Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 60

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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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60.
When Chae Eun-oh returned to the Queen’s Palace, everyone welcomed her with expressions of profound relief. They had fully expected her to face severe punishment.
“Your Highness…!”
Court Lady Shin greeted her, her face pale with illness. Suppressing a cough, she bowed her head deeply.
“I am truly relieved you returned safely. Please, hurry inside…”
“Everyone, withdraw.”
Chae Eun-oh pushed past the Palace Attendants and stepped into her room. The attendants exchanged bewildered glances as they watched her open the door and enter by herself.
“Pardon?”
“Both Seokban and the morning meal are finished, so until I call for you, no one is to enter!”
Bang!
As the door slammed shut, the Palace Attendants recoiled in shock and scurried away like a flock of frightened chicks.
Court Lady Shin also stared at the closed door with a flustered expression. Yet, in a way, she felt relieved.
At least the lightning had not struck.
“Go and attend to your duties.”
Court Lady Shin said, sweeping her gaze over the Palace Attendants to bring silence to the front of the Queen’s quarters.
But they did not know. The fact that lightning had not struck right now was actually a far graver matter. This moment was truly the calm before the storm.
And the only person who knew that stood rooted on one side of the room, having dismissed everyone.
‘What should I do?’
Chae Eun-oh bit her lip.
She could not comprehend how things had turned out this way. It made no sense to her how the situation had devolved so completely.
It had been a mistake to recklessly storm into the Grand Hall. She knew she should not have gone there. But if she hadn’t, she felt as though she would have burst from sheer frustration.
‘I only… I only wanted to know why he calls for Lee Yeon so easily.’
Living within the same palace walls, she herself could barely catch a glimpse of the Imperial Countenance, yet Lee Yeon, who lived outside the palace, had not only shared a meal with the King but had also met with him repeatedly. It made her so envious. It infuriated her.
So, she had gone there determined to finally confront the matter this time, only to hear something completely unexpected on the spot.
‘Father… practiced usury?’
That was not merely something forbidden by Jinpyeong’s order. Ever since this nation was founded, usury had been strictly outlawed.
It was a supreme law intended to prevent individuals and households from being ruined by debt, decreeing that no one should lend money privately or reap unjust profits.
Above all, usury was something a person holding public office must absolutely never touch, so she could not understand why her father had done such a thing.
‘Moreover, a man who is the Gukgu.’
Chae Eun-oh could swear. She could state it on everything she possessed. She had known absolutely nothing about it and had no involvement whatsoever.
But no matter how much she claimed ignorance, would anyone actually believe her?
‘They will surely think the Chae Clan used the Queen as a shield to line their own pockets.’
Even if it was something that occurred before she became Queen, it was still a major problem. It was obvious rumors would spread that she should never have been allowed to participate in the Gantaek in the first place. Either way, she was the daughter of a criminal.
The bewildering reality was that her best option now was to pray she would not be dragged down with him.
‘Besides, I couldn’t even speak about that girl.’
Lee Yeon was not the issue. The true obstacle was not Lee Yeon, but the woman named Hong Ran whom she had brought along.
‘How could he bring a woman in like that?’
It was said that all palace maids belonged to the King. She knew that well enough. But that woman was a complete outsider who did not even wear the attire of a palace maid.
‘How could he place someone like that, whose background is entirely unknown…’
By his side?
Chae Eun-oh was still reeling from the repeated shocks of how Jinpyeong had acted earlier.
Jinpyeong had moved that woman behind his back as if to protect her from Chae Eun-oh. He had shielded her from view with his own body. That was not all.
‘He completely ignored me.’
He had not answered a single word she said. He acted as though her voice could not be heard—no, as though she were not even present in the room.
It was an explicit insult and a blatant disregard.
‘No, now is not the time to think about that.’
Though her insides boiled with rage, and her face burned with jealousy and humiliation, that was not the priority right now.
‘How do I resolve this situation?’
She desperately hoped that Lee Yeon and the Grand Prince were barkings up the wrong tree, but they claimed to have a witness, and above all, Chae Eun-oh herself lacked confidence.
She had absolutely no idea what her father did, whom he met, what they discussed, or what they exchanged.
She only knew that their household was always teeming with guests, wealth was always overflowing, and her father’s laughter never ceased.
Chae Eun-oh bit her lip tightly.
“…This is absurd.”
