Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 9

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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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9.
The clatter of wheels running over the even stone path was loud.
Before long, two men stepped out of the carriage that had stopped in front of the palace. They had stepped out of the same carriage as if to openly make it known that they had arrived together from the same place.
The eyes of the palace servants, who had casually raised their heads, widened in an instant.
“Grand—”
Their heads touched the stone floor.
“We greet Grand Prince!”
“Greetings, Lord Inspector General.”
People bowed their heads one after another to pay their respects.
Inspector General Lord Seo had graying hair, but he maintained a rigid posture with not a single step out of place.
And walking side by side next to him was Grand Prince Jinyul. Though he wore no golden crown upon his head and his attire was not made of red cloth, the sword fastened at his waist and his unhesitating stride made it impossible to tear one’s eyes away from him.
The sight of the two men walking side by side made the palace servants’ eyes busy.
‘Why?’
There was no point of contact between the two. Furthermore, both were men who did not easily come to the palace without the King’s summons.
All of Lord Seo’s interest lay in nurturing future scholars and pursuing academic studies, while Grand Prince Jinyul was one who deliberately roamed outside the Capital City to stay out of the King’s sight.
What had Jinyul said when Jinpyeong became King?
‘I will no longer live in the palace.’
He would no longer live in the palace. It meant he would not reside under the same roof as you.
It could have been seen as unconditional submission, but Jinpyeong did not easily trust Jinyul. If anything were to happen to him, the right of succession to the throne would clearly pass to that man.
Yet, following their entry into the palace side by side, those two had requested an audience together. Not ‘one after another,’ but ‘together’—meaning they would meet him at the same time in the same room.
“……What could it be?”
The expressions of the palace servants watching their receding backs turned peculiar. It was a premonition that a great wind was about to blow.
Meanwhile, Jinpyeong had already heard the report. From the moment ‘he’ crossed the first gate of the palace, the news had been relayed immediately.
“Your Majesty, it is said that Grand Prince has entered the palace.”
He thought it was unusual.
The man rarely came to show his face, and he himself knew well that doing so was the best way not to displease the King.
‘It’s been quite a while since that fellow entered the Capital City, too.’
That was also because of the upcoming Gantaek. If the King’s brother did not show his face at such a auspicious occasion, that itself would spark many rumors.
Yet, for him to come forward before being called was quite unexpected, to the point of being slightly unpleasant.
Moreover.
“Inspector General Lord Seo has also requested an audience with Your Majesty.”
They said the two had entered together. Why on earth now, and why on earth those two together?
Jinpyeong’s face hardened at the unpleasant feeling creeping up on him.
“Very well.”
Jinpyeong slowly stroked the armrest. The tip of his index finger tapped, tapped against the dragon head carved at the end of the armrest.
‘Is there any reason for those two to come and meet me side by side?’
None.
While the Inspector General might rarely request an audience because he had something to report, there was no reason for him to enter with that fellow.
Deep in thought, Jinpyeong slowly turned his head.
“Tell them to enter.”
At the nod of his head, the doors slowly opened.
Sitting upon his high throne, Jinpyeong looked down loftily at the two men walking past the doorway.
It was a position where their eyes could not even meet, but Jinpyeong was bothered by Jinyul. To the extent that even being in the same space was unpleasant.
After offering his respects, Jinyul spoke calmly.
“I greet Your Majesty.”
“I greet Your Majesty.”
The two men spoke at the same time and paused briefly. Even that was unpleasant.
“For two men who rarely enter the palace to request an audience together on the same day and at the same hour, it is a bizarre thing.”
Grasping the armrests of the throne, Jinpyeong looked down at the two men.
“Well, what is the matter?”
Looking at them like this, they seemed even more mismatched.
Jinyul, with a sword strapped to his waist, and Lord Seo, standing like a noble crane, really did not suit each other.
For such men to stand side by side in one place, looking at him with the same gaze, was immensely unpleasant and strangely uncomfortable.
‘Moreover.’
That face, which looked strangely in a good mood, was irritating. That kind of feeling like the leisure of a man who possesses everything.
‘When he doesn’t have a damn thing. When everything he did have was stripped away by me, where does he get off pretending to be leisure?’
Jinpyeong twisted his lips.
Perhaps if Jinyul had come alone, he might have told him to come back next time as an excuse to trample on the fellow’s pride, but right now, the Inspector General was with him.
As Jinpyeong let out a short breath, Lord Seo slowly took a step forward.
“I believe Your Majesty will soon make preparations to welcome the master of the Queen’s Palace. This will soon be a great fortune for the nation and a supreme celebration for all the people to rejoice over, so I offer my congratulations in advance.”
“…….”
Jinpyeong’s eyes narrowed slightly.
‘What is he talking about now?’
When he had a private meeting with Lord Seo a few days ago, the words he had spoken to him were clearly these:
‘I shall make the empty shell of a concubine the daughter of the Seo family.’
It was an internal decision and a designation. It was a certainty.
‘Pray to your daughter every day. For her crime in having you as a father is great.’
Had he not said that he would leave your daughter neglected and torment her for the rest of her life, drying you up and killing you alive?
As his eyes met Sangseon’s, the man also seemed flustered, his lips twitching.
Choosing his words for a moment, Jinpyeong slowly replied.
“The congratulations are very early. However, I will accept them gladly. Since you, too, will have something to be congratulated on in the near future.”
“Therefore, we speak together. I am deeply honored to inform you, but my daughter has become betrothed, Your Majesty.”
