Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 72

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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 72

Although it was a situation to be happy about, he simply could not find the confidence to smile and send Gyeong Won-yeong away.

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“Would it not look better if we braided it like this, pinned it up, and decorated it with a Tteoljam?”
“Simply tying it neatly is enough.”
“It is just such a shame because your hair is so fine.”
“Give me the comb. I shall comb it myself.”
“Oh, that will not do.”
The light banter shared with the maidservant drifted faintly through the gap in the door. If he showed himself, this rare, warm atmosphere would surely shatter.
Gyeong Won-ui leaned his back against the pillar beside the room door.
Having apparently reached a compromise over how to comb and pin up her hair, Yoo Seo-hwa and the maidservant continued their conversation with trivial matters. The current happenings in the Banbitgan, the regretful Chimmo, the messages from the slaves expressing their joy over her recovery, and so forth.
It was merely a string of small, meaningless conversations, but they were exactly what Yoo Seo-hwa needed right now. At the very least, more so than Gyeong Won-ui.
Having stood outside for a long time, Gyeong Won-ui only announced his presence when a lull fell over the conversation.
“Come in.”
The door opened from within. The maidservant bowed politely and stepped backward out of the room, leaving the space, which had been filled with modest joy just moments ago, blanketed in an awkward silence.
“I returned from the office a short while ago and came to pay my respects.”
“You worked hard today as well.”
“Has anything unusual occurred?”
“I am resting comfortably inside the room, so what could possibly happen?”
Gyeong Won-ui had known since the day before yesterday that Yoo Seo-hwa could now walk out to the garden without needing the support of a maidservant. It was a report he had received from the Butler.
Yet, Yoo Seo-hwa did not tell him today either that she had become able to go out for walks.
‘If even a single strand of blatant reluctance had shown, I might never have been able to cross this threshold again.’
Yoo Seo-hwa did not go that far.
She did not welcome his visits, but at the very least, she did not coldly push him away. It was shameful to even compare this to how he had treated her over the past few months. He was someone who would have no excuse even if she slapped his cheek right now and told him to vanish from her sight forever.
Gyeong Won-ui willingly held on and clung to Yoo Seo-hwa’s faint benevolence. If it could help her gather the will to live, there was nothing he would not do.
“Do you remember my friend, Chu Sim-yang?”
“Yes.”
“I intend to find some time in the coming days to invite Chu Sim-yang and Lady Hong.”
If it was Chu Sim-yang’s wife from the Hong clan, it meant Hong Ok-geum. A faint reaction surfaced on Yoo Seo-hwa’s face, which had been responding indifferently until now.
“Does Hong Ok-geum also know about my situation?”
“Chu Sim-yang seemed unaware of any circumstances other than the fact that a fire broke out, so I presume Lady Hong is the same. If you wish to send a letter before inviting them, I shall make the preparations.”
After pondering for a moment, Yoo Seo-hwa shook her head.
“No, it is fine. If Hong Ok-geum hears that I was in danger, she will only worry continuously, so there is no need to tell her in advance.”
Yoo Seo-hwa was still Yoo Seo-hwa.
They say a person’s true nature is revealed when they are in a high position or a low one, and Yoo Seo-hwa was always consistent. On the other hand, he himself was… Gyeong Won-ui suppressed his bitter self-reproach and composed his expression.
“When would be a good time?”
“It matters not to me, so choose a date that is convenient for you, Gyeong Won-ui.”
“Then I shall make it four days from now.”
“Yes.”
With that brief assent, the conversation died out listlessly. The voice Yoo Seo-hwa used when continuing her conversation with the maidservant did not exist for him.
“……I shall take my leave now. Please rest.”
“Ah, wait a moment.”
Yoo Seo-hwa held back Gyeong Won-ui as he was about to bow. That alone caused a surge of hot fervor to rush straight into his heart.
“Could you bring me the small chest and fabrics from the servants’ quarters where I used to stay? Now that I have recovered some strength, I intend to finish making the clothes and send them to the exile location.”
“I shall bring them shortly.”
“You must be busy as it is, so do not trouble yourself with such a trivial errand.”
The response ‘I am not busy’ was one that the current Gyeong Won-ui could not utter. For she was conveying that she did not wish to encounter him over unnecessary matters.
If it were the old days when he was her lover, he would have been able to reply playfully. Gyeong Won-ui once again brooded over his regret, wishing he could cut down his foolish past self with a blade.
“I shall instruct the head slave.”
“You may leave.”
Closing the door behind him, Gyeong Won-ui swallowed a bitter sigh.
“……I truly want to kill you, Gyeong Won-ui.”
If he could excise the tongue that had driven her to misery and chop off both his hands to apologize, he would have done so hundreds of times. If his death could satisfy her, he would have gladly slit his own throat.
Because Yoo Seo-hwa was not a person who would take pleasure in such things, his worthless life continued even amidst this dreadful self-loathing.
If this meager life possessed any meaning at all, it would be to restore Yoo Seo-hwa’s reason to live.
Gyeong Won-ui rubbed his face roughly with his palm. Yoo Seo-hwa was not a woman who placed value on gold, silver, or precious treasures.
‘What else can I do for Her Highness?’
As he walked back deep in thought, Gyeong Won-ui crossed paths with Yoo Seo-hwa’s other maidservant. The maidservant, who was carrying a refreshment tray, bowed deeply and stepped aside toward the wall.
‘Was her name Dal-rae?’
When selecting the maidservants, he had told Deok-sun to choose from among the slaves who were already acquainted with Yoo Seo-hwa. He thought it a relief because, thanks to that, Yoo Seo-hwa also seemed at ease.
