Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 42

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

42.
Lee Yeon pulled back the silk blind hanging over the window and looked out of the palanquin.
Her past before her death drifted through her mind like an old dream.
‘It is a familiar sight.’
Though it was a path she had traveled only once before her regression, it was all too familiar. It had to be. For it was the very road that brought back memories of the private residence she had yearned for until the day she died from the poisonous drink.
‘How desperately I missed it.’
Tracing the path back from the palace to the private residence meant this was the exact road leading from the private residence to the palace.
Lee Yeon had walked this road hundreds, thousands of times in her imagination. To tread upon it now in reality could not help but stir deep emotions within her.
The swaying of the palanquin, the sound of tree branches brushing against the roof, even the breathing of the palanquin bearers—everything felt entirely fresh.
Just then, the sound of pattering footsteps echoed from outside.
“Miss, are you alright? Oh, oops!”
Walking at a brisk pace beside the palanquin, Hong Ran hastily slapped her own mouth.
“From now on, I won’t forget to call you Grand Princess Consort. I’ll bite my tongue and correct myself!”
“Stop hitting your lips. At this rate, someone might mistake them for pollock roe and try to eat them.”
“Oh my, Grand— I mean, my Lady, how can you joke right now? I’m practically dying of nervousness.”
Hong Ran said, thumping her chest with her fist.
“I never imagined I’d ever set foot in the palace in my entire life. Thanks to you, my Lady, I’m getting to experience so many truly precious things.”
Trembling, excitement, fear, and anticipation could all be heard in Hong Ran’s voice. As those emotions tangled together, her eyes sparkled brightly.
Gradually, the surrounding scenery shifted, and both the passing crowds and the buildings began to vanish. Hong Ran looked like someone who had stepped into a completely different world.
She stared blankly, utterly spellbound by the golden eaves of the royal palace drawing closer by the moment. The second she caught sight of the soldiers guarding the towering walls, she held her breath and swallowed hard.
With a different set of feelings from Hong Ran, Lee Yeon also steadied her breathing.
‘It was that wall.’
To her, those were not mere walls and gates. It was a barrier steeped in her past screams and despair, a gate where her death had been decided.
The Queen’s Palace lay in the deepest depths of the deep royal palace. Before her regression, the king had locked her away in that completely enclosed place and set guards over her. The sky above that spot was always trapped within a square frame.
‘How intensely I craved the world beyond it.’
Her father had scattered countless fortunes to divert the gaze of the watchers, and Jinyul had risked his life to rush to her side, gripping her hand to help her scale that very wall. But then—.
“We need to verify your identity.”
Lee Yeon lifted her head at the polite voice. Beyond the window, she could see the red attire of a guard. It was armor as crimson as blood.
‘But then—.’
She had been captured by those wearing that very uniform and dragged before the king. And the king had grabbed her by the hair.
Yet things were different now.
‘That will never happen again.’
Therefore, she did not tremble.
Lee Yeon drew back the silk blind and handed the letter she had kept by her side to the guard. After verifying her status as the Grand Princess Consort and the emblem of the queen, the soldier bowed his head deeply and spoke.
“I greet the Grand Princess Consort. We must ask for your understanding, as you must step down from the palanquin and proceed on foot from this point onward.”
Lee Yeon nodded and disembarked from the palanquin.
The moment her feet touched the ground, a rush of reality washed over her. The chilly wind of early spring gently brushed against her cheek. Hong Ran carefully approached her and meticulously smoothed out the creases in her skirt.
Creak—
A moment later, the great gate of the palace swung open to both sides with a faint groan. Lee Yeon gazed at the familiar scenery unfolding beyond it with a complex look in her eyes.
The splendid vista of the palace came into view. She could also see the palace attendants hurrying about with quick, short steps.
‘I never expected to enter this place like this.’
Though she had firmly resolved never to return, she was ultimately opening this gate and stepping inside.
Just as she was about to take a step forward into that domain, Hong Ran surreptitiously pressed something into her hand. Glancing down at her palm, Lee Yeon looked up at Hong Ran with slightly startled eyes.
“This is…”
