Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 32

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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 32

‘What does it matter to me if that woman has grown thin?’
Gyeong Won-ui stepped away from the bed, smoothing out his breath, which had suddenly threatened to turn ragged. The man’s large shadow completely engulfed Yoo Seo-hwa’s curled-up form.
Without so much as a backward glance, he deliberately walked out of the room with heavy steps.
Even so, the rough, chapped hand of the slave, which had been poking halfway out of the blankets, disturbed his peace until the dawn broke.

It was a strange night.
‘I could have sworn someone called my name in my sleep…’
Stoking the embers of the brazier that had nearly gone out overnight, Yoo Seo-hwa tilted her head. The lingering afterimage of the name “Seo-hwa” remained faintly in her dreams.
‘But there is no one left to call my name.’
The elders of the Imperial Family, including Emperor Xuanwen, had called her by her title, “Sukjeong.” Everyone else addressed her with the honorific “Your Highness.”
Emperor Xuanwen would occasionally call her by name, saying “Seo-hwa,” but now that he had met his demise, there was not a single person under heaven who would call her by that name.
There was just one person whom she had secretly hoped would call her intimately by her name instead of a title, but…
Yoo Seo-hwa shook her head to quickly shake him from her thoughts.
‘Did Royal Father visit me in my dreams… Royal Father, if you were to witness the person I am now, you would be angry and grieved, so please do not come. I consider this to be my most natural retribution.’
The truth that her father, who had poured boundless love upon her, was a man utterly cruel to so many others, was a deeply aching realization.
Yoo Seo-hwa swallowed her melancholy as she always did and began her day.

