Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 67

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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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67.
The palace attendants moved with haste.
While there were very few personal items in Hong Ran’s quarters, the luggage to be moved was not small in amount.
Inside Geonhwijeon, there were exclusively the King’s possessions. The bed he used, the stools, the chairs, the basin for presenting washwater—everything belonged solely to the King. The items in Yeongsongjae were no different.
No matter how favored a woman was, it was an absolute rule that she could not dare to share the King’s belongings, so under the direction of the Sangseon, the items were being diligently moved.
“But is it even proper for a woman to reside in Yeongsongjae?”
“What choice is there? It is a supreme order, so we have no option but to follow it. Eunuch Seong says his mind goes blank just thinking about how the royal appeals will flood in even more now.”
Even at this moment, it was said that inside Seohwigak, the royal appeals were not merely piling up but forming a veritable wall.
Reading all those numerous memorials was Jinpyeong’s task, but carrying the heavy scrolls all the way to the Grand Hall was the duty of the eunuchs. As work piled up layer upon layer in every direction, the palace attendants quickened their pace.
Meanwhile, there were palace attendants who were watching this whole scene unfold.
“…….”
They were the palace attendants belonging to Daehee Palace.
They watched the spectacle with expressions that could not be described.
One of the palace maids cautiously looked up at Court Lady Shin.
“Your Highness…….”
She had to report it.
She had to report that all of Hong Ran’s belongings were being moved to Yeongsongjae, but the words would not easily leave her lips. It was only natural.
‘How furious will she be when she finds out about this?’
Even before that, she dreaded what kind of thunderous wrath would fall upon them.
A cold wind had already blown through just because they failed to bring Hong Ran before the Queen, so it was impossible to fathom what her expression would become upon hearing that the woman was now staying completely under the King’s shadow.
‘But it must be conveyed.’
As if making up her mind, Court Lady Shin turned around, her expression hardening stiffly.
“Let us go.”
* * *
Crash!
At the ruthless sweep of a hand, the powder compacts that had been neatly arranged on top of the dressing table tumbled mercilessly onto the wooden floor.
Finely colored powder and cotton cloths scattered in all directions, but the palace attendants silently bowed their heads. No one was surprised anymore.
“Say that again.”
Eunoh pulled at the cotton cloth tightly gripped in her hands as if she would tear it apart.
“Who is entering where to live?”
“……We beg your forgiveness.”
It was only a short while ago that she had been told that if she laid a finger on Hong Ran, she should expect her residence to be moved to Yeonghangung.
To feel insulted and shocked to the point of barely being able to steady her body from that alone was one thing, but now she was hearing that Hong Ran was going to reside within the very same walls as him.
Unable to contain her rage, Eunoh kicked a powder compact with her foot.
“How!”
Eunoh shrieked.
“How can he do this to me? How!”
The situation was such that he barely glanced at his lawful wife, ignoring her completely, while taking a concubine to live closely by his side. And would he just live with her? He had hidden her thoroughly in a place where her own hands could not reach.
If he had originally been that kind of man, she would not even speak of it. A man who brought a biting north wind and a bloodbath whenever he spoke was now tearing down several layers of court etiquette just to keep that person by his side.
She found it utterly bewildering why he was acting this way, and it made her blood boil with resentment.
“While ignoring and insulting me like this, why, why……!”
She wanted to go to him and demand answers. She wanted to ask the reason for this resentment, sorrow, and contempt. Why do you not do so for me, why are you so cold to me? If you intended to insult me, is this not already more than enough?
“Your Highness.”
Court Lady Shin spoke, carefully examining Eunoh’s face.
“Your mind must be troubled, but please remember what was told to you previously.”
“…….”
What was told previously referred to the words the King had spoken while shielding Hong Ran with his back.
‘If anyone attempts to harm this child, from that day forth, the Queen’s quarters will not be the Queen’s Palace, but Yeonghangung.’
Yeonghangung was a desolate space located at the outermost edge of the inner court. In rank it was a palace, but in reality, it was no different from an isolated confinement.
If the Queen’s residence were moved there, everyone within and outside the court would instantly know her plight.
‘Even without that, Father is already in such a predicament…… and the rumors within the palace are sinister.’
