Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 22

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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 22

Kkot-bun sighed inwardly.
‘Dal-rae, you’re the one harboring absurd delusions. It’s true that Yoo Seo-hwa is clumsy at her chores, so she ends up being a burden to the others working with her. But she hasn’t caused anyone trouble by making some massive blunder, has she? No, the real reason they hate her is obvious.’
The fundamental reason they kept their distance from Yoo Seo-hwa was precisely because she was of noble birth.
They were people who had spent their entire lives serving the nobility, enduring all sorts of hardships. To see someone so high and mighty fall to the very bottom overnight—just like them—must have felt immensely satisfying and delightful.
‘I can understand feeling that way. But there’s no way Yoo Seo-hwa treated her subordinates harshly like other nobles did. I believe that.’
Although Kkot-bun, who was defending Yoo Seo-hwa in her heart, had no way of knowing, her belief was actually true.
Yoo Seo-hwa had always been gentle with the palace maids, and no one held a grudge against her. Furthermore, these slaves had never even crossed paths with Yoo Seo-hwa before.
However, the mere fact that she used to hold such an exalted status was enough to satisfy their indirect resentment toward the nobility.
Dal-rae sneered sarcastically.
“She walks around with her head bowed low right now, but who knows? Maybe she was a vile wretch who used to whip every slave she laid eyes on in the past.”
Because Kkot-bun knew exactly why the slaves hated Yoo Seo-hwa, she had been keeping her peace, but those words made her face contort into a deep frown.
Perhaps if another noble had been reduced to a slave, she would have reacted just like the others. But Yoo Seo-hwa was different.
“Hey, there’s no way Yoo Seo-hwa would do that. Do you know how kind she is?”
“What do you mean there’s no way? All nobles are exactly the same.”
“Don’t speak so carelessly when you don’t know a single thing about Yoo Seo-hwa.”
“And what do you know? You only got to know Yoo Seo-hwa after coming to this residence, too.”
“Hmph.”
It would only make her mouth sore to engage in a long argument with people who wouldn’t listen to reason. Kkot-bun stuck her tongue out and bolted.
“Hey, hey! Where are you going in the middle of a conversation!”
“To get some pancakes! I’m going to eat them all by myself!”
“You brat! Wait up!”
Sprinting ahead of the pack of slaves chasing after her, Kkot-bun muttered to herself.
‘Yoo Seo-hwa really is kind. They don’t know a single thing about what kind of person she is.’
Yoo Seo-hwa—that beautiful, fairy-like lady whose name she hadn’t even known back then—would absolutely never abuse or torment slaves. In Kkot-bun’s memories, Yoo Seo-hwa was truly a wonderful person.
“Tch. No matter what you say, she’s still a noble. A noble…”
Left behind all by herself, Dal-rae glared with narrowed, twisted eyes at the spot where Yoo Seo-hwa’s retreating figure had disappeared.

* * *

‘Let’s see… I was told that if I pass the willow tree up ahead and turn right, I’ll see it, correct?’
Just as Kkot-bun had strictly advised, Yoo Seo-hwa walked along the edge of the road with her eyes glued to the ground, except for when she had to ask for directions. Perhaps because of that, she fortunately did not encounter any harassing rogues.
Since Yoo Seo-hwa had enjoyed horseback riding, her stamina was not terrible. Although she was fatigued from the compounding overwork of the past few days, she wasn’t incapable of walking for an hour.
A long line stretched out in front of Zhang’s Pharmacy.
‘Judging by their attire, it seems the vast majority are commoners, just like the rumors I heard back at the residence. It is truly a relief that there is a pharmacy and a doctor that treat even commoners without significant discrimination.’
Blowing on her hands to warm them in the chilly weather, she stood at the back of the line.
Only after waiting for a long time after arriving at the pharmacy was she finally able to see the Doctor.
“Hmm, you say you came from the Residence of the Grand General Protecting the State?”
“Yes, the Butler has collapsed from overwork and is suffering from severe body aches. It appears to be a severe cold.”
Yoo Seo-hwa explained the Butler’s symptoms in meticulous detail. Listening intently to her story, the Doctor let out a chuckle.
“It seems you ruined your own fortunes by getting caught up in the recent Rebellion? Judging by the way you speak, you appear to have studied pharmacology and medicine, yet there is no way a slave would have been educated.”
“……I merely picked up a few things by watching over someone’s shoulder.”
Yoo Seo-hwa kept her head bowed and did not elaborate further.
In the past, out of anxiety that Gyeong Won-ui might get injured on his military campaigns, she had briefly studied medicine. She had even thought about begging her father to let her accompany Gyeong Won-ui on his campaigns as his personal physician once her skills became proficient enough…
‘Looking back, those were times when I harbored truly immature and preposterous fantasies.’
Yoo Seo-hwa bit her lower lip slightly, swallowing the bitterness rising inside her.
Without prying any further, the Doctor prepared the medicinal herbs that matched the amount of money Yoo Seo-hwa had brought. They were not the high-grade herbs prescribed to nobles, but this would be more than enough.
Since Yoo Seo-hwa also recognized that the Doctor had formulated the prescription to be as effective as possible despite using cheap herbs, she expressed her gratitude politely.
On her way back home while clutching the bundle wrapped with herbs to her chest, a minor incident occurred.
“Ah!”
A carriage dashed past a puddle where water from the Fish Market had gathered, drenching her in a massive spray of muddy water. Seeing that Yoo Seo-hwa cut a wretched figure covered in mud, the coachman simply drove away without so much as an apology.
‘Should I consider it a stroke of luck that he didn’t pick a fight with me instead, demanding why I failed to avoid it?’
Yoo Seo-hwa let out a soft sigh and wiped her face with her sleeve. Pedestrians nearby stared at her briefly due to the sudden commotion, but the street was crowded, and the minor incident was quickly buried and forgotten.
However, from afar, there was a woman watching this scene with intense scrutiny. It was Chu Na-yeon, the daughter of Chu Se-gu, a powerful family that enjoyed undiminished authority even under the reign of the new Emperor.
‘Somehow, that woman’s face looks familiar.’
Chu Na-yeon slightly lifted the veil of her Mongsu and intently watched Yoo Seo-hwa as she walked away in the distance.
“My lady, is something the matter?”
She ignored her maidservant, who followed behind and asked cautiously. Even long after Yoo Seo-hwa had vanished from sight, she kept her eyes fixed on the empty space, her brow furrowing deeply.
‘Could it be…? No, I was told that Princess Sukjeong became a palace slave at the Detached Palace… Did my father and older brother lie to me? Did I missee her? But there’s no way I wouldn’t recognize Princess Sukjeong. How could I ever forget that face?’
Her expression remaining tightly twisted, Chu Na-yeon summoned a servant. Though she harbored doubts, she had nothing to lose by checking. It wasn’t as if she had to do the hard work herself anyway.
“Do you remember the young woman who was splashed with mud by the carriage just now? The one who looked like a slave.”
“Do you mean the woman whose hair was tied in a single braid and who was wearing yellowish clothes, my lady?”
“Yes. Follow that woman secretly and find out which household she belongs to as a slave. Dig up her background as well, but do not probe too deeply lest you arouse suspicion.”
“Understood, my lady.”
The servant hurriedly scurried away, trailing after Yoo Seo-hwa who had long since disappeared into the distance. Chu Na-yeon lowered her veil and turned her back with a sharp movement.
‘Hmph. There’s no need for me to care about that man’s old fiancée at this point, but it’s better than leaving a lingering unpleasantness unresolved.’

