Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 3

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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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3.
Grand Prince Jinyul.
The rumors about him were rampant. Even while locked away deep inside the palace, every conversation drifting from all four corners was always about him.
There were stories about his face being so beautiful it could bewitch even men, tales of how he completely wiped out notorious rebels, and accounts of how he vastly expanded the nation’s territory after winning a fierce war. There were many, many such legends, but the one rumor people whispered about most cautiously, yet spread most widely, was this:
‘The Stolen Throne.’
A tragic prince who was originally the Crown Prince but lost his position after being pushed aside in a power struggle. A man who became the king’s brother without ever getting to sit upon the throne.
To the reigning king, Jinpyeong, it must have been a highly irritating rumor.
‘And it probably wasn’t just a groundless rumor drifting around.’
Because it was true, it would have been all the more grating.
If he had his way, Jinpyeong would have wanted to kill Grand Prince Jinyul multiple times over, but doing so would have caused far greater problems.
Not only would he lose his sharpest sword, but public sentiment would undoubtedly plummet beyond control.
A nuisance if he stayed, a nuisance if he was gone. To Jinpyeong, Jinyul was exactly that kind of thorn in his side.
‘In that case.’
When Lee Yeon pulled the signal cord, she soon heard the sound of servants’ footsteps rushing over.
Lee Yeon intended to turn that thorn into a central pillar. So that he would constantly remain in sight with no way to handle him, driving the king to the brink of madness from sheer anxiety.
‘I will come to see you very soon.’
This time, she intended to seek him out first.
For he was her only, and most promising, hand to escape this situation.
* * *
The marketplace was bustling with people.
It was a stifling view through the veil of her jangot, but even that felt lovely. It was different from the palace, which had overflowed with malice, and it lacked the suffocating silence that used to choke her.
‘And it is free.’
To breathe as I please, and to guide my steps wherever I wish to go. I was grateful for every single moment, even the instances when my heels lifted freely off the ground.
“Oh, my goodness, My Lady.”
Chohee, who was following behind Lee Yeon clad in her jangot, grumbled.
“There are so many people out here, yet you refused the carriage. What if someone bumps into you?”
There seemed to be no one who would dare. Anyone could see that Lee Yeon was a precious young lady from a noble house dressed in fine clothes, and right beside her stood Chohee and Jain, keeping watch with glaring eyes.
Chohee swung her arms aggressively, snapping her head from side to side to check their surroundings.
“Just let any strange bastards try to come near us, I’ll take their jaws right—”
“My Lady, please watch your step.”
Jain whispered softly.
“She might look like that, but her fists are quite fierce.”
Lee Yeon smiled faintly and nodded.
Exchanging such trivial banter as they walked, they soon found themselves in the very middle of the noisy market.
‘I am filled with deep emotion.’
To think that after dying all alone in the dead center of that quiet, Deep Royal Palace, I opened my eyes to find myself in the dead center of a market bursting with vitality.
It was enough to make a ghost laugh out loud instead of weeping.
Right then.
“Aaaakh!!”
With a loud crash, an assortment of household goods spilled onto the dirt ground.
However, what caught people’s eyes was a woman being dragged out by rugged men. The woman, who looked visibly ill even at a glance, brought her hands together and begged as a man held her by her hair.
“Two days, no, just give me one more day, please. I beg of you, My Lord. Just one more day……!”
“One day my foot! Even if I gave you three or four more days, would it make any difference? The principal is long gone, so I’m asking if you can even pay the interest!”
With a single scream, the woman was thrown onto the muddy ground.
“Mother!!”
A man with a gaunt frame who had come along rushed over to hold her.
The man who had thrown the woman onto the mud violently kicked the household items strewn across the ground.
“When are you going to pay back that money by selling trash like this? That’s why I told you. If it’s an incurable disease, you should’ve just swallowed lye and died. Rather than leaving nothing but debt to your family, you should’ve just died alone.”
The crowd whispered. Lee Yeon also caught a few words from among them.
Because that woman fell gravely ill, the entire family ended up taking out a loan from a usurer to pay for her medicine, and even though the siblings were trying various ways to get money, the interest kept multiplying, leaving them in an incredibly dire situation.
Lee Yeon reflexively turned her head away, only to pause. She had spotted something familiar among the utensils scattered on the ground.
‘I came to present a gift to Your Highness.’
The memory of an item she had received from someone before her Regression overlapped with reality.
‘That is…… could it be.’
It was remarkably similar to the norigae that ‘she’ had offered with trembling hands. A handmade ornament intricately woven from bright, forsythia-yellow silk threads.
With a young face that she couldn’t even bring herself to lift, the people around her had introduced the girl standing before her like this.
