Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 61

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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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61.
Lee Yeon looked back. The high palace wall, its top invisible even when she tilted her head back for a long time, was grand.
She felt anew that the escape she had tried to pull off before her regression had truly been an absurd notion.
‘How did I ever think of climbing over that high wall?’
It was because she had not known. She had not even had a clue. She had not known it would be that high, nor had she known how many eyes she would have to avoid to flee from the Queen’s Palace to that wall.
Ignorance is bliss, or perhaps fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Those words fit her perfectly before her regression.
‘Then what about these people?’
There were two people who had held her hand even while knowing everything.
Lord Seo and Jinyul—they had helped her escape despite knowing how reckless and nonsensical it was.
They had truly staked their lives on it.
“Lee Yeon?”
Lee Yeon slowly turned her head. Jinyul was gently holding her arm.
“You look exactly like a mother leaving her child behind.”
“……That is not wrong.”
Lee Yeon laughed weakly.
“It feels like leaving a child by the water. Leaving that child behind in this tiger’s den gives me no peace of mind at all.”
“……Is that so.”
“She is still such an innocent and pure child that she cannot even cast off her habit of calling me ‘My Lady.’ I worry she might face a terrible punishment if she happens to make a slip of the tongue.”
“Well, now.”
Jinyul’s tone was a bit strange.
When Lee Yeon tilted her head in confusion and stepped into the palanquin, Jinyul mounted his horse and spoke.
“To my eyes, she does not seem entirely innocent.”
Jinyul pulled the reins and moved alongside the palanquin.
“Did Hong Ran know that Gukgu was Her Majesty the Queen’s father?”
“……Pardon?”
Lee Yeon tilted her head slightly. She could not easily understand what he meant. At that, Jinyul rephrased his words.
“I mean, did she know beforehand that Chae Mun was Her Majesty the Queen’s father?”
“That is—.”
Lee Yeon hesitated for a moment. Then she nodded.
“She must have known. Her Majesty the Queen was famous even before entering the palace.”
“Though people probably gossiped about whether she was a match for my wife or fell short of her.”
Jinyul muttered mischievously and continued.
“If so, she is even further from being innocent. From what I can see, Hong Ran set the stage. I merely helped her.”
“……Pardon?”
Lee Yeon paused and looked at Jinyul. Her expression asked what he meant by setting the stage.
Jinyul slowly urged his horse forward and said,
“When His Majesty raised his sword against those soldiers earlier, do you think he would have actually cut someone down?”
Lee Yeon hesitated for a moment.
Given Jinpyeong’s temperament, he certainly would have struck.
‘Because he is a man who has no hesitation whatsoever when it comes to seeing blood.’
Moreover, since he had been even more enraged by the Queen’s intrusion at that moment, she felt he was more than capable of doing so.
However.
“No.”
He had not struck with his sword right away. He had hesitated, if only for a fraction of a second.
And without missing that gap—
“No way.”
Lee Yeon looked at Jinyul.
“Are you saying Ran broke into tears on purpose? To halt the King’s wrath?”
“She likely saw a step further than that. Do you remember what Hong Ran said at that moment?”
Lee Yeon recalled that time.
The King had raised his sword as if he would cut off someone’s limbs at any moment, and Hong Ran had wept, saying—
“I am scared.”
She had said she was scared.
Jinyul nodded.
“Normally, in that situation, people say they are afraid, not scared. Saying one is scared is an immediate emotional response to an external stimulus. In that situation, it means those words came out because the scenes she had experienced flashed through her mind.”
Lee Yeon slowly nodded.
At a glance, they seemed similar, but they carried different nuances.
Jinyul slowly continued.
“Being afraid is closer to imagination than immediate terror. Just as I was afraid you might forget me because I could not see you for a long time while traveling through the regional government offices.”
“……That is an impossible imagination, so do not be afraid.”
At the sudden remark, Lee Yeon looked at Jinyul with a look of disbelief and spoke.
