Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 37

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

Chapter 37: Blooming Even in the Mud

“Although Emperor Xuanwen died before My hands could reach him, making it a half-hearted revenge, I decided to settle for deposing the Deposed Emperor instead. What could be a more thrilling revenge than for Me, rather than the Deposed Emperor, to achieve the strengthening of the imperial power and the stability of the imperial family that Emperor Xuanwen so desperately desired at the cost of so much blood?”
“…….”
“When I eventually meet Emperor Xuanwen in the afterlife, I intend to mock him, telling him that this younger brother he tried to oppress and kill has fulfilled the lifelong wish he so deeply craved.”
The Emperor lowered his teacup. His calm gaze was closer to looking at a blood relative than at a subject or a co-conspirator.
“But for you, it must feel insufficient. I understand.”
Gyeong Won-ui, sensing why the Emperor was bringing up such a long, familiar story now, furrowed his brow inadvertently before smoothing it over.
“I understand, but it is also true that I do not believe it is wise to keep Yoo Seo-hwa by your side in her current state. If you had at least taken your revenge on her to appease your resentment, I would not have interfered.”
The jade voice of the Emperor, who still referred to his niece by her title despite her having been a deposition to commoner status long ago, remained placid. It was likely because he had resolved not to direct his desire for vengeance toward the remaining blood of his enemy.
However, Gyeong Won-ui could not become like the Emperor. For he was the very person who had been cruelly betrayed by her.
“Even when you were granted Yoo Seo-hwa as a slave, you did not return to your family estate, and even now, long after that, your expression is no different from when you were at King Ning’s Residence. Do you remember the last time you smiled?”
“I remember that.”
Even though he knew this wasn’t the answer the Emperor wanted, Gyeong Won-ui muttered softly.
“It was when I invited my fiancée to my room and showed her Jiang Huang’s Dagger, which became the evidence of treason.”
“…….”
This time, the Emperor was left speechless. Inside the inner chamber, only the faint sound of the Emperor sipping his tea echoed. Gyeong Won-ui’s tea remained untouched, save for two small sips.
Slowly emptying his teacup as he organized his thoughts, the Emperor subtly shifted the subject.
“At the time, I was far away at King Ning’s Residence, so I did not know the details of General Gyeong’s interrogation, but upon launching the reinvestigation, I read the records thoroughly. Is it not strange? There is no way General Gyeong would harbor treasonous intent, yet a letter communicating with an enemy state was discovered.”
“It was forged and secretly planted.”
“Who instigated that deed?”
“It must have been a woman who harbored another man in her heart instead of her fiancé.”
“Do you truly believe so? That the one you loved was such a malicious woman who would betray you so brutally?”
“…….”
Of course he hadn’t believed it. Until the very end, he had trusted only her.
But as soon as he was imprisoned for treason, all contact was severed, and not even a few months after his forged corpse was discovered by King Ning, she begged the Deposed Emperor to marry another man. How was he supposed to trust such a woman?
“I only met Yoo Seo-hwa once or twice a year at most, so I do not know her character well. However, I do trust the man who truly loved her. I do not believe that man’s eyes were so blinded by a vulgar desire to become the Emperor’s Buma that he mistook his own affection.”
“…….”
“If it was not Yoo Seo-hwa’s doing, then the one who forged the letter must be someone else.”
Gyeong Won-ui’s tea grew cold. The Emperor discarded the cooled tea and personally brewed a fresh cup, pouring it for him.
“Go rest before you return. I hope that through the Buddhist Ritual, you may wash away the turmoil in your heart.”

