Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 4

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

4.
Lee Yeon took a few steps before glancing back. Chohee was staring down at her empty pouch with a gloomy expression.
Feigning ignorance, Lee Yeon leaned closer to Jain.
“Jain. Bring those two to our house later. Discreetly.”
“Just the two of them?”
“There should be one more. That man’s sister. Keep it a secret for now.”
It was a thought that had firmly taken root in her mind the moment she witnessed that scene in the marketplace.
‘I cannot leave Hong Ran in a place like that.’
The loan shark wouldn’t show his face for the time being because of her threat—or rather, semi-threat—but his greed wouldn’t remain suppressed forever. He would inevitably seek them out again, eager to lay his hands on a large sum of money.
‘He might even resort to kidnapping instead of a mere threat.’
She couldn’t leave them in a place where such a danger was bound to exist.
This was especially true now that she knew they were Hong Ran’s flesh and blood.
“The woman seems very frail, so call a physician as well. Take whatever trinkets you need from my room. Do you understand what I am saying?”
“Yes, My Lady.”
“If anyone asks, tell them I took them in because I needed them. Say I brought them because I coveted the skill of the one who crafted the norigae.”
“Yes.”
Jain answered without a single tremor, completely unfazed by Lee Yeon’s somewhat eccentric and unexpected behavior.
She simply followed Lee Yeon’s orders without question or argument.
‘Unchanging, both then and now.’
Filled with gratitude, Lee Yeon squeezed Jain’s hand tightly before letting go.
As Lee Yeon and Jain whispered in hushed tones, Chohee peeked over, looking curious.
But that was short-lived; as the view ahead turned into a sea of red light, Chohee’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“My Lady, look over there. It is Chwihwaru!”
Lee Yeon stopped in her tracks as well.
Before they knew it, the scenery of the street had transformed. Standing before them now were long rows of poles hung with red lanterns. It was a place that sold wine, songs, stories, and the night, rather than physical goods.
The coquettish laughter of women drifted over the high stone wall. The scent of food, the subtle aroma of cosmetic powder, the thick laughter of courtesans, and even the rowdy clinking of wine glasses.
Jain spoke with a calm face.
“This is the red-light district. It is not a place where you should ever set foot, My Lady. It seems we have taken the wrong path.”
“No, we have come to the right place.”
Lee Yeon spoke calmly as she pulled the ssugaechima that had been resting on her arm over her head.
She knew this was Chwihwaru. She had come here knowing exactly what it was. Because she knew that ‘he’ frequented this place.
‘Does it make any sense for the King’s younger brother to leave his private residence empty and live in a courtesan house?’
‘What does it matter? They are all just houses.’
Jinyul stayed in the palace for a single day at most. From the beginning, his assigned duty was to maintain public order outside the palace, and he wandered the provinces solving problems big and small.
And it was said that he stayed here whenever he occasionally visited the Capital City to report. In this courtesan house, rather than the palace or his private residence.
Jinpyeong had used that as a pretext to reprimand Jinyul, and Jinyul had nonchalantly brushed off the criticism.
‘Thinking back, things must have been truly difficult for him too.’
To evade his half-brother’s wariness, he had volunteered to be his sword and did all sorts of work, yet far from being rewarded for his merits, he had to wander outside the palace to avoid notice.
Lee Yeon marveled anew.
‘In the midst of all that, how did he watch over me?’
Before the Regression, it was Jinyul who had taken the hand of Seo Yeo-ro, who was trying to break Lee Yeon out of the palace through kidnapping.
Even though he knew he would face great disaster if caught, he lent a hand to the matter. And—
‘He died…… before I did.’
He was ruthlessly slaughtered by Jinpyeong’s hands on the charge of treason.
Just then, the laughter drifting from beyond the stone wall shattered Lee Yeon’s reverie. Lee Yeon turned her head slightly.
“Jain. You said father mentioned yesterday that a Geumhonlyeong would soon be issued, correct?”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Jain nodded calmly.
“He said that due to the frequent attacks by monstrous beasts in the southern regions, His Majesty intends to bring in a master for the Queen’s Palace to restore public sentiment and ensure national tranquility. He also mentioned they would prepare for a large-scale subjugation.”
Lee Yeon barely managed to suppress a hollow laugh that threatened to escape.
‘To restore public sentiment and ensure national tranquility, is it?’
What a splendid excuse. The true intention was surely to hold her hostage through Gukhon while simultaneously driving Jinyul into a corner. He intended to seize the leashes of everything that annoyed him all at once.
If that were the case, Jinyul must have been summoned to the Capital City as well. No matter if he was a half-brother, a Grand Prince of the nation failing to attend the King’s wedding would cause all sorts of rumors among both the high and low.
‘However.’
She couldn’t just stand here and wait indefinitely. Moreover, eyes were gradually gathering upon them.
“She must be standing there to catch her husband, right?”
“She looks determined as she keeps watch. The moment he steps out, she looks ready to grab him by the hair.”
“I don’t know who he is, but he’s going to get a proper earful tonight. Out with it, hahahaha.”
As a woman wearing a ssugaechima stood in front of the courtesan house, passersby whispered among themselves, making their own assumptions. Chohee’s head dropped further and further down.
“M-My Lady. Listen to what those people are whispering.”
“I believe it would be best for us to return now. It is getting dark as well.”
“If Daegam-manim finds out that you came all the way out here, he will be greatly shocked. Let us return, My Lady.”
When even Jain spoke up with a serious demeanor, Lee Yeon eventually nodded. She wondered if she had rushed out too recklessly without a proper plan.
‘I do not even know when he will come outside.’
She was certain that the Grand Prince would be here, but she couldn’t just stand and wait in front of this place forever.
And so, it was the very moment she turned around to take a step away.
A boisterous noise grew louder, only to fall silent in an instant. The door to the courtesan house had opened and closed. Then, a voice laced with coquetry was heard.
“Are you leaving already, My Lord? Things are just getting started.”
“The sky is gradually growing dark.”
Lee Yeon’s eyes shook slightly.
‘Hurry and take my hand!’
The image of him offering his hand to her while standing atop the palace wall came vividly to mind. It was that very voice, the one that had firmly grasped her weak hand and called her by the name Lee Yeon for the first and last time.
Following behind the aching memory, a voice full of flirtatiousness trailed after him.
“Oh, My Lord, isn’t this the very place that grows brighter the darker it gets outside?”
The women acted coquettishly and tried to hold onto him again, but the man lightly shook off their hands.
“I happen to prefer the dark over the bright. Doesn’t everyone have different tastes?”
At the gentle yet firm refusal, the women could no longer hold him back, and the man smiled leisurely, promising a next time before moving his feet.
One step, two steps, three steps. The sound of footsteps rounding the stone wall drew closer, and the distance between them gradually narrowed. Strength flooded into Lee Yeon’s fingers as she gripped her jangot. And just as she turned around, as if having made up her mind—
“For the daughter of the Cheongryu Seo Clan.”
A voice drifted down from above her head. It was a low voice that held resonance and a lingering aftertaste.
Lee Yeon lifted her head. And she came face-to-face with the languid gaze of the person who had already approached right in front of her.
“What business could bring you all the way to this place where the red lanterns are lit?”
The person who recognized Lee Yeon precisely, as if the fact that she was covered in a ssugaechima was of absolutely no use, was Jinyul.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————