Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 39

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

Chapter 39: Blooming Even in Mud
 
 
 
Gyeong Won-ui groaned, the weight in his instinctively embracing arms feeling terribly familiar. The sensation of her falling into his arms like a fading petal after losing consciousness brought back a past he thought he had forgotten, a past he thought he had cut away.
There was a time when, to hold her in his arms, he had forgotten even the fatigue of a long expedition and galloped alone on horseback across boundless distances.
Because he had missed her madly—her fragrant body scent as she wept and clung to his chest, her fine hair spilling over her supple waist and forearms, and her lips tracing his name.
Drinking in her nectar-like breath and sobs sweetly, he had desperately possessed those lips. Had he been a man with just a fraction less self-control, he might have been unable to restrain the desire that suddenly surged within him and overwhelmed her.
That was how terrible and potent a poison it was. Longing, the sentiment of affection.
‘Have you lost your mind, Gyeong Won-ui?’
Won-ui bit his lower lip hard. He had not even appeased the souls of his family, yet he was still being toyed with by the fierce, dreamlike illusion this woman conjured.
‘Whether she collapses or dies, it is none of my business.’
Just as he was about to abandon Yoo Seo-hwa, something hot fell with a soft plop onto the hand supporting the collapsing woman.
“……!”
A single tear dropping onto skin frozen cold by the winter night air.
Her tears, which she had not shed even when hearing cruel words from him after five years, instantly brought the lingering embers of the past to a boiling heat. A ripple, like a pebble thrown into a lake, swallowed him up.

The sensation of catching the tears shed for him with his lips, licking them with his tongue, and gently tracing upward bloomed vividly. Along with the dizzying desire of that moment.
“……Your Highness.”
It was the moment the single word he uttered without even realizing what he was saying fell upon the unconscious Seo-hwa. The clouds obscuring the moon scattered, and the moonlight poured through the thicket.
Even onto the woman’s hands, which were covered in small wounds.
“…….”
Won-ui’s slow gaze drifted past the wounds on her hands and down to the ground. Only a portion of the dirt ground was packed hard. It was the trace of kneeling and praying every night.
Inhaling deeply, he lifted Seo-hwa in his arms and stood up. In the desolate temple where only the sound of chanting scriptures echoed, only the moonlight followed his footsteps.
 
* * *
 
Wang Jeong-mun fiddled with his sleeve, then, surprised by his own actions, quickly let go. Even though no one would look at him strangely for touching his own clothes, his heart pounded for no reason.
It was the Danryeongpo that Seo-hwa had repaired for him a while ago.
‘She just did what she was asked to do.’
Though she was currently a Slave, she was a woman who had been Won-ui’s betrothed. Having or harboring other thoughts was something he must absolutely never do.
Steadying his mind, he hurried his steps.
“General, what are you doing here?”
After offering morning Buddhist prayers, he discovered Won-ui, who had been out of sight, near a gloomy little Buddhist Hall in the western outskirts. It was a place close to the slaves’ quarters. Won-ui, leaning his back against a pillar, was gazing into the distance, lost in thought.
“Ah, is it you? What brings you here?”
“I was looking for you, General, since you were nowhere to be seen.”
Even with Jeong-mun in front of him, Won-ui remained deeply immersed in the thoughts that had been chasing him all along.
Last night, the single tear that had fallen on him, that brief moment which was nothing more than a mere instant in terms of time, still ruled over him.
While he wanted to cut away Seo-hwa, the source of his confusion, immediately, his heart also burned hotly at the old memories triggered by that single tear.
Won-ui unconsciously curled his fingers into a fist. The woman’s chapped, rough hands were full of small wounds.
“The medicine…….”
“Pardon?”
At the words murmured inadvertently, Jeong-mun tilted his head. The image of the woman who seemed quite close with Jeong-mun naturally came to mind.
The sudden, turbulent unrest in Won-ui’s chest felt exceedingly unfamiliar to him. The voice slipping from between his lips was somewhat sharp, unlike him.
“Didn’t you have a family medicine? That ointment said to be good when applied to the hands.”
“It is not grand enough to be called a family medicine, just something I learned how to make from my mother. It is not of high enough quality for a general to use, but do you happen to need it?”
Won-ui shook his head, saying it was nothing. He had clearly taken the medicine back then, so why were the woman’s hands still this rough?
Just as he was chasing the thoughts that were growing tangled and complex, Won-ui’s shoulders suddenly stiffened.
Far away, he saw the back of the woman walking into the mountains.
 
Waking from her sleep, Seo-hwa directed a somewhat dazed gaze toward the ceiling. For some reason, she felt as if the scent of a refreshing breeze was enveloping her.
It was a familiar fragrance. That feeling that used to linger on Won-ui.
“Someone, are you awake?”
Deok-sun opened the door and walked in. Seo-hwa quickly snapped out of it and sat up.
Last night, she had clearly been praying secretly near the Main Hall when she collapsed…….
“Where is this place? How did I end up falling asleep here?”
“Well, about that……”
Deok-sun could not answer right away and glanced at Seo-hwa.
How shocked she had been last night when she went out to use the latrine and saw Won-ui standing outside, holding the sleeping Seo-hwa. Her heart still felt like it was thumping.

