Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 95

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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 95: Blooming Even in the Mud
 
 
 
“It’s dangerous!”
“Mother will scold us…….”
“Don’t worry. Yesterday, I climbed up and came back down safely without Mother finding out.”
“But…….”
Soothing Su-ho, who looked like he was about to burst into tears again, Su-yeon planted her foot firmly on the torreya tree. Then, she climbed up the tree without hesitation.
Watching her, Su-min and Su-ho felt their hearts leap into their throats.
It was not a tree so thick that it would take a full embrace to span it, unlike the torreya tree that used to stand in this spot. However, the height was still somewhat dangerous for a young child to climb.
“Mother told us never to climb trees, so what should we do?”
“Shouldn’t we stop Sister right now?”
“Do you think Sister is the type to listen just because someone stops her?”
“That’s true…….”
Whether she knew her twin brothers were anxious or not, Su-yeon had already climbed up to the branch where the kite was caught.
“Sister! Aren’t you scared?”
Su-yeon glanced down. Her brothers looked tiny. To be honest, she was scared. She felt a dizzying vertigo, as if she might fall at any moment.
Yet, Su-yeon squared her shoulders instead.
“I’m not scared at all. Your sister will bring the kite down in a jiffy, so stay quiet and don’t tattle to Mother.”
“Mm-hmm. Come down quickly.”
Cheered on by her brothers, Su-yeon untangled the kite string caught in the branches. The leaves got in the way, but untangling it was not difficult. The problem was going down.
‘Don’t look down. Absolutely not.’
Closing her eyes tightly and opening them, Su-yeon hugged the kite with one arm and carefully began to descend.
Was it because she had looked down earlier? Unlike when she was climbing up, her legs shook for no reason and her heart went thump-thump. Just as she thought it was dangerous.
“Ah!”
“Sister! Sister!”
The world spun around once, and she plummeted downward.
 
Running over in a flurry after being startled by the twins’ crying, Yoo Seo-hwa almost fainted. Fortunately, Su-yeon only had a broken leg and some scratches, with no major injuries beyond that.
“How many times have I told you not to climb trees!”
“I’m sorry…….”
“Again, again! You only say you’re sorry with your mouth. Once your leg heals, you won’t listen to this mother of yours again.”
“I really won’t do it anymore…….”
Unable to bear watching Su-yeon look uncharacteristically dejected, Gyeong Won-ui subtly interjected.
“Su-yeon must have understood by now. Since you got hurt, you’ll be careful from now on, right, Su-yeon?”
“I’ll be careful.”
“Because you always spoil her, Su-yeon causes trouble every single time. No matter how cute our daughter is, you must reprimand her properly when it’s time to do so.”
“But doesn’t Su-yeon look exactly like you did when you were young? There was a rumor that when you were a child, you also fell from a tree while playing pranks and got hurt—.”
“What did you just say?”
“……It is nothing.”
His momentum instantly crushed by a single word from Yoo Seo-hwa, Gyeong Won-ui shut his mouth. Su-yeon secretly resolved to definitely ask other people later what that story was about without her mother knowing.
Even after she drank the bitter decoction, the nagging did not stop.
“Since you did wrong, I will not give you any snacks to refresh your mouth today.”
The threat of withholding snacks made Su-yeon reflect on her actions far more effectively than any nagging. Gyeong Won-ui quietly approached his daughter, who was grimacing at the rich, bitter taste lingering in her mouth.
Pretending to stroke her hair, he slipped a piece of sweet peanut brittle into her mouth. Quickly accepting and eating it, Su-yeon lowered her face and munched on it lest she be caught by her mother.
‘He really is so soft on the children.’
Even though Yoo Seo-hwa saw this, she pretended not to notice and ended up letting out a smirk.
“Are you okay, Sister?”
“Does it hurt?”
The moment she stepped out of the room, Su-min and Su-ho clung to her while on the verge of tears. Gyeong Won-ui scooped up his twin sons with both arms.
“She needs to rest deeply for a long time. You two must be careful as well. Understood?”
As if they had made a promise, the twins nodded their heads vigorously at the same time.
 
