Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 71
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 71: Blooming Even in the Mud
“What makes you say that?”
“Don’t go telling Dal-rae later that you heard this from me. When you were unconscious, she hid in secret and cried. It was the first time I’d ever seen Dal-rae show any weakness.”
Yoo Seo-hwa was left speechless.
“……I hope you don’t end up like my older sister.”
She belatedly recalled the words Dal-rae had spoken to her once before. Though she hadn’t realized that Dal-rae had begun to overlap her with her dead sister, she could feel the sheer desperation imbued within those words.
She had only wished to let go of this grueling life, so why did the number of people trying to hold onto her keep growing? Only now, when things could no longer be undone.
“But is it really okay for me to keep calling you ‘Someone’ from now on?”
“It is a name forgotten and erased. ‘Someone’ will suffice.”
“Understood, Lady Someone. I’ll make sure to tell Dal-rae as well.”
Giggling playfully, Kkot-bun patted the mattress.
“They say it’s good to get regular massages when you’ve lost a lot of muscle strength from being sick for so long. I learned how to do it properly, so hurry up and lie down.”
“You do not need to do that.”
“This is exactly what a maidservant is supposed to do.”
Unable to win against Kkot-bun’s stubbornness, Yoo Seo-hwa lay her body down on the bed. The day she had been brought back from the brink of death passed by just like that.
* * *
Having gone out for early morning fishing and returned in the afternoon, Eulsu caught a bit of sleep before dinner.
When he woke up, Cui Shecheng was stretched out flat on his back. Having grown somewhat close while staying as a houseguest, Cui Shecheng spoke casually to the much younger Eulsu.
“Isn’t it about time you got used to farm work?”
“Whew, panting…… Get used to it? No way. I don’t think I could do it even if I were stuck here for the rest of my life……”
“Still, you’ve lost a lot of weight.”
“I was originally quite slender. It was all just beer belly fat.”
“A man who wanders the whole country as a peddler got a beer belly?”
“……”
Stung by the words, Cui Shecheng shut his mouth. Watching him roll his eyes around guiltily, Eulsu scratched his head.
“Well, as long as you don’t bring any harm to my family and the villagers, I won’t report you to the government office. Though the story would be different if you were a felon of high treason.”
“A-a-a felon of high treason? Good grief, man, you’re saying some terribly dangerous things.”
“By the way, where were you trying to flee to that made you force a boat out on a day with such severe waves?”
“Ahem, cough…… Well, the truth is……”
Cui Shecheng stammered as he confessed. Listening to the story about the location of the deserted island and how he had tried to board a merchant ship engaged in smuggling there, Eulsu clicked his tongue.
“Your information updates are slow.”
“Huh?”
“It’s been quite a while since they moved that smuggling base.”
“H-how do you know that?!”
“When you spend your time avoiding pirates, you tend to overhear things.”
“Ugh……”
For a brief moment, Cui Shecheng fell into deep agony. He debated whether or not to ask Eulsu to send him to that newly changed base.
‘Tsk, I suppose it wouldn’t work out anyway, right? Even if I asked him to put me on a merchant ship bound for the Wu State, I’ve lost all my wealth……’
For now, hiding out on Eogu Island seemed like the best option. It was a shame that he couldn’t indulge in the gambling that had been ingrained in his body for five years, but it wasn’t more precious than his life.
He would eventually adapt to the hard labor somehow, and the little Dong-i grew cuter the more he looked at him. However, if there was one problem weighing on his mind……
“I heard from the villagers, is your wife’s memory still not coming back?”
It was Gyeong Won-yeong. The longer he spent watching Gyeong Won-yeong up close, the more guilt surged within him.
‘If only I hadn’t done that job, would General Gyeong’s family have remained safe……?’
Meanwhile, at Cui Shecheng’s question, Eulsu recalled his first encounter with Gyeong Won-yeong.
It was an event from five years ago already. It happened when he had stopped by Ganam Province to purchase regular essential goods. After separating from his companions to have a drink by himself, Eulsu was on his way back when he heard a woman’s scream coming from a dark, abandoned house.
Rushing over immediately, he saw a middle-aged man trying to gag a young girl’s mouth to violate her.
In his haste, he struck the back of the man’s head with a brick rolling around on the floor.
The girl could barely form her words as she trembled uncontrollably.
Catching sight of her fair skin starkly revealed in the darkness through her torn collar, Eulsu quickly turned his head away. Only then did the girl pull her collar together, wrapping her arms around her shivering body.
Eulsu glanced down at the bleeding, unconscious man.
