It Turned Out She Wasn't a Favored Concubine - Episode 109

I stood briefly in front of the white door. Though it wasn’t locked, I remained still for the time it takes to blink slowly three times. I needed a final moment to unlock the door in my heart.

Just as I reached out toward the door, it opened.

The first person I saw was a boy around ten years old, with strikingly large eyes.

“Huh? Who are you?”

The boy hung onto the door and tilted his head as he asked.

“Uh, I… I’m…”

It was an unexpected situation. Flustered, I couldn’t speak properly and looked back and forth between the boy and the inside of the room. Another child popped out from behind him—a girl about the same age.

“What? What? Who?”

The girl with braided pigtails fired off short questions from behind the boy.

“No idea. Maybe a doctor?”

“Dummy, she’s not wearing white. Doctors only wear white.”

“Then who is she?”

“Why are you asking me? Ask the lady.”

The girl lifted her head again and looked at me. Her pigtails swayed lightly.

“Who are you? Grandma’s friend?”

I snapped back to my senses and managed to nod.

“Yes, I’m a friend of the lady here. Are you her grandchildren?”

“Yes, we’re cousins. I’m the older one. But are you really Grandma’s friend? You’re a lady, and she’s a grandma—can you still be friends?”

A bitter smile escaped me. True, if you measured by years lived, she had lived far longer than I had.

“You two! Let the guest come in.”

A middle-aged woman with a bob haircut appeared behind the children. She nodded at me and gently moved the kids aside.

“Sorry about that. Please come in.”

I bowed slightly and stepped inside. The room, entirely white, was bustling with people: the two children I’d just met, two middle-aged women, and one man.

I wondered what kind of group this was, but quickly figured it out.

“Mom, Mom, this lady says she’s Grandma’s friend. Grandma is Grandma and the lady is a lady—can they be friends?”

The girl clung to the bob-haired woman’s arm and asked. The woman smiled warmly and replied.

“Of course they can. Now let’s put on your coat nicely. Grandma’s friend is here, so they need to talk. Time to go home.”

“But I want to stay with Grandma longer…”

While the girl whined and put on her coat, the boy ran over to the middle-aged man.

“Dad, I’m hungry.”

“Let’s go eat something tasty outside. Ask Mom to tie your shoelaces.”

“Oh no, when did they come undone? Come here.”

The man handed the boy to the long-haired woman beside him, then turned to me.

“You’re my mother’s friend? I don’t think we’ve met before…”

I had a hunch, but the word “mother” confirmed it. I didn’t know what to say, so I just shifted my gaze.

“Yes, you wouldn’t have seen me before. We met here at the hospital.”

It was a voice I’d heard many times before—familiar, yet in this world, the most familiar of all. I looked toward the shadow reclining on the bed behind the white curtain.

“Oh, I see.”

“I’ll talk with my friend now, so you all should head out. As promised, treat the kids to something nice.”

“Okay, we’ll head out for today.”

The children ran into the curtained area and hugged the shadow. The curtain swayed from their movement, revealing a slender wrist.

“Grandma, see you tomorrow.”

“Me too. I’ll come tomorrow.”

“Yes, yes. Be careful going home.”

The children waved their palms sadly and left holding their parents’ hands. I waved back instinctively. The parents nodded and slowly closed the white door.

The once-busy room fell silent.

“So you finally came to see me.”

I slowly pulled a folding chair next to the curtain and sat down.

“You didn’t go see the children?”

“No. I thought about it, but I didn’t go. Still…”

I looked at the white door the children had exited through.

“It wasn’t bad.”

She chuckled softly from behind the curtain.

“I’m glad.”

We sat quietly for a long time. Then she spoke.

“Coming back here means you’re ready, doesn’t it?”

Instead of answering, I asked,

“What about you?”

“Same here.”

I smiled briefly and raised a hand. Then I pulled back the white curtain.

With a soft rustle, the curtain folded aside, revealing the face I’d only seen in photos—my future self, or rather, Arne’s face. She resembled my grandmother, but wasn’t identical.

Still, I could be sure. That body once held my soul, but even if I had aged in that body, I wouldn’t have looked like that. That was Arne’s future—and her present.

I had no choice but to accept it.

Arne looked at my face—her past face—with her wrinkled one.

“Hmm… how should I put it… It’s only been a year, but you’ve definitely changed.”

I tilted my head slightly, curious.

“I mean your aura, I guess? In my memories, I never treated others with such a gentle face. I didn’t look in the mirror every day, but I’m sure of that. I can’t explain it exactly, but you’ve changed. Not just because I know our souls switched bodies.”

She felt the same thing I had. I touched my lips absentmindedly.

“So, have you looked back a lot?”

“Yes. Things I was curious about, worried about, wanted to see… I’ve checked them all. I have no regrets.”

“I see. Then are you going back?”

Arne didn’t say “I’m leaving,” but “I’m going back.” It wasn’t wrong.

“Yes, I need to return to the people waiting for me.”

She reached out her right hand. I instinctively reached out too, then stopped.

“I’d like to shake hands, but if we do, our bodies will switch again.”

“Oh… right.”

Only then did I realize Arne didn’t know how our bodies had switched in the first place.

If it were me, I’d have asked that question immediately…

But Arne hadn’t asked. Maybe she thought knowing wouldn’t change anything, so it was meaningless?

Still, I briefly told her what had happened after I went to the other world—what Jiscal and Elliot had told me.

There were things from the past that Arne needed to know. She listened silently, then sighed deeply.

“So it was my karma after all.”

I neither confirmed nor denied it, remaining silent. Arne twisted her body with effort and bowed her head toward me.

“I’m truly sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m not Lucy.”

“…”

Arne bit her lip, then spoke softly.

“Could you tell Louis I’m sorry? You might not believe it, but I remember the maid who fell down the stairs because of me. Actually, I remember everyone I hurt for no reason. I’ll remember them for the rest of my life, and I’ll repent and regret it.”

It wasn’t just words. I could tell from her life. I nodded slowly.

“There’s one last thing I want to say.”

“What is it?”

She twisted her body again with difficulty, turned to the other side, and tried to stand from the bed using crutches.

It looked so hard for her frail body that I stood up to help. But Arne stood firmly on her own and turned toward me. Then she bowed deeply.

“Thank you so much.”

It happened so fast I couldn’t stop her.

“I’m truly sorry to you, but coming to this world allowed me to change myself. Thanks to the boundless love your family gave me. In the other world, I lived selfishly, blaming others for my misfortunes, saying I grew up unloved.”

Arne cried.

“But in this world, I received love I’d never felt before. Your family didn’t give up on me, even though I was in your body. No matter how badly I behaved, no matter what crazy things I said, they stayed by my side. That’s when I first felt love. So I decided to live in this world, with your family.”

Her voice trembled, but she kept going.

“Still, deep down, I couldn’t shake the guilt of having stolen someone else’s family. So I’m really sorry.”

Her frail body wobbled. I carefully helped her sit back on the bed without touching her directly. I poured water into a cup on the side table and handed it to her. Arne coughed weakly and slowly drank.

“You don’t need to feel guilty.”

She slowly lowered the cup from her lips.

“You didn’t know this would happen. You didn’t intend to steal my family. Just like I was suddenly dropped into the other world without knowing anything, you came here the same way.”

I recalled the moment I first woke up in the other world—the confusion, loneliness, frustration. Arne must have felt the same.

“And saying ‘your family’ isn’t quite right. They’re Arne’s family too.”

Arne looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. Through her gaze, I could clearly understand what she wanted to say.

But that was also what I wanted to say to her.

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