Upon returning home, Yoo Seo-hwa brewed the Butler’s medicine, taking advantage of the permission she had received to rest for the remainder of the afternoon. The Butler, who had tried to dissuade her by insisting he would brew the medicine himself, could not even sit up properly due to dizziness.
“Dear me, wouldn’t you be exhausted as well?”
“Not at all. If you overexert yourself, an illness that could be cured won’t mend, so please sleep while the medicine is brewing.”
“Thank you truly.”
After supporting the Butler and helping him lie down on his bedding, Yoo Seo-hwa stepped outside and began brewing the medicine over the Medicine Pot. She adjusted the fire while pounding her legs, which were aching slightly from the long walk.
Sitting quietly and engaging in nothing but a monotonous task, the thoughts she had forcibly buried beneath her grueling workload began to crawl back up into her mind.
‘How strange. It has been a long time since my uncle ascended the throne and Gyeong Won-ui became a Meritorious Official, so why?’
Her heart suddenly grew cold.
Since Gyeong Baek-jong was still considered a traitor, Lady Zhang and Gyeong Won-yeong could not be granted Emancipation immediately either.
‘Even so, as government slaves, there is a way for them to be summoned from Ganam Province and released in the form of being bestowed upon Gyeong Won-ui. There would be officials who oppose it, but since my uncle favors Gyeong Won-ui, it shouldn’t be too difficult…’
Though they wouldn’t be able to reclaim their social status, they would at least be able to live within Gyeong Won-ui’s residence just as they had in the past.
‘Then why is there still no word from the Soguk Lady and Gyeong Won-yeong?’
The vast residence remained desolate and empty. A chilling shiver of unknown origin wrapped around her ominously.

* * *

The bygone past neither flowed away nor faded from memory.
Those hellish hours endured within the Imperial Prison remained so vivid that even now, five years later, they would be etched onto his retinas the moment he closed his eyes.
The memories of old wandered desolately through Gyeong Won-ui’s mind.
The Emperor was cunning. Having carried out purge after purge, he knew exactly how to gnaw away at a person’s soul.
Even Gyeong Baek-jong, who had refused to yield to any manner of torture or pain, broke down upon witnessing his son being tortured before his very eyes.
Multiple times, he had attempted to make a false confession, begging them to spare his son since everything was his own crime. It was Gyeong Won-ui who stopped him.

Gyeong Won-ui was truly fine. He could endure receiving torture in his father’s stead. He could not allow his father to shoulder the false stigma of colluding with the enemy.
However, his father’s tears alone were too much to bear.
It was agonizing to watch his father, who had lived his entire life without shame, shedding tears of blood because he believed all of this was happening because of him.
It was agonizing to watch him tear at his own chest in regret over the bond he had shared with Jiang Huang.
Watching his father blame himself and regret the many decades of his life was more agonizing than the physical torture.
Gyeong Won-ui desperately forced his voice, which was torn with pain, to find its composure.

Holding his son tightly, the tears from Gyeong Baek-jong’s eyes showed no sign of drying up. Watching his son undergo interrogation under torture was a far more agonizing ordeal than enduring the torture himself.
Gyeong Won-ui exhaled a ragged breath.

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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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