Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 89

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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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89.
“Conception……?”
Jinyul turned back to look at Lee Yeon with a blank expression. It was a face that looked as though he couldn’t quite properly parse the meaning of what he had just heard.
A light gradually and slowly welled into his eyes. The colors spread like a rainbow, from surprise to joy, from joy to delight, and from delight to deep emotion.
“Lee Yeon!”
Jinyul wrapped his arms around Lee Yeon’s body, looking as if he were barely holding himself back from pulling her into a fierce embrace. Having knelt beside Lee Yeon at some point, he looked up at the female physician.
“But why did she collapse like this? Is there perhaps something wrong with her body?”
“That is,”
The female physician, who had stepped back, spoke calmly.
“It seems she was startled by a sudden tightness in her lower abdomen. It is one of the symptoms of pregnancy, a symptom that occurs when the body is somewhat tense or weakened. However…….”
“However?”
Jinyul pulled Lee Yeon close, as if to shield her. On his face, which until just a moment ago had been a mixture of delight and surprise, tension instantly clouded over.
The female physician calmly continued her words.
“The Grand Princess Consort’s pulse is not entirely normal. Because a great deal of fatigue has accumulated on a body that was originally weak, her Qi and Blood are also heavily damaged. Yet, she has conceived.”
Jinyul and Lee Yeon looked at each other. Hong Ran’s expression darkened as well.
At those words, Lord Seo could not contain himself and took a step forward.
“Is it perhaps dangerous?”
“At present, there is nothing else I can tell you except that the early stage is the most critical time.”
The female physician slowly continued her words.
“Even now, she must be experiencing mild morning sickness.”
Mild?
Leaning against Jinyul’s chest, Lee Yeon’s expression froze. If this was considered mild, she couldn’t even fathom the extent of what was to come.
The female physician said placidly,
“From now on, you must take even greater care. If you do not nourish the body properly, you may have to spend the middle and late stages completely bedridden.”
The female physician looked at Lee Yeon. Around the eyes of the elderly woman, wrinkles were faintly etched.
“It is not good to stay long in a crowded place like this. I recommend that you lie down and rest as much as possible, and brew and drink medicinal herbs every day to nourish your body.”
“You absolutely must do so.”
It was Hong Ran.
She tightly grasped Lee Yeon’s hand and said, her eyes brimming with tears,
“This is truly wonderful news. To have such auspicious news on this great day, it is a double celebration.”
“……Suk-ui.”
When Lee Yeon, who was half-reclining on the floor, tried to raise her body, Jinyul and Hong Ran helped her from both sides. Lee Yeon smiled with a slightly pale face.
“Thank you.”
Hong Ran kept nodding her head with her hands gathered near her chest.
It was so uniquely cute how she looked distinctly tense, as if she were the one who had conceived, that just as Lee Yeon was about to say something,
“……!”
As if feeling a faint pain in her lower abdomen again, Lee Yeon bit her lip. Instantly acting on instinct, she clutched Jinyul’s collar.
Seeing this, Jinyul hesitated no longer.
“Your Majesty.”
Jinyul raised his head and looked toward the Jade Throne. Jinpyeong still stood loftily in his place, looking down at the occurrences below. His expressionless eyes captured Jinyul.
Jinyul immediately dropped to one knee and spoke.
“I am deeply grateful that Your Majesty has arranged a grand banquet for me.”
After a brief bow of his head, he continued his words.
“However, since my wife’s condition is like this, I request permission to take our leave from today’s banquet.”
Lord Seo also immediately followed suit and knelt down.
“I, your servant, also wish to withdraw together to look after my daughter. Please grant us your permission.”
Jinpyeong clicked his tongue briefly.
He had intended to command that Hong Ran be adopted as Lord Seo’s foster daughter at this very place, but things had gone awry.
‘There is no way I can bring it up in this situation.’
Furthermore, he couldn’t deny that request either. Since everyone in this place had heard the fact that the Grand Princess Consort had conceived, he could not force them to stay.
The female physician also stood beside them and bowed her head, as if requesting along with them.
Since there was neither a justification nor a situation to refuse, Jinpyeong remained silent for a moment before slowly nodding his head.
“I grant it.”
At those words, the people in the Banquet Hall exhaled a collective sigh of relief. Hong Ran also let her shoulders drop, as if she had only now put her mind at ease.
