Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 45

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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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45.
Hong Ran’s small hands firmly supported Lee Yeon. Regardless of whether her clothes got wet in the mud, she knelt straight down in the courtyard and held onto Lee Yeon.
“Lean on me and stand up, My Lady!”
She had an expression as if she didn’t even realize she was calling Lee Yeon “My Lady.” Hong Ran carefully grabbed Lee Yeon by the waist and slowly raised her up.
With her help, Lee Yeon placed the soles of her feet on the ground once more. Her knees still trembled and threatened to buckle, but she clenched her teeth and endured.
Right now, only one thing occupied Lee Yeon’s mind.
‘I will never kneel before Jinpyeong again.’
Ludicrously enough, that was it.
Setting Chae Eun-oh aside, she didn’t want to kneel before Jinpyeong of all people. Even if it meant collapsing.
Lee Yeon offered her greeting in a fading voice.
“I greet Your Majesty.”
Only then did Hong Ran snap her head up.
“Your Maj……!”
Her face turned pale. Seeing the ruler of this country standing right before her eyes, she looked completely dazed.
The moment she saw Lee Yeon collapsing, her body had instinctively moved faster than her mind.
Hong Ran plopped down on her knees on the ground and said in a voice as tiny as a mosquito.
“I, I greet Your Majesty.”
Unable to even lift her head out of fear, she stared down at the messily trampled courtyard floor.
And Jinpyeong did not take his eyes off Hong Ran.
‘What do I do, what do I do…….’
She bowed her head, but she could feel his gaze. At the glare that seemed to pierce the back of her head, Hong Ran needlessly tore at the hem of her skirt.
‘He will surely be furious.’
He was a terrifying person. The moment he appeared here, the flow of the air changed. People knelt all at once and bowed their heads. It was an overwhelming pressure that made one not dare to look up.
Furthermore, how was his voice, and how were the words he spoke to the Queen?
It was a sharp awl and a sheet of ice. It was difficult to even imagine such words being hurled at herself.
‘If I heard such words, I would surely die.’
This heart of hers would stop right then and there.
Hong Ran newly thought that the people living in this palace were truly remarkable. If it were her, she wouldn’t have lasted a single day.
However, she was grateful. She was thankful that such a great and high personage had saved Lee Yeon.
‘If Your Majesty hadn’t come, Lady Lee Yeon would still be receiving punishment on that muddy ground.’
Because Lee Yeon sat so upright, she admired her incredible willpower, yet she felt an infinite sense of helplessness at her own inability to help.
But to faint, to lose consciousness—her heart ached thinking about how heartbroken Jinyul and Seo Yeo-ro would be if they found out about this.
‘Your Majesty saved Lady Lee Yeon and gave Her Highness the Queen a proper scolding.’
In truth, Hong Ran resented Jinpyeong a little. No, to be honest, it wasn’t a little, but very much so.
‘Because…….’
Had he not tried to make Lee Yeon a concubine? Had the Royal Family not issued a Royal Edict stating they would not recognize Lee Yeon as the Grand Prince’s wife?
Because of that matter, the entire Seo Family Residence, let alone the Capital City, was turned upside down. All the servants wept bitterly.
‘If the Grand Prince hadn’t used a method…….’
If he hadn’t, Lee Yeon would have invariably ended up as a mere concubine. But now, mysteriously and gratefully, he had saved Lee Yeon.
Therefore, to Hong Ran, at least at this very moment, Jinpyeong was a benefactor. He was a righteous man who reached out his hand to Lee Yeon and herself when they were in distress.
Her gratitude for bringing this situation to an end, and an even greater admiration than that, was revealed without filter on her honest face.
‘I’m glad His Majesty came.’
Without thinking, Hong Ran lifted her head. Instantly, her eyes met Jinpyeong’s, who had been watching her all this time.
“……!”
Hong Ran couldn’t even blink. She couldn’t tell if time had stopped or if her own heart had stopped.
Though her heart trembled at the fact that she dared to meet the eyes of the King, she couldn’t lower her head.
Sitting slumped on the ground, staring blankly up at Jinpyeong, all sorts of thoughts flashed through Hong Ran’s mind.
‘Why?’
Why is he looking at me like that? Why doesn’t he turn his eyes away from me?
Belatedly, fear struck her, and Hong Ran bowed her head deeply, crying out.
“I, I beg your forgiveness.”
At the slender voice, Jinpyeong turned his body completely.
Step, step. The booted feet walking across the stone ground stopped right in front of the courtyard.
And,
“Y-Your Majesty!”
The eunuchs called out to Jinpyeong in utter dismay. This was because Jinpyeong pushed back his Dragon Robe and slowly bent his knees to sit down.
Jinpyeong asked the flustered Hong Ran.
“What is it that you are sorry for?”
“I, I looked up at Your Majesty’s Dragon Throne, and…….”
Hong Ran answered in a trembling voice.
“In my confusion, I couldn’t even offer a proper greeting.”
Though trembling violently, Hong Ran resolutely continued her words.
