Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 41

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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 41: Blooming Even in the Mud
 
 
 
Yet, the desire that had been secretly coiled and hidden deep within him had finally awakened. As if it were bound to happen this way eventually.
“……Seo-hwa.”
Even though he knew she would not wake up, he placed her name on the tip of his tongue. It was a name he would never have called had she been awake.
Despite satisfying the desire that had been swirling and boiling inside his body, he felt no satisfaction at all.
No, could that act truly be called satisfying?
The strange, burning sensation from embracing a woman who trembled helplessly without resisting was still coiled tightly in his lower abdomen. Yet, he still did not know what answer he had wanted from her.
‘Is it enough simply to possess her body?’
He questioned himself, but he could not find the answer to this either.
Only one thing was certain: he would never regret it.
“Even if time were turned back, I would still embrace you.”
Because I cannot allow any trace of your dead husband to remain engraved upon you.
Gyeong Won-ui stood up, cradling Yoo Seo-hwa as she slept as deeply as death. The mountain wind swept away even the heavy, passion-laden air. Not a single trace remained of the fierce intensity that had taken place secretly deep in the mountain.
 
* * *
 
Deok-sun had been on edge all day long. Yoo Seo-hwa, whom she had sent away to get some proper rest, had not returned at all.
‘I told her to pick up a few twigs, but is she chopping down a whole tree?’
She checked the mountain path at every opportunity while supervising the slaves, but there was no sign of her return.
‘Could she have run into a wild animal? I heard this mountain has no tigers or bears……. Or maybe a wild boar?’
Animals that woke up in the winter during hibernation were exceedingly ferocious due to hunger.
A slave getting injured or dying would amount to the crime of damaging the master’s property, but she was even more worried because of Yoo Seo-hwa’s ambiguous relationship with Gyeong Won-ui.
‘I meant to look out for her by letting her rest, so I’m worried her body might be badly harmed.’
It was only after another Shijin had passed that color finally returned to Deok-sun’s anxious face.
“Hey, you! Are you just coming back now?”
Catching sight of a tall silhouette coming down from the mountain in the distance, Deok-sun mistook him for Yoo Seo-hwa and welcomed him gladly.
“Why are you so late……?!”
Deok-sun’s relieved face turned deathly pale again. The figure she had dimly seen from afar and thought was one person turned out to be two.
Carrying the sleeping Yoo Seo-hwa in his arms, with the basket she had been carrying slung over one of his shoulders, Gyeong Won-ui walked down the mountain path and glanced at her. Only then did Deok-sun flinch, quickly bowing her waist to snap out of it.
“Y-You have returned, Master.”
The words she wanted to ask were different. She wanted to ask when the master had gone into the mountain and why he was bringing her back.
However, those were questions a slave was not permitted to ask, and she could guess the gist of it through intuition. Having worked as a slave her entire life, Deok-sun, who was an expert at reading her master’s moods, said nothing else and took the lead.
“This servant will go ahead and prepare the room.”
It seemed to be roughly the right choice. She could feel Gyeong Won-ui’s presence following behind her.
As soon as she rushed back to the room and spread out the blanket, Gyeong Won-ui walked inside.
“…….”
Laying Yoo Seo-hwa down on the blanket, he did not even sit down, but stood looking down at her silently for a long time before turning his back. Only then did the air that had been coiled heavily around him begin to shift and flow away.
Deok-sun, who had been standing huddled in the corner of the room in extreme tension, let her shoulders sag and wiped away her cold sweat.
‘What on earth is going on?’
She completely lost her wits at the sudden turn of events.
 
Yoo Seo-hwa lifted her heavy eyelids. Except for the difference that the sun had set, the exact same sight she had seen when she opened her eyes in the morning entered her view.
‘Was it all a dream?’
She even thought that, but it was indeed reality.
The moment she moved her body slightly to get up, a dull, throbbing pain rising from her private parts made her recognize reality.
Yoo Seo-hwa dropped her limbs helplessly again. It wasn’t just the pain. The passion that had dug deep into her and poured out remained like a lingering heat. Along with the hot breath that had swallowed her lips at the moment of release.
‘If it had been nothing but pain, I wouldn’t be this confused.’
Groaning softly, she covered her face with her hands.
‘I shouldn’t have said it hurt. Even if it felt like my body was tearing in two, I should have endured it.’
He was a man who had embraced her fiercely while making such a sorrowful and cruel demand. Yet, at a single word that it hurt, he had caressed her gently enough to make her misunderstand, and wiped away her flowing tears with his lips.
Because of that, she had believed it was a dream all the more.
In that moment, it felt as though the five years of passed time, when they had simply loved each other, had returned. Even though she knew they could never go back.
“Oh dear, are you finally awake?”
Her eyes met Deok-sun’s, who had peeked through the door to check inside. As she awkwardly tried to sit up, the woman waved her hand.
“Forget it, just stay lying down. What on earth did you do when I told you to pick up some twigs to make your face look so ruined?”
Hearing her words feigning ignorance, she barely managed to feel a sense of doubt.
“I can’t remember, so how did I get all the way down here?”
“W-Well now. You didn’t come back for so long, so I went looking for you, and you were collapsed right in front of the room before I knew it.”
“That shouldn’t be possible……”
Yoo Seo-hwa blankly traced her memory. She was certain her consciousness had faded away while she was trying to pull her clothes back on, but everything after that was pitch black.
‘Could Gyeong Won-ui have carried me……?’
The assumption that Gyeong Won-ui might have moved her made her feel lonely.
She wished he hadn’t. She wished he had just left her to be harmed by wild animals and walked away.
His affection was even harder for her to bear.
Deok-sun reached out and placed a hand on her forehead.
“Seeing that you have a bit of a fever, didn’t you just forget the memory of coming down because you were delirious?”
“Is that what happened……”
“It can happen if your fever runs high. Otherwise, who would carry your basket down for you?”
It was a forced explanation, but she wanted to believe even those words. Deok-sun, who left the room and returned a moment later, placed a basin sloshing with warm water and a Silk Handkerchief by her bedside.
“Your fever rose high enough to make your memory slip for a moment, so it’s a great relief that it’s only this bad. Take a thorough rest until tomorrow.”
“I will be fine after a night’s sleep. Besides, I failed to do my work properly today, didn’t I?”
“Forcing yourself to work with that body will only end up creating more tasks if you make a mistake.”
Since she insisted and left, Yoo Seo-hwa had no choice either.
Once Deok-sun left, she began to wipe her limbs with the Silk Handkerchief soaked in water. The burning heat simply refused to drop.
 
