Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 27

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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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27.
Jinyul stepped forward with a leisurely stride. It was a relaxed pace, meant to accommodate another person who was following slowly a short distance behind him.
In the dead of night, when everyone else would be asleep, these two walked with a slight gap between them, both heading toward the same destination.
“…He’s doing a much better job than I expected.”
Looking at the stone wall currently being rebuilt, Jinyul muttered to himself without realizing it.
Chung was, quite literally, reconstructing the wall faithfully and with all his heart. He didn’t slack off in the slightest, working diligently day after day.
Because of that, Jinyul’s impression of him was gradually changing. He had gone from a bastard who deserved to die to someone worth watching to see if he earned a second chance.
“That fellow must be sleeping here, too.”
Well, it didn’t matter if he heard them. It wouldn’t make any difference even if he knew who was coming.
‘If he blabbers unnecessarily, I’ll just have to cut out his tongue.’
Muttering so, Jinyul passed by the stone wall, leaving the main gate wide open, and entered his own house.
A moment later, a man stepped across the threshold of the main gate and firmly bolted it shut.
Beneath the deeply pressed-down hat was a grave and noble face. It was Seo Yeo-ro.
“Please make yourself comfortable, Father-in-law.”
At the slightly playful tone, Seo Yeo-ro’s stiff, rigid shoulders relaxed a fraction.
Adjusting his overcoat, he sat down across from Jinyul. Watching him, Jinyul smiled faintly.
“Seeing you here like this feels a bit strange to me as well.”
They had always met only within the Anchae of the Seo Family Residence, so meeting at his own house felt different. Especially at this dead hour of the night.
“I apologize for causing an inconvenience at such a late hour.”
The one who had requested a private meeting at this hour was none other than Seo Yeo-ro.
Furthermore, he had made one more request.
‘I would like to meet you at a location other than my residence.’
Because Seo Yeo-ro was being sparing with his words, implying there were too many listening ears and watching eyes, Jinyul had gladly invited him to his house.
Shrugging his shoulders, Jinyul spoke.
“Though it is the residence of a Grand Prince, as you can see, there is nothing special about it. All I have to offer is wine and side dishes, but they don’t seem quite appropriate for right now.”
“No.”
Seo Yeo-ro replied in a low voice.
“In fact, I believe I must have a drink. I have a long and arduous story to tell.”
A long and arduous story.
Though Jinyul could not readily comprehend what it was, it certainly wouldn’t be a lighthearted tale.
‘Since the ever-noble and restrained Seo Yeo-ro is the one asking for wine first.’
Jinyul quickly prepared and brought out a simple table, and Seo Yeo-ro accepted the wine table prepared by the Grand Prince himself with immense gratitude and reverence.
“So, what is the story about?”
Draining his first cup alongside Seo Yeo-ro, Jinyul asked as he refilled the elder man’s empty cup.
“Now I am truly getting curious.”
“It is about the Letter we received today.”
Jinyul’s hand paused for a fraction of a second.
Setting the wine bottle down, he looked straight at Seo Yeo-ro.
The faint smile that had lingered around his lips vanished in an instant.
“The one who sent the Letter is the King, but the driving force behind it must be the Queen.”
The Queen must have requested it to be sent, and the King must have commanded it to go out because of that. After all, those two shared a common enemy.
Muttering like a sigh, Seo Yeo-ro emptied the brimming contents of his cup in a single gulp.
“When I think of the humiliation Lee Yeon will face at the banquet, my heart feels as though it is tearing apart.”
“It seems the Queen’s feelings toward my wife are quite extraordinary.”
Pausing briefly at the word ‘wife’, Seo Yeo-ro soon nodded his head.
He slowly began to speak.
“They were born around the same time, and they even shared the similarity of losing their mothers at a young age, so I inwardly believed the two would make good companions. I hoped they would comfort and encourage each other, becoming lifelong childhood friends.”
Seo Yeo-ro filled his empty cup by himself.
“But cruelly, the scales tipped far too much to one side.”
It wasn’t merely because she was his own daughter; Lee Yeon excelled over Eun-oh in every possible aspect.
‘In knowledge, in dance, in calligraphy, and even in temperament.’
Eun-oh used her servants ruthlessly as if they were disposable objects, whereas Lee Yeon treated them as hands helping her with her work.
To those who became servants out of poverty, Lee Yeon treated them with generosity, so the servants easily opened their hearts to her and served her with utter sincerity.