Jinyul chuckled softly and pulled the reins slightly.
“But Hong Ran used the word ‘scared’ right then and there. Thus, I was able to immediately recall what happened to her when she was kidnapped.”
“Then are you saying Hong Ran deliberately brought up the kidnapping incident to entangle the Queen in her affairs?”
“Could she not take down several people at once?”
Jinyul looked at Lee Yeon, then shifted his gaze to glance toward the palace.
“With the scandalous event of a kidnapping, she piqued Jinpyeong’s curiosity, and she even made him talk about how Chae Mun was behind the person who tried to harm her. She tied the kidnapper, Chae Mun, and the Queen all together. In addition—.”
Jinyul looked back at Lee Yeon.
“She also ensured it was revealed that the people who saved her were none other than you, Lee Yeon, and me. Saying that without your help, she would not have even been able to meet the King.”
Jinyul tilted his head slightly.
“I do not think she is just an ordinary clever person.”
Lee Yeon listened with a surprised expression, then recalled her conversation with Hong Ran.
“Come to think of it…….”
“Hmm?”
Lee Yeon lightly pressed her hand to her head.
“In truth, I confessed to Ran whom I hate and wish to destroy. At first, it was out of a simple heart. Because I absolutely hated that my enemy would become a benefactor to that child. But…….”
Hong Ran already knew. Even though she knew, she had not spoken; she had kept her mouth shut and watched the situation unfold in silence.
“She had already judged not only the flow of my hatred but also the situation within the Royal Family.”
Even the fact that Sangseon did not like Jinpyeong, and that Court Lady Shin of the Queen’s Palace did not hold the Queen in high regard.
“And after only her second visit.”
She had described herself as quick-witted and good at reading people’s minds and emotions, but that was not simply all of it.
She was truly a bright and intelligent child.
“Could it be…….”
Lee Yeon leaned her body against the backrest. The conversations she had shared with Hong Ran thus far rushed back to her one after another.
‘My Lady’s enemy is my enemy.’
‘I am going, My Lady. I will go. I will go there and…… hold out. I will take root well. I will endure and endure somehow—.’
She had said she would endure and endure. That she would find her place and grow well,
‘To help My Lady.’
To help. To repay the kindness.
Lee Yeon tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling.
She did not know what this emotion was. It was an overwhelming yet choking feeling, apologetic yet simultaneously grateful, and a deeply moving sensation.
‘In this life, it is truly…… different.’
The relationship between you and me, our choices, the future we decided upon.
Just then, when she turned her head toward the window, Jinyul came into Lee Yeon’s view. His lips were pouting slightly.
“Are you thinking only of Hong Ran again? When your husband is right here beside you.”
“How could that be.”
Lee Yeon let out a small laugh and reached out through the window. At that, Jinyul tilted his head, held the reins with one hand, and stretched his other hand out toward her.
Lee Yeon smiled as she interlocked her fingers with his hand.
“Having you here makes me feel reassured. I will be less lonely.”
Then Jinyul paused. He thought silently for a moment, then suddenly halted his horse and made the palanquin bearers stop as well. Lee Yeon was flustered.
“What is the matter?”
“Because I do not want to waste any more time.”
He made Lee Yeon step out of the palanquin, then suddenly grabbed her waist and lifted her right up.
“Yu, Yul?!”
Before the utterly shocked Lee Yeon could even gather her wits, Jinyul, who had seated her in front of him, gripped the reins on both sides and kicked the horse’s flanks.
“From this day forward, I will never leave you lonely. All through the day and all through the night.”
If it had been a stroll until just now, it was a sprint now. Terrified, Lee Yeon clung tightly to Jinyul’s chest, but in the end, she burst into laughter.
Her heart was much lighter. She felt much more trustful. Toward Hong Ran, and toward this man.
Lee Yeon clenched her fist tightly and whispered in her heart.
‘I will trust you.’
Because that would be the greatest support I could give you.
To you, who has now become my friend.

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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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