‘Her name is Hong Ran. She has received Royal Grace from His Majesty and has become a special court lady.’
I thought she was audacious. I also thought she was obnoxious. I considered her attitude, a concubine coming to find the lawful wife to offer a gift, to be utterly insolent.
‘So back then, I.’
Did not accept that gift.
I simply ignored her. As if she were a person who wasn’t even there, as if no one had spoken to me, as if I hadn’t heard or seen a single thing from the very beginning.
‘Is that why you did that to me as well.’
When I was on the verge of death, and when I died, did you react by acting as though you saw and heard nothing?
“My Lady?”
“Ah.”
Lee Yeon snapped out of it after staring blankly at the norigae scattered messily on the ground.
Though it was a crude item whose shape and material were considerably different from what she had seen in the palace, she could recognize it at a single glance. It was made by none other than Hong Ran.
‘If so, has Hong Ran not entered the palace yet?’
Come to think of it, she knew almost nothing about Hong Ran.
She had been a lowly palace maid before appearing like a sudden star after receiving Jinpyeong’s Royal Grace.
‘To think a woman named Hong Ran suddenly appeared. Goodness, not only did she receive His Majesty’s Royal Grace, but she’s even conceived a child.’
Did she love Jinpyeong, was she happy, and was she satisfied with her life?
‘…….’
Lee Yeon felt a belated wave of regret.
Back then, she had hated Hong Ran the entire time. She had done nothing but hate her. She had no choice. She felt like she wouldn’t be able to survive unless she directed her hatred toward her.
‘But Hong Ran wouldn’t have had any choice either.’
The only one at fault was that man, Jinpyeong.
“This.”
As Lee Yeon bent her waist to pick up a norigae, everyone around them instantly looked her way.
Lee Yeon extended the item in her hand toward the woman.
“I will buy all of them.”
“……Pardon?”
The woman’s expression, which had been dyed in pitch-black despair, went blank. She looked up at Lee Yeon with a face that showed she couldn’t readily understand.
“All of them…… do you mean, My Lady?”
“Chohee.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Chohee had already picked them all up and even finished counting them.
“There are five in total.”
“Hand over all the money we have to this person.”
At those words, the woman looked up at Lee Yeon with a face of disbelief. Lee Yeon kept her eyes fixed straight on the man as she continued speaking.
“With that amount, this person’s debt should be cleared with plenty to spare.”
The man stared at Chohee’s hand. Bundles of gold coins were strung together. Upon seeing that, the man’s eyes went wide. Displaying a face that instantly lit up, he was about to nod repeatedly when he paused.
Wearing a sly expression, he rubbed his hands together.
“That’s just about the principal, but the interest is still growing even now…….”
“You must know that usury is forbidden by law. If you don’t want to be dragged to the Euigeumbu or forced to vomit up even what you already possess, you had better know when to stop.”
Lee Yeon stared at the man with a freezing gaze.
“Must I report this matter to my father?”
The man’s mouth shut tight. He too had recognized who Lee Yeon was in an instant.
‘The daughter of the Lord Inspector General.’
Calculating that things would conversely become troublesome if this matter escalated to that level, the man quickly shifted his stance.
“Of course, it is more than enough. The principal and even the interest have been completely cleared.”
Lee Yeon turned her gaze away from him with a face that indicated she had no further business with him.
“Then leave. You must never come here again. If you disturb this street ever again, you will find yourself sitting at the execution ground of the Euigeumbu.”
Realizing that her words were completely sincere, the man grabbed the bundles of gold coins and fled in a scramble.
Lee Yeon slowly turned her head to look at the woman. Sitting on the dirt floor with her hair disheveled, she still wore a dazed expression.
“……H-how…….”
Tears slowly welled up in the woman’s eyes. She covered her face with both hands and sobbed.
“How can I ever repay this grace, My Lady? There is nothing a lowly woman like me can do……”
As she wept endlessly and broke into a fit of coughing, the gaunt man who had been standing still like a frozen tree hurriedly supported her.
With a body so emaciated it looked as though he hadn’t even eaten thin gruel, he was barely holding the woman up.
Lee Yeon remained silent for a moment before speaking quietly.
“It is enough to pass a message to the person who made these.”
The two of them abruptly lifted their heads and looked up at Lee Yeon.
Lee Yeon averted her gaze from them as she continued.
“Tell her that the norigae were truly beautiful.”
That I, who looked at it with twisted, ugly eyes instead of seeing it for what it was, and who took out my anger on you, was the ugly one.
“Let’s go.”
Lee Yeon turned around just like that. The crowd parted along her steps, opening up a path.
It was only natural that the story spread through word of mouth in an instant, filling the entire Capital City.

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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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