Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 14

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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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14.
Fortunately, Chohee and Jain did not keep the precious refreshments all to themselves.
“You have no idea how envious everyone was when this table was being prepared. That girl’s maid stared so intently with such greedy eyes, I thought she was going to bore a hole right through the tabletop.”
“It looked as though she would pounce and eat it if even a single crumb fell.”
For Jain, who usually took on the role of keeping Chohee in check, to speak like that, it seemed the servant was just as greedy as her mistress and had been openly drooling.
“Seeing her still lingering and looking back until the very moment the palanquin left made me feel a bit vindicated.”
Chohee said that eating the sesame candy felt just like that, and because she looked like a squirrel clutching an acorn while eating, a laugh slipped out.
Lee Yeon held back her laughter and assumed a deliberately stern expression.
“You shouldn’t make light of another person’s regret, but why do you care so much about that servant anyway?”
“Well, that’s—”
Chohee, who had been answering without hesitation, suddenly stared at Lee Yeon with the expression of a startled rabbit.
“How did you know I held a grudge against that creature, My Lady?”
“Even a blind person would know.”
Chae Eun-oh had described herself as having a transparent nature, but that was a ridiculous joke. No one was as black-hearted or had swallowed a snake quite like her.
Having suffered more than a few things in the palace, Lee Yeon knew her true nature all too well, so hearing her call herself transparent was both laughable and abominable.
‘And if we are talking about transparency, no one can beat that child, Chohee.’
Her likes and dislikes were distinct, and her heart was written plainly on her face, so as long as one had eyes and ears, how could anyone not know?
“The moment that maid stepped over the threshold, your eyes turned into sharp triangles, didn’t they?”
“I suppose I still have a long way to go, My Lady. I thought I was holding it in.”
The words ‘You call that holding it in?’ rushed to the tip of Lee Yeon’s tongue, but she tried her best to suppress them.
Unaware of this, Chohee wiped her sesame-covered hands on her skirt and let out a deep sigh.
“Actually…….”
“My Lady, I am terribly sorry, but there is still a lot of work left in the Side-dish Kitchen.”
Jain looked at Lee Yeon with an incredibly apologetic expression.
“If we rest any longer, I fear we will earn the resentment of the other servants.”
Lee Yeon nodded at Jain’s words. Since she was practically the one who had created that workload, she could not let her direct servants face resentment.
However.
“Why did you poke Chohee in the ribs?”
She had seen it clearly. Just as Chohee was about to say something, Jain had quickly poked her firmly in the ribs with her finger.
“Why? Is it something I shouldn’t hear?”
“No, it is not that. It’s not, but—.”
Jain looked at Chohee with a rarely seen troubled face. It was the expression of someone worrying about how to stop that overly honest and transparent mouth.
“It is just not content suitable for your ears, My Lady…….”
“What is it? Tell me.”
When Lee Yeon nodded at Chohee, who was keeping her mouth tightly shut while only her eyes rolled around, Jain let out a soft sigh.
At that exact moment, as if a blocked dam had burst, Chohee began to chatter away.
“Well, actually, when we went to the Grand Prince’s estate a while ago, it seems some people saw us.”
Chohee poured out the words without even taking a breath.
“Your face was hidden by a ssugaechima, My Lady, but we weren’t like that. So they figured out that the person standing in front was you. But that wretched pair…… Ow! I’m sorry.”
This time, Chohee, who had her ribs pinched, hurriedly apologized.
“Anyway, those people started malicious rumors about you, My Lady. Saying that a grown, unmarried woman wanders around secretly in the dead of night.”
Chohee swallowed her next words after glancing at Jain, but Lee Yeon thought she knew exactly what the contents were.
‘So that is why Chae Eun-oh said those things.’
Bringing up the reason why she couldn’t participate in the Gantaek and telling her to state the cause had been because of this.
Chohee cautiously opened her mouth again.
