Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 17

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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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Before she knew it, the chirping of the insects had ceased. It was strange. Usually, they cried all night long, making the endless nights feel even lonelier.
Opening the window once more, Yoo Seo-hwa’s eyes widened. In the distance, a massive blaze was swaying and billowing.
“Goodness. Is that a fire? The weather has been so dry lately, this is terrible news.”
An exclamation of shock escaped Court Lady Lee’s lips as well. Since the flames were visible from this far away, it could not be an ordinary fire.
It was around that time that a commotion erupted outside.
“Princess!”
The doors burst open, and Park Kwon-bok rushed inside with utter discourtesy. Ever since the incident on their Consumation Night, Yoo Seo-hwa flinched at the mere sight of her husband’s face, but she forced herself to stay composed.
The situation outside was bizarre, and Park Kwon-bok’s demeanor was far too frantic. The despicable gaze he usually cast upon her was nowhere to be seen.
“W-We must escape immediately!”
“Why are you in such a state of panic?”
“It is treason! The rebels have breached the Imperial City, and o-outside is…!”
Park Kwon-bok gasped for breath, unable to even finish his sentence. Bolting upright from her chair, Yoo Seo-hwa cast a bewildered look toward the south, where the Imperial Palace lay.
“M-My brother…! Is His Majesty safe?!”
“There is no way to know right now! Just come outside! Hurry!”
Yoo Seo-hwa bit her lip hard.
“Leave the jewelry behind and move!”
Urging Court Lady Lee, who was frantically trying to pack the valuables, she rushed outside.
Being deep within the inner courtyard of the Princess’s Residence, they had been slow to grasp the situation. The Imperial City was already a living hell.
The blood-red flames licked the night sky like ferocious tongues, while the clashing of swords and screams erupted from all directions.
“Kill the tyrannical, Foolish Ruler who was bewitched by an Evil Cult!”
“Protect His Imperial Majesty!”
Battles between the Imperial Guard and the Rebel Army were breaking out everywhere across the Imperial City.
Yoo Seo-hwa barely managed to recognize the military banner of the Rebel Army.
‘King Ning…? My uncle?’
The imperial uncle, who had been granted a fiefdom in the northern Qiheng Province, had launched a rebellion.
Even though she shared no deep sibling affection with her brother, the Emperor, she was still an imperial princess. As a descendant of the imperial line, Yoo Seo-hwa bore the responsibility to assist the Emperor in the midst of this war.
Even if she were to die by the blades of the rebels, she had to die as an imperial princess. However…
“W-W-What should we do?”
Park Kwon-bok was fluttering about, utterly clueless as to where they should flee. The maidservants, who had served Yoo Seo-hwa since childhood and followed her to this residence upon her marriage, were also stomping their feet in sheer anxiety.
These people were also lives entrusted to her care.
Reading her inner conflict as these two responsibilities clashed, Court Lady Lee dropped to her knees.
“Your Highness! Assessing the safety of His Majesty the Emperor is important, but right now, please look after those who are near you first!”
An argument that her life would be in danger if she went to the Imperial Palace to find the Emperor would not have worked on her. Knowing this, Court Lady Lee sought to ensure Yoo Seo-hwa’s safety by reminding her of her other duty.
Yoo Seo-hwa had no choice but to heavily accept this.
“Taking the back path through the rear garden will lead us to the forest. Let us hide there first and monitor the situation.”
Though the path was rugged, they could scale the hill, allowing them to flee deeper into the terrain in case of an emergency.
Under Yoo Seo-hwa’s guidance, the household members of the residence began their evacuation.
‘If this were a private estate with its own private army, we would bar the gates and defend it, but the only soldiers in the Princess’s Residence are a small number of Imperial Guards escorting me. Evacuating is our best option.’
As they cut through the chaos, they eventually crossed paths with the Rebel Army. While the heavily outnumbered Imperial Guards risked their lives to hold the rear, the remaining household members managed to escape.
Would she ever see those guards again? Yoo Seo-hwa let out a sigh.

How many corpses had they encountered? Just as her sense of smell was numbed by the stench of blood and burning flesh, and a sweet, sickly taste rose in her mouth from exhaustion, one of the maidservants finally gave out and fell.
“Princess, please leave me behind and go!”
Having collapsed and sprained her ankle, the maidservant could not even stand. Yoo Seo-hwa shook her head once, then helped the maidservant to her feet by supporting her.
“Let us rest here for a moment to recover our strength. We have come quite far, so it should be safe for a while.”
Though it was an unaccustomed night journey, they had run a considerable distance. Before they knew it, they were at the entrance of the forest.
The din of the clashing armies grew distant as if muffled by a thick veil, and no other frantically fleeing people were in sight anymore.
Helping the maidservant sit against a tree, Yoo Seo-hwa tore off a long strip from the hem of her skirt. As she tightly wrapped the cloth around the sprained ankle, the maidservant wept, utterly overwhelmed by the gesture.
Park Kwon-bok approached and bowed his head.
“I will scout the surrounding area, so Your Highness should rest here.”
“No, I will check it myself.”
Yoo Seo-hwa rose from her spot.
“You might encounter the rebels. The one who holds value to them is me.”
Park Kwon-bok was a mere Buma, but Yoo Seo-hwa possessed the symbolic weight of being the late Emperor’s sole legitimate line.
If she became the bait, the chances of these people surviving would increase.
“Your Highness! You cannot!”
The group was greatly shocked, and Park Kwon-bok also shouted frantically.
“D-Despite how I look, I am a man, so I am swifter than Your Highness. I can safely throw the rebels off our trail, so do not worry.”
For some reason, a hint of fluster was embedded in his pursuing voice. Then, before Yoo Seo-hwa could stop him, he dashed into the darkness.
Unable to catch Park Kwon-bok, she withdrew her hand that had remained suspended in the empty air. From beyond that darkness, Park Kwon-bok never returned.
The one who emerged from the darkness was her lover—the man she thought dead, and who was now trying to kill her.