For a moment, Jinpyeong doubted his own ears.
It was difficult to immediately understand what Lord Seo had just said. Glancing back, Sangseon was also looking at Lord Seo with a bewildered face. It meant that what he had heard was not an illusion.
Jinpyeong was so dumbfounded that he lost his words for a moment, before barely asking back.
“What did you say?”
It was then.
Jinyul, who had been standing a step behind, naturally stepped up to the same line as Lord Seo and looked up at Jinpyeong. He did not like the gaze, which was devoid of its usual lazy laughter.
And what came next were the most bewildering words he had heard recently.
“I have tied the knot with Lady Seo, Your Majesty. Originally, according to the Royal Wedding registry, there are many procedures, but because I did not wish to trouble Your Majesty, I intended to proceed simply. We have already completed Nabchae, Nappye, Chinyeong, and even Dongroe, and since we intend to perform Buin Johyeon in the near future, I request this of Your Majesty.”
The more he listened, the more absurd the words became.
It was absurd enough that a Grand Prince of the nation had privately tied the knot, but they had already confirmed their mutual intention to marry and formed the bond of husband and wife. On top of that, he spoke with such brazenness about coming to pay their respects soon that the words wouldn’t come out properly.
Jinpyeong looked at Lord Seo. Although he was well aware of Jinyul’s brazenness and slyness, it was because he thought that Lord Seo, who was rigid and respected by everyone, would not have accepted such an unprecedented marriage.
“Does the Inspector General think the same?”
He thought it wouldn’t be so. He thought he would draw the line, asking what kind of bizarre talk that was.
‘Don’t tell me.’
Lord Seo was a man who read the atmosphere well, a man who swore his loyalty to him, and a man who did not oppose him.
‘Even though I trampled on him so much after that incident, has he not crawled up to me even once?’
Moreover, the Seo Clan was a prestigious family that had maintained its legacy for a long time. There was a certainty that he would not marry off the only daughter of such a family in this way, without any decorum.
‘No matter how much he dislikes sending her to marry me, surely not like this without decorum or anything—’
However, his expectation missed the mark beautifully.
“That is correct.”
“Ha.”
Jinpyeong let out a hollow laugh. But his gaze sank coldly.
Although he had commanded them to prepare for Gantaek, it was no different from having an internally decided person.
Everything pointed to Lord Seo’s daughter, and it was a ritual that only maintained the form. Yet, the fish had beautifully escaped the net. And that, too, through a hole he had never even thought of.
‘Lord Seo and that fellow joined hands?’
His insides boiled. Jinpyeong barely held back the urge to roar out right now, demanding to know what kind of plot they were cooking up. A cruel desire arose to rip apart that aloof and leisurely face to see what kind of countenance lay beneath it.
Suppressing his true feelings, Jinpyeong gnashed his teeth.
“Grand Prince.”
“Speak, Your Majesty.”
“For a Grand Prince of this country to suddenly marry ahead of Gantaek, is that not disregarding the authority of the Royal Family?”
Lord Seo flinched. It was because the exact words he had worried about had come out. Jinyul gazed forward silently before smiling a little.
“You laugh?”
“Your Majesty. When the Former Queen passed away, and when the late King was in critical condition, what did you do to me?”
“…….”
Jinpyeong’s face contorted. Sangseon’s complexion also turned pale.
That story was Jinpyeong’s reverse scale. Both of them had touched a memory that must absolutely never be disturbed. Lord Seo also looked at Jinyul with a bewildered face.
‘No matter how much she is a concubine favored by the late King, how can you raise a prince to the throne when a Grand Prince Born of the Legitimate Queen is rightfully alive?’
The very person who had written the Royal Appeal that caused Chongbi to take to her bed, and the Grand Prince Born of the Legitimate Queen were standing side by side.
The Grand Prince who had been stripped of the throne by a prince continued his words.
“Did you not refuse to think of me as a member of the family? You regarded me only as an eyesore, a hindrance to the usurpation of the throne.”
“Grand Prince!”
“Is it not truly fortunate that the late King explicitly left a will commanding that under no circumstances should you ever kill me? It was a foresight. Thanks to that, I am alive like this. Isn’t that right, elder brother?”
Jinyul smiled brightly at Jinpyeong, who was glaring at him fiercely.
“Your Majesty may welcome the mistress of the Royal Family. I shall welcome my wife.”
Jinpyeong bit his lip hard.
His fingernails dug mercilessly into the dragon head of the armrest. There was no room for objection. There was also no way.
Jinpyeong snapped at Sangseon to dismiss them, and watching their backs as they walked out nonchalantly, he swallowed his boiling anger.
‘Damn it.’
Not a single thing was to his liking. Lord Seo and Jinyul joining hands, the situation where Jinyul snatched away the woman who was almost his, Lord Seo who allowed his daughter to be married off so easily, and this situation where he had to find a woman for Gantaek again—all of it.
It felt as if something had gone very greatly awry.
“Sangseon.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Letting out a short breath, Jinpyeong commanded.
“Check again regarding Lord Seo’s daughter. Also, inform the Garyecheong and tell them to check for a suitable candidate again.”
“Yes. Then…….”
“And proceed with Geumhonlyeong as scheduled.”
Sangseon, who was about to say something, closed his mouth again. If the King had any thoughts, he would have spoken of them together; the fact that there was no mention of the Grand Prince’s wedding was equal to saying that he would not recognize it either.
Turning his head, Sangseon looked out the window.
Somehow, it felt as if another storm was about to brew.

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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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