Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 34

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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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34.
Silence.
Everyone inside the Grand Hall held their breath simultaneously. Their expressions were filled with disbelief.
Chae Eun-oh watched the spectacle, unable to even blink.
‘……This is not what I wanted.’
This was not the flow she had envisioned. This was not the stage she had planned.
This place was meant for her. Everyone was supposed to kneel before her and envy only her. A space that should rightfully be hers was transforming into a place for Lee Yeon.
Jinyul held the document in his hand up high. Catching the light, the crimson Seal was revealed even more clearly.
“Your Majesty, this promise was undoubtedly written in Your Majesty’s own hand. The State Seal beside it proves as much.”
Jinyul was smiling. It was not a smile of provocation, but one of absolute certainty.
“I trust you will grant my request.”
Jinpyeong closed his eyes tightly.
His heart pounded fiercely from intense rage, as if it were about to boil over. At the same time, his hands and feet grew ice-cold.
Gripping the armrests of the dragon throne tightly, the red and blue veins on the back of his hands bulged as if they were about to burst.
‘How dare he bring up the State Seal…….’
Now that Jinyul had presented the paper stamped with his own Seal, he could not refuse it.
Though he had claimed not to recall, he actually remembered it as vividly as if it had happened yesterday.
He had commanded him to catch a bizarre creature that was throwing the country into chaos. He had ordered him to slay it and bring its head to him.
‘I sent him there to die. To slay it and perish along with it.’
He had sent thirty soldiers and lost them all. Next, he sent fifty, and then a hundred, but they were all wiped out. So, he sent Jinyul.
‘It wasn’t that I thought he could catch it, but rather that he would surely die this time as well.’
Yet, Jinyul was viler than that five-headed beast. He had been sent to die, but he returned after killing it.
He had severed the monster’s head and returned drenched in blood.
‘Your Majesty, the Grand Prince has severed the head of that sinister beast!’
The whole country practically echoed with Jinyul’s name. Not to mention the Royal Court, but the general public revered him almost like a hero, like the heavens.
Since he had defeated the monster that was drawing closer and closer to the Capital City, it was only natural. Rumors were rife that he was the guardian who saved the nation, the King’s shield, and a honed sword.
The testimonies of the soldiers—that Jinyul had never let go of his sword even while hovering between life and death from deep wounds, ultimately severing the monster’s head—saved his face even further.
‘I wished he had died.’
He wished he had died while wandering on the brink of death. In his heart, he wanted to feed him poison to cut off his breath.
‘It should have been that way.’
That was the golden opportunity to kill him. Missing it was a source of eternal regret.
Jinpyeong’s gaze, which had been glaring at Jinyul as if to kill him, landed on the person standing beside him.
‘Lee Yeon of the Seo Family.’
Standing there in her pure white clothes, she was supposed to be a sacrifice to pay for her father’s sins according to his plan.
‘I intended to make her the Queen and force her to crawl miserably on the floor…….’
Yet, she had deftly slipped through his fingers.
The regret of his ruined plan, coupled with the rage of having his woman snatched away by Jinyul, made his heart burn as if caught on fire.
The more beautiful Lee Yeon looked, the more he loathed Jinyul. The more All Officials marveled at Lee Yeon, the more wretched the woman sitting beside him felt.
It was then.
“Please grant his request, Your Majesty.”
At the steadfast voice, Jinpyeong whipped his head toward that direction like a snake.
Lord Seo was bowing deeply.
“That is the reward for the Grand Prince risking his life to execute Your Majesty’s command. Please recognize the Grand Prince’s merit.”
“…….”
Jinpyeong’s lips contorted mercilessly.
If he refused here, it would be no different from ignoring all of Jinyul’s merits up to this point.
While everyone knew that Jinyul had dedicated his life to the country, acting in such a manner would surely spark a backlash. It would not just be his face, but the royal authority itself that would be shaken.
Crunch.
Trapped in a situation he could neither soften nor refuse, Jinpyeong bit his lip. Just then, as if to urge him, a voice of secondary petition was heard.
“Please recognize the Grand Prince’s merit!”
This time, All Officials bowed their heads in unison. Their shouts shook the ceiling of the Grand Hall. The request to recognize Lee Yeon as the Grand Prince’s legal wife, and not a concubine, rang out loudly through the Grand Hall.
“……!”
Eun-oh looked down at the scene in blank dismay, half-rising from her seat.
Everyone except Chae Mun was bowing their heads. Standing tall alone, Chae Mun was looking around with a bewildered face.
Chae Mun and Eun-oh’s eyes met.
‘Father—.’
Eun-oh called out to him anxiously with the shape of her lips.
Her gaze implored him to do something, anything, but Chae Mun kept his mouth firmly shut and shook his head.
Everything hung on Jinpyeong’s lips, and every ear awaited Jinpyeong’s voice.
And finally, the King’s lips moved.
“Lee Yeon of the Seo Family.”
Eun-oh slowly turned her head. At that moment, only Jinpyeong was visible in her eyes. Eun-oh’s hands trembled faintly.
‘No, you can’t.’
She desperately hoped he would say no. She prayed countless times that he would refuse. She prayed and prayed, but Jinpyeong trampled upon her heart yet again.
“By Royal Decree, I invest her as the Grand Princess Consort.”
As the cold voice rang through the Grand Hall, Eun-oh’s legs gave out, and she slumped into her seat.
It felt as if her world, which had been full of bright light, had suddenly gone pitch black.
‘This time too…….’
She had lost to Lee Yeon once again.
Jinpyeong’s words echoed in her head like a reverberation. Eun-oh looked down below the platform.
‘There is no one.’
There was not a single person looking at her. Everyone was looking at Lee Yeon, and her name was on their lips.
Though it was a place meant for her, the fact that no one was looking at her made Eun-oh’s face gradually contort.
Lee Yeon was reflected in the eyes of such an Eun-oh. As if she had known everything all along, she stood loftily and confidently without a single trace of surprise.
‘Lee Yeon.’
The moment she thought their eyes had locked perfectly, the corners of Lee Yeon’s lips turned up slightly.
She took a step forward and bowed elegantly.
“I express my deepest gratitude for Your Majesty’s vast and boundless grace.”
In front of everyone, Lee Yeon knelt on the ground and bowed her head toward the floor.
“I also offer my sincere congratulations to Her Majesty the Queen.”
Eun-oh watched the scene in silence.
It was a moment she had desperately wished for. It was a scene she had dreamed of. She had waited only for this very moment.
Yet, she was not as happy as she thought she would be.
“……Thank you.”
Eun-oh barely managed to reply.
The inside of her throat ached unbearably, as if that single remark had scratched its way out of her windpipe.
“These are the gifts we have prepared for Her Majesty the Queen.”
She could see Jinyul saying something. She could see the gifts brought in one after another by the Palace Attendants.
She could see All Officials marveling, their expressions and eyes filled with envy, Chae Mun’s face gradually hardening, and Lord Seo’s face brightening in contrast.
However, what entered Eun-oh’s vision more clearly and distinctly than any of those things was Jinyul’s hand holding Lee Yeon’s hand.
“…….”
Eun-oh bit her lip hard.
Countless gifts were placed before her, and tables laden with delicacies of land and sea arrived one after another, but nothing made her happy.
She felt endlessly wretched. And an unbearable murderous intent bloomed within her.
‘I hate Lee Yeon.’
Enough to want to kill her.

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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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