Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 76

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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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76.
Although it was a quiet dawn where no one else had awoken, Hong Ran slowly opened her eyes.
Even though the night had passed, a hazy aroma continued to drift from the incense burner by her bedside. It was a scent that made her entire body listless and relaxed her muscles.
‘……It hurts.’
Hong Ran remained lying still for a while with only her eyes open. Even the slightest movement brought a throbbing ache.
Last night, Jinpyeong had handled her very roughly. Even after confirming that it was the first time for both of them, he had savagely raked through her body without hesitation. When Hong Ran wept and groaned, he behaved even more violently instead. As if commanding her to accept even this.
‘They must have heard everything.’
Her face flushed at the thought that her groans, cries, and ecstatic whimpers must have echoed clearly out into the hallway. It had not been for a brief moment but for nearly the entire night, so she felt terribly embarrassed to face the palace attendants.
Hong Ran tried to push herself up, enduring the pain she felt below her waist.
“It seems you still have some strength left.”
Hong Ran flinched and looked to her side. Jinpyeong, who had been lying beside her naked, was gazing at her expressionless. He reached out and rubbed Hong Ran’s waist.
“You cried quite beautifully.”
“Your Majesty.”
Hong Ran lowered her head. Her face, and even her earlobes, were crimson.
“How could I not have enjoyed it?”
Jinpyeong’s eyes held a strange light. It seemed to amuse him that she neither felt ashamed nor tried to hide it.
“How could you not have enjoyed it…… indeed.”
Jinpyeong’s gaze swept all over Hong Ran’s body.
There was not a single pristine spot on her stark white skin. Marks from where he had bitten her with his teeth littered her arms, shoulders, neckline, waist, and down past her hips.
It was as if he had branded her to mark her as his own.
When Hong Ran covered her front with both arms, her plump breasts pressed together, creating a deep cleavage. Although unintentional, it was a rather seductive sight, and the corners of Jinpyeong’s lips slithered upward.
“If you were that satisfied, it cannot be helped.”
As his hand slid down abruptly, Hong Ran, trapped within his embrace, trembled violently. Just as Jinpyeong was about to take her into his arms once more, thinking that her body was exceedingly sensitive and gratifying—
“Your Majesty.”
Jinpyeong knit his brows sharply. It was because he heard the voice that always announced the morning.
As if the time to wake up was always the same regardless of what had transpired the previous night, Sangseon spoke once more in a detached voice.
“Have you awoken?”
He was saying this despite having heard everything.
Jinpyeong clicked his tongue and rose from the bed. Seeing his aroused body, Hong Ran cast her eyes down and searched the floor for her scattered undergarments.
Once he released her, Hong Ran turned her head aside as if embarrassed and quickly threw on her clothes.
“Enter.”
The moment his words fell, Sangseon and the court lady entered and bowed their heads.
Their eyes quickly scanned the bed and the clothes strewn across the floor. What caught their attention most of all was a white cloth stained with red blood.
The court lady, meeting Sangseon’s eyes, nodded and left the room with the cloth. What it signified was unmistakable.
‘Royal Grace.’
Hong Ran would no longer be called the woman of the Hong family. She was the only woman who had achieved consummation with the King—something even the Queen had failed to do.
She was, in name and reality, the King’s woman.
* * *
The attitude of the palace attendants changed that very day. Everyone standing where Hong Ran passed bowed their heads, and whenever she stopped walking, the path ahead of her was completely cleared.
The color of her skirt fabric and the color of her bathwater changed, and the flower petals increased. The palace attendants, seeing the marks covering Hong Ran’s body, applied even more precious fragrant oils while congratulating her on receiving Royal Grace.
“Please tell us if there is anything you need.”
“Just give us any command.”
Hong Ran accepted all these changes quietly. She was neither surprised nor elated. She merely nodded and smiled softly.
It was a complete contrast to the master of Daehee Palace, but that very attitude made the palace attendants even more tense.
And it did not take very long for that news to reach Daehee Palace.
“…….”
Court Lady Shin carefully closed the door. The day she had performed Seokgodaemyung had not been that cold, but Eun-oh had caught a cold again and was confined to her bed.
Eun-oh coughed, turning her flushed, feverish face toward the doorway.
“Why is your expression like that?”
Before Court Lady Shin could say anything, Eun-oh asked first. The woman who used to never care about or notice anyone’s expressions or emotions had changed.
She had no choice. Now, the only words left for her to hear were the worst.
“Are they saying they will depose me?”
Eun-oh gripped the silk bedding tightly as if squeezing it.
“Why are you silent!”
“Your Highness.”
Court Lady Shin picked her words as if unsure how to speak, then bowed her head and called out “Your Highness” once more.
“His Majesty woke up at Geonhwijeon.”
“What is so special about that? Is that not the bedchamber he uses every single day…….”
Replying dismissively, Eun-oh’s lips suddenly froze. Her expression hardened like ice at a thought that flashed through her mind.
“Don’t tell me…….”
As Eun-oh trailed off, Court Lady Shin lowered her head deeply. It was a silent affirmation that what she was thinking was correct.
“It is said that His Majesty achieved consummation with the woman of the Hong family.”
The strength vanished from Eun-oh’s hands. Her face, which had been flushed with fever, turned deathly pale. Her lips hovered open for a long time before she bit down hard on them.
“He finally did it……!”
There was a limit to making light of her. There had to be some moderation to insulting her.
Everyone in the world knew that she, the mother of this nation and the head of the Naemyongbu, had never received Royal Grace, yet another woman had been held by the King before her.
What this meant was clear. It meant she was utterly abandoned. Both as a Queen and as a woman.
“The laws of the palace clearly exist.”
A trembling voice leaked through her lips.
“Why has that wench never come to greet me even once!”
Her fever-strained voice cracked into fragments.
More than her resentment toward the King, her rage toward Hong Ran swirled like a whirlwind.
Now, Eun-oh hated Hong Ran even more than Lee Yeon.
‘Seo Lee Yeon was at least someone who could face me, but that woman is……!’
She was a lowly creature who dared not even face her. A person who could not even step on her shadow had now come to possess so many things that she herself did not have.
Did she merely possess them? The thought that she might now even push her out caused shame and humiliation to shake Eun-oh to the core.
“It must be because her birth is lowly and she does not know the laws. Are there not even any servants to give a hint to that fool?”
“Your Highness.”
Greatly shocked, Court Lady Shin raised her voice without realizing it, then shut her mouth. She hurriedly whispered in a lowered voice.
“Do you not know how many ears and mouths there currently are inside the palace? You must watch your words.”
“What is there to watch? If she is a woman of the palace, she ought to be beneath my feet.”
Eun-oh’s eyes flashed.
“That lowly wench has bewitched His Majesty.”
Countless wrinkles formed on the fine silk blanket. Eun-oh kicked the blanket away at once and rose furiously.
“A wench who used to roll around in the marketplace dares……!”
“Your Highness, please…….”
“A vulgar prostitute has seduced His Majesty!”
Court Lady Shin could no longer say a word and lowered her head. Her expression showed she instinctively knew that no words would enter Eun-oh’s ears.
Eun-oh panted heavily and clenched both hands into tight fists.
“Tell her to come to me.”
Eun-oh screamed fiercely.
“I ordered you to make that wench stand before me. Right now!”
Court Lady Shin squeezed her eyes shut. The future ahead of her was truly pitch-black.

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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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