“So I went around asking here and there to dig into who was spreading that rumor, and guess what? Your name was being brought up at the Mill again! So I slammed the door wide open!”
“And when you opened it?”
“To my absolute horror, that creature was entwined with some man! In broad daylight, perfectly in sync with the thumping sound of the mill! Good grief, she was doing that kind of deed while making up all sorts of stories about our lady, it’s just utterly absurd.”
Beside her, Jain, who had been trying to control Chohee by poking her in the ribs, dropped her head low. It was a face where embarrassment was added to an expression of apology for failing to stop her.
With her reins completely cut loose, Chohee expressed her utter dismay.
“When she saw me, her face turned completely stark white. So I stood right there in the doorway with the door wide open and told her that if she ever brought our lady up on her tongue just one more time, I would spill everything I saw to that man’s wife, and then I walked out.”
“Did you close the door?”
“No!”
Because the boldly shouted answer was so amusing, Lee Yeon finally burst out laughing.
Streaming scandalous stories without any filter was something to be scolded for, but since she had opened the floodgates with a question first, there was no reason to blame her.
Lee Yeon wiped away the tear that had gathered at the corner of her eye and said,
“Even so, she had a lot of nerve to think about coming to this house.”
“Her gluttony overcame her fear, My Lady. Who doesn’t know that you even take good care of a guest’s servant? She came hoping for some leftovers but only got hit by a bolt of lightning.”
“So that was why you felt so vindicated.”
Lee Yeon felt completely refreshed now that she clearly understood the reason behind Chohee’s sharp triangle eyes.
Belatedly realizing that what she had said was incredibly frivolous, Chohee carefully set down the piece of taffy she had been crunching on.
“Th-that, um, My Lady. What you just heard is…….”
“Jain must be suffering in many ways.”
At Lee Yeon’s laughter-filled words, Jain deliberately closed her eyes tightly.
“Thank you for recognizing it, My Lady. I consider it my karma.”
“Please keep up the good work in the future. Because I hope Chohee doesn’t change.”
When Jain made a distant expression at Lee Yeon’s words, Chohee tilted her head. It was a face that didn’t understand what it meant at all.
“It means thank you for taking my side.”
“Oh, My Lady, please. It’s only natural. Don’t worry about the future either.”
Along with Jain’s long sigh, the brief period of leisurely time came to an end.
The two of them stood up while brushing off their skirts, saying they really had to go back to work now.
Carefully lifting the refreshment table, Chohee said worriedly,
“You should rest a bit too, My Lady. It must have been hectic since the crack of dawn, so you should close your eyes for a bit.”
“No, sleeping is out of the question. It will be time for the evening meal soon. Sleep after you have eaten.”
At those words, Chohee made a sullen face and muttered that she really found all sorts of ways to nag, but Jain, with a face that didn’t seem affected in the least, poked her in the ribs and ushered her out.
As the two of them left and it became completely quiet, fatigue finally washed over her.
‘It is a very long day.’
Just as Chohee said, it had been a very tumultuous day since the crack of dawn.
In her heart, she wanted to close her eyes for a bit, but if she did that, she would miss the evening meal, not to mention her father’s return home.
‘Come to think of it, he has been gone for quite a long time.’
Since he had gone to the palace in the morning, it was about time for him to return, but there was absolutely no news.
“……!”
Lee Yeon leaped up from her seat.
It felt as though her heart had dropped heavily.
‘Surely nothing has happened, right?’
Memories of her past life flashed through Lee Yeon’s mind.
‘Exterminate the sinner’s clan. Not a single breathing soul must be left alive.’
The head of Seo Yeo-ro had been held in the hands of the king who spoke those words. While confined in the Cold Palace, she had no choice but to listen as everyone dragged from the Seo Clan was brutally slaughtered.
‘Chohee, Jain, Lady Han, all of them. Every single one.’
With a face turned stark white, Lee Yeon staggered, pressing a hand to her forehead.
Jinyul and Seo Yeo-ro had gone to say words that would incur the king’s wrath.
