rather someone, was quietly thawing the frost in her son's heart.
And somewhere outside, under the moonlit sky, a clumsy maid looked up and whispered,
"If this is the story I wrote… why does it feel like I'm the one learning from it?"
The stars shone bright over Joseon that night.And for the first time, Kang Jun-yeol looked — not out of suspicion, but because, without realizing it…he had begun to truly see her.