Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 36

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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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36.
Lee Yeon suddenly looked up at the sky. The night air made her nose sting.
‘It feels different from the chill at dawn.’
It felt a bit deeper and colder. Was it because dawn was but a fleeting moment, while the night stretched long?
Just then, Lee Yeon felt a heavy weight settle over her shoulders.
“The night air is still cold.”
As she tilted her head back a bit further, a comforting warmth pressed against the nape of her neck. It was Jinyul’s arm.
“Your neck will hurt if you look up like that.”
“It does hurt.”
“Then why keep it tilted? You could just turn your head to look.”
Lee Yeon let out a soft laugh and straightened her neck. Just as Jinyul said, her bones felt stiff and the back of her neck throbbed.
“I just suddenly realized how tall you are. Even when I look up like this, you seem so far above me.”
Jinyul, who had been gazing down at Lee Yeon standing below the stone steps, firmly shut the door to the Banquet Hall and stepped out.
As the sliver of light leaking through the slightly open door vanished, absolute darkness fell.
Walking without a sound, Jinyul suddenly sat down on the stone steps.
“Then we can just do this.”
Lee Yeon’s eyes widened. Jinyul, who had been so far above her even when she strained her neck, was now looking up at her from a position lower than her own.
Lee Yeon tugged at his arm.
“That is not a place to sit; it is where shoes are placed. Please, get up at once!”
“There are no shoes here, so it is fine. It is better than sitting on the bare ground.”
“That is not what I mean… No, why must you insist on sitting instead of standing?”
“Because I want to see you as grand, too.”
Lee Yeon’s lips, which had been corporate in urging him to get up because it was cold and dirty, froze instantly. She slowly turned her gaze to Jinyul.
“You must have been a precious young lady who rarely had reason to look up at the sky.”
White puffs of breath billowed into the air each time Jinyul spoke.
“Lately, haven’t there been many times when you resented the heavens and felt sorrowful? Because nothing goes according to your wishes.”
Lee Yeon silently watched Jinyul, then slowly walked over, brushed her hand across the top of the stone steps, and plopped down right beside him.
“You are mistaken.”
Unsure if he had ever expected Lee Yeon to sit beside him, a rare look of bewilderment crossed Jinyul’s face as he tilted his head.
“Mistaken?”
“It was not that I rarely had reason to look up at the sky, but rather that I had very little reason to look at the ground. The only person around me to receive my bows was my father.”
Lee Yeon tilted her head slightly.
“However, since one dares not raise their head before people of high status, I have been doing nothing but staring at the ground lately.”
Lee Yeon rested her chin in her hand while sitting on the stone step.
“And I have no particular reason to resent anything or feel sorrowful. Compared to the past, this is merely lukewarm.”
Muttering those words, Lee Yeon turned her head to look straight into Jinyul’s eyes.
“If anything, I am grateful. Because I have someone who takes my side. So very…”
Lee Yeon was suddenly taken aback as a lump formed in her throat. She had been speaking quite nonchalantly, but a sudden wave of tears surged up.
“This, this is strange. I did not mean to cry. It is not even a situation to cry about.”
Flustered in a way that was unlike her, Lee Yeon used the sleeve of her jacket to dab at the moisture on her face. Through the thin fabric of her clothes, Jinyul’s voice drifted over.
For some reason, his voice sounded a bit strained.
“So very?”
“…reassuring.”
Lee Yeon repeated the word she had just spoken to herself.
‘Yes, reassuring is the perfect word.’
It was inside the palanquin on the way to the palace when she first heard about the Wish Right.
‘Listen carefully and do not be startled.’
Because he spoke so firmly at the start, she assumed he was trying to ease her nerves since it was her first time going to the palace. Thus, thinking it was a joke, she laughed.
‘If you manage to startle me, I will give you a reward. It will be quite difficult to do so…’
‘I intend to defy His Majesty’s command.’
‘Cough!’
The words she hadn’t quite swallowed choked her instead. Hearing something so utterly unexpected caused her to cough violently.
Unable to even catch her breath, Lee Yeon hacked continuously, and Jinyul hurriedly patted her back gently.
Only after a long while did Lee Yeon finally calm down, asking back with a bright red face.
‘De, defy him? What terrifying words are you speaking? By any chance, are we on our way to die right now?’
‘I do not know about myself, but I will never let you die, so do not worry about that.’
‘Yul!’
When Lee Yeon called his name in an outburst of exasperation, Jinyul’s eyes suddenly widened, and with a smirk, he planted a brief kiss on her lips.
‘It seems I have already received my reward. For you to call my name like this.’
Then, to prevent Lee Yeon from nagging him any further, he pulled something out from his robe and slid it forward.
‘Look at this.’
‘…What is this?’
‘The price of my life.’
Jinyul chuckled, waving a thin sheet of paper.
It was an expression that was bitter yet relieved, and somehow appeared slightly amused.
‘It is a debt I have left hanging over His Majesty.’
With trembling eyes, Lee Yeon read what was written on the paper. Indeed, it was just as he said.
‘As a reward for executing commands at the risk of my life countless times, I was promised that one wish of mine would be granted, excluding the throne.’
In the very first paragraph, the words ‘Wish Right’ were clearly inscribed.
‘So I pondered over it the entire time. What could I ask for that would make His Majesty’s stomach churn the most, and what could I extract to bring myself the greatest satisfaction? But it was difficult. There was nothing I desired for the longest time.’
As Jinyul spoke, he locked eyes with Lee Yeon and grinned.
‘But hasn’t a truly perfect occasion arisen to use it? It is a chance to break every shackle binding our relationship all at once, right in front of everyone.’
He said he planned to announce it before a grand crowd.
‘I will restore you to your proper place.’
Jinyul spoke as he tucked the paper stamped with the King’s seal back into his robe.
‘I will back you up so you will not be pushed aside. I will endure by your side so you will not have to kneel. Because you are my wife, chosen by me.’
She was truly grateful for those words. And in truth, Jinyul did support her and endure by her side so that Lee Yeon was neither pushed aside nor forced to kneel in that place.
Furthermore, he had successfully extracted the royal sanction. He had officially recognized her not as a concubine, but as the Grand Princess Consort.
“Lee Yeon?”
When Lee Yeon kept her face buried in her sleeve for a long time, Jinyul’s expression turned worried. He grasped her arm and tried to gently lower it.
“Why…”
“Shall we go?”
As Lee Yeon lightly brushed herself off and stood up, Jinyul rose after her, looking somewhat dazed.
“Where…?”
“Since you have thoroughly startled me, I shall grant you a reward as promised.”
When Lee Yeon spoke haughtily and took a step forward, Jinyul blinked a few times before flashing a wide grin and following right behind her.
“What kind of reward is it?”
“That is something you must think of yourself. Since it can only be used once, make sure to use it usefully and specially.”
“That is a very amusing yet difficult dilemma…”
Jinyul, who was enjoying the thought, stopped just before stepping into the palanquin and suddenly leaned down to look at Lee Yeon.
“So, did I perform well today?”
Lee Yeon stared up at him intently, then like a bird, she pecked his lips briefly before climbing inside the palanquin.
“Beyond measure.”
At the sensation of their lips brushing briefly, like a bird pecking with its beak, Jinyul’s eyes widened before he let out a chuckle and closed the palanquin door.
Just as Lee Yeon said, it was a perfect night beyond measure.

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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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