Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 18

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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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Chapter 18: Blooming Even in the Mud
 
 
 
Yoo Seo-hwa slowly rose from her seat. Her trembling gaze moved from Gyeong Won-ui’s chest, past his neck, and finally reached his face.
For the first time in five years, she could fully behold her beloved.
He seemed to have grown a bit taller. His shoulders were broader than she remembered, and his frame had thickened. And…
“…….”
Yoo Seo-hwa’s eyes wavered. He was looking at her with an expression she had never seen before.
It was a chilling hostility, a distinct murder lust. It was a vivid hatred that looked ready to draw the sword from his waist and pierce her heart this very instant.
‘Have you been well? I am glad to see you safe. I am sorry I could not change my imperial father’s mind. If only you were not the Buma, perhaps that matter too…’
There were so many things she wanted to say. Yet, she could not utter a single word.
No matter what came out of her lips, her true feelings would never reach Gyeong Won-ui. That was the thought that struck her.
Gyeong Won-ui did not draw his sword to strike her down immediately. Instead, he merely spat out a single sentence in a frosty voice.
“I heard you were married.”
“……!”
Her face flushed burning red. Yoo Seo-hwa urgently tried to make an excuse.
“That is true, but I—”
“What kind of man is he?”
“That is……”
She had nothing to say. Yoo Seo-hwa lowered her eyes and murmured feebly.
“He is a good person.”
“A good person. Is that so?”
Gyeong Won-ui curled the corner of his mouth into a cold sneer. Her heart sank heavily.
His calm yet gentle and affectionate smile was still vivid in her mind, so how could he ridicule her so coldly?
“Bring him in!”
As he barked the command toward the rear, the soldiers opened the door and dragged a man inside. It was Park Kwon-bok.
“Y-Your Highness! Please forgive me!”
Park Kwon-bok frantically slammed his head against the floor in front of her.
“What is the meaning of this? Please stand up.”
She could not grasp how the situation was unfolding. She tried to help Park Kwon-bok up first, but Gyeong Won-ui’s frigid words blocked her.
“Do you know what this man, the husband you called a good person, has done?”
“What do you mean by that……”
“He sold you to the Geomgye.”
“…….”
Yoo Seo-hwa gripped the fabric of her skirt tightly. Amidst the chaos, she had vaguely guessed how the Geomgye had easily found the group and recognized her.
She simply had not dug into it because she desperately did not want to confirm it.
“He sold you to the Ning King Army as well.”
“…….”
“He is a scoundrel who ran away while selling out his wife’s location every time he ran into armed men.”
Park Kwon-bok did nothing but tremble violently. Yoo Seo-hwa swallowed a sigh and covered her face with her sleeve.
It was utterly wretched. Just the fact that he knew she had betrayed him to marry another man made her feel guilty enough, but now even that husband’s bare, ugly nature had been exposed to him.
“……What is your reason for telling me this story?”
“Whatever the case, is he not the man who took my place as your companion? Four years spent as husband and wife is not a short time.”
Gyeong Won-ui sneered coldly. Yoo Seo-hwa prayed that the throbbing beat of her aching heart would not reach him.
“Therefore, I will leave this man’s disposition to you. Whether you kill him or let him live, say what you wish.”
“Please let him go.”
He was a scoundrel who had tried to disgrace her, and because of him, she had almost been dragged away by the Geomgye, but… she did not know anymore.
Standing face-to-face with Gyeong Won-ui, she felt as though she had absolutely no right to resent or blame Park Kwon-bok or anyone else.
“I am sorry! I am sorry!”
Park Kwon-bok kowtowed repeatedly, his tears flowing in streams. It was so bitter to watch that she turned her head away, and that was when it happened.
A chilly metallic ring echoed as a snow-white blade was drawn from its sheath. The blade precisely pierced the back of the prostrate Park Kwon-bok’s neck.
“Agh!”
The death throes were short. With a thud, he tumbled over, and a pool of crimson blood quickly gathered beneath the corpse.
“……!”
She was so shocked that not even a scream could escape her.
As she tried to falter backward, Gyeong Won-ui strode toward her and grabbed her neck with one hand. It was a hand so large and solid that it could snap Yoo Seo-hwa’s slender neck in a single motion.
It felt as if her breath was instantly choked out.
A growl-like breath spilled over her. The emotions of the man, who had maintained his composure despite hating her, surged violently.
“He is a worthless man who amounts to nothing more than that.”
A low whisper, barely audible to Yoo Seo-hwa’s ears, ground out fiercely from between his teeth.
“With the lips and hands that betrayed you, did he say he loved you? Was that so precious to you? Did you enjoy the four years you spent in the arms of a man like that?”
She wanted to say something, but her chest was choked tight, and the words would not come out.
Even breathing was difficult. The only action she could manage was a faint shake of her head.
“For the sake of a man like that, you…… Damn it!”
Gyeong Won-ui barked out fiercely and struck the wall with his fist. Yoo Seo-hwa panted and shook her head.
“Master Gyeong, it is not like that. It is not!”
“What do you mean it is not?”
“I……”
She was about to say that it was not a marriage she had wanted, but then she suddenly came to a realization. The gaze looking at her was no longer that of a lover. He was no longer the man who used to hold her in his eyes with utmost trust and affection.
She could not bring herself to speak. The reason she was forced into the Haga was because of the imperial decree. Because the lives of Gyeong Won-ui’s mother and sister were held hostage.
‘With what face could I possibly tell him the truth?’
To a man whose family was brutally exterminated under false charges of treason because of her own father, how could she say that she ended up marrying because of his mother and sister, and that she had never betrayed him?
“…….”
Gyeong Won-ui stared frostily at her as she dropped her head in silence, then he turned his back. The footsteps grew distant.
Once even the soldiers who cleaned up the corpse withdrew, Yoo Seo-hwa was trapped alone in the room once more.
Only tears flowed helplessly.
They were the tears that had dried up that night when she hanged herself from the rafters.
 
