Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 37

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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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37.
The banquet that had begun during the day stretched deep into the night, and it was past midnight when the lights of the Grand Hall, which had been lit all night long, were finally extinguished.
Eun-oh sat on the floor, staring blankly as the dawn broke.
‘The dawn breaks without fail.’
No matter what had happened the previous day, the day dawned as if it had absolutely nothing to do with her.
Eun-oh turned her head and scanned the room with her eyes.
The room was a mess, scattered with jewels that had burst from the clothes she had torn apart, along with pearls, gold thread, silver thread, and pieces of fabric.
‘Why has not a single person come?’
Even if the commotion she caused last night had occurred at a late hour, someone should have heard the sounds coming from her quarters.
Nevertheless, far from the door opening, there was not a single person asking what the matter was.
‘It’s as if no one would come even if I screamed and begged for help.’
At that realization, a sudden fear gripped her. She became terrified in an instant.
Eun-oh squeezed her eyes shut and shrieked with all her might.
“Is anyone there!”
Only then did she hear the sound of hurried, pattering footsteps approaching.
Soon after, the door slid open with a rattle.
“Have you awok…….”
Court Lady Shin could not finish her sentence. The entire room was an absolute shambles.
The clothes, which had been crafted with specially selected, rare materials under the strict orders of the Queen, had turned into a piece of rag overnight. The household items in the room were all broken or rolling unsightly across the floor.
Court Lady Shin quickly pulled herself together. She could not let the palace attendants behind her witness this sight for long.
“Go and fetch water for washing. We need to wash the makeup from her face, so prepare warm wet towels and oil as well.”
“Yes, Court Lady.”
Only after the palace attendants had distanced themselves did Court Lady Shin slowly step into the room she had been shielding with her back.
A sigh escaped her lips naturally.
“Your Highness…….”
“Why did you not come?”
Eun-oh asked.
Sitting carelessly on the floor, she whipped her head around and glared at Court Lady Shin. Her tone was identical to one used toward a mere palace maid, but because of the smoldering emotion in Eun-oh’s eyes, Court Lady Shin could not even bring herself to falter.
“I asked why no one came last night!”
In truth, she had wanted it. She had hoped for it. She had waited.
She had wished for anyone to come, to run over upon hearing the commotion and ask what was wrong.
If there had been just one person, she would have stopped. She would have ceased her outrageous behavior. Even if she had heard just a single word telling her not to do so, to endure it.
“Your Highness.”
Court Lady Shin spoke with a calm expression.
“Everyone seems to have withdrawn, thinking that Your Highness was fatigued.”
“Even so, there should have been one or two. How could there be not a single person, without anyone knowing what might happen to me!”
“Because the banquet went on for a long time and they were short-handed, I am told they were called to the Grand Hall. I am deeply sorry.”
It was absurd. Anger and emptiness intersected countless times.
The fact that there was truly not a single person besides herself in this vast Queen’s Palace was ridiculous, and at the same time, humiliating.
Eun-oh glared at Court Lady Shin with burning eyes, as if a fire had been lit in them.
“Is His Majesty not even worried about me? He said nothing even though I left early because I was unwell?”
“I am deeply sorry.”
“Without knowing what might happen to me, or what unsavory incident might occur in this Queen’s Palace, is he not protecting me? Someone, even just a single person, should have been standing guard!”
“I am deeply sorry.”
“Aaaah!”
Eun-oh shrieked.
“That wretched ‘deeply sorry, deeply sorry’! If you’re so sorry, you shouldn’t have done something to be sorry for, you shouldn’t have left me alone!”
Court Lady Shin quietly looked at Eun-oh.
The Queen, who had been beautifully adorned like a rose, had become as shabby as a magnolia fallen onto the muddy ground overnight. Her haughty and foolish appearance was nowhere to be seen, and she was merely crouching on the floor, screaming.
As Court Lady Shin watched that display, she took a step forward. It was an insolent thought, but she wanted to approach and embrace her. She wanted to hold those bare shoulders.
‘She was lonely.’
Court Lady Shin remembered yesterday’s events.
Even to her eyes, the protagonist of last night’s banquet was not Eun-oh. She rightfully should have been the main character, but the center of attention was another woman, not Eun-oh.
Furthermore, how had Jinpyeong’s attitude toward Eun-oh been?
‘Go.’
At Eun-oh’s words asking if it would be alright for her to leave early, he had granted permission without even turning his head. It was practically an order to leave.
Court Lady Shin slowly approached Eun-oh.
“Your Highness.”
“Useless thing!”
Slap! Court Lady Shin’s face whipped around as she approached Eun-oh.
“Eek……!”