Jinpyeong looked at her prostrate on the ground, then slowly rose from his spot.
“What sin is it for a subject to look upon my face? Do not mind it.”
In that instant, the Palace Attendants of the Queen’s Palace and the eunuchs of the Grand Hall simultaneously doubted their ears. Lee Yeon and Chae Eun-oh, who were standing anxiously next to Hong Ran, were the same.
‘Do not mind it?’
He forgave her. That King, Jinpyeong.
Lee Yeon was literally dumbfounded. She couldn’t understand what kind of flow this was at all.
‘For Jinpyeong to bend his knees and sit before Hong Ran.’
It was a scene that simply couldn’t be believed. Chae Eun-oh was just as surprised as Lee Yeon, if not more.
To speak such harsh words to her without a second thought, yet to speak so softly to a mere girl like that—a thousand fires belatedly flared up inside her.
Meanwhile, Jinpyeong found it difficult to take his eyes off Hong Ran.
‘Why.’
It wasn’t merely because she was an outsider.
‘Then is it because she is the servant of Lee Yeon of the Seo Family?’
Did he feel a desire to make even Lee Yeon’s things his own, just as he wanted to strip away everything that belonged to Jinyul?
Bringing her all the way to this palace meant that Lee Yeon cherished that child considerably.
But Jinpyeong shook his head inwardly.
‘No.’
It wasn’t that either. Just that child herself was refreshing.
The eyes that looked at him in this palace were always the same.
‘Fear and dread, eyes that compare me to that bastard, eyes that criticize, eyes that evaluate.’
Everyone constantly compared him to Jinyul.
They silently condemned him for sitting on the Dragon Throne that should have originally been Jinyul’s place, and while pretending to listen on the surface, they mocked him behind his back.
‘But…….’
This person was different.
In those black eyes, like smooth pebbles, only pure admiration, gratitude, and thankfulness for his goodwill were contained.
Without any greed, schemes, or desires, they were just pure eyes.
Only then did Jinpyeong realize. He wanted to possess those eyes.
“Then, let me hear your greeting.”
Hong Ran looked up at him with startled eyes. Then, as the eunuch standing nearby glared at her, she hastily bowed her head and rose from her spot.
Rustle, rustle. The mud that had been clinging to the skirt of her dress fell to the ground.
“I, I am called Hong Ran.”
Hong Ran’s gaze reached Lee Yeon. A warm smile immediately graced the lips that had been frozen with tension.
“I am relying upon Lady Lee Yeon, no, Her Highness the Grand Princess Consort.”
“Hong Ran.”
Jinpyeong murmured softly.
In that brief moment when he saw Hong Ran looking warmly at Lee Yeon, he somehow felt a sense of starvation. It bothered him immensely that the eyes which had been looking up at him were now looking at someone else.
She wasn’t even his person to begin with.
It was then.
“Your Majesty.”
Chae Eun-oh walked over resolutely.
“Did you not come here to see me? Why—.”
“I did not come to see you.”
Jinpyeong snapped shortly.
At the temperature of his words, which was entirely different from a moment ago, the Palace Attendants shut their mouths and bowed their heads.
Jinpyeong clicked his tongue. He was quite displeased that this moment had been interrupted by Chae Eun-oh. Jinpyeong deliberately turned away from Chae Eun-oh and looked straight at Lee Yeon.
“Hear me, Grand Princess Consort.”
Lee Yeon gathered her hands and replied politely.
“I await Your Majesty’s words.”
“Follow me along with your servant. We shall go to the Grand Hall together.”
Lee Yeon’s eyes widened.
‘Along with Hong Ran?’
Hong Ran was looking back and forth between Lee Yeon and Jinpyeong with an expression of not knowing the reason.
Chae Eun-oh, who was biting her lip, also took a step forward in dismay.
“Your Majesty, however—.”
“Queen.”
Jinpyeong said without even turning his head.
“This is not a place for you to interject right now.”
Chae Eun-oh’s face turned white. But with an expression that she couldn’t back down, she spoke again.
“However, Your Majesty, the Grand Princess Consort has a prior appointment with me. It was also I who brought her into this palace.”
“Then wait.”
Jinpyeong replied shortly, glancing at Chae Eun-oh.
“I shall send her back before four Shijin. Ah, would that be too late? Then you can just call for her again next time.”
Snickering mockingly, he turned around. As he gestured to the eunuchs, they approached Lee Yeon and Hong Ran and whispered something.
Chae Eun-oh stared blankly at his retreating back as he walked away without a single shred of hesitation, and became certain.
‘It’s Lee Yeon…… again.’
The King had not come to see her. He had come to save Lee Yeon. And even now, he was snatching Lee Yeon out of her grasp and moving her to a safe place.
That servant must be nothing more than a pawn to be used.
Chae Eun-oh glared with terrifying eyes at Lee Yeon, who was following behind the King.
‘Lee Yeon……!’
She felt like she would die from pure vexation. Her chest was so full of resentment that she couldn’t bear it.
Chae Eun-oh closed her eyes tightly and let out a furious scream with all her might.

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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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