Blooming even in the mud - Chapter 97

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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 Side Story Chapter 2
 
 
 
The breath Gyeong Won-ui felt against her skin grew a little rougher. His ragged breath moved up her shoulder and the nape of her neck, leaving dotted red marks in its wake.
Yoo Seo-hwa groaned lowly at the burning sensation spreading from the feverish marks that bloomed wherever his lips touched. Even that low groan was swallowed into Gyeong Won-ui’s mouth. A sensation hotter than a fever deeply explored the inside of her mouth.
Yoo Seo-hwa raised her trembling hands and wrapped them around Gyeong Won-ui’s shoulders. Just as she felt his firm arms slide beneath her waist and knees, her body floated high into the air.
“Hurry and go to the bed…….”
At the seductive whisper soaked in sweet heat, Gyeong Won-ui willingly obeyed.
 
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Although Su-yeon didn’t get sick, ate well, and grew well, she did have a side that made her parents anxious, just like any newborn baby.
“Waaah! Waaah!”
“This child hasn’t been able to fall into a deep sleep again.”
Yoo Seo-hwa swallowed a sigh, pacifying and cradling Su-yeon, who woke up and cried her eyes out even before the eastern window grew bright.
“Princess, this servant will tend to the baby lady.”
“It is fine. Looking at the dark circles under your eyes, it seems you haven’t been able to sleep deeply either while trying to put Su-yeon to sleep. Go close your eyes and rest.”
Indeed, the Wet Nurse’s face had also become quite haggard.
Su-yeon was a child who didn’t cause any particular trouble, but there were times when she couldn’t sleep properly.
Even after being carried, coaxed, and rocked to sleep for a long time, she would wake up before a single Shijin could pass and cry loudly, which was truly a perplexing matter. It wasn’t as if they could brew medicine and feed it to a baby wearing a swaddling gown.
Worried that there might be a problem with her Qi vessels, they had requested a Doctor, but fortunately, he said it wasn’t a major illness.
‘Since the baby lady congenitally possesses strong Pure Yang Energy, it is best to gently rub the inside of her wrists.’
Upon hearing that she had a heat-heavy constitution, they had been careful not to let the child’s room get too hot, but that only worked for a moment. They said the constitution would naturally ease as the child grew, so time was the only medicine.
The Wet Nurse carefully bowed her head.
“They say those with a strong Pure Yang Energy like the baby lady will grow up to have a healthy and lively personality in the future, so please do not worry too much.”
“That means she will become a child like me.”
As she massaged the inside of the wrist just as she had heard from the Doctor, Yoo Seo-hwa gave a bitter smile. Of all things to resemble her mother, why did she have to inherit this?
She only hoped the child wouldn’t fall while causing trouble by trying to climb trees like herself.
‘Should I carry Su-yeon and take a walk around the garden? The cool air of the dawn might help cool her body.’
In any case, it was impossible to fall back asleep. It was just as Yoo Seo-hwa was about to put Su-yeon on her back.
Gyeong Won-ui’s presence was heard from outside the door.
“Is it alright to open the door?”
“Of course. Come on in.”
Yoo Seo-hwa greeted him with a somewhat surprised face. He should be at the Training Grounds by this time, so what was going on?
Entering the room, Gyeong Won-ui gently caressed the child’s tear-stained cheek. Perhaps because the cold air from outside was carried on his hand, the child’s crying subsided a little.
Anxiety was also written on Gyeong Won-ui’s face as he caressed his daughter.
“What brings you here?”
“Su-yeon’s crying could be heard from far away. Could she not sleep again?”
“She slept a little more than yesterday, but…….”
Anxiety was written on Gyeong Won-ui’s face as well.
“I will hold Su-yeon and walk outside for a moment.”
“Don’t you have to prepare for attendance at court soon?”
“I have enough time to soothe Su-yeon before that.”
“Then I will go with you.”
“The weather is still chilly, so please stay inside.”
Taking the child instead of the protesting Yoo Seo-hwa, Gyeong Won-ui went out of the Sewing Room.
Yoo Seo-hwa watched Gyeong Won-ui and Su-yeon through the window.
The sky was turning faintly bright, and as the servants woke up one by one, the air of the Private Residence was gradually becoming bustling. It was a familiar dawn air to her, who had been born in the Imperial Palace as an imperial princess of noble status.
However, the sight of her husband carrying the child on his back and wandering aimlessly near the Sewing Room was not familiar.
In the Imperial Palace where laws were strictly revered, it was an impossible sight for the Emperor or Empress to personally raise a child or soothe a child to sleep.
Even for Yoo Seo-hwa, though she had received plenty of affection from her imperial father and imperial mother, her faint memories of playing together in her childhood only involved her Royal Nursemaid.