It was a sky-blue mirror engraved with a plum blossom pattern—a keepsake left behind by her mother. In her frantic state before leaving, she had forgotten to pack it, which had been weighing heavily on her mind, but Hong Ran had brought it along.
Hong Ran offered a silly grin.
“I figured you had forgotten it, so I made sure to grab it.”
The reason she had rushed back to the room right before they departed, saying she had to check on something, was to retrieve this very item.
“Thank you.”
Out of sheer gratitude, Lee Yeon patted Hong Ran’s head a few times before resuming her stride.
She already knew exactly where to go. For the interior of the palace was as familiar to her as the back of her own hand.
* * *
Meanwhile, Jinpyeong, who was idly reviewing royal appeals in the Grand Hall, raised his head at the Sangseon’s words.
“What did you say?”
With his usual composed expression, the Sangseon repeated the exact same report.
“I informed you that the Grand Princess Consort has entered the palace, Your Majesty.”
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped Jinpyeong’s lips.
While he had been agonizing over how to lure Lee Yeon into the palace, she had walked right in on her own two feet.
Without bothering to hide the upward curve of his lips, Jinpyeong inquired.
“For what purpose?”
“I am told Her Majesty the Queen summoned the Grand Princess Consort to join her for a tea discussion.”
“The queen?”
Jinpyeong twisted his lips into a smirk.
He did not even need to see it to know what her intentions were. After suffering such humiliation at the banquet, she had been told straight to her face that she was merely a substitute for Seo Yeon.
Having endured such ignominy, her feelings toward Lee Yeon could hardly be pleasant.
‘It is as transparent as day.’
Though they called each other friends, the queen was likely nothing more than an ordinary young lady who harbored deep jealousy toward Seo Yeon. She must have summoned her to flaunt the fact that she had trampled over her to become the mother of the nation.
‘With a disposition like hers, that jealousy must be engraved into her very marrow.’
In short, she was using her as a target to vent her anger. It made him shake his head in disdain to think that the woman acting as the mother of the country could be so utterly petty.
“Even so.”
Jinpyeong slowly stroked his chin.
“The queen has finally done her job for once.”
This was an unexpected harvest.
Ordinarily, he would have dismissed it as pathetic, but this time the circumstances were slightly different. No matter the reason, she had successfully brought Seo Yeon within the walls of this royal palace.
Since she had accomplished exactly what he had intended to do, it spared him a great deal of trouble.
‘To think that foolish creature could actually be of use.’
Jinpyeong pushed the mountain of royal appeals to one side and called out to the Sangseon.
“Order them to prepare the evening meal for three people. I shall head to the Queen’s Palace once my afternoon duties are concluded.”
The Sangseon’s eyes widened in surprise at the command to prepare an evening meal for three. However, he quickly mastered his expression and bowed his head deeply.
‘He has not set foot in the Queen’s Palace even once since the Gantaek.’
The Sangseon was well aware of the rumors circulating within the palace walls.
Jinpyeong must have been aware of those rumors as well—the whispers that the king never visited the queen. Yet, a man who had never once crossed the threshold of the Queen’s Palace was not only going there now, but had even ordered an evening meal to be prepared for three.
‘His steps toward the Queen’s Palace… are not driven by a desire to see Her Majesty, but surely because of that other lady.’
The situation was profoundly heavy with meaning. Nevertheless, the Sangseon offered no objection and answered respectfully.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I shall have it prepared.”
Through the crack of the closing door, the Sangseon caught a final glimpse of the king. A sinister smile hung upon the lips of the man rising from his seat.
‘Your Highness.’
The title murmured by the Sangseon did not refer to the king standing before his eyes.
He swallowed a sigh as he recalled his former master, who had already departed from this world.
‘I truly do not know what this world is coming to.’
The one who rightfully should have become king had left the Capital City to wander like the wind, while a man utterly unfit to sit upon the Jade Throne occupied that seat, harboring thoughts that defied all righteousness.
The Sangseon commanded the eunuchs to hasten the preparations for the king’s departure, then looked up at the sky.
“It seems a wind is about to blow through the palace once again.”
Only this time, it would be a scorching wind, entirely different in nature from before.

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