Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 16

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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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16.
It was warm. That was the first thought that crossed her mind the moment she regained consciousness.
Though she recognized she was drifting in the hazy border between sleep and reality, she didn’t want to leave this cozy warmth just yet.
It was a solid warmth, unlike anything she had ever felt from a mere blanket.
‘……A solid warmth?’
Lee Yeon slowly opened her eyes at the unfamiliar combination of words that didn’t quite make sense.
Immediately after, she gasped.
“……!”
The first thing that entered her darkened vision was a firm, broad chest. What was more, her own hand was resting squarely upon it.
The realization that what she had been leaning against all this time was Jinyul’s body made Lee Yeon’s face flush crimson.
‘W-why? Why are we in this posture?’
Her mind went entirely blank.
Even within her paralyzed mind, the passing thought that it was a relief they were not bare-skinned brushed through her.
Just then, a voice slightly thick with sleep sounded from above her head.
“Are you awake?”
Lee Yeon tried to nod, but froze once more. She realized that what she had been using as a pillow was Jinyul’s arm.
Glancing around to survey her surroundings, Lee Yeon’s expression grew even more dismayed.
‘Don’t tell me we slept on the bare floor?’
The place where the two lay side by side was not a gold-embroidered bedding, but the room’s floor. Furthermore, no lights were lit, leaving the surroundings pitch black.
Dismayed by the fact that a Grand Prince was lying on a bare floor without even a mattress spread out, and that she had not only used his arm as a pillow but also slept with her hand on his chest, Lee Yeon parted her lips and barely managed to choose her words.
“T-thank you for lending me your arm…….”
“Do you think it was only my arm that you borrowed?”
“Pardon?”
When Lee Yeon bolted upright instantly like a startled rabbit, Jinyul, who had been lying obliquely beside her, stretched and spoke.
“To be fair, you claimed one part of my upper body and one part of my lower body. It was as if you were stamping a seal to declare it yours.”
“……!”
For some reason, the word ‘seal’ brought back the memories of ‘that time’ like a bolt of lightning, causing Lee Yeon to reflexively place her hand near her collarbone.
Watching her do so intently, Jinyul let out a small, soft chuckle.
“Do you know why the surroundings are so quiet?”
At the somewhat abrupt question, Lee Yeon looked around.
Her eyes, now accustomed to the darkness, caught sight of the tightly shut windows and doors.
‘Even so, I should at least hear the footsteps of the servants walking about.’
When Lee Yeon tilted her head in puzzlement at the absolute lack of sound or human presence, Jinyul spoke languidly.
“When you fainted, Lady, I caught you and had you rest on this thigh. But just at that moment, the woman called Lady Han opened the door and witnessed it.”
“……Pardon?”
Lee Yeon stared at Jinyul as he pointed a finger at his own thigh, and instantly covered her mouth with her hand.
“I-I rested on the Grand Prince’s thigh— No, Lady Han saw that? And then what happened?”
“She left in a hurry, telling us to carry on with what we were doing.”
“Pardon?”
“Since every single hour of a newlywed couple’s night is precious.”
Only then did Lee Yeon realize why the surroundings were so quiet.
A new bride, a new groom, and the sight of the bride lying with her head on the groom’s thigh. She understood how that situation alone must have looked to others.
Parting her lips with a dismayed expression, Lee Yeon lowered her head.
“They must have…… misunderstood.”
“Is it troublesome for you?”
“Not particularly. In any case, we are a married…….”
Answering mindlessly to the question naturally tossed her way, Lee Yeon paused for a moment. She herself didn’t seem to properly register what she had just said.
Then, her face gradually grew flushed. It was a blush hot enough to be clearly discernible even in the dark.
“A married?”
“…….”
Jinyul looked with a languid gaze at Lee Yeon, who hung her head low as if she couldn’t bring herself to speak any further.
And then, he slowly reached out his hand.
“—couple, which is why I am curious.”
His hand paused for a moment near Lee Yeon’s ear.
Lee Yeon felt as if every single fine hair on her ear stood on end. Even though he hadn’t touched her skin, she felt as if she could sense the temperature and perception of his fingers.
Jinyul slowly tucked Lee Yeon’s hair behind her ear, brushing against her earlobe. With that single, brief motion, the air in the room trembled.
“What kind of sound did this ear hear to make you so startled?”
Lee Yeon’s pupils shook.
Looking at those dark eyes that had frozen in an instant, Jinyul spoke softly.
“What was it that you feared, and what was the reason you trembled and collapsed like that?”
It was hot.
There was no telling whether the source of that heat was her own ear, his hand, or perhaps both.
‘Is this thumping heartbeat because of the contents of his question, or because of this man sitting across from me?’
She couldn’t tell that either.
Lee Yeon pressed her palm against her heart and caught her ragged breath.
Without rushing her, without a single word, Jinyul’s gaze as he quietly looked into her eyes was sunken deep. He was entirely, unswervingly sincere.
‘……He is truly asking.’
The reason for my pain, and who the main enemy is.
‘Is it okay to tell him?’
There was no such doubt or hesitation.
Before the Regression, and even after, this man had stayed by her side. He had risked his life for her.
‘Then your father-in-law will be entering the palace now. Will you go with me?’
She thoroughly realized, along with her tightening heart, just how heavy the weight of those words had been.
