[GL] I'm Just A Side Character... So Why Is The Heroine Chasing Me?!-Chapter 23: A servant’s secret

Three days passed in suffocating silence.

The Clear Frost Garden became a prison. No visitors were allowed. Servants from the main household delivered their meager meals with sneers and insults. Even the physicians refused to come when Zhao Han’s coughing grew worse.

"The Young Master’s condition isn’t serious enough to warrant a house call," was the cold reply from the main residence.

Lan Yue watched Zhao Lingxi grow paler by the day. The poison from the banquet had been purged, but her meridians were still damaged. Without proper medicine and spiritual herbs, her already weak cultivation base was slowly withering.

And Zhao Han was getting worse.

The boy tried to hide it, putting on a brave smile whenever his sister looked at him. But Lan Yue could hear him coughing through the thin walls at night, wet and rattling, coughs that sounded like his lungs were tearing apart.

I can’t just watch anymore.

On the fourth night, Lan Yue made her decision.

She waited until everyone was asleep. Liu Ruyan’s soft snoring filled the servant’s room. Chen Mei was curled up in the corner, exhausted from the day’s work.

Lan Yue slipped out quietly.

The courtyard was empty, bathed in cold moonlight. She found a shadowed corner behind the old well and closed her eyes.

Focus.

She reached inward, searching for that familiar sensation, the pull of her personal dimension. For a moment, nothing happened. Her new body wasn’t used to channeling abilities from her old life.

Then...

Whoosh.

The world shifted.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing in her space. The dark, enclosed area glimmered with soft blue light. It was smaller than before, barely the size of a storage closet now, but it was still hers.

The metal shelves were still there, holding her supplies from the apocalypse. Canned food. Energy bars. Purified water. Medical kits. And in the corner...

There.

A small wooden box she had almost forgotten about.

Lan Yue opened it carefully. Inside were a dozen glass vials filled with glowing liquid. Some were pale blue, others deep green, and a few shimmered with golden light.

Spirit medicines.

In her previous world, these had been incredibly rare. She had found them in an ancient tomb during one of her missions, relics from a time before the apocalypse, when cultivators still walked the earth. She had never used them because she didn’t understand cultivation back then.

But now?

Now I’m in a world where cultivation is everything.

She selected three vials. A blue one for healing damaged meridians. A green one for strengthening the lungs. And a small golden one that she hoped would help stabilize spiritual energy.

Please let this work.

---

Lan Yue returned to reality and crept toward Zhao Han’s room.

The boy was sleeping fitfully, his breathing shallow and labored. Even in the dim candlelight, she could see how pale he was, how thin his wrists had become.

He’s dying slowly. And nobody cares.

She knelt beside his bed and carefully lifted his head.

"Drink this," she whispered, pressing the green vial to his lips. "It will help."

Zhao Han stirred, his eyes fluttering open. "Lan Yue? What..."

"Don’t talk. Just drink."

He was too weak to argue. The liquid slid down his throat, and almost immediately, his breathing eased. The rattling in his chest quieted. Some color returned to his cheeks.

Lan Yue let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

It worked. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"What... what was that?" Zhao Han asked, his voice stronger already.

"Medicine. Don’t ask where I got it." Lan Yue tucked the blanket around him. "Go back to sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning."

"But..."

"Sleep."

The boy’s eyes were already drooping. Within moments, he was breathing peacefully, the first peaceful sleep he’d had in days.

Lan Yue smiled softly and turned to leave.

And froze.

Zhao Lingxi stood in the doorway.

Her dark eyes were fixed on Lan Yue, unreadable in the shadows. She had seen everything.

Oh no.

---

"Come with me."

Zhao Lingxi’s voice left no room for argument. She turned and walked toward her own room. Lan Yue had no choice but to follow.

The door closed behind them.

For a long moment, neither spoke. Zhao Lingxi stood by the window, her back to Lan Yue, her silhouette outlined by moonlight.

"Where did you get that medicine?"

Lan Yue’s mind raced. She couldn’t tell the truth, that she had a personal dimension filled with treasures from another world. That sounded insane even to her.

"I... I saved it. From before I became a servant."

"You expect me to believe a street rat had access to spirit medicine?" Zhao Lingxi turned, her gaze sharp. "That vial alone is worth more than this entire courtyard. The Zhao family’s treasury doesn’t even have medicine of that quality."

