Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 17

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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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17.
The dawn broke over the golden roof tiles.
The place that became the busiest after sunrise was the Deep Royal Palace. While everyone moved busily from early morning in a quiet commotion, there was a place that was exceptionally silent.
“Did you call for me, Your Majesty?”
The Sangseon, summoned to the King’s bedchamber from the very beginning of the day, bowed politely in front of the hanging silk screen.
Jinpyeong stared at him with eyes that had swallowed the long darkness.
“Yesterday, where did that bastard go after leaving the palace?”
Jinpyeong had met the morning without being able to close his eyes properly all night because his mind was uneasy.
At first, he thought this insomnia was due to the ridiculous news of the marriage between that fellow and the Seo Family, but that was not the only reason.
‘I did not order him to do anything.’
Whenever Jinyul entered the palace to report, Jinpyeong immediately ordered where he should go upon leaving the palace.
Go where within the next three days, meet whom, subjugate what and submit a report, and so on.
‘In order to completely eliminate the time that bastard stays inside the Capital City.’
However, yesterday, he had issued no orders.
Jinpyeong could not understand himself. That was clearly a mistake.
The marriage between Jinyul and the Seo Family had been a great shock to him inwardly as well.
‘I do not know when that bastard will enter the palace again.’
Jinyul never came to the palace unless it was absolutely necessary.
That was Jinpyeong’s intention, and it was also an implicit rule of the palace. It was himself who broke that rule.
‘Does that mean I have to tell him with my own mouth to come back in?’
It was unbearably annoying. But he couldn’t leave it as it was either. Because Jinyul’s very presence in the Capital City was driving him crazy with irritation.
At that moment, Jinpyeong’s eyebrows twitched at the answer that returned.
“The Grand Prince went straight to the Seo Family after leaving the palace.”
“……To the Seo Family?”
Jinpyeong, who was getting up from the bed and walking toward the desk, slowly stopped his steps.
The Sangseon continued to speak with his head bowed.
“Yes, Your Majesty. And he did not return to his private residence.”
“Then.”
“He spent the night there.”
In an instant, the air froze.
Jinpyeong glared coldly at the Sangseon.
“What does that mean?”
The Sangseon bowed his head even deeper.
“I beg your forgiveness. It is said that the Grand Prince stayed in the same room as Lee Yeon of the Seo Family.”
Jinpyeong’s face distorted minutely.
“They spent the night together even though my permission has not been granted yet?”
“Since almost all the steps of the wedding have been taken, the Seo Clan already recognizes this as a formal marriage…….”
Right then, an inkstone flew like lightning and grazed the Sangseon’s ear. Black ink spilled down his wrinkled cheek.
As the Sangseon bent his waist, ink dripped onto the floor.
“How dare that bastard—”
Jinpyeong trembled violently, unable to contain his rage. He was driven mad with anger by the fact that Jinyul had taken the woman who should have been his.
Suddenly, he remembered yesterday’s audience.
‘He didn’t come to ask for permission.’
That was merely a notification. An announcement to make his intentions known.
Jinpyeong ground his teeth.
“……His arrogance pierces the heavens.”
It was lamentable that he wanted to chop off the fellow’s limbs and turn him into a human pig, but could not do so.
‘I should have killed all those bastards who witnessed the late king’s last will together.’
If he had done that, things wouldn’t have come to this pass. He would have killed that bastard long ago.
Grinding his teeth, Jinpyeong whipped his head around and glared at the Sangseon.
“Have you found a way to make Lee Yeon of the Seo Family proceed to Gantaek?”
At Jinpyeong’s words, the Sangseon spoke resolutely.
“I beg your forgiveness, but that alone is impossible, Your Majesty.”
“The reason.”
“Lee Yeon of the Seo Family is already in a common-law marriage. According to the laws of the Royal Family, a Cheonyeodanja cannot be submitted.”
“Then are you telling me to miss her like this?”
Jinpyeong’s eyes gleamed.
It was the murderous gaze of a man who had missed his prey right before his nose.
He spoke as if chewing and swallowing his words.