It was a starkly different sight from other households where corporal punishment ran rampant.
“Naturally, the voices comparing the two grew louder. It became even more pronounced as they came of age.”
When they were young, he had brushed it off.
He passed it over, thinking they were still small children who didn’t know the ways of the world. However, as time flowed and they grew older, Lee Yeon fully matured in both character and appearance, while Eun-oh remained completely unripened.
“I felt sorry for her. Though I never said it aloud, I pitied her. She hadn’t asked to become an object of comparison, after all.”
Of all things, they were the same age; of all things, they were the same gender; and of all things, the status of the families they were born into was remarkably similar.
Eun-oh was compared to Lee Yeon just by breathing, and every time that happened, she was treated as inferior.
People said she couldn’t hold a candle to Lee Yeon, that they weren’t even in the same league. She had lived hearing such words for over twenty years.
“That must be why. From a certain day onward, that child’s dream became specific. She openly declared, without hiding it, that she would absolutely become the Queen. Of course, every time she said that…”
She was forced to hear that Lee Yeon of the Seo Family had a much higher probability of achieving that.
Muttering bitterly, Seo Yeo-ro tilted his cup.
“Because of that, she grew more venomous and hated Lee Yeon even more. It reached a point where it was practically pure malice.”
Seo Yeo-ro placed his wine cup down on the table.
“The goal of a life riddled with an inferiority complex was solely to break Lee Yeon and trample her down. Now that she has become the Queen just as she wished for her entire life, the time has finally come for her to wield the blade she has been sharpening.”
And the very first stage for that would be her Celebration Banquet.
Seo Yeo-ro recalled that Letter, which had seemed to overflow with malice. It was as if he could see Eun-oh’s face, standing behind the King with a broad smile plastered across her features.
“Therefore, my chest feels so stifled that I cannot bear it.”
Since the King’s command was absolute, she absolutely had to attend. But if she went, she would undoubtedly suffer the ultimate disgrace.
“I can see right through what kind of humiliation they will inflict upon her without even looking.”
It wasn’t Jinyul’s fault that Lee Yeon ended up as a Concubine. Jinyul had never intended for it to happen, but it couldn’t be helped that a hint of resentment bled into the end of the elder man’s words.
Seo Yeo-ro spoke like a sigh.
“She will claim that they are not of the same rank.”
She would return the exact words she herself had been forced to listen to.
“That they cannot be compared.”
A mere concubine.
Seo Yeo-ro swallowed those words heavily along with the wine.
“Even the King does not look upon Lee Yeon with favor, and now even the Queen is going to draw her sword, so I truly do not know what must be done.”
Seo Yeo-ro was also a man holding a position in the Royal Court.
Naturally, he had no choice but to attend the Queen’s Celebration Banquet, and he would be forced to witness that sight inevitably.
The exact scene where his own daughter would be subjected to humiliation.
“I guessed that their relationship was certainly no ordinary one, but the rift runs much deeper than I thought,”
As Jinyul murmured, Seo Yeo-ro nodded his head.
“It is beyond deep; it must be completely fractured.”
No matter how gentle and considerate Lee Yeon was, she too was only human. With such malice being poured over her, it was utterly impossible for her to look upon Eun-oh with kind eyes.
But now, a stark difference in social hierarchy explicitly existed.
‘Chae Eun-oh is now the Queen who will leave her mark on this nation’s history, while Lee Yeon has become a Concubine who cannot even stand shoulder-to-shoulder beside the Grand Prince.’
It was at the exact moment he murmured so inwardly and tried to refill his cup once more. Jinyul gently took the wine bottle from Seo Yeo-ro’s hand and poured the liquor into his cup for him.
“Do not worry.”
And then, Jinyul poured all the remaining wine into his own cup. It filled perfectly down to the last drop without a single error.
“I will do everything in my power to protect Lee Yeon.”
Seo Yeo-ro looked up at Jinyul. His words were resolute, and his gaze was unwavering.
The two men locked eyes intensely for a moment, and then simultaneously threw back their drinks.
Seo Yeo-ro’s heart, which had been frozen solid with worry and anxiety, thawed at the wine and those words.
‘That is enough.’
From the very depths of his heart, a faint warmth began to spread slowly.
No matter what kind of humiliation she might face, just knowing that she had someone firmly on her side would be enough to help her endure.

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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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