A gasp that Court Lady Shin had failed to let out erupted from elsewhere. The palace maids, who had brought plenty of the items Court Lady Shin had ordered in both hands, were standing at the doorway.
On the trays they held, there was plenty of steaming hot water, soft towels, oil, and things to remove makeup.
The faces of the palace maids, who had witnessed the scene of Court Lady Shin being slapped with their own two eyes, turned pale white.
“Court Lady……!”
Court Lady Shin paused while touching her burning cheek. A stinging sensation was felt. Soon, blood smeared onto her fingers.
In the midst of the slap, Eun-oh’s broken fingernail had deeply scratched Court Lady Shin’s cheek. Court Lady Shin’s expression hardened.
“I did not do that on purpose-.”
Eun-oh shouted belatedly, but Court Lady Shin’s face, after confirming her own countenance reflected in the mirror, hardened even further.
Eun-oh looked at her own hand in embarrassment. It was an accident. She had raised her hand in a fit of rage, but she had no intention of causing such a wound. However, Court Lady Shin’s wound was deep. A streak of red blood trickled down her chin and fell onto the floor with a plop.
Court Lady Shin bowed deeply from the waist.
“Your grace is boundless, Your Highness. Please hand down a punishment.”
Eun-oh stared at Court Lady Shin, who was bowing to her, and then looked toward the doorway.
‘For the first time, I struck a person.’
Her hand was still stinging. Her palm burned, and blood was smeared on the edge of her ragged fingernail.
‘But…….’
Isn’t it incredibly effective?
Such a thought suddenly crossed her mind. The atmosphere changed in an instant. The eyes looking at her were filled with dread and terror.
‘It feels quite different from that banquet hall yesterday.’
It was not a bad method.
Eun-oh looked at her hand and then slowly turned her head toward the palace maids.
The palace maids, who were looking this way while barely able to breathe properly, hastily bowed their waists with faces white as sheets. In the process, the sloshing water overflowed and drenched the floor.
“I, I am deeply sorry!”
The palace maid who had been holding the water basin prostrated herself flat on the wet floor.
Eun-oh looked around. The pale faces of the palace attendants bowing to her and the inside of the Queen’s Palace, which had become an absolute mess, entered her vision.
She saw the jewels strewn across the floor, Court Lady Shin’s blood, and the flooring where the water was gradually spreading.
‘I’m exhausted.’
The fatigue from not being able to sleep a wink last night seemed to wash over her like a tidal wave. She suddenly became so rapidly tired that she wanted to dismiss everyone.
But she could not do that.
“I will go to see His Majesty.”
She had to meet him as soon as possible. It was the conclusion of what she had thought about all night.
If he had thought of her, or if he had at least looked at her, her heart would not have crumbled in this manner.
If he would only rescind that command appointing Lee Yeon as the Grand Princess Consort, it felt like she could reverse yesterday’s humiliation even just a little bit.
“Hurry with the preparations. The punishment will be handed down after that.”
At Eun-oh’s cold words, the palace maids moved swiftly with stiff, rigid faces.
Starting the day with morning greetings was the Queen’s schedule, but no one, not even Court Lady Shin, brought it up.
It was symbolic.
* * *
Rustle, rustle. Every time Eun-oh took a step, a sound quite different from yesterday was made.
With a stride that was far from elegant and resembled that of a general ahead of a battle, the palace maids hurriedly followed behind.
Eun-oh walked to the front of the King’s quarters in a single breath and took a deep breath.
“Her Highness the Queen!”
The soldiers and eunuchs standing before the door bowed their waists with highly surprised expressions.
“We greet Your Highness.”
“Announce me.”
At the sight of Eun-oh bringing up the main point without even accepting their greetings, they looked at each other with bewildered expressions.
One of the eunuchs bowed his head and spoke.
“Your Highness, right now is before His Majesty has awoken. Since the day has not yet fully brightened…….”
“I told you to announce me!”
As Eun-oh shouted sharply, the eunuch shut his mouth.
When he signaled with his eyes, the eunuch standing some distance away nodded his head, turned around, and ran off somewhere.
The eunuch spoke calmly.
“Just as the Queen’s Palace has its routine, this place has its routine as well. Since His Majesty has not yet awoken, please wait just a moment.”
He continued his words as if soothing Eun-oh.
“I will convey to His Majesty that Your Highness the Queen has arrived. Meeting His Majesty when he has not finished his preparations greatly violates the laws of the Royal Family.”
Only then did Eun-oh’s expression soften slightly.
Thinking about showing her raw appearance without any preparation to others, she found the eunuch’s words understandable.
Eun-oh turned her head sharply and replied.
“Then announce me quickly. I shall wait here.”
“Bring her in.”
It was Jinpyeong’s voice.

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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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