The two maidservants carried no more significance than that. That was until Gyeong Won-ui’s gaze landed upon the lowered face of the maidservant.
“……!”
An intense sense of déjà vu swept through his consciousness.
“Is your name Dal-rae?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Raise your face.”
Dal-rae lifted her head. Engraved clearly upon her face, which was tinged with wonder, was a striking spot on her left forehead that looked almost like a scar. It was a unique blemish that, at a glance, resembled a gourd.
‘Could it be? Should I ask? No, it could just be someone with a similar blemish by chance.’
“Take good care of the lady.”
“Yes, I shall devote my whole heart to it.”
He had called her suddenly just to check her face, only to offer a trivial word of encouragement. Leaving Dal-rae behind as she tilted her head in confusion, Gyeong Won-ui returned to his room and urgently summoned the Butler.
“Bring me the slave ledger of the child named Dal-rae, the lady’s maidservant.”
Reading the slave ledger that the Butler quickly found and brought to him, Gyeong Won-ui groaned softly.
‘My guess was correct. She is definitely that gentleman’s daughter.’
Dal-rae was the daughter of Kim Ho-rip, an old acquaintance of his father. Kim Ho-rip had been accused of being a treasonous rebel and was executed at his exile location. It occurred during the reign of Emperor Xuanwen, the era when the most state trials were held among all past emperors.
In Dal-rae’s slave ledger, the life of a family ruined and reduced to slaves was dryly recorded.
‘Since it is a memory from nearly twenty years ago, I was half-doubting it, but I did not missee.’
As a young boy accompanying Gyeong Baek-jong to visit Kim Ho-rip’s house, Gyeong Won-ui had also exchanged greetings with Kim Ho-rip’s two daughters. The second daughter, who was younger than Gyeong Won-ui, was Dal-rae.
Since it was a meeting from over a decade ago, he naturally did not remember her face. However, he faintly retained a memory that the second daughter had a gourd-shaped blemish on her forehead.
‘It was definitely eighteen years ago when that elder went into exile and was forced to drink poison.’
The records in the slave ledger also aligned perfectly.
When Kim Ho-rip’s two daughters became slaves, Gyeong Baek-jong had strived to bring them over, but things did not go as desired.
‘From what I remember, the scoundrel who was granted the slaves took the eldest daughter as a concubine and refused to let her go.’
The last news was that the older sister subsequently passed away, and Dal-rae was sold off to the provinces. After wandering here and there for over a decade since then, it seemed she had finally arrived at this private residence.
There was one more reason why Gyeong Won-ui was carefully retracing his memories.
‘Eighteen years ago, the person who made the accusation against that elder was definitely the Minister of State.’
Merely a few months after Kim Ho-rip was dispatched to Shengguang as a local official, an accusation was made that he had composed a treasonous poem, and his family was ruined. The person who accused Kim Ho-rip was Chu Se-gu, and Shengguang was none other than Chu Se-gu’s ancestral home.
The Chu Clan of Shengguang was a noble family revered almost like royalty in Shengguang.
It was a matter he had overlooked indifferently until now, but once he began to suspect Chu Se-gu, his suspicions began to swell endlessly. Even while recognizing that his evidence was insufficient, he could not stop.
‘When we suppressed the rebellion of the White Head Sect in Qiheng Province, Shengguang was mentioned there as well.’
The White Head Sect believers stated that the region where their cult’s influence first arose was Maeshan. However, during the interrogation process, the highest-ranking officials actually confessed that the cult leader’s hometown, Shengguang, was the true source.
He had not thought it strange at the time. Rather than Shengguang, which was an unremarkable region, it would have been more meaningful to claim Maeshan, celebrated since ancient times for its beautiful landscapes, as the birthplace.
‘Yet, when it was reported to the Imperial Court, Shengguang was completely erased, and only Maeshan remained.’
As a disgraced land that had birthed evil cultists, the people from that region suffered various disadvantages, such as being banned from taking the civil service examinations for the next twenty years.
Even then, he did not harbor any grand doubts. At that time, he was merely Gyeong Baek-jong’s adjutant and had not followed the interrogation process to the very end, so he assumed there had been a reversal of testimony without his knowledge.
‘The time when the White Head Sect began to appear was also eighteen years ago.’
Eighteen years ago, Shengguang, Chu Se-gu, the White Head Sect.
Separate words that had possessed absolutely no relation to one another began to form a vague connection.
It was the following afternoon when Kkeoksoe was captured.

The slave hunters knew the escape routes of slaves inside out, and a massive reward had been staked on the matter.
Setting aside all other tasks to focus solely on the search for Kkeoksoe, the slave hunters eventually tracked him down. The discovery had only been slightly delayed because he was using the handsome reward he received from Chu Na-yeon as funds for his flight.
Gyeong Won-ui interrogated Kkeoksoe himself. Kkeoksoe, who had held out stubbornly, finally confessed in the end. The person who had instigated it from behind was, as expected, Chu Na-yeon.
“Make the preparations.”
Now, there was truly nothing left to hold him back. He was assembling his private soldiers when the Butler rushed over in a hurry.
“Master, a guest has arrived.”
“At this hour? The Second Watch has already passed. Send them back politely. Moreover, you know very well that I have no leisure to receive guests right now, do you not?”
“Th-that is, it is the Minister of State, sir.”

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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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