* * *

It was six or seven years ago when Wang Jeong-mun first came to know of the imperial princess named Yoo Seo-hwa.
“You have a betrothed? And an imperial princess at that?”
It was when Emperor Xuanwen had sent an expeditionary army to Qiheng Province to subjugate the followers of the White Head Sect.
The young officer, who had served as a lieutenant under his father, the Commander-in-Chief Gyeong Baek-jong, possessed a calm and placid disposition just like his father. He was a young man whose face did not seem as though it would warp much even if he were stabbed with a sword, a trait uncharacteristic of someone at his passionate age.
To see such a man’s expression loosen so softly was quite a surprise. And all because of a single word: betrothed.
Gyeong Won-ui, who had offered a faint smile, rubbed his face as if he found his own reaction embarrassing. Even so, that warm, gentle smile remained faintly at the corners of his mouth.
“We were betrothed when we were children.”
“Wow, this is quite a problem then.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It seems King Ning takes a great liking to you, young master, so we placed a bet among ourselves. There happens to be a princess of marriageable age in Prince Ning’s Estate, so we wagered money that he would make you his Buma. Now it looks like I’m going to lose it all.”
“You all indulge in the most frivolous things.”
Gyeong Won-ui let out a soft laugh, seemingly incredulous.
There was no scolding or displeasure that his subordinates had dared to make a bet concerning him, their superior. Of course, Wang Jeong-mun had confessed it so easily because he trusted Gyeong Won-ui’s character.
He was exceptionally capable and a very good superior. To the point that, had Wang Jeong-mun not received favors from King Ning, he would have wanted to continue following and serving him even after the expedition ended.
“You must want to finish this expedition quickly and return to the Imperial City. Though I am saddened that I won’t be able to serve you anymore, young master.”
“Indeed… Because she must be waiting for a long time.”
The softly murmured words that followed were closer to a monologue.
Tracing the night sky, Gyeong Won-ui gazed toward the southeast where the Capital City would be, and a longing that even the moonlight could not depict lingered heavily around his eyes.
From that sight alone, Wang Jeong-mun felt he could understand.
That the imperial princess with the unfamiliar name somewhere far away was also steeped in a distant longing, looking up at the same sky.
Once the expedition was over, the Gyeong father and son returned to the Capital City.
Even after that, the time of longing conjured by the moonlight in the night sky remained with Wang Jeong-mun as a source of slight envy. It was a youthful wish that he, too, might one blah encounter a woman with whom he could share such romantic affection.
Because of that, Wang Jeong-mun was utterly shocked when he had an unexpected reunion with Gyeong Won-ui.
“Did you say young master Gyeong is at Prince Ning’s Estate?”
“Shh. He will be concealing his identity under the alias of the Kim surname within Prince Ning’s Estate, so watch your tongue.”
Forgetting that the person giving the command was King Ning himself, Wang Jeong-mun had asked back in his surprise before quickly covering his mouth.
“I have ended up hiding Won-ui in the estate for the time being. I am trusting you and asking this of you because you served young master Gyeong faithfully during the last expedition.”
“Did the young master come alone?”
“Something happened in the Capital City.”
King Ning explained the circumstances in a quiet voice.
It was thunder from a clear blue sky—news that the Gyeong Clan had been utterly ruined due to a false charge of treason, and that Gyeong Won-ui alone had barely escaped with his life and fled.
Wang Jeong-mun lamented.
“Was that why you gave the royal command a few days ago to disguise the corpse of a young death row convict as a fugitive from the south and dump it in the snowfields, Your Highness?”
“They say his severed head was put on display in the Capital City. It is thanks to the flawless disguise.”
It was a succession of shocking events, but understanding what needed to be done was simple. Gyeong Won-ui’s identity had to be thoroughly hidden.
A great deal of time was required for Gyeong Won-ui, who had been reduced to a wreck by torture, to regain consciousness. The Gyeong Won-ui who finally showed signs of improvement and managed to pull his body together was not the man of the past.
A gaze filled with dreadful hatred made even Wang Jeong-mun shudder.
Gyeong Won-ui no longer offered even a small laugh at his lieutenant’s frivolous chatter. Nor did he paint the lover he left behind with longing.
“Princess Sukjeong, Her Highness…”
It happened when he accidentally uttered her name.
A murderous aura, forged colder than ice and snow, exploded in an instant. A terribly deep wrath choked the words right out of Wang Jeong-mun’s mouth.
After that, Wang Jeong-mun never spoke of Yoo Seo-hwa again.
Concealing his identity under King Ning, Gyeong Won-ui immersed himself in things like a man driven. Sometimes it was martial arts training, and other times it was battle and war.
Illustrious military achievements made him shine. Even the Khan of the northern nomadic tribes died beneath his blade. Everyone praised the great achievement of conquering the Khan, who had plundered the northern border and disrupted the lives of the people for decades, in just a matter of a few years.
“Perhaps General Gyeong himself is the only person who does not praise the general.”
Nothing could grant him joy or pleasure. He did not even take a moment of respite with a cup of wine.
He did not even enjoy basic rest, such as sleep. To the point that it was difficult to see him asleep for more than two or three Shijin a day.
“The general looks like a man driving himself toward death.”
As if he could not forgive himself.
Wang Jeong-mun had thought there was only hatred inside him. Toward Emperor Xuanwen who had slaughtered his family, and toward the woman who had betrayed him.
If not for what happened that day, Wang Jeong-mun’s thoughts would not have changed.
It was on their way back from conquering the birthplace of the foreign tribe. In the middle of the night, a commotion arose when the captured child of the Khan attempted to escape.
Fortunately, the captive was caught quickly, but it was a matter that needed to be reported to Gyeong Won-ui, the Commander-in-Chief.
“General, excuse me at this late hour.”
Seeing that the light in the barracks was bright, Wang Jeong-mun greeted him and stepped inside, only to find Gyeong Won-ui fast asleep with his chin resting on his hand at the table.
He debated whether he should wake him to make the report, but then changed his mind. Since Gyeong Won-ui, who rarely slept properly, seemed to have finally fallen into a sweet slumber.
As Wang Jeong-mun tried to tiptoe out without making a sound, a faint voice reached his ears.
“…Your Highness.”
A blurred word, sounding like a groan or a lingering echo. Torment was knitted between the eyebrows of the quietly sleeping Gyeong Won-ui.
The quiet word murmured in his sleep remained by Wang Jeong-mun’s ears even after he withdrew from the barracks. The reason it lingered so exceptionally in his memory was because the tone of his voice calling for Princess Sukjeong was not an emotion he usually displayed.
It was painful, and it was difficult, but what was engraved there was absolutely not hatred.
‘For someone like me who doesn’t know the story between the two of you, it’s an emotion I wouldn’t dare fathom, but…’
Half a year after that.
On the night when King Ning finally raised high the banner of overthrowing the Foolish Ruler and attacked the Capital City.
“I am Adjutant Wang Jeong-mun, lieutenant to General Gyeong. I am here to escort you, so please arise.”
Wang Jeong-mun finally met Princess Sukjeong.
The woman who received Gyeong Won-ui’s deep hatred. Yet, a sorrowful woman who never returned that hatred to Gyeong Won-ui.
“Sigh…”
It was complicated and difficult. Wang Jeong-mun scratched his head vigorously.
He knew with his reason that it was not right to keep thinking of Yoo Seo-hwa. She was someone who was once an imperial princess and the lover of the Gyeong Won-ui he respected.
Even so, Princess Sukjeong’s sorrowfully sunken eyes kept making his mind uneasy. Gyeong Won-ui’s quiet murmur, calling for her with a longing mixed with pain, once again lingered in his ears.
‘No matter how much I think about it, I get the feeling that General Gyeong doesn’t just hate the princess.’
Though he did not know how to express this ambiguous feeling.
The best course of action Wang Jeong-mun could take was simply to show consideration for Yoo Seo-hwa, who was confined to the palace estate.
‘She should be working around this time, right?’
How shocked he had been when he heard that Gyeong Won-ui had taken Yoo Seo-hwa as a slave.
‘It might be meddling too much for me to step forward… but wouldn’t it be fine to just casually check on the situation?’
It was an affair he should not rashly interfere in. Even so, he wanted to confirm whether Yoo Seo-hwa was truly such an evil woman as to warrant Gyeong Won-ui’s hatred.
“Young master Gyeong… You were alive…”
On the night of the rebellion, what had dwelt in Yoo Seo-hwa’s voice upon facing Gyeong Won-ui’s survival was absolutely not fear.
‘If there is a misunderstanding between the two of them, it must be painful for the general as well…’
After agonizing over it anxiously, Wang Jeong-mun hardened his resolve. He found a suitable piece of clothing and tore the hem.

Around the time noon had passed, a guest came looking for Yoo Seo-hwa.

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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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