“To just let him snatch her away and sit on my hands like this. What about my long-cherished wish to achieve through that bitch, and all the pleasure after that!”
The air in the room trembled at the roaring anger.
Jinpyeong slammed his fist down hard on the desk with a bang. And he swept the table just like that.
“She was mine. She was supposed to fall into my hands before long—.”
The brush holder, brushes, ink, and papers poured onto the floor with a loud racket. Not to mention the memorials he hadn’t even read yet, precious books rolled on the floor.
“That bastard always takes what is mine.”
A voice stained with hatred leaked through his tightly clenched lips.
“The late king also always looked only at him. Even until his last breath.”
Although the nights were spent in the Queen’s quarters, the late king’s gaze was always directed toward Jinyul, not toward himself, the son of the Queen.
With eyes filled with guilt, apology, pity, mixed emotions, and determination.
‘I am merely the child of a woman who was favored.’
Jinpyeong was always Jinyul’s shadow.
“The recognition of the world, the support of the officials, all should have been mine.”
The Sangseon bowed his head silently.
Assisting Jinpyeong following the late king, he knew this side of the King all too well.
He also knew well the source of his anger, the one he felt inferior to.
“Jinyul.”
Jinpyeong’s eyes, having chewed and spat out that name hatefully, directed toward the empty air.
“Like a bug that won’t die.”
Jinpyeong had sent him to dead ends time and time again.
‘The battlefield, the frozen lands of the border, and even the epicenter of the plague.’
However, he came back alive every time. No matter how dangerous the mission assigned to him, he returned without fail.
Each time, his presence grew larger, and his name was on the lips of the people and the Royal Court.
Jinpyeong bit his lip hard.
‘I want to make him suffer.’
He wanted to see that face distort, see him become wretched. He wanted to see him stained with blood.
‘When he hovered between life and death just that one time, I should have cut off his breath by any means necessary.’
Then, a flash of inspiration crossed his eyes at a sudden thought.
Jinpyeong raised his head rather quickly.
“Sangseon.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“If the Royal Family does not approve the Grand Prince’s marriage, what will become of Lee Yeon of the Seo Family?”
The Sangseon’s lips froze for a moment. It was an expression of someone who hadn’t even thought about it.
“Your Majesty, that is…….”
“Tell me.”
The wrinkled corners of the Sangseon’s eyes, who was lost in thought, trembled.
He spoke in a cracked voice.
“Without the ratification of the Royal Family, she will remain in the status of a concubine, not a legal wife. By status, she cannot be recorded as the Grand Prince’s official wife.”
Madness flashed in Jinpyeong’s eyes.
“That will do then.”
The Sangseon raised his head in surprise.
“But Your Majesty.”
“Announce it as such, that the Royal Family does not permit the Grand Prince’s marriage.”
The Sangseon’s face turned white.
“Your Majesty, if you do that, the honor of the Seo Family and the Grand Prince will fall to the ground……!”
“Honor?”
The corners of Jinpyeong’s mouth slowly rose.
“Honor and the like do not suit them.”
They would become a laughingstock and a subject of rumors.
It was glaringly obvious that they would be mocked and insulted on numerous tongues from top to bottom.
“Both that bastard and Lee Yeon of the Seo Family.”
It was hilarious. He wanted to see the pale face of Lee Yeon.
Even if she ran away from him, as long as she breathed under the shadow of the Royal Family, she was inside this palm.
“If she becomes a concubine, that stiff pride of hers will be shattered into pieces.”
Jinpyeong smiled with satisfaction.
He ordered in a relaxed voice that was quite different from a moment ago.
“Sangseon.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Deliver this fact to the entire Capital City via a Royal Edict immediately. And.”
Jinpyeong’s voice pierced over the head of the Sangseon, who could not bring himself to speak further and only bowed his head.
“Continue to devise a way to take Lee Yeon of the Seo Family away from that bastard.”
The Sangseon placed his hand over his chest with a trembling hand.
Jinpyeong’s obsession with what he did not possess was terrible. He absolutely had to obtain it and grasp it.
The Sangseon bowed his head deeply.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
No matter what means and methods were used, even if it meant killing her.
As long as he took her away, that was enough.

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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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