Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 38

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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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38.
At the sound of Jinpyeong’s voice, Chae Eun-oh froze and looked toward the door.
As the eunuchs bowed deeply, the soldiers carefully opened the double doors to both sides.
Eun-oh took a deep breath and stepped inside without hesitation.
Rustle, rustle.
It was her first time entering the King’s quarters.
Eun-oh clenched her fists tight.
‘I never knew I would end up coming here like this.’
It was a strange sensation. She felt a subtle warmth spreading through her body.
A calm, lethargic aura—similar to Jinyul’s—pervaded the air.
“……Your Majesty.”
Eun-oh looked at Jinpyeong.
He was standing in front of the window. The faint light of dawn cast across his face, obscuring his expression. His attire was not that of someone who had just woken up.
Without turning his head, Jinpyeong spoke.
“What brings the Queen here at such an early hour?”
His gaze slowly shifted toward Eun-oh.
“There must be a reason for you to demand an audience so disruptively, even to the point of breaking protocol.”
At his chilly voice, the eunuchs who had followed Eun-oh inside bowed their heads deeply.
The moment she heard that voice, resentment rather than fear surged within Eun-oh. She felt sorrow, disappointment, and anger flare up in succession.
“Your Majesty.”
Eun-oh clenched both hands.
“Were you not worried about me?”
Eun-oh bit the inside of her lip hard.
She felt so utterly pitiful.
“I requested to leave the banquet early because I was unwell. If so, shouldn’t you be worried about me?”
“You are not a newborn babe.”
Jinpyeong muttered.
He replied with an indifferent expression.
“If you are unwell, you need only take medicine. Why do you question another person for an illness caused by your own lack of self-care?”
He murmured coldly.
“Absurd.”
“But—”
Am I not your wife? Are you not my husband? If so, couldn’t you at least ask if I am alright?
However, Eun-oh did not utter those words. She felt that if she spoke them aloud, she would become entirely too pathetic.
So Eun-oh swallowed the burning lump that rose up to her throat.
“Then, please revoke the title you bestowed upon the Seo family woman yesterday.”
At that moment, the air in the room turned ice-cold. The expressions of the soldiers watching the King’s countenance stiffened.
Jinpyeong remained silent for a moment before slowly turning his head to look at Eun-oh.
“……!”
Eun-oh caught her breath.
The look in his eyes was coldness itself. It felt as if she were facing solid ice, sending a shiver down her spine.
“Queen.”
Jinpyeong slowly opened his mouth.
They say things can feel burning hot when they are freezing cold; Eun-oh saw sparks fly from his icy eyes.
“Even for someone foolish, shouldn’t there be a limit to your stupidity?”
Eun-oh’s eyes widened at the words that struck like a blade. A thunderbolt of fury crashed down upon her.
“Do you truly not understand the meaning of the command I issued yesterday!”
Facing Jinpyeong’s wrath right before her eyes, Eun-oh’s face turned stark white. Her body trembled involuntarily under the oppressive weight, dread, and terror.
Yet, even amidst that, defiance flared within her.
‘Do I not understand what it means?’
How could she not know? How could she possibly fail to understand?
She had thought about it all night long. She had chewed over it. She knew it all too well.
“Did you not appoint a concubine as the Grand Princess Consort?”
Eun-oh put strength into her clasped hands. Her broken fingernails dug into her flesh, leaving deep scratches.
“Did you not reverse the command you issued yourself via Royal Decree!”
Jinpyeong looked at Eun-oh coldly as she cried out desperately. Contempt flickered in his eyes.
“Indeed.”
He gritted his teeth.
“The Queen is merely swayed by her own personal emotions. Truly without understanding what it means!”
Jinpyeong glared at Eun-oh like a blazing fire.
He, too, had chewed over it all night. He had thought about it over and over again.
‘Was there really no other way to reject that request?’
Countless times, he returned to that moment, to that very hour. He thought and thought again.
‘But no matter how much I pondered a solution, no way to annul that request came to mind.’
Therefore, he was unbearably furious. His insides burned as if he were going mad.
He had stayed up all night like that, only for Eun-oh, who knew nothing of his inner turmoil, to commit a discourtesy by coming here and scraping at his raw nerves.