‘It’s not much different even for a noble clan.’
Apart from loving and holding their own children dear, raising children was the duty of the subordinates.
If she had been another imperial princess or the daughter of a noble family, she would have thought Gyeong Won-ui’s attitude was unbefitting of a noble, but…….
‘It’s truly heartwarming that he is a person who isn’t swayed by vanity.’
Hadn’t Yoo Seo-hwa herself sent the Wet Nurse away to try and personally soothe the child?
‘Would Yue Lao call such a couple a match made in heaven, bound together by a red thread around their pinky fingers?’
As if she had become a girl who fell in love for the first time, Yoo Seo-hwa, who even had somewhat embarrassing and childish thoughts, smiled faintly.
Then, feeling apologetic for smiling alone when the child was in a difficult situation because she couldn’t sleep, she quickly composed her expression.
But after all, she was happy and joyful that the father of the child she gave birth to was none other than Gyeong Won-ui, and not any other man.
He would surely still love and beautifully cherish the other children they would give birth to in the future. With the complete affection of a parent, completely devoid of anything like driving a child this way and that with a twisted nature like her imperial father.
Their children, grown up amidst affection, would rely on each other as a close-knit and tender family.
Without anything like envying, using, and then bringing down each other, as the Deposed Emperor had done to her.
Yoo Seo-hwa quietly placed her hand on her chest. Whenever she recalled what her imperial father and the Deposed Emperor had done to her, and also to his clan, her heart still beat fast and her chest ached.
‘But it’s alright now.’
The tragedy that had driven the two of them into excruciating pain was over. It would not be passed down to their children either.
Because that was his and her will, and no one else’s.
The throbbing of her heart felt beneath the palm pressing against her chest gradually calmed down. The child’s crying, which had been heard from afar beyond the window, had also fallen silent before she knew it.
However, it was a few days later when Yoo Seo-hwa learned the fact that there was a shadow she had failed to read in this scenery.
The room where Su-yeon slept with the Wet Nurse was next to the couple’s bedchamber. Since they were separated by a single wall, they could visit immediately if the child woke up in the middle of the night.
She opened her eyes as she vaguely heard a crying sound in her sleep, but the surroundings where darkness had settled were quiet.
‘Did I dream because the child cries so much at night?’
Su-yeon, who closed her eyes in wonder, opened her eyes again before she could even fall asleep. She had felt that the spot next to her was emptily vacant.
When she groped the side with her hand, warmth still remained.
He wasn’t a man who kept a separate concubine, nor was he a man to lay a hand on a maidservant. He must have gone out to attend to some business for a moment, but she felt a little strange.
It was probably because even the child’s crying had gone quiet.
‘Don’t tell me he went out to put Su-yeon to sleep?’
Unlike her, who could take a nap during the day even after losing sleep at night, Gyeong Won-ui was an official who attended court at dawn and only returned from the office late in the afternoon.
‘He must be working all day, so what is he going to do if he’s fatigued?’
Worried, Yoo Seo-hwa tidied her nightclothes and left the bedchamber. When she opened the child’s room door, as expected, the Wet Nurse was awake.
“Did the General take Su-yeon and go out?”
Her guess was correct. The Wet Nurse, who had been anxiously fretting by herself, reported immediately. She said that as soon as the child woke up and whined, Gyeong Won-ui took her and went out.
Since it was no different from her master taking away her work, her mind wouldn’t be at ease even while resting.
After lightly comforting her that she didn’t need to take it hard, she also quietly left the Sewing Room.
It happened to be a full moon.
The garden, showered in the brilliant moonlight, was bright enough to need no separate lantern.
And on the other side of the garden, beside a torreya tree that had not yet fully grown, Gyeong Won-ui was standing still with his back turned. While holding Su-yeon.
“My dear…….”
Yoo Seo-hwa, who was about to call out to him, hesitated. Riding on the chilly night air, a low monologue was being heard.
In a very small voice that wouldn’t have even been carried on the wind if it weren’t for the middle of the night like now, when the whole world quietly held its breath.
“What am I to do if you even resemble your father in not being able to fall asleep.”
“Whimper…….”
“It’s not as if you are having nightmares like me.”

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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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