* * *
 
As King Ning ascended the throne as the new emperor, the chaotic political situation quickly regained stability. At the very top of the list of meritorious officials was the name of the Grand General of Pacifying the State, Gyeong Won-ui.
Having hidden his identity and accumulated achievements under King Ning for five years, Gyeong Won-ui became the foremost meritorious official of the rebellion and finally reclaimed his proper name. A man who had been the child of a rebel to the old emperor had become the foremost meritorious official to the new emperor.
Because it was an unprecedented matter, the Imperial Court was filled with debate, but his illustrious military achievements during that time could not be denied, and the new emperor’s favor was so profound that the commotion gradually subsided.
‘It has subsided for now, but they will drag this matter up again the moment a crack appears.’
When Gyeong Baek-jong was framed for treason, many people turned away from the Gyeong Clan to save their own skins. Having learned the harsh nature of the Imperial Court to the bone, Gyeong Won-ui silently guarded his current position. The emperor granted Gyeong Won-ui’s earnest plea to clear Gyeong Baek-jong’s name and commenced a secret reinvestigation.
On the other hand, the Daoists of the White Head Sect, who had thrown the country into chaos, were executed one by one. The empress and the concubines suffered deposition to commoner status and were driven out to private residences. The deposed emperor and the young Crown Prince were also sent into exile to a distant place.
“With this, we shall conclude the treatment of the deposed emperor’s family.”
Once the new emperor’s declaration ended, Zuo Shangshi spoke up.
“Your Majesty, there is still one more person remaining.”
“Was there another child of the deposed emperor whom I am unaware of?”
“It is Princess Sukjeong.”
The emperor furrowed his brow. He had wanted to handle Yoo Seo-hwa’s treatment quietly, as he preferred not to make it a matter of public debate.
“Sukjeong is not the daughter of the deposed emperor, but his sister. Furthermore, several years have passed since she underwent Haga into the Park Clan, so the deposed emperor’s sins do not extend to her through association.”
“However, Princess Sukjeong contributed a massive amount of gold and silver to the White Head Sect. As a member of the imperial family, her crime of being deluded by an Evil Cult is by no means small.”
“…….”
Since it was a difficult problem to evade, the emperor fell silent. In truth, after the deposed emperor, the one who had contributed the most to the White Head Sect was Yoo Seo-hwa.
He did not wish to hold Yoo Seo-hwa accountable since he bore no ill will toward her, but the records of her contributions remained in plain sight.
The emperor silently shifted his gaze and glanced sideways.
Even while Yoo Seo-hwa’s treatment was being mentioned, Gyeong Won-ui just stood there still. Looking only at his indifferent expression, it was impossible to tell whether he agreed or disagreed.
“Tsk.”
The emperor clicked his tongue.
‘The deposed emperor is one thing, but an intelligent child like Sukjeong could not possibly fall for something like the White Head Sect…….’
Yoo Seo-hwa, who had enjoyed the full favor of the late emperor, had received several times the amount of land and jewelry typically bestowed upon an imperial princess when her Haga took place back when the Marriage Bureau was first established. There was no way the deposed emperor would have left this vast wealth alone.
Using the safety of Lady Zhang and Gyeong Won-yeong as leverage, he had forced Yoo Seo-hwa to contribute the wealth she possessed to the White Head Sect.
However, nothing but the description that she had made the contributions remained in the ledgers. The heart of Yoo Seo-hwa, who had willingly surrendered everything she owned to pray for the well-being of Lady Zhang and Gyeong Won-yeong, was recorded nowhere.
There was also no record of Yoo Seo-hwa going before the deposed emperor alongside the empress to earnestly advise him to attend to state affairs.
In the eyes of the emperor and the officials who were ignorant of the circumstances, Yoo Seo-hwa was also a believer of the Evil Cult, no less than the deposed emperor.
“What do you ministers think?”
As if he had been waiting for this, Chu Se-gu stepped forward.
Seeing that the state of the deposed emperor, who was infatuated with the White Head Sect, was much more severe than expected, Chu Se-gu had shrewdly aligned himself with King Ning and even placed his name on the list of meritorious officials.
“It is an Evil Cult that deluded the people and threw the world into chaos. Please punish her severely.”
“I believe a punishment of exile is only proper.”
The ministers each chipped in with their agreement.
Chu Se-gu smiled subtly with his head bowed. For the sake of his daughter, Princess Sukjeong had to fall so thoroughly that she would not even be able to protect her honor as a member of the imperial family.
‘The situation is worsening by the moment, so what on earth is he thinking?’
The emperor stealthily observed Gyeong Won-ui’s reaction.

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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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