Lan Yue’s heart pounded.

She knows. She knows it’s not ordinary.

"I..." She swallowed hard. "I can’t explain everything. Not yet. But I swear, I’m not your enemy. I just wanted to help Zhao Han."

"Why?"

"Because he’s a good kid!" The words burst out of her. "Because he doesn’t deserve to suffer just because his father is a heartless bastard! Because..."

She stopped, catching herself.

Zhao Lingxi’s expression didn’t change. But something flickered in her eyes, surprise? Interest?

"You called the General a ’heartless bastard.’"

Lan Yue winced. "I... that was inappropriate. I apologize..."

"Don’t." Zhao Lingxi’s lips curved into the faintest smile. "You’re not wrong."

The tension in the room shifted. Lan Yue felt some of the fear drain away, replaced by cautious hope.

"I have more medicine," she said quietly. "Enough to heal Zhao Han completely. And enough to repair your meridians too."

Zhao Lingxi’s eyes widened slightly. "My meridians?"

"The poison damaged them. I can see it in how you move, you’re in pain, even if you hide it well. If you don’t treat it soon, your cultivation will be permanently crippled."

Silence.

Zhao Lingxi studied her for a long moment. Her gaze was piercing, as if trying to see through Lan Yue’s skin and into her very soul.

"You’re not an ordinary servant," she said finally. "You never were."

"No," Lan Yue admitted. "I’m not."

"Will you tell me the truth? Someday?"

Lan Yue hesitated. "Someday. When I understand it better myself."

Another long pause.

Then Zhao Lingxi nodded slowly. "Very well. I’ll trust you. For now."

She extended her hand.

Lan Yue stared at it, confused.

"The medicine," Zhao Lingxi said. "If it can truly repair my meridians, I’ll take it."

---

They sat facing each other on the floor.

Lan Yue uncorked the blue vial and handed it to Zhao Lingxi. "Drink it slowly. It might burn at first."

Zhao Lingxi took the vial without hesitation and drank.

Almost immediately, her body stiffened. Her face twisted in pain as the medicine surged through her damaged meridians, burning away the lingering poison and knitting together what had been torn.

"Breathe," Lan Yue said. "Don’t fight it."

Zhao Lingxi’s hands clenched into fists. Sweat beaded on her forehead. But she didn’t cry out, not once.

Stubborn woman.

After what felt like an eternity, the pain finally faded. Zhao Lingxi’s breathing steadied. She looked down at her own hands in wonder.

"I can feel it," she whispered. "My qi... it’s flowing properly again."

"The medicine repaired the major damage. You’ll still need time to fully recover, but at least you won’t get worse."

Zhao Lingxi looked up at her. For the first time, there was no suspicion in her eyes. No coldness. Just genuine gratitude.

"Thank you."

Lan Yue felt her cheeks warm. "It’s nothing. I just..."

"It’s not nothing." Zhao Lingxi’s voice was firm. "No one has ever helped me like this. Not without wanting something in return."

"I don’t want anything."

"Everyone wants something."

"Fine." Lan Yue met her gaze. "I want to survive. And right now, the best way to do that is to make sure you survive too. Happy?"

Zhao Lingxi stared at her.

Then she laughed.

It was soft, barely more than a breath, but it was real. It transformed her cold, beautiful face into something warmer, more human.

"You really are strange, Lan Yue."

"So you keep saying."

Zhao Lingxi rose to her feet, steadier than she’d been in days. "Get some rest. We have a lot of work to do."

"Work?"

"You gave me my strength back." Zhao Lingxi’s eyes hardened with determination. "Now I’m going to use it. Those people, Shen Yiming, Zhao Ruoqing, everyone who schemed against me, they think I’m finished."

She turned to face the window, her silhouette sharp against the moonlight.

"They’re wrong."

---

In her small room, Lan Yue lay awake, staring at the ceiling.

I changed something.

In the original novel, Zhao Lingxi had suffered for months after the palace incident. Her meridians had remained damaged, her cultivation crippled. It wasn’t until much later, after even more tragedy, that she finally found the resources to heal herself.

But now?

Now she was already recovering. Now she had an ally, even if she didn’t fully understand who Lan Yue really was.

The plot is changing.

Lan Yue smiled in the darkness. Good.