It was just today that her father had granted her an audience. Even though she had refused him multiple times—saying she was ill, exhausted, and running a fever, so it would be difficult to meet and that they should see each other next time—he had stubbornly barged in anyway and turned her stomach inside out.
‘Is that something to brag about?’
Chae Eun-oh clutched at her chest.
Her heart throbbed with pain.
‘Is it such a grand triumph to shout about, when I have yet to fulfill the greatest duty a woman can perform?’
Her heart ached as if pricked repeatedly by a red-hot skewer. The heat that had not yet subsided flushed her face.
‘All I had to do was bathe, dress lightly, and just sit there… To think that failing at that one single task has brought things to this pass. Truly—.’
“It is disastrous, Father.”
Chae Eun-oh murmured.
Chae Mun had always been a man who directed, commanded, and enforced control. It was taken entirely for granted that she should excel, and if she fell short of his expectations, he would reprimand her with a chilling severity that felt as though it were tearing her heart apart, just like this time.
Not once had she heard him say it was alright, or praise her for her hard work and doing well.
‘Even now, when I have become Queen.’
He was a man who would not even bat an eye if she screamed at him for daring to reprimand the Queen.
To Chae Eun-oh, Chae Mun was the one who had created her, shackled her, and protected her. And now, she was placed in a position where she had to protect him.
Chae Eun-oh wiped her dry face with her hands.
‘I cannot allow myself to fall because of my father’s sins.’
She swore she did not even know of the existence of the woman named Hong Ran, nor did she know that her father was the mastermind behind the person who tried to kill her.
She had absolutely nothing to do with it, so she could not allow herself to be strung along with him like a bunch of fish.
‘Even so, I must protect him for now.’
Even though she had heard to her face that she was a woman who had failed to achieve consummation and could not fulfill her role as a wife, to Chae Eun-oh, Chae Mun was the pillar supporting the family.
He was a commander who demanded only duty without love, spending a lifetime comparing her to others and belittling her, yet he was still someone she had to protect.
For the sake of the family.
“Ha…”
A laugh escaped her lips. Tears welled up. It was utterly absurd.
It was absurd that the ruin of their family was due to Chae Mun’s sins and not her own fault, it was absurd that she had to somehow protect the man who had belittled her all her life, and it was absurd that she would inevitably suffer damage because of his crimes.
‘But… even if Father did such a thing, there is no way he would have exposed his face.’
Even if he had, he would have concealed his face or sent someone else in his stead. This was undoubtedly a ploy meant to shake the Chae Clan.
She had to think that way. She had to believe it. Thinking so eased her mind just a tiny fraction.
Chae Eun-oh slowly exhaled.
‘If that is the case, can I not just capture and eliminate that witness?’
That would indeed be the cleanest method. However, practically speaking, it was also a difficult task.
‘If only my access to funds hadn’t been cut off, I would have used any means necessary.’
Not long ago, by Royal Decree, the Queen’s Palace had been completely forbidden from making expenditures and leaving the premises.
Defying that and going out just earlier had already been the second time, so she had to lie low now.
“Tsk.”
The sound of clicking her tongue slipped out involuntarily.
To have her hands tied at such a critical juncture of all times made her stomach feel twisted.
‘If only I could at least pass this news along to Father.’
Or was it already too late?
Chae Eun-oh recalled the moment earlier when Jinpyeong had ordered a thorough search of the Chae Clan. Her heart sank belatedly. She grew terrified that this might actually lead to the total ruin of her family.
‘If it comes to that, I will have to sever ties completely. There will be no more benefits to reap, nor any more need to humor him.’
Meanwhile, her father’s matter was one thing, but the woman the King had brought in was also a massive boulder weighing on her mind.
Chae Eun-oh contemplated for a moment before turning her head.
“Is anyone outside?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Court Lady Shin’s voice was heard. Her voice was still rasping and cracked, which was quite grating to hear.
Without showing her displeasure, Chae Eun-oh commanded from beyond the door.
“Investigate the woman the King brought in. And bring her to me immediately.”
In her heart, she wanted to claw the woman’s face so badly that she wouldn’t even be able to show it, but doing so would completely alienate her from Jinpyeong’s favor, so she had no intention of acting rashly.
‘For now.’
Scouting her out came first.
To see what made her different from herself, what it was that she lacked which had bewitched Jinpyeong’s eyes, and—
‘Whether to eliminate her or win her over.’
Since she had entered this palace, the Grand Prince and the Grand Princess Consort would not be able to protect her over there.
If she wished to preserve her life, she would have to choose her shadow wisely.

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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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