Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 94

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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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94.
“What on earth do you think you are doing?!”
At the thunderous roar, every palace attendant in front of Yeongsongjae flinched and lifted their heads.
Their faces drained of color in an instant.
“Your Majesty!”
The King himself had made an abrupt arrival.
“……!”
Eun-oh’s eyes, which had been cold throughout, wavered for a split second.
Right now was supposed to be the peak of the Royal Court assembly. It was precisely why she had come here so confidently, yet she had unexpectedly run right into the King.
But that was only for a moment; Eun-oh’s wavering gaze quickly turned icy once more.
‘As expected.’
A sneer about how well he kept her shielded felt as though it were about to form on the tip of her tongue.
Jinpyeong walked over with long, furious strides. With every step he took, the hem of his red dragon robe fluttered like a blazing flame.
“Queen.”
It was a mere two syllables, but the wrath laced within his voice made the palace attendants bow their heads deeply.
An oppressive weight entirely different from before bore down on their heads.
“I do not recall ever granting you permission to come here.”
His gaze, after icily sweeping over Eun-oh’s face, landed on her foot.
Eun-oh’s Flower Shoes were still pinning down the back of Hong Ran’s hand against the ground.
Jinpyeong’s eyes flashed.
“Furthermore, what is the meaning of this outrageous behavior?”
“I was personally instructing her so that she might learn the proper etiquette of the royal court,”
Eun-oh replied composedly, bending her knees slightly in a courteous greeting. Nevertheless, the foot trampling Hong Ran’s hand remained exactly where it was.
Crushed against the stone floor, Hong Ran’s hand was stained with blood.
“Since this woman did not dare to come pay her respects, I paid her a visit myself. However—.”
Eun-oh spoke confidently as she finally withdrew her foot. As she did, the back of Hong Ran’s hand, stained crimson with blood, was revealed.
As if dealing with something filthy, Eun-oh lightly kicked Hong Ran’s wrist with the toe of her shoe.
“Ah!”
Hong Ran let out a cry of agony. At that moment, the object she had been gripping so tightly all this time dropped to the ground with a thud.
“Look at what she was holding, it is none other than a…….”
Eun-oh’s words trailed off awkwardly. It was because the object was completely different from what she had seen earlier.
Eun-oh’s expression, which had been aloof throughout, morphed into bewilderment.
‘It was definitely a medicine bottle.’
It was unmistakably a bottle for the contraceptive drug that circulated secretly among the high nobility. Court Lady Shin had also procured it once, but she remembered it clearly because she had ordered it to be thrown away after being told it was a medicine that caused no harm to the body.
Yet right now, what Hong Ran held in her hand was a hairpin embedded with a jet-black obsidian stone. She had gripped it so fiercely that blood was smeared across the hairpin.
Hong Ran spoke, her voice thick with tears.
“Th-this is—.”
Jinpyeong, who had barely been restraining his fury, also saw it. It was a familiar object.
‘Back then.’
It was the very item Hong Ran had handed to Jinyul during his report, expressing her wish to return it to Lee Yeon.
‘The bastard gave it right back to the Suk-ui.’
Hong Ran spoke, tightly clutching the hairpin with her blood-stained hand.
“This is something far too precious to me, which is why I always keep it close to my chest.”
“That is not what I am talking about!”
Eun-oh snapped fiercely. Her eyes gleamed sharply.
“How dare you tell such lies in the royal presence!”
It was at that moment. Court Lady Shin covertly slipped something into Eun-oh’s hand.
Eun-oh and Court Lady Shin’s eyes met for a fleeting second. Court Lady Shin nodded her head.
‘I snatched this from her hand.’
Instantly grasping the meaning behind that look, Eun-oh held her hand up high.
“Did you not drop this?!”
In an instant, everyone’s attention locked onto Eun-oh’s hand. Held aloft in her grip was a small, snowy-white object. It was a ceramic medicine bottle.
Upon seeing it, Sangseon’s face hardened like stone. With his seasoned experience, he recognized what it was in a single glance.
Jinpyeong, his face rigid, commanded Sangseon.
“Sangseon.”
