Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Blooming Even in the Mud Chapter 10
 
 
 
“He is a man who was my father’s… well, perhaps a close friend.”
Gyeong Won-ui explained the circumstances in a low voice.
Zhanghou State was a country sharing a southern border with Songyang State. As the greatest general of Zhanghou State, Jiang Huang had clashed armies with Gyeong Baek-jong multiple times.
“When you command an army and confront the same enemy for a long time, you come to read each other’s inner thoughts as clearly as if you were looking at the palm of your hand.”
“Like a game of chess or Go?”
“Similar to that.”
It had been a tightly contested, prolonged conflict. Gyeong Baek-jong and Jiang Huang were formidable enemies, yet at the same time, they were each other’s sole kindred spirits who understood one another better than anyone else.
“He said that they only faced each other directly for a single day to share a drink during the armistice agreement, but it felt as if he were meeting an old friend.”
Gyeong Won-ui’s voice flowed serenely.
For a while after the armistice agreement was signed, Gyeong Baek-jong remained away from the southern border. And during his absence, war broke out with Zhanghou State once again, resulting in the death of Jiang Huang’s only son in battle.
“After that incident, my father was appointed as the commander of the southern border. He then recovered the corpse of Jiang Huang’s only son, which had been decapitated and was miserably rotting away, placed it in a coffin, and sent it back to the army of Zhanghou State.”
Had it not been for Gyeong Baek-jong, it was a corpse that would never have returned. After holding a funeral for his son, who had returned home after being respectfully shrouded, Jiang Huang secretly sent a messenger.
“What he sent back then was this calligraphy that reads ‘Serve the Country with Utmost Loyalty’, a dagger belonging to Jiang Huang, and a letter.”
 
[My loyalty to my country, and your loyalty to yours, shall never change. However, it is an undeniable truth that I owe you a great debt. Thanks to you, I am finally able to bury my son in my heart—a son who would have otherwise been abandoned, mauled by beasts, and torn to shreds.
If you present this dagger as proof, at any time or place, just once, even if I happen to be besieging your Capital City, I will absolutely withdraw my army.]
 
Gyeong Baek-jong burned the letter immediately. Though he did not return the token, he never used it either.
Even after that, the two men invariably commanded their armies to weave the flow of the battlefield, and with the passing of the King of Zhanghou State, a new armistice agreement was signed.
“After returning to the Capital City, he explained the circumstances to me.”
It was a truth he had never revealed even to his old friend, Chu Sim-yang, but had passed down solely to his son.
On the rare occasions when Gyeong Baek-jong drank heavily, he would subtly bring up stories of Jiang Huang with a faint smile.
“Since then, he never faced Jiang Huang on the battlefield again, but my father still keeps that token securely. And he gave this calligraphy to me, telling me never to forget my loyalty.”
“To think such a thing happened…”
Yoo Seo-hwa, who had been listening to the story without even breathing properly, exhaled a long sigh.
Putting aside the calligraphy since no one in Songyang State would recognize Jiang Huang’s handwriting anyway, the dagger that Gyeong Baek-jong kept was truly dangerous. Rational judgment dictated that she ought to ask him to dispose of that dagger immediately.
‘But I cannot do that.’
Putting aside the fact that they were enemy nations, there was Gyeong Baek-jong’s heart, which had shared a genuine connection. There was Gyeong Won-ui’s heart, which had revealed the truth to her when he could have easily smoothed it over with a lie that some anonymous calligrapher wrote it.
This was a truth that could only be revealed to someone trusted with one’s very life.
She was happy for his trust.
It was proof that he loved her enough to entrust his life to her.
She did not know how to repay this love she had received. Yoo Seo-hwa parted her lips several times before finally letting out a voice that sounded like a sigh.
“What, and how, should I do for you, Young Master?”
It was a vaguely blurred question. Yet, as if he knew her inner thoughts, Gyeong Won-ui smiled softly.
“Just…”
With that, he caressed her cheek. It was his hand, the one Yoo Seo-hwa loved.
“Stay here, by my side. As long as I can give my heart to Your Highness, that is enough for me.”
 
* * *
 
Crown Prince Yoo Jeong said indifferently.
“I hear the Zhuangyuan of this Military Examination is Gyeong Won-ui? Sukjeong must be delighted.”
“She certainly will be. Though that fellow Won-ui himself had a look on his face as if it were only natural.”
Chu Sim-yang recalled his friend while pouring wine into the cup of Yoo Jeong, who sat in the seat of honor. He thought it was truly just like Gyeong Won-ui to remain calm even after passing the examination with top honors.
To Chu Sim-yang’s congratulations, Gyeong Won-ui had only offered a single sentence.

It was also just like Gyeong Won-ui to be more satisfied with the fact that he had brought joy to Princess Sukjeong than with passing the examination as the Zhuangyuan.
Every time he thought about how that block of wood, who seemed like he would never give a woman a second glance, had somehow fallen head over heels for the princess, it felt wondrous.
At any rate, it was good news capable of refreshing the heavy air of the Imperial Palace, which had grown bleak as Emperor Xuanwen’s health deteriorated. All the more so since autumn had already arrived, and the princess’s wedding day was only two months away.
Yoo Jeong alone seemed somewhat detached from that atmosphere of the Imperial Palace.
‘He has always been like this, so it is nothing new.’
Chu Sim-yang inwardly looked away and sipped his wine.
Yoo Jeong, who failed to receive trust and expectation from Emperor Xuanwen, had become listless at some point. Even when he stayed awake at night to put in effort, the assessment that he was weak-willed never changed, and Emperor Xuanwen’s favor was directed solely toward Princess Sukjeong.
Having come to realize bitterly that no matter how hard he tried, he could never defeat his half-sister, Yoo Jeong grew negligent.