By now, the fact that she had never received the Royal Grace even once had spread to the point that there was no one who did not know. In such a situation, the King had brought in a new woman and placed her residence right near his own bedchamber.
What this signified was clear.
‘His Majesty has abandoned me.’
No, did he ever have her to begin with?
Eunoh’s eyes sank coldly. The blood that had boiled hotly gradually began to cool.
After a long silence, Eunoh parted her lips.
“……Court Lady Shin.”
“Command me, Your Highness.”
As Court Lady Shin bowed her head, Eunoh waved her hand. It was a sign for the other palace attendants to withdraw.
When the attendants hesitated slightly, Court Lady Shin gestured with her eyes for them to leave quickly.
Before long, inside the room that had fallen silent with everyone gone, Eunoh slowly raised her head.
“Has His Majesty taken that person?”
“That is not the case.”
Court Lady Shin spoke calmly.
“That woman stayed at Unchaeheon and moved her quarters today by the order of the King.”
“If so.”
Eunoh muttered.
“If so, there is no knowing what will happen starting tonight.”
The two of them were to spend the night under a single roof. The King showed no desire for her, but there was no knowing how he would act toward that woman.
Suddenly, the look in Jinpyeong’s eyes as he stared at Lee Yeon during her own celebration banquet flashed through Eunoh’s mind.
In those eyes that could barely tear themselves away from her, there lingered regret, desire, and a craving that was difficult to put into words.
‘If he is showing that same kind of obsession toward that woman.’
Not only would her own position be jeopardized, but this seat might very well be handed over to that woman.
Eunoh’s lips twisted.
‘……I have not gained a single thing.’
Lee Yeon met a good husband and was enjoying love and freedom, while that woman gained the King’s attention and came to live in the palace, a fate she never should have had.
And Jinpyeong.
‘He has it all.’
The noble and supreme throne of the King, the authority to manipulate ten thousand people at will, and even the power to take whomever he pleased to his heart’s content.
‘If that is the case, I shall naturally stand against him.’
Eunoh turned her head to look straight at Court Lady Shin.
“Obtain an infertility drug.”
Court Lady Shin’s complexion changed slightly. Her thin lips trembled faintly.
“A drug…… you say?”
“There is no way for me to stop the King from taking a woman. However, there must be a way to block that person’s womb.”
The corners of Eunoh’s mouth lifted faintly.
“Even if seed is sown, it will be of no use on a rocky field. If that happens, he will soon lose interest in that woman. Since he has learned the pleasure of holding a woman, he will think of me then.”
Do I love the King, do I adore him? Is this heart purely a romantic affection?
Eunoh could not provide an answer to that herself. It was not a simple, rose-colored emotion like love, adoration, or romantic affection.
‘I adored him, admired him, and longed for him.’
When living outside the palace, it had blindly been so. In a way, she might have yearned for the position of Queen even more than the King himself. Without knowing that this seat was such a bed of thorns.
‘And now…….’
What is left for me?
She could not say that what remained at the very bottom was simply romantic affection. But whether it was romantic affection or love-hate, she had to be held by the King.
‘If I conceive a royal descendant, I can prove my value of existence.’
There was only the humiliating fact that she had been rejected since the bridal night, the fact that her father, who supported the clan, was in a position to enter the interrogation ground, and the situation where even this seat might be snatched away.
All of it had absolutely nothing to do with her own will, completely out of her reach.
‘Rather than being swayed by the surrounding circumstances, it would be less regrettable if I move myself.’
Eunoh commanded Court Lady Shin clearly.
“Obtain the drug in the near future and bring it to me.”
No matter how many times he held her and held her, she intended to sever it so there would not be a single result.
‘When she finds out that menstruation has vanished from her body, what kind of face will that wench make?’
Furthermore, what kind of reaction would the King show?
She was already looking forward to that moment.
“Since nothing has gone according to my will, nothing you desire should go according to your path either.”
Eunoh snatched up the cloth she was tightly gripping and flung it to the floor.
Her red lips twisted crinkly, like the wrinkles in the cloth.
‘Indeed, why did you make me this venomous?’
If you had loved me even a handful, it would not have come to this point.
Is that not so, Your Majesty?

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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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