His eyes burned with roaring fury.
“Bring that to me at once.”
Sangseon hurriedly approached Eun-oh. As he drew near, Eun-oh handed over the medicine bottle with a triumphant expression. Her face brightened like the sun.
Sangseon took the medicine bottle and returned to Jinpyeong. With a soft click, the bottle opened, revealing the pills inside.
“…….”
Sangseon squeezed his eyes shut. It was precisely as he had anticipated.
Jinpyeong asked in a low voice.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Yes.”
Sangseon nodded immediately at Jinpyeong’s question. His countenance remained stiff.
“This is a medicine that a woman must never ingest.”
“A medicine a woman must never ingest?”
Jinpyeong murmured softly. His thick brows twitched.
“What do you mean by that?”
It was then.
Hong Ran pressed her forehead against the ground and spoke.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty.”
Hong Ran spoke as tears streamed down her face.
“It is a drug meant to prevent a Conception from taking root in the womb.”
Instantly, the faces of everyone present turned pale as a sheet. It meant that taking that medicine would prevent a Royal Descendant from being conceived.
If so, consuming such a thing was a capital crime among capital crimes.
Furthermore, with the Grand Princess Consort’s announcement of Conception, the entire palace currently had nothing else on their tongues.
There was no way the King would not be sensitive to this, and yet a contraceptive or Infertility Drug had surfaced in this exact situation.
Hong Ran wept as she spoke.
“As Her Highness the Queen remarked, I am merely someone who rolled around in the Marketplace. Thus, I recognized the scent of that drug immediately and quickly discerned what kind of medicine it was.”
Hong Ran sobbed.
“Therefore, I could not obey Her Highness the Queen’s command and dared to refuse it. I beg for your forgiveness.”
Eun-oh’s expression gradually shifted. She realized that the situation was taking a bizarre turn.
Eun-oh stared at Hong Ran with a rigid face.
‘What kind of trick is this?’
The medicine had undoubtedly fallen from that woman’s clothes.
That was why she had intended to expose it before everyone and report it entirely to the King, but Hong Ran had beaten her to the confession.
Moreover, it was no ordinary confession.
‘She refused my command?’
She had merely commanded her to hand over whatever was in her hand.
She had only stepped on the back of her hand to show everyone what was hidden inside it, but the situation was twisting into something strange.
“Your Majesty!”
Eun-oh hastily tore her gaze away from Hong Ran.
“What this woman is saying is……!”
“How dare you.”
Jinpyeong slowly parted his lips. His tightly set lips trembled faintly with rage.
He looked straight at Eun-oh.
“How dare you plot to block the womb of Suk-ui Hong.”
Eun-oh’s lips froze.
Frozen like ice, she stared at Jinpyeong. A thunderbolt struck down upon her.
“I am asking if you were trying to force that medicine down her throat!”
It was a roar that seemed to vibrate through her entire body. Facing that fierce, absolute wrath head-on, Eun-oh’s face turned white with dread.
‘That wench finally……!’
Jinpyeong was so enraged that his entire body shook violently. It was the first time he had been this furious since hearing the news that Lee Yeon had promised to marry Jinyul.
Ever since Lee Yeon announced her pregnancy at the banquet, Jinpyeong had been drowning in a daily torrent of boiling emotions. It was a lingering regret toward Lee Yeon, paired with jealousy and envy toward Jinyul.
Jealousy toward the man who had so easily obtained what he himself could not possess, and the intolerable fact that the woman who was almost his was now carrying another man’s seed, drove him mad.
He hated Lee Yeon for truly becoming another man’s woman, and he wanted to make her regret it. He wanted to show her down to the last detail just how precious the position she had kicked away was, just to twist her insides.
‘Therefore, without fail.’
He intended to make Hong Ran pregnant. He planned to take her to his chamber every single night, to the point where it would be strange if she did not conceive his child. Yet, the Queen had been acting to ruin his plans from the very beginning.
As if mocking him, she had committed a malicious act that treated his plans, his efforts, and all his nights as a complete mockery.
“Contraception?! Infertility?!”
At the shouting directed squarely at her, Eun-oh staggered backward.

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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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