Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 91

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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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91.
Lee Yeon looked at her own reflection in the mirror. A sigh escaped from between her parched lips of its own accord.
‘My appearance has truly changed a great deal.’
The face reflected in the mirror was a strange sight even to her.
Because she could not eat properly, she was so emaciated that her cheekbones were visible, and the areas around her eyes were dark; anyone who did not know better would think she had fallen gravely ill.
She was a little upset despite herself.
‘I wanted to welcome him looking beautiful.’
It was a meeting after a long time. He was a husband she was meeting for the first time in a whopping hundred days, so facing him with such a thoroughly haggard face made her feel quite uneasy.
They said there were women who went through pregnancy smoothly without experiencing any morning sickness at all, but she was the exact opposite.
“…….”
Lee Yeon gloomily stared at the brass basin placed in a corner of the room. It was none other than her vomiting bowl.
If she ate, she would throw everything up, and if she did not eat, the smell of saliva and the smell of water disgusted her so much that she would throw up even gastric acid; it was truly a dilemma whether she ate or not.
The only thing that suited her palate was dried persimmon slices, so Lee Yeon was currently scraping by on those and boiled eggs.
‘She says dried persimmon slices suit her palate!’
Seeing Lee Yeon, who used to leave everything untouched, clean her plate for the first time, the people of the Seo Family Residence searched all over the Capital City and swept up not just dried persimmon slices but every single persimmon-related snack as if wiping out the entire species.
Eggs were also a whole lot better than other foods, but whenever she occasionally caught a fishy smell, they went straight into the vomiting bowl.
At any rate, thanks to those who looked after her so meticulously, Lee Yeon was slowly recovering the weight she had lost.
‘Yet my face looks like this.’
Caressing her roughened face, Lee Yeon suddenly looked down at her belly. The movements she had been feeling in her stomach for some time now were becoming quite distinct.
There was a sensation like a tap-tap, tapping movement, and a feeling like bubbles popping. Moreover, she frequently experienced a tight, pulling sensation like the one she felt now, so she no longer freaked out like she did during the banquet.
‘Back then, I really thought something had gone wrong.’
Lee Yeon chuckled.
It was not a staged situation, but it truly was a dramatic public announcement.
‘To have the pregnancy confirmed right in front of all the All Officials, the King, and the Queen who were invited to that place.’
Perhaps because of the words of the Female Physician who strongly advised absolute rest, or perhaps because he was conscious of the eyes of others, Jinpyeong never brought up the story of Hong Ran’s Family Registration into the Seo Family again after that.
‘But he won’t back down just like this.’
He was the type who would only be satisfied if he absolutely achieved his goal.
Just as he brought in Hong Ran since he could not bring in Lee Yeon, he would definitely achieve his purpose in one way or another.
Thinking so, she was about to push the mirror away when someone other than Lee Yeon was suddenly reflected in it.
“What is there to look at?”
It was Jinyul.
Having quietly opened and closed the door to enter, he smiled brightly and hugged Lee Yeon from behind.
“You are this beautiful even without looking.”
“That is a lie.”
Lee Yeon grumbled.
“If you call a face as ruined as this beautiful, other people will laugh. I cannot even look at your face.”
“This is the appearance of a mother harboring a child, so who would dare say you are not beautiful? It is the one who cannot understand that beauty who is pitiful.”
Jinyul replied as he faced Lee Yeon squarely. When Lee Yeon tried to lower her eyes slightly, he bent his knees so that she would look at him.
“Look at me.”
“…….”
“Look at me. So that I may be contained within those eyes.”
Lee Yeon’s ears flushed red in a different sense.
She knew full well that he was a tender and sly man, but receiving such an overtly affectionate gaze made her hands and feet tingle with embarrassment, not knowing how to react.
Ever since returning from the banquet, Jinyul had never once held Lee Yeon intimately. However, he watched over her constantly, as if worried she might break if he let go, or grow cold if he did not hold her.
If he let go of her hand, he kept his eyes on her, and if he happened to go out and leave Lee Yeon behind, he would fret anxiously before rushing back home the moment his work was finished.
Just like now.
“All this time…… I had no family.”
Jinyul, who had been staring into Lee Yeon’s face for a long while, spoke up abruptly.
At his unusually bitter tone, Lee Yeon slowly raised her gaze to look into Jinyul’s eyes.
“My mother died of illness before I was even old enough to know anything, and my father—well, even when he passed away, I did not feel much sorrow over his demise. I remember that he was proud of me and cherished me…… but perhaps I did not want to remember him because my resentment toward him for making my mother that way was greater.”
Looking at Lee Yeon who sat facing him before he knew it, Jinyul broke into a wry smile.
“My mother died of a broken heart caused by pent-up resentment. He left her behind to take a Royal Concubine and favored that woman so visibly, so her insides must have turned to ash. You look as if you are thinking of someone.”
Lee Yeon slowly nodded her head. This was because the more she listened, the more she was reminded of Chae Eun-oh.
Jinyul shook his head.
“Unlike her, my mother was a chaste and wise woman. She did her absolute best to protect me, and she never harmed anyone. Not even the Royal Concubine who tormented her so much.”
Jinyul quietly took Lee Yeon’s hand.
“The person who became the new Queen hated me continuously from her very first day until her death, and my one and only elder brother tried to kill me at every opportunity, so I thought the shelter known as a family would never exist in my life. And yet…….”
Jinyul slowly raised his hand and caressed Lee Yeon’s cheek. It was a gesture filled with warmth.
“You appeared before me.”
The hand that was caressing Lee Yeon’s cheek slid down her neckline to her shoulder, her arm, and quietly came to rest on her belly where her hands were folded.
It was not a sensual movement, but a tender and cautious touch.
“Into my desolate life, you and this child have come. A purpose that I must protect at all costs has been born, and a greed to make you happy has arisen.”
Jinyul gently drew Lee Yeon into an embrace. Then, resting his chin on her thin shoulder, he smiled faintly.
“So, Lee Yeon.”
He kissed Lee Yeon’s thin cheek. It was a kiss that showed he found her so lovely he could barely endure it. They were lips infused with love, affection, gratitude, and reverence.
“In my eyes, you will be beautiful forever. Just like that night when we first discussed our Contract Marriage.”
While being held by Jinyul, Lee Yeon looked up at the ceiling and the sky above it.
Her heart ached the entire time she listened to Jinyul’s words. She knew he carried a deficiency from not growing up receiving proper love, but even so, he was admirable.
Unlike Jinpyeong who had been placed in a similar environment, Jinyul was a warm, affectionate, and lovable person. He was a person one could not help but love.
That must be why she loved him in her past life, and loved him now.
“This child will be happy.”
Lee Yeon slowly smiled.
“Because they have you as a father.”
“…….”
“Because you, who know better than anyone else that love is what matters most, are the father.”
At those words, Jinyul finally bowed his head. And he wept just a little.
It was the first hot tear he had shown since Lee Yeon met him.
It was the moment when the roots of Jinyul, who had gained a true family, stood even more firmly.

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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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