Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 95

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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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95.
Eun-oh staggered and shook her head.
‘……No.’
She had never done such a thing. This medicine had definitely fallen from Hong Ran’s robes.
However, the words of denial would not easily leave her mouth. For it was a fact that she had brought a medicine meant to dissolve Hong Ran’s womb.
Trembling with a mixture of fear, injustice, and rage, Eun-oh suddenly bit her lip hard. She desperately tried to clear her mind.
‘If I back down here, it’s the end.’
She knew it with her entire body. Your skin stung and her heart hammered wildly. Her instincts were screaming with every fiber of her being that if she were pushed back now, it would truly be the end, that this was a dead end.
‘I cannot take the blame for this crime.’
If things went that way, it would be too deeply resentful. To be cornered like this by that utterly lowly, wretched fox made her stomach turn and fire rise up within her until she could not bear it.
Her eyes bloodshot with fury, Eun-oh pointed a finger at Hong Ran and shrieked like a madwoman.
“What that person said is an absolute lie!”
Once she let out that single shout, a metallic screech poured out of her mouth as if a dam had burst.
“It is a blatant lie. That medicine fell from Suk-ui Hong’s robes. That person is presenting falsehoods to Your Majesty!”
“Nonsense!”
Jinpyeong bellowed. The sound was so thunderously loud that the room vibrated.
His eyes gleamed with fury.
“You tried to take measures so that Suk-ui Hong could not conceive my child. Since she received the Royal Grace repeatedly, which a creature like you has never received even once, a child would have taken root sooner or later. Do you think I would not know you did this to protect your position?!”
“Your Majesty!”
“Since the Grand Princess Consort is pregnant and Hong Ran will also become pregnant, your position would become laughable. Do you think I would not know you committed such a malicious act for that reason?!”
Eun-oh’s face turned stark white. Having lost her reason, she tightly clenched both fists.
“Did I not tell you it is not so!”
She raised her voice shrilly.
“This is an injustice. Is there any proof that I did such a thing? I merely stamped my foot down to prevent this person from hiding that object, so how can you condemn me in this manner?!”
Tears welled up in Eun-oh’s eyes. They were tears gathered out of sheer rage.
“Yes. Just as Your Majesty said, I have never once received the Royal Grace. However, that person dared to take medicine to block Your Majesty’s seed from taking root.”
Eun-oh raised her voice to a piercing pitch.
“I am saying that wench took the medicine because she wished to avoid pregnancy of her own accord!”
“Does that even make sense? Even you must know that as a woman of the Royal Family, carrying a Royal Descendant in one’s womb is an supreme honor, so where do you get off spouting such absurdities!”
“How should I know her reasons! But how can you not see that this is the absolute truth! Please free yourself from that fox’s skirts and open your eyes!”
At Eun-oh’s cry, Jinpyeong’s eyes flared. His face was flushed crimson from layered waves of anger.
The watching palace attendants prostrated themselves flat on the floor. The relationship between the King and Queen was now truly rushing toward the absolute worst. It was a dire situation that felt as though it would only end when one of the three collapsed.
“If that is the case.”
Jinpyeong spoke as if grinding his teeth.
“I shall search your body right now.”
Eun-oh, who had been panting with trembling shoulders, froze.
With an expression as though she doubted her own ears, she slowly looked at Jinpyeong.
“Just now…… what did you say?”
“Given your disposition, one time would not have been enough. You must have brought multiple doses of the medicine.”
“……!”
In an instant, Eun-oh’s face turned deathly pale. When she reflexively turned to look at Court Lady Shin, Jinpyeong’s eyes flashed.
“Sangseon!”
As Jinpyeong called out like thunder, Sangseon immediately stepped forward.
Jinpyeong commanded without a moment’s hesitation.
“Search the bodies of the Queen and that court lady thoroughly right here on the spot.”
“Your Majesty!”
The faces of Court Lady Shin and Eun-oh turned pale. Clenching her fists tightly, Eun-oh cried out.
“Your Majesty! This is utterly preposterous. How can you humiliate me in this manner!”
Eun-oh’s body shook violently. Her face, stained with shame, anxiety, humiliation, and rage, twisted wretchedly.
“Furthermore, no matter how much Sangseon cannot function as one, he is still a man. Are you going to just watch while this man touches my body?!”
“What is Sangseon doing!”
Jinpyeong spoke forcefully, ignoring Eun-oh’s outcry.
“Execute it this instant. It is a Royal Decree!”
“Let go of me!”
Eun-oh twisted her body.
Her face turned white with shame, humiliation, and fear.
“I told you to let go! Where do you think you are putting your hands?!”
Eun-oh shrieked sharply, but there was no one to help her. There was not a single person who implored the King to stop.
Eunuchs attached themselves to Eun-oh and Court Lady Shin respectively, firmly gripping both of their arms.
Eun-oh looked at Jinpyeong with an expression that looked as if she wanted to bite her own tongue.
“Your Majesty!”
At the cry that was nearly a scream, Court Lady Han stepped forward.
Bowing her head deeply, she spoke in a trembling voice.
“This humble one dares to address Your Majesty.”
Eun-oh’s shouting stopped abruptly.
She looked at Court Lady Han with a shred of hope.
Court Lady Han kept her head lowered deeply as she continued in a shaking voice.
“The laws of the palace are clear, and I believe it is unseemly for a man to lay hands on the Queen’s body. Therefore.”
Court Lady Han lowered her body even further.
“If you would allow it, please let the palace maids of Yeongsongjae replace the eunuchs, and let this humble one dare to replace Sangseon.”
She was saying that since it was improper in many ways for a eunuch to hold a woman’s body and search her robes, he should allow her to do it instead.
“……!”
In that moment, fluster crossed the faces of Eun-oh and Court Lady Shin. It was because she had hit the nail completely on the head.
They had intended to refuse by claiming this was against the palace laws, but if a woman was the one searching their bodies, there would be no loophole left to escape.
‘It is over now.’
Court Lady Shin’s face turned white. She was trembling like an aspen leaf. The medicine bottle hidden in her robes felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Jinpyeong looked at Court Lady Han. She was bending her waist, standing beside Hong Ran as if to protect her. The few seconds of silence felt like an eternity.
He nodded his head.
“Do so.”
The moment those words fell, the palace maids who had been standing behind Court Lady Han immediately stepped forward and firmly grabbed Court Lady Shin’s arms from both sides. Palace maids also approached Eun-oh.
Eun-oh cried out urgently.
“Your Majesty! Why are you doing this to me? Please do not do this!”
At the sight of her crying out as if she were the victim, Jinpyeong sneered coldly.
“If nothing comes out, I shall apologize then. What are you all doing!”
The last sentence was not directed at Eun-oh. At Jinpyeong’s shout, the palace maids immediately grabbed Eun-oh’s body.
As Eun-oh shrieked for them to let go, the hands holding her tightened even more.
It was then.
“I have committed a sin worthy of death!”
A tearful scream erupted from the side.
Eun-oh whipped her head around like a snake. Caught by five people, Court Lady Shin was wailing at the top of her lungs.
When Jinpyeong signaled with his eyes, the palace maids holding her stepped back a pace.
Trembling like an aspen leaf, Court Lady Shin reached her hand inside her robes. Seeing that, Eun-oh let out a sound like a shriek.

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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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