* * *

“To kill you, Princess.”
The blade gleamed with a blood-red light.
Even as the Hwando raised high into the air descended toward her neck, Yoo Seo-hwa gazed up at Gyeong Won-ui blankly.
Preceding the blood-stained blade, Gyeong Won-ui’s hatred pierced her neck and carved out her heart.
Drip, drip.
Crimson blood dripped from the blade.
“…”
It was not Yoo Seo-hwa’s blood. The blade that had sharply sliced through the air came to a sudden halt right above Yoo Seo-hwa’s slender neck.
The dripping droplets of blood spotted her white skin, staining it red.
“Kh…”
Gyeong Won-ui gritted his teeth. The tip of his sword trembled violently. He could neither pierce her neck nor withdraw his weapon.
“…General, we have finished clearing the area.”
A young lieutenant approached and bowed. The Geomgye members were either killed without exception or bound, leaving only the maidservants shivering in terror.
Gyeong Won-ui swung his sword hard. The tip of the blade lightly grazed Yoo Seo-hwa’s neck before being sheathed.
“Escort the Princess back to her residence.”
Those were his final words.
Turning his back, Gyeong Won-ui did not look back as he strode away and mounted his horse. His retreating figure quickly vanished amidst the flames cutting through the darkness.
“Y-Your Highness, are you unhurt?”
Even when a maidservant approached to carefully support her,
“This subordinate is Wang Jeong-mun, a lieutenant under General Gyeong. I will escort you, so please stand up.”
And even when the lieutenant approached to urge her,
“…”
Yoo Seo-hwa merely followed the direction in which Gyeong Won-ui had disappeared with her eyes. A single drop of blood finally trickled from the scratch left by the grazing blade.

Not long after they returned to the Princess’s Residence, dawn broke. The blood-red flames that had consumed the Capital City did not easily die down even after the sun rose.
The surveillance was polite but strict. The Rebel Army, which had occupied the Capital City and the Princess’s Residence, did not permit Yoo Seo-hwa to take even a single step outside her room.
The only thing permitted was news from the outside world. News that the Rebel Army had triumphed.
The gates of the Imperial Palace fell a mere four days after the Imperial Guards, who had retreated to the inner city, put up a desperate resistance. The provincial armies supporting Emperor Geumche and the remnants of the White Head Sect were also eradicated by Gyeong Won-ui.
“They say it was a rebellion by the Ning King Army, which was escorting His Majesty on his royal progress.”
“They say no one managed to escape from the Imperial Palace…”
“Please do not worry too much. Is King Ning not Your Highness’s uncle?”
The court attendants fidgeted anxiously, worried about Yoo Seo-hwa’s safety, but nothing actually registered properly in her mind.
The responsibility she had to uphold as the legitimate line of the late Emperor and the sister of the current Emperor?
The sense of duty that had possessed her when she first learned of the rebellion had long since vanished.
The moment she faced Gyeong Won-ui, she was no longer Princess Sukjeong, but merely Yoo Seo-hwa—a woman who loved him. A woman hated by the lover who had returned from the dead.
“Ah…”
Yoo Seo-hwa groaned and clutched her neck.
The scratch where the tip of the blade had grazed her was already healed, but it felt as though the thinly flowing droplets of blood were overflowing between her fingers.
‘—It is only natural for him to hate me. I am the daughter of his enemy.’
The enemy who had tortured and killed him and his father. The enemy who had brought about the Family Extermination of his household. It was only right for him to hate her, the daughter of that enemy.
Reason told her it was natural. Yet, her heart wept sorrowfully.
‘What should I do?’
She was so ecstatic that he was alive that it felt maddening. She was so agonized by his hatred that it felt fatal.
Joy and agony intertwined, violently ravaging her inside.
‘Does he truly intend to kill me? What should I do if his blade points at me once more?’
Unable to laugh or cry, Yoo Seo-hwa clutched her neck. On the hanging scar that had faded so much it was barely visible, a slender scratch now remained.

It was around the time when she heard that Court Lady Lee had recovered significantly, yet she still could not step outside her room.
“I am entering.”
Without even asking for permission, the door burst open. The maidservants reflexively surrounded Yoo Seo-hwa.
“This is for the safety of the Princess. Y-You are being insolent.”
One of the court ladies gathered her courage, but Gyeong Won-ui’s gaze was fixed solely on Yoo Seo-hwa. Yoo Seo-hwa bit her lip and signaled the maidservants with her eyes.
“He seems to have something to say to me, so please withdraw.”
“But, Your Highness…”
“Withdraw.”
As the maidservants withdrew, the door closed, leaving only the two of them in the room.

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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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