“Somehow, the atmosphere in the house feels chaotic. Did something happen?”
“As expected, you’re quick to notice.”
Guiding Dong-i, who had come to visit the private residence, Mang-a shook his head.
“The young mistress fell while climbing a tree, so everything turned upside down.”
“What? Su-yeon did? Is she badly hurt?”
“She was a bit startled, but it’s not that big of an injury. Children can get hurt while growing up.”
Hearing that it was not a major injury, Dong-i breathed a sigh of relief and gave him a slight glare.
“For a fellow who married early and already has four children, your way of speaking is still so flippant. With that, will you be able to do your job well as the butler of the private residence in the future?”
“I will be careful.”
At Mang-a’s polite voice as he deliberately bowed from the waist, Dong-i chuckled and went inside. Because Yoo Seo-hwa had briefly stepped away to take care of the twins, she greeted Su-yeon first.
“Does your leg hurt?”
“I drank the decoction and also received acupuncture, so I’m fine now. What brings you here, Sister? Has the rumor that I got hurt spread already?”
“I came because my mother asked me to deliver some rice cakes that Her Highness likes. Coincidentally, it turned into a get-well gift for you.”
That was perfect. Su-yeon also liked rice cakes, but right now, she was more curious about something else than the rice cakes.
“Sister, by the way, do you happen to know what Mother was like when she was young?”
“Since it was before I was even born, I don’t know well, but I heard she was someone who brimmed with immense vitality.”
“How was she brimming with vitality? Like me?”
“I often heard from my mother that seeing you reminds her of Her Highness’s childhood, so wouldn’t it be similar?”
“Wow, I’ve heard that story from Court Lady Lee as well.”
Her mouth itched to ask, ‘Then did she also fall from a tree like me?’, but Dong-i playfully pinched the cheek of the restless Su-yeon.
“Isn’t the person who knows Her Highness’s childhood better than me right beside you?”
“Court Lady Lee?”
“Court Lady Lee knows well too, but I mean the General.”
That’s right. Su-yeon clapped her hands. She could just ask her father directly, so why hadn’t she thought of it earlier? It must have been because she was walking on eggshells around her mother.
 
She enjoyed the rice cakes brought by Dong-i and shared a pleasant chat. Slipping out while Yoo Seo-hwa was conversing with Dong-i, Su-yeon rode on a servant’s back to find Gyeong Won-ui.
“Father, is it true what you said earlier, that Mother fell from a tree when she was young?”
At the question thrown out abruptly the moment she entered, Gyeong Won-ui looked a little surprised, but soon let out a small laugh.
“Were you curious about that all this time?”
“I’m super curious! Everyone says Mother and I look alike, so that means Mother also caused a lot of trouble like me, right?”
“It is true that there was a rumor that the precious imperial princess fell from a tree.”
“Don’t tell me the rumor even spread outside the imperial palace?”
“It did.”
Recalling the old memories, Gyeong Won-ui was lost in nostalgia, but Su-yeon was simply amazed. If it was enough to spread beyond the high walls of the imperial palace, just how grand of a tomboy had her mother been?
Looking at her current elegant and beautiful mother, it was an image she couldn’t imagine at all.
“You heard the rumor too, Father? What did you think back then?”
“I thought it was improper to discuss someone’s character behind their back.”
Su-yeon nodded. It was truly an answer her father would give. Unlike her mother, her father seemed to have been exactly the same when he was young.
However, Gyeong Won-ui’s words were not over yet.
“For the me back then, I could never have imagined that my fate would intertwine with hers. When I first met her, it truly felt like a dream.”
Lost in faint memories, Gyeong Won-ui tenderly cupped his daughter’s face.
“Every single moment of giving birth to you all like this and living together with Yoo Seo-hwa still feels like a dream.”
“……I’m also happy to be Father and Mother’s daughter.”
“So, be careful not to make your mother upset.”
“Yes!”
As she was held in her father’s warm embrace, Su-yeon vaguely thought that she wanted to love someone like her father and mother did in the future.
 
Watching their sister plunge down, the twins were also very startled. Because they refused to leave their parents’ sides all day, Gyeong Won-ui and Yoo Seo-hwa decided to sleep with the children for the first time in a while. On top of that, Su-yeon subtly squeezed herself in too.
“How can you shamelessly squeeze yourself in even after causing such trouble?”
“Hehe, I’m asking you to let me sleep here because I don’t know if I’ll cause trouble again.”
“I really don’t know who you take after.”
“Everyone says so, that I take after Mother!”
At those words, Gyeong Won-ui let out a chuckle, but after receiving a glare from Yoo Seo-hwa, he cleared his throat.
“The bed might be narrow if even Su-yeon is sleeping with us, so how about putting a wooden platform outside?”
“Since it’s summer, sleeping outside would be fine, but there might be mosquitoes.”
As Yoo Seo-hwa worried, Su-min raised his hand high.
“I want to sleep outside! I think it’ll be fun!”
“Is it fine even if you get bitten by mosquitoes?”
“I won’t get bitten!”
How could he not get bitten? While Gyeong Won-ui and Yoo Seo-hwa laughed at the childlike response, Su-ho also timidly agreed. As for Su-yeon, she always welcomed anything that looked fun.
Come tomorrow, they might regret it and complain that the mosquito bites itchy, but it would become a piece of pleasant childhood memory.
“Alright. Then let’s go outside.”
The servants brought out the wooden platform and laid out the bedding.
Lying side by side between their parents, the children chatted for a long time under the moonlight before falling asleep.
Gyeong Won-ui had a dream. Whether it was due to the unfamiliar sleeping arrangement, he couldn’t sleep deeply, and when he opened his eyes, it was still the middle of the night. His head also felt a little heavy.
The moonlight shone brightly.
Su-yeon was snuggled tightly against Yoo Seo-hwa, even snoring, and Su-ho was babbling something in his sleep. Tucking Su-min back in with the blanket he had kicked off, Gyeong Won-ui smiled.
Though his head felt heavy, he couldn’t remember the contents of the dream. But it didn’t matter.
Yoo Seo-hwa was here, and his beloved family was here.
He no longer had nightmares.
 
 
 
-The End-

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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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