Eulsu regretted asking for no good reason. He felt like he knew the rest without even hearing it. The man must have used some excuse to call this girl out to a deserted place to take her by force.
Examining the man while trembling, the girl flinched.
Startled, Eulsu also checked under the man’s nose. There truly was no breath felt at all.
‘Damn it. I didn’t even think I hit him that hard.’
Saving a girl who was about to be violated was a completely different matter from killing a person. Fear struck him instantly.
The girl was no different. Her lips, parted wide as if to scream, were trembling palely.
First, he supported the girl and led her out into the courtyard. Once the corpse was out of sight, she seemed to regain her composure slightly.
And when Eulsu faced the girl’s countenance illuminated by the moonlight for the first time, he lost his senses, completely forgetting their current predicament. She was as beautiful as a heavenly fairy descended to earth.
From the moment he saw the girl’s face, he couldn’t help but say those words.
He had to help. This fragile and beautiful girl who surely had no one else to rely on.
He actually thought that was even better.
If the family member of a felon of high treason, who had become a government office slave due to a crime, even went so far as to escape, then wouldn’t he be the only person left in the entire world for her to rely on?
Having inadvertently entertained such a thought, Eulsu flinched in shock.
‘Are you insane? What kind of crazy thoughts are you having in front of a pitiful person?’
Endeavoring not to look at the dark desire that had brushed past a corner of his heart, he carefully continued speaking.
Earnestly imploring her to remain well-hidden until his return, Eulsu finally came back after a long time had passed. He was carrying a corpse on his back.
It was a body he had retrieved from a pit where corpses were discarded in the slums.
Because it was winter, he swapped the clothes of the girl with the clothes of the corpse, which had not yet decomposed. Then, throwing the corpse into the dry well of the abandoned house, he collapsed a portion of the well.
As the well collapsed, the bricks fell to the bottom of the pit. Even if they discovered the body, its face would be crushed by the bricks, making it unrecognizable.
The girl watched him handle the matter in a frenzy as if she were utterly possessed.
A sense of trust finally emerged within the girl’s eyes. It was a thrilling ecstasy.
He sent the villagers who had come with him back first, using the lie that he had fallen ill from drinking. Then, on his way back, he fabricated the excuse that he had rescued a drifting girl.
It was only after half a year had passed that the girl revealed her real name and shared her story, and a short while later, Eulsu and Gyeong Won-yeong became husband and wife.
If there was a truth that Eulsu remained forever ignorant of, it was that his makeshift measures had been partially exposed during the geomheom examinations of the bodies.
At the time, the Moksa of Ganam Province respected Gyeong Baek-jong and was also sympathetic toward Gyeong Won-yeong. The Moksa, who had even issued an order forbidding the government office slaves from providing sexual service out of concern for Gyeong Won-yeong’s safety, had turned a blind eye to her escape.
Shaking off his recollections, Eulsu put on a deliberately sorrowful expression.
“Recovering her memory seems difficult. Besides, we have no means to go find a doctor to examine her.”
“Your heart must be heavy as well.”
“What can be done when it is the will of heaven?”
Not wanting to prolong this topic, Eulsu shifted the conversation. There was something he had been curious about all this time.
“I heard the ruler of the country has changed, so is life a bit more bearable now?”
“Since I’m in a position where I’m running away, I don’t know the exact details, but, ahem, this is entirely just something I heard. Since the new Emperor was already a wise ruler back when he was in the north—no, I heard he was a wise ruler—he can’t even be compared to the Deposed Emperor who was possessed by those cultist Taoist bastards.”
“From what I’ve heard, some famous General smashed all the remnants of the Deposed Emperor and the cultists.”
When Gyeong Won-ui was mentioned, Cui Shecheng slyly studied his reactions. Judging by his face alone, it was impossible to tell whether he was asking because he knew Gyeong Won-yeong’s identity or not.
“He’s a renowned commander, and he’s also a man who seems like the very epitome of enduring hardship to achieve vengeance. His circumstances are complicated, making him a pitiful gentleman whose family members all died. Though whether it was a false accusation or the truth is unknown now, he became a felon of high treason five years ago.”
“Is that so……”
Eulsu secretly swallowed a sigh.
He had guessed it because of the uncommon surname Gyeong, but as expected, he truly was Gyeong Won-yeong’s older brother.
To Gyeong Won-yeong, who had become entirely his wife precisely because she was a lonely orphan, a dependable family member had returned. Would a wretched life like his own even be fitting for a lady of noble birth like Gyeong Won-yeong?
The dark desire from five years ago, which he thought he had wiped away and eliminated for good, kept squirming within him.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