‘That it was an act of walking with one’s own feet into a place that might be a deadly trap.’
Lee Yeon inhaled deeply.
And she answered in a small but clear voice.
“It is because of a memory I wish to cast away, and because of an opponent I wish to destroy with all my heart.”
Yes. She wanted to kill Jinpyeong, that man.
It was a hatred settled deep within her bones, a fierce murderous intent.
“I must overcome the pain of my memories, and I must trample upon my fear to stand tall. Collapsing like this…… once is enough.”
Once was plenty.
She didn’t want to look weak to anyone. She hated the thought of appearing easy or ridiculous.
‘Never again.’
After a brief silence where only their gazes met, Jinyul slowly parted his lips.
“That hatred must be directed toward the one who made your father suffer.”
It was a low, raspy, and deep voice.
“And toward the one who intended to take you as a hollow Queen to make you suffer for a lifetime.”
Lee Yeon looked at Jinyul with startled eyes.
‘You knew.’
He, too, knew that if she entered the palace, she would become a hollow Queen.
‘Is that why he accepted that audacious Contract Marriage proposal? To save me—’
“The blame lies heavily on me.”
At the sudden, light touch, Lee Yeon’s pupils trembled slightly.
Over her hand, which was as fragile as a leaf, Jinyul overlapped his own.
“Because your father incurred the King’s wrath while supporting me.”
Jinyul’s expression was difficult to read.
It was because too many various emotions were tangled within it.
“I am sorry for causing you to suffer hardships.”
Seo Yeo-ro and his family were always at the edge of a cliff.
The King, who held a grudge against him, was always looking for an opening to harm him, and Seo Yeo-ro was doing his best to fill those openings.
The reason the King couldn’t harm Seo Yeo-ro was simple. It was the same reason Jinyul was still alive.
‘The late King’s last will and my father’s popularity.’
It was thanks to the late King’s last will, which strictly forbade killing Jinyul no matter what happened, and the support of those who followed the two men.
Even so, Seo Yeo-ro had been caught in the King’s traps several times, enduring exile and imprisonment.
‘The name of the prestigious Seo Family, which served the Royal Family for generations, was also shaken.’
Jinyul assumed that Lee Yeon’s pain was because of that.
Wondering what her silence meant as she just listened without a word, he closed his mouth for a moment before speaking slowly.
“If you have come to resent me—.”
“The Grand Prince has already risked his life, and I, too, have entrusted my lifeline to such a Grand Prince.”
These were all facts she already knew.
That her rigid yet truthful father had become an eyesore to the King for supporting the rightful successor to the throne, and that the King, unable to kill him, had taken her away for revenge to torment her terribly, ultimately killing her.
Knowing it all over again didn’t change a single thing.
“Rather, our connection has deepened. For I support my father’s decision.”
In the first place, the throne belonged to Jinyul, not Jinpyeong. The one who had been unjustly robbed of what he rightfully deserved was this man.
Lee Yeon spoke as she placed Jinyul’s hand over her chest.
“I beg of you, do not waver. If you do, my life, and the branches attached to me, will waver as well.”
Jinyul looked at Lee Yeon with eyes that couldn’t be described. Suddenly, the knot of Lee Yeon’s coat ribbon caught on the tip of his finger.
“…….”
The gazes of the two people directed toward that spot in unison.
Jinyul slowly moved his hand and grasped the end of Lee Yeon’s coat ribbon knot. Lee Yeon flinched slightly but said nothing.
Looking at Lee Yeon, Jinyul pulled the end of the ribbon.
“I swear to you with all my soul.”
The coat ribbon, now completely untied, could no longer hold the front together.
Through the parted top, her white skin was revealed. Catching sight of the red mark he had engraved before, Jinyul slowly pushed aside Lee Yeon’s top.
Snap, tug.
With a sound quieter than a breath, the thin string tied around her chest was undone.
“Lee Yeon.”
Jinyul slowly wrapped his arms around Lee Yeon’s shoulders. And resting his chin against her bare skin, he whispered.
“I strictly wish for you to know that this is not because of a contract.”
Jinyul slowly raised his head. And his eyes met with Lee Yeon’s, who was looking at him. It was a distance so close that their breaths collided.
“Since our blades are pointed at the exact same person, I will never let you go.”
Without avoiding his gaze, Lee Yeon looked at him silently before lowering her head. And she quietly pressed her lips to his.
It was agreement, and it was consent.
“……Ha.”
Jinyul let out a short breath. And reaching out his hand, he cradled the back of Lee Yeon’s neck.
“You threw yourself into this.”
Jinyul gently pushed Lee Yeon down to lie back and placed his hand above her thigh. Between their re-overlapped lips, a slightly hurried breathing leaked out.
With their lips still pressed together, Jinyul slowly swept over Lee Yeon’s white, exposed shoulders and arms. Wherever his hand touched, a burning warmth bloomed.
When Jinyul placed his lips below Lee Yeon’s ear, close to her neckline, Lee Yeon’s breath hitched for a moment. Then, along the breath she sharply inhaled, Jinyul’s lips slithered down.
“G-Grand, Prince……”
“Yul.”
Lee Yeon could no longer continue her thoughts. Only the name he had answered in a low tone lingered in her mind and mouth. No more words were needed, so that alone was enough.
That day, the light in the Bridal Chamber did not turn on until the break of dawn.

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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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