* * *

Around the time the frozen weather began to thaw, a date was set for the Buddhist Ritual. It was to be held at Beopjisa, a temple near the Capital City. It was a temple where the Xichang Gyeong Clan had traditionally offered their prayers.
‘I was worried, but fortunately, it isn’t Heungpyengsa.’
Yoo Seo-hwa felt a small wave of relief.
At Heungpyengsa, where the State Preceptor served as the abbot and which also functioned as an imperial prayer monastery for the deceased, lay the ancestral tablets of Gyeong Baek-jong and Gyeong Won-ui, which Yoo Seo-hwa had secretly enshrined.
The Deposed Emperor had also known she enshrined the two ancestral tablets, but he had turned a blind eye. His calculation must have been that permitting at least that much would make his sister submissively spit out her wealth.
‘Thinking about it now, I was no different from a blind person who mistook the very person whose tablet should have been enshrined.’
Yoo Seo-hwa swallowed her bitterness. The person she thought was dead was alive, and the person she thought was alive had actually been dead for a long time.
‘I was so flustered that I couldn’t send word to Heungpyengsa. Since they must know at Heungpyengsa that the young master has returned alive and that General Gyeong’s ancestral tablet has been newly enshrined, they will take good care of it.’
With various thoughts swirling in her mind, she walked alongside the wagons. Dozens of wagons piled high with offering rice to donate to the temple, ritual goods for the ceremony, and sacrificial utensils cut right through the heart of the Capital City.
From an early hour, the commoners had gathered around the area to watch. It was a pleasant spectacle to behold, the first in several months since the Emperor had distributed relief rice to soothe the public sentiment at the end of autumn.
“Are those really all the Gyeong Clan’s wagons? It seems grander than in the past.”
“They say General Gyeong is His Majesty’s right hand and a meritorious official, but the Gyeong Clan’s treason conviction hasn’t completely vanished, so is it really alright for them to openly hold a Buddhist Ritual?”
“Shh. Don’t speak so recklessly. I heard that with just this one new General Gyeong, the Gyeong Clan’s power is higher and sturdier than ever before. If you babble thoughtlessly, there’s no telling what might happen to you.”
“Oh dear.”
The man who had spoken without thinking shrank his shoulders. Another man shook his head as he chimed into the conversation.
“Now that I think about it, wasn’t that treason charge entirely suspicious? There’s no way a man like the late General Gyeong would commit treason.”
“That’s true. Ignorant folk like us don’t know the affairs of the noble lords, but when a famine struck, wasn’t he the one who distributed grain even before the government? It makes no sense for someone who cherished the people so much to intentionally lose a war, absolutely not.”
“Indeed. I also thought there was no way a man widely rumored to be a benevolent general would harm his soldiers for a bit of money.”
“Anyway, whether it’s true or not, how deeply resentful must he have been.”
The commoners whispered among themselves as they watched the wagons. Some slowly followed the wagons from a distance.
Finding this behavior strange, Yoo Seo-hwa questioned Deok-sun, who was walking ahead. Since this was the first Buddhist Ritual since Deok-sun became the head slave, she was heading there personally to direct the operation. Because the affairs of the mansion could not be neglected, only a small number of slaves accompanied them.
“There are people following us from afar, what is the reason for that?”
“Ah, it serves as a good opportunity for many people. You see, when a Buddhist Ritual is held, they give generously to the surroundings, and the larger the scale, the more monks come from other temples, don’t they? Though it’s less than a full Dharma assembly.”
Because they gave generously, it was a chance for the destitute to secure a meal, and for the peddlers to make a profit. Furthermore, for those with deep Buddhist faith, it was an opportunity to receive even a single phrase of scripture written personally by a monk.
“Even the master’s household won’t usually meddle with scripture lines written by a monk.”
“I see……. Thanks to your explanation, I’ve learned something I didn’t know.”
When her mother was bedridden, Heungpyengsa had performed several Buddhist ceremonies to pray for her recovery, but she failed to improve and passed away. Because of that, her imperial father had not been very favorable toward Buddhism, so Yoo Seo-hwa had rarely attended Buddhist Rituals or Dharma assemblies.
‘Even when I did attend, my seat was always at the head of the room, so I never got to look at the outside surroundings.’
She had been completely unaware of how the commoners moved behind the scenes.
The weather was still somewhat chilly. Yoo Seo-hwa tightly fastened her collar and stared for a moment at the commoners following from afar. She hoped the weather would remain clear so that they would not suffer.
Her gaze drifting toward the back was also a desperate struggle to withdraw her eyes, which kept trying to peer far ahead.
At the front of the procession was Gyeong Won-ui.
‘If I stay buried among the slaves, the young master won’t even know I followed.’
Was he not the one who ignored her even when they crossed paths by chance inside the mansion? Recalling the cold gaze she had encountered at the well, a stinging sensation swelled up and flooded into her lungs.
Yoo Seo-hwa suppressed it with dry resignation.
‘I just need to avoid crossing paths with the young master. Then it will end well, as if I were never there, and I can return to the mansion.’
After that, just as she had done until now, she would spend her days in quiet atonement. That was Yoo Seo-hwa’s only wish.

Kkot-bun’s remark that slaves dreaded being drafted for Buddhist ceremonies was no empty statement. From the early hours of the dawn, they walked for well over a shijin and climbed the mountain trail to reach Beopjisa, and the moment they unpacked the wagons, they began working without even a moment to catch their breath.
The Buddhist Ritual was scheduled to continue for seven days.
“Now, now, don’t lose focus! I’m sure I don’t need to tell you all how significant this ritual is to the master, right? So you must all put your utmost devotion into it.”
Deok-sun encouraged the slaves.
Yoo Seo-hwa also hitched up her skirt and was swept away by the workload. Though she was someone who had been chased out of the Banbitgan because her cooking skills were so clumsy, hands were desperately needed here where only a small number of slaves worked. She trimmed wild greens with an awkward knife work she had never done in her past.
While it wasn’t quite like Baekjung, where a hundred varieties of flowers and fruits were offered, the ritual table was still abundantly laden. These were dishes to be shared not only with the monks and guests performing the ritual but also with the temple slaves and the commoners who had followed them all the way to Beopjisa.
‘Since I began working, I think today is the first time a day has passed by so busily.’
As she worked frantically, before she knew it, night fell as the short sun of the mountains dipped below the horizon. The slaves, finally liberated from their grueling labor, curled up and fell asleep in a room even narrower than the servants’ quarters. Tomorrow would be the start of another exhausting day.
‘Everyone must be terribly exhausted, so I should leave quietly so as not to wake them.’
Yoo Seo-hwa stealthily slipped out of her assigned room and crept into the main hall, where the all-night prayers were continuing.

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