Jinpyeong glared at Eun-oh with a murderous gaze.
“Do you dare believe you have the right to question yesterday’s events?”
At the unmitigated malice directed at her, Eun-oh stepped back with a suffocated expression.
“Draped in all kinds of jewels all over your body. Do you feel no shame as the Queen!”
“Yes, I am the Queen!”
Eun-oh clenched her fists tight.
“I am the mother of this country and Your Majesty’s consort. But why, why at the end of that gaze……!”
She could not bring herself to say the words that followed. She wanted to spit them out, but she forcefully suppressed and swallowed them. Yet, it felt as though everyone else, including Jinpyeong, had heard those unspoken words clearly.
The corner of Jinpyeong’s mouth twisted upward.
“Whether there is someone else?”
“…….”
Eun-oh bit her lip tightly. Fishy blood seeped from her inner lip, which had become ragged from being bitten so much.
“How many consorts and concubines I keep is not a matter for the Queen to meddle in.”
Eun-oh’s heart thumped heavily. She snapped her head up.
“Your Majesty, but she is the Grand Prince’s woman. This can never be tolerated……!”
“I am aware.”
As Jinpyeong took a step closer, Eun-oh felt as if her breath were being choked out. Her body shook like an aspen leaf.
Jinpyeong reached out his hand as if he were about to grasp Eun-oh’s neck.
“I am all too aware without you having to point it out.”
He grabbed Eun-oh’s shoulder. At the crushing grip of his hand, Eun-oh’s expression twisted in pain.
“If that woman had advanced to the Gantaek.”
Yet she could not say it hurt. She could not ask him to let go.
Eun-oh stared blankly up at Jinpyeong as he looked down at her. Jinpyeong whispered cruelly into her trembling eyes.
“A creature like you would have been dropped instantly.”
In that instant, it felt as if her heart had plummeted. It felt as if the entire world had ground to a halt.
The thumping, pounding sound of her heartbeat was the sound of Eun-oh’s world shattering to pieces.
Eun-oh’s lips trembled violently.
“Your Majesty…….”
“The only reason you became Queen was because you were simply the best of the remaining lot.”
Jinpyeong spat out each word deliberately.
“It means you are nothing more than a placeholder to fill the seat.”
As Jinpyeong pushed Eun-oh’s shoulder, her frail body staggered backward.
It was obvious that if the eunuch behind her had not caught her, she would have collapsed right there. Her entire body shook like an aspen leaf from the successive shocks.
“It seems you mistakenly thought you were on the same level as that woman.”
Jinpyeong shook his head, mocking her openly.
“You were utterly vulgar yesterday.”
With that single remark, Eun-oh was completely broken.
All the effort, expectation, satisfaction, and joy she had poured into the banquet were shattered to pieces. Just like the garment she had torn to shreds with her own hands last night.
Jinpyeong spoke coldly.
“Leave. I have no wish to look at you any longer.”
At the frosty order of dismissal, the eunuchs, who had been standing as if nailed to the spot, slowly approached Eun-oh.
Eun-oh tried to take a step, but her legs gave way, and she sank to the floor. Hot tears dropped down her cheeks one after another.
“Your Majesty…….”
“What are you all doing? Drag her out at once!”
At the thundering command, the eunuchs carefully took hold of both of Eun-oh’s arms.
“Let go! I will walk on my own.”
Eun-oh shook off their hands and stood up. This was her final shred of pride.
Eun-oh took one painful step after another. With every stride, tears fell like melting candle wax.
When she stepped outside, the sun, now fully risen in the sky, shone upon her face. Confronted by a light so bright it made her vision flash white, Eun-oh’s face gradually distorted.
‘A placeholder.’
He said she did not even know her place. That she was not even on the same level as Lee Yeon.
“……Ugh.”
Unable to swallow her breath any longer, Eun-oh clutched her chest.
‘If that woman had advanced to the Gantaek, a creature like you would have been dropped instantly.’
She was humiliated by comparison,
‘It means you are nothing more than a placeholder to fill the seat.’
Her very existence was denied,
‘You were utterly vulgar yesterday.’
And she was despised right in front of the eunuchs.
Eun-oh felt her entire body being shattered into pieces. And from that, only one thing remained.
A venomous hatred, that single thing alone.

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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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