For some reason, she could not guide him to the quarters where the servants slept tangled together. Deok-sun hurriedly led him to her own room, which she used alone.
Won-ui, who laid Seo-hwa down on the bedding, looked down at her for a moment before turning his back.

While she was bowing and scraping, Won-ui left the room without looking back.
“They said some monk found you outside yesterday and carried you here on his back.”
“Is that so? I have caused a great inconvenience to the monk. Do you happen to remember which monk it was?”
“W-Well. Everyone wears similar Buddhist robes and has their heads shaved clean, so I couldn’t distinguish them at all.”
Fortunately, Seo-hwa did not seem to suspect the evasive excuse.
“Seeing that the sun is bright, it seems I have overslept. I am sorry.”
“Ah, no. There isn’t much work today, so it’s fine.”
This, of course, was also a lie. How much she had sweated trying to make excuses to the servants, telling them she had sent Seo-hwa on a distant errand before dawn.
“I brought some rice balls here, so eat quickly and go gather firewood from the mountain.”
“Gathering firewood?”
“I mean tree branches. They have their uses in their own way.”
It was a desperate measure to keep her out of the way, since Won-ui seemed to be paying attention to her. If, by any chance, she kept working inside the temple and made a mistake, and Won-ui witnessed her receiving glares, it would be a disaster.
‘What do they use tree branches for?’
Seo-hwa was a little puzzled, but since there were many things she did not know, she did not doubt it. After satisfying her hunger with the salted rice balls, she went outside, carrying the basket with straps that Deok-sun had brought over her shoulders.
‘I am still fatigued, but my body feels light today, perhaps because I slept soundly.’
She also felt pathetic. To think she had collapsed, unable to endure praying for just a few days for those who had died wrongfully.
‘Perhaps because the monk found me early yesterday, I didn’t even catch a cold.’
Collapsing outside in the middle of winter, she had almost suffered a major illness. Thanking the unknown monk in her heart, Seo-hwa left the temple and climbed the mountain path.
The mountain terrain was not rugged. Picking up fallen branches and tossing them into the basket, Seo-hwa walked slowly. Coming out of the temple, there were also new landscapes to see.
‘They said Beopjisa has a separate herb garden, right? Perhaps because herb gatherers don’t come here, herbs seem to appear here and there even if it’s not the herb garden.’
Learning medicine, even superficially, seemed to be useful. Walking while discovering herbs made gathering branches along the mountain path less exhausting.
However, there was one miscalculation.
It was Seo-hwa’s first time mountain climbing alone, the mountain path was more complicated than she had expected, and because it was temple land, few people came out for mountain trekking.
‘Oh dear. I think I am lost.’
Flustered, Seo-hwa looked around her. She clearly thought she had followed a single path, but looking back, the path had disappeared before she knew it.
Suppressing her heart, which was beginning to pound with anxiety, Seo-hwa tried to remain calm.
‘There is something I read in a book before. When you are lost in the mountains, you shouldn’t blindly descend, but rather find a waterway or climb to the summit.’
She listened quietly. Although the sound of birds could be heard from afar, the sound of flowing water did not reach her.
‘If so, I should climb to the summit…….’
Seo-hwa looked at the dense forest. Seeing that it was an uphill slope, it seemed that going this way would lead to the summit.
‘I haven’t heard that tigers live in this mountain, but there must be dangerous beasts.’
Then, would it be better to walk through an open area, even if it meant taking a slight detour?
As someone ignorant of mountains, Seo-hwa could not easily come to a conclusion.
Even while she hesitated, time slipped away moment by moment. If the sun set like this, it would be a true disaster.
‘Let’s just go for now.’
Having made up her mind, Seo-hwa stepped out of the forest path and looked around for a place with a relatively clear view. Far off in her line of sight, a path that seemed to lead to the summit, though somewhat rugged, was visible.
How long had she walked in the quiet mountains?
The basket, which had not felt very heavy initially, became more burdensome the more she walked. Her shoulders gradually grew stiff, and her legs ached. Before she knew it, she was also running out of breath.
‘I should rest for just a moment before going.’
Despite the chilly winter weather, sweat formed on her forehead. Seo-hwa wiped the sweat with her sleeve and put down the basket.
At that moment, without warning, a strong wind blew.
“Ah……?”
Her skirt fluttered violently in the sudden wind. Startled, Seo-hwa tried to press down on her clothes instinctively, but her foot slipped, and her body tottered. Behind her back was a vast cliff.
“Aaahhh!”
A single scream tore through the silent mountain air. Her body floated into the empty air. A dizzying sensation of suspension enveloped her.
The moment she instinctively felt herself falling, she squeezed her eyes shut.
It was then. Something solid gripped Seo-hwa’s wrist tightly. Her body, which felt as if it would fall endlessly, stopped in midair.

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