Whether it was because she had stayed up all night out in the cold, or because the unexpected tryst in the mountain had strained her body and mind, or perhaps both, Yoo Seo-hwa suffered a severe cold.
After suffering for several days, her fever finally broke.
“How is your body feeling now?”
“I am fine. By tomorrow, I will be able to leave my bed without any trouble.”
Adjusting her pale face, Yoo Seo-hwa squeezed out what little energy she had left to reply.
In Deok-sun’s judgment, it was absolutely impossible. Even if she could manage to move around, walking a distance that took over a Shijin to return to the mansion seemed out of the question.
Forcing her to walk would likely cause her to drop dead along the way.
On the final day when the Buddhist Ritual that had lasted for seven days came to an end, the worried Deok-sun ended up secretly seeking out Gyeong Won-ui.
“Master, I am sorry to disturb your rest.”
“What is it?”
Sitting properly at his writing desk and reading a book, Gyeong Won-ui only moved his lips without even looking at Deok-sun.
“The slave is in poor health, so it seems it will be difficult for her to accompany us on the journey back tomorrow.”
Only then did Gyeong Won-ui lift his head and look at her.
Deok-sun flinched at the cold gaze that devoid of any affection.
‘Did I misread the situation? Am I making a mistake?’
Unaware of her confusion, Gyeong Won-ui’s lips moved coldly.
“So, are you asking me to call a Doctor to tend to the illness of a single slave?”
“H-How could that be, Master?”
Deok-sun hastily denied it. She wouldn’t dare dream of asking for a Doctor.
“It seems she will recover after a few more days of rest. I came to ask for your permission to let her rest at the temple until she can stand up.”
She had already asked the Head Slave of the temple slaves and obtained their understanding.
She only needed Gyeong Won-ui’s permission, but his frosty reaction worried her greatly. If the master commanded it, it was a slave’s lot to move even if they died on the way.
“I grant it.”
It was a moment later when a dismissive answer came from Gyeong Won-ui, who had already fixed his gaze back on his book.
Barely relieved, Deok-sun bowed repeatedly as she backed out of the room.
‘I thought she might be the master’s Slave Concubine, but it seems I was completely off.’
Then again, let alone taking her as a Slave Concubine, there was no shortage of maidservants that a master would touch in passing. Even if a slave’s appearance was beautiful, it only made their lot in life more wretched.
 
* * *
 
The maid’s judgment, which assumed she would be harshly punished by Chu Na-yeon as soon as they returned to the Chu Clan’s mansion, was slightly off. Chu Na-yeon began badgering her from the very moment they set off on their return.
“You foolish thing, why do I have to suffer such humiliation because of you?!”
“I am sorry. I am truly sorry, My Lady.”
The maid walked beside the Jade Sedan Chair that Chu Na-yeon was riding in, begging for forgiveness with everything she had.
The response, ‘You were the one who said you couldn’t stand to eat any more temple food even if it killed you, and told me to bring beef tartare,’ rose to the tip of her tongue. If she actually said those words, she would surely be beaten half to death.
It was understandable that Chu Na-yeon was annoyed.
She had made a big decision to come all the way to the temple to look good in front of Gyeong Won-ui, only to end up showing nothing but an embarrassing sight within three days. It must be even more humiliating since Gyeong Won-ui knew of her disgraceful behavior but said nothing.
‘But My Lady thinks I am the root cause of it all. At this rate, am I really going to get beaten half to death when we get back?’
A chill ran down her spine. Given Chu Na-yeon’s temperament, it was not an impossible thing at all.
While desperately brainstorming a way to divert Chu Na-yeon’s annoyance in another direction, something flashed through the maid’s mind.
“My Lady, I have something urgent to tell you.”
“Is your mouth still alive?!”
“I-It’s not that, it’s truly an important matter for you, My Lady.”
“What is it? If it’s something trivial, I’ll tear your tongue out.”
Approaching the Jade Sedan Chair closely, the maid whispered to Chu Na-yeon through the window.
“Actually, during the Buddhist Ritual, I visited the slaves’ quarters to pick up something I forgot. I witnessed something there.”

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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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