Whenever he got completely drunk, Yoo Jeong would giggle and mock himself.
“Your Highness, please stop speaking of such dull matters and accept another cup of wine from your humble servant.”
“Very well. This wine is losing its flavor.”
Yoo Jeong, who was already quite intoxicated, kept tilting his cup continuously.
From the perspective of Chu Sim-yang’s father, Chu Se-gu, the weaker Yoo Jeong was, the better. That way, he would be able to enjoy power by manipulating Yoo Jeong when he eventually ascended the throne.
When the previous Baedong fell ill and died an early death, Chu Se-gu had pushed his third son, Chu Sim-yang, who was several years younger than Yoo Jeong, into the position of the new Baedong. Chu Sim-yang worked diligently to earn Yoo Jeong’s trust.

Chu Sim-yang, who was obedient to his father, worried about Yoo Jeong but condoned his dissipation. Thus, even today, knowing that two naked women were asleep on Yoo Jeong’s bed just behind them, he pretended not to see.
“Mmh, Crown Prince, Your Highness… how long are you going to keep drinking?”
Just then, one of the women who had woken up drew back the curtain and whispered languidly.
“Oh my. Are you awake already?”
“With such a sweet aroma of wine, how could I sleep any longer?”
Yoo Jeong chuckled and extended his wine cup to the woman.
Since staying any longer would only make him a nuisance, Chu Sim-yang offered his greetings and withdrew. Even before he could step away, Yoo Jeong became entangled with the women on the bed.
Because Yoo Jeong had dismissed all the palace attendants, the Crown Prince’s Palace was quiet. Having stepped outside the palace, Chu Sim-yang belatedly remembered something he had forgotten to convey to Yoo Jeong.
‘He will be annoyed if I interrupt his intimacy, but it cannot be helped.’
If it was just a matter of speaking briefly from outside the door, he would not be terribly enraged.
Chu Sim-yang, who quickly walked back to Yoo Jeong’s bedchamber, was about to part his lips when he suddenly flinched.
“…”
Amidst the high-pitched cries of the women leaking through the gap in the door, strange words were mixed in. It was not groaning. Repeated words were being broken off and reconnected.
“…”
Sensing a strange familiarity, Chu Sim-yang carefully listened to the words, and his complexion instantly turned pale.
Those words were things that a eunuch or a court lady working only within the Imperial Palace would absolutely never recognize upon hearing. They were words known only to someone who, like Chu Sim-yang, had served in the expeditionary army and had deep dealings with them.
It was none other than the incantation of the White Head Sect.
 
* * *
 
Chu Se-gu’s furious voice raged like a storm inside the room.
“What did you say? Crown Prince, Your Highness is with the remnants of the White Head Sect?!”
“Father, your voice is too loud.”
Chu Sim-yang hurriedly calmed his father. Although he had told the underlings not to even approach, one could never be too sure.
Chu Se-gu, who had raised his voice unwittingly in the face of this disastrous situation, gritted his teeth.
“Are you certain? You didn’t mishear?”
“There is no mistake. It is an incantation that White Head Sect members recite during intercourse. It is embarrassing to mention to you, Father, but they believe that by chanting that incantation during copulation, pleasure is… Ahem, at any rate, they are people who believe such things.”
“Damn it…”
Chu Se-gu clutched his forehead in despair.
The White Head Sect was an Evil Cult that deluded the world and deceived the people by preaching the doctrine of casting off the pain and suffering of the present world to enjoy blessings in the afterlife.
Once you stripped away the plausible religious guise, it was ultimately nothing more than the pursuit of debauched pleasure. It was content bound to entice a Crown Prince steeped in indulgence. He had not expected him to be foolish enough to fall into it despite knowing that Emperor Xuanwen had classified it as an Evil Cult to be punished and suppressed.
“What should we do? If His Majesty finds out, a terribly severe disaster will break out.”
Chu Sim-yang sighed, his shoulders drooping.
There was only one reason why Yoo Jeong, who had fallen out of Emperor Xuanwen’s favor, had not been removed yet. It was because the Second Prince, who would replace him, was a young child not even ten years old.
Had there been one more prince of a reasonable age, Emperor Xuanwen might have seriously considered deposing the Crown Prince.
Chu Se-gu, who was pacing around the room anxiously, eventually threw a flower vase in anger.
‘Of all things, it has to be the White Head Sect!’
Fire had literally dropped onto his feet. In truth, Chu Se-gu shared a close relationship with the White Head Sect. The person who had secretly helped the White Head Sect, after they were suppressed in Qiheng Province, to go underground was also Chu Se-gu.
At this juncture, if it reached the Emperor’s ears that the Crown Prince was infatuated with the White Head Sect, it would be a disaster. Furthermore, that was not the only problem.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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