“Your benevolence is boundless, Your Majesty.”
Jinyul bowed his head deeply, and Lee Yeon also offered her greetings with a pale face.
“Thank you for Your Majesty’s grace.”
As Jinyul immediately supported Lee Yeon, Lord Seo stayed by her side. Everyone watched the three of them walking toward the doors.
And Hong Ran silently watched their retreating backs.
‘……Mother.’
Whether she heard her wordless whisper or not, Juhwa slowly turned around. Meeting Hong Ran’s gaze, her wrinkled eyes grew slightly wet.
Hong Ran stared fixedly at her, then smiled back and mouthed an indefinite farewell.
It was just as the six people in total—the three in front and the three following them—opened the doors to leave the Banquet Hall.
“……!”
Lee Yeon paused. It was because someone was standing beyond the doors.
With a pale face, firmly set red lips, slightly upturned eyes, and an impression that had grown a level sharper due to significant weight loss, it was the Queen, Chae Eun-oh.
She wore an expression that suggested she had already heard everything.
“……I greet Your Majesty the Queen.”
As Lord Seo bowed his head first, Jinyul and Lee Yeon followed suit to pay their respects. Then, Eun-oh nodded perfunctorily.
“…….”
Her gaze lingered briefly near Lee Yeon’s abdomen before landing further inside the Banquet Hall. Beyond the doors that were still open, Hong Ran stood with her hands gathered together.
Receiving Eun-oh’s sharp glare head-on, Hong Ran instinctively flinched for a moment, but soon proudly squared her shoulders.
“Then, we shall take our leave.”
At Lord Seo’s words, Eun-oh responded by tilting her head slightly this time as well.
As the three people in the lead and the three people attending them left the place together, Eun-oh gave a slight shake of her head to the soldier holding the door.
The soldier was a bit flustered by the gesture meaning to close the door, but soon obeyed the command.
Thud.
Only when the sound of the door closing echoed did Eun-oh finally breathe out. No, rather than breathing out, she spat out the breath she had been holding back.
‘Conception.’
That word swirled in her mind over and over again. Her spine stiffened rigidly, and the back of her neck grew cold.
Eun-oh slowly turned her head to look at the three people walking together down below.
Jinyul didn’t take his eyes off Lee Yeon for even a single moment, and Lord Seo was also carefully looking after the path ahead of her.
‘Seo Lee Yeon.’
How should she put it. Now, it wasn’t simply that she hated her; she wished that woman would disappear from this world altogether.
Seo Lee Yeon constantly caused her to compare herself to her. It had been that way even before entering the palace, but it was far more severe now.
A tender lover that she herself didn’t have, a capable and affectionate father, and…….
‘Even a child.’
She lacked nothing. She possessed everything that she herself did not have. All those things that made her feel terribly wretched.
She had chosen the path to become the most noble woman, but Seo Lee Yeon had chosen to become the happiest woman.
‘All because she chose the right man.’
To receive such a gaze, she was blessed with far too much luck.
Chae Eun-oh chewed on her red lips, then let out a short breath.
Even though they lived seeing each other’s faces only intermittently like that, a child had been conceived.
‘If so.’
Eun-oh clenched her lips tightly.
‘How could the one who shares a bed with him every single night not have a child?’
Eun-oh recalled the woman beyond the doors she had seen just a moment ago, Hong Ran.
The face that had seemed to freeze the moment their eyes met was soon naturally filled with a proud smile.
It was a bold, confident appearance, born from knowing that the King was behind her.
‘That wench.’
She was being loved by the King.
From that heartless, cold, and ice-like man who wouldn’t look back at her even a single time, she was receiving an undeserved amount of love with her whole body every single night.
‘……What if she really conceives a Royal Descendant? What if she conceives just like Seo Lee Yeon?’
Then she would truly have no place left to stand.
Eun-oh suddenly felt as though she were suffocating. Although she had come firmly resolved to face the King and Hong Ran, she couldn’t step inside this Banquet Hall.
Even now, it was difficult to compose this emotion swirling inside her body, so if she saw the King taking care of Hong Ran, there was no telling what she might do.
“I will return to my palace.”
Eun-oh spoke curtly and swung her body around.
Behind Eun-oh, who redirected her steps toward Daehee Palace instead of the Banquet Hall, Court Lady Shin followed silently. Her expression was profoundly meaningful.

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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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