‘To report something that went against his will.’
The king might not have granted permission for the marriage so easily. He might have handed down a punishment right then and there, calling it disloyalty and an insult.
The strength drained from Lee Yeon’s legs, and she collapsed into her seat.
‘I thought about it too complacently.’
Because he was by her side, because Jinyul had gone together with her father, she had openly let her guard down. She had mindlessly felt at ease, thinking that even if something happened, he would be able to stop it.
‘Even though I knew that Jinyul himself is a thorn in the king’s side……!’
Lee Yeon bolted upright from her seat.
She knew the way to the palace all too well. But she couldn’t go. She didn’t even dare to try. However, her heart was pounding so violently like a pounding mill that she couldn’t possibly sit still.
And so, it was the exact moment she flung the door open.
“—Ah.”
A single exclamation slipped out.
A sound somewhere between an exclamation and a groan was blocked as it hit a chest full of warmth. Just as she had pushed the door open, her body leaned forward, and she ended up completely buried in an embrace.
Right against the chest of the very person she had been waiting for.
“Where were you planning to go?”
A leisurely voice, laced with a hint of amusement from somewhere, resonated from inside the chest.
As she slowly raised her head because the vibration transmitted to her nose tickled, Jinyul’s lips, the bridge of his nose, and his eyes came into view.
The deep, obsidian-like black eyes looking up at Jinyul trembled faintly.
“I, on the other hand, just came to see you.”
Lee Yeon tried to step back. Because she couldn’t just stand there with the door wide open, she intended to pull away.
But was it because she felt excessively relieved, or was it due to some other reason? In an instant, her legs gave out, and she stumbled, falling backward. At that, she closed her eyes tightly and anticipated the impending pain, but,
“—Careful.”
A solid arm made contact with her waist. Jinyul’s long and broad arm easily wrapped around Lee Yeon’s waist with room to spare, his fingertips brushing near her navel.
“……Thank you.”
Lee Yeon’s heart, which had been so startled that she couldn’t even breathe, began to thump wildly after the fact.
Because it was thumping so fiercely like a mill, she feared it would be clearly transmitted even to Jinyul, whose body was pressed against hers, so Lee Yeon tried to pull her body away even if it was late. However, she could not move away.
“I informed my royal brother of our betrothal.”
Jinyul whispered, still holding Lee Yeon’s body with one arm.
‘I cannot distinguish whether his voice brushed against me or his lips did.’
Her strength seemed to drain from her body in a different sense than before.
Coupled with the lazily echoing voice and the fitful touch of his lips, the sensations throughout her body awakened with a burning heat.
“I clearly conveyed that I would take you as my wife. Our betrothal.”
The voice that had been heard near her ear gradually traveled down the nape of her neck. One of Jinyul’s hands was still on Lee Yeon’s waist, and his other hand was holding her shoulder.
It was a grip strength that she could easily break free from if she pushed him away, but Lee Yeon could not move her body in the slightest. No, she did not have the heart to do so.
Jinyul’s hand wrapped around Lee Yeon’s waist slowly moved downward.
“My royal brother confirmed my father-in-law’s intention. Thus, only one thing remains.”
Jinyul slowly let go of Lee Yeon’s shoulder. Just when she thought, like a passing moment, that she missed the receding warmth, his hand moved as if he had heard her and touched Lee Yeon’s face.
Cupping her cheek, which was easily hidden by a single palm, he said in a low voice,
“The intention of the person who wishes to marry the Grand Prince, tell her to state it with her own mouth.”
“……!”
Lee Yeon’s eyes widened dramatically. It was Jinyul’s voice, but it sounded like his voice.
It was a manner of speaking that she knew all too well. In an instant, the voice from ‘that time’ echoed in her head.
‘There is indeed only one way for you to cross the palace walls.’
That cold and cruel voice telling her to die and be carried out in a coffin.
“He said that is the condition for his sanction.”
Thump, it felt as though her heart had dropped heavily.

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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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