Even If Flowers Bloom on a Broken Branch - Chapter 98

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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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98.
“Grand Princess Consort.”
Lee Yeon raised her head. Chohee and Jain were looking at her with faces full of worry. Lady Han was also standing there with a deeply uncomfortable expression.
As Lee Yeon continued to do her makeup, Chohee let out a deep sigh.
“Are you truly going to the palace?”
“I must.”
Lee Yeon was preparing to go out for the first time in a while. Dressed in her outing clothes with her hair neatly done up, she was merely waiting for the palanquin bearers to arrive, but the expressions of those looking at her were the very definition of anxiety.
Lady Han brought up the words she had already repeated several times.
“You are not in a condition to move for two…… must you really go?”
“She is right, Grand Princess Consort. Besides, such a dreadful thing just occurred…… Wouldn’t it be enough if only the Grand Prince and Daegam-manim went?”
“No.”
Lee Yeon spoke softly but firmly.
“The one who ordered me to come today is none other than His Majesty.”
Lee Yeon recalled the words Jinyul had conveyed to her.
‘His Majesty said he will cast the Queen down as a deposed commoner, and he spoke first of you coming forward to that place.’
He had allegedly said exactly this.
‘I wish for her to witness that sight with her own eyes and dissolve the lump of emotion hardened inside her.’
Most of the wicked deeds Chae Eun-oh had committed until now were targeted at Lee Yeon. Since her feelings regarding that must be immense, it was a cruel proposition to check the end of her enemy with her own eyes.
It was truly a proposal typical of him, but Lee Yeon did not refuse.
“Since he commanded it, I must go.”
“But Grand Princess Consort, that is not a command.”
Chohee spoke with an uneasy face.
“I am so worried about whether it is alright for you to frequent such a frightening place during this important period when you should only see and hear good things.”
“Do not worry.”
Lee Yeon smiled slightly.
“I will be back shortly. I am not going alone, so do not worry too much.”
But I am still anxious, Lee Yeon stood up from her seat, pretending not to hear the muttering voices of her household staff.
The palanquin bearers were peeking over toward this direction.
“Then, I shall be off.”
Chohee watched Lee Yeon leave with her eyes and murmured like a sigh.
“For some reason, her footsteps look far too light…….”
“Since she was only lying down every single day, how exciting must it be for her to go out after such a long time.”
“I suppose so.”
Lee Yeon had genuinely suffered. Lying down was fine for a day or two, but the moment she got up and just walked around, the household staff would follow her with their eyes turned upside down and pester her to rest and rest, which had driven her to her wit’s end.
In the midst of that, only the pure white puppy sent by Hong Ran delighted Lee Yeon.
Even now, before getting into the palanquin, Lee Yeon was entirely preoccupied with coaxing and soothing the puppy clinging to her leg.
“Well, what could possibly happen?”
Chohee said, shrugging her shoulders.
“Since the Grand Prince is going with her. He is someone who can even catch a five-headed tiger, so she will be perfectly safe.”
At Chohee’s words, those who had been looking anxiously at the Main Gate nodded their heads.
However, it seemed like time would move terribly slowly until Lee Yeon returned to that gate.
It was the beginning of a long day.
* * *
After the arrival of the Grand Prince and the Grand Princess Consort, the movements of the palace became even faster.
Behind the King and Suk-ui Hong stood the Grand Prince and his wife, followed by the eunuchs bearing the King’s Royal Edict and the Three State Councillors. And behind them, Sangseon and the Palace Attendants stood in neat rows. It was a procession heading toward Yeonghangung, where the Queen was confined.
Some questioned whether the end was not too grand for a criminal, but Jinpyeong’s intention was the exact opposite.
‘I shall proclaim it before ten thousand people.’
He had said he would order her complete downfall, deprivation of status, and death.
Since she had desired to be exalted before everyone, her collapse would likewise be revealed before everyone.
At the words that he would display her plunge rather than grant her special treatment, the opposition died down, and even a bit of public sympathy arose at Lee Yeon’s appearance.
For the Queen would end up dying miserably in front of the person she had wanted to defeat so badly.
‘Chae will not know what to do with herself from the sense of humiliation.’
Jinyul murmured to himself.
Confined in the Cold Palace, Chae Eun-oh would likely know the fact that a Royal Decree casting her down as a deposed commoner would be handed down before long.
However, she would not know yet who was bringing that Royal Decree and who the people coming along were.
‘The woman she could not defeat even once throughout her entire life, the person who suppressed her to become the King’s woman, and even the palace maids of each palace.’
She would be degraded to a deposed commoner and meet her death before their very eyes.
‘Since we are also bringing along the Poisonous Drink to pour down that throat.’
Jinyul turned his gaze to look at Lee Yeon. She was walking slowly with somewhat leisurely steps.
Jinyul had said he would ask the King to accommodate her, but Lee Yeon had refused.
‘I can walk this much. If I do not even do this, what I ate will not go down.’
Because Jinyul knew very well how much Lee Yeon had been plagued by nagging from all directions after becoming pregnant, he let her do as she pleased, and Lee Yeon was walking with a much brighter face.
Toward such a version of her, Hong Ran’s worried gaze landed from time to time.
Jinyul looked at Hong Ran anew.
‘She is a formidable woman.’
Everyone knew that Hong Ran’s influence on the Queen’s downfall had been very significant.
Hong Ran had already known the Queen would come to attack her, and calmly waited for the opportunity to cause a backlash. And when that time came, she did not miss it and immediately bared her claws. In front of all the evidence and witnesses that could not be denied.
“Be careful.”
As Lee Yeon stumbled, Jinyul caught her wrist. The path had become much rougher.
“Yeonghangung is an abandoned palace located on the outskirts of the palace grounds. There are many neglected graves around it, and the path is rough.”
Lee Yeon surveyed her surroundings.
It was certainly a landscape quite different from the feeling of the Main Palace. Crumbled walls were everywhere, and precipitous cliffs and sharp rocks were situated in various places.
“It looks as if a clear line has been drawn.”
As if this place were a prison, not a palace.
It was then. The people walking ahead slowly halted their steps. They had arrived at Yeonghangung.
At Jinpyeong’s nod, the Commander of the Royal Guard walked forward and opened the door himself, and along with the sound of old wood, the inside was gradually revealed.
“His Majesty the King has arrived.”
Sangseon walked forward and threw the door wide open.
Even if one became a deposed commoner, there was bound to be someone to assist them. Originally, Court Lady Shin should have come here together with her, but Jinpyeong did not permit any convenience whatsoever to Chae Eun-oh.
‘Leave no one by her side.’
By his strict command, Chae Eun-oh had to stay alone in this abandoned palace ever since the day she was dragged out of Yeongsongjae.
Since it felt this bleak even in the middle of the day, it would be even more dismal at night.
“Your Majesty.”
Jinyul scanned the surroundings with a sharp gaze. No sign of presence was felt.
“It seems better to command the troops to search. Lest by chance…….”
It was the very moment he was about to say that Chae might have committed suicide.
With a creaking sound, the wooden door of the abandoned palace opened. In that place where everyone’s gaze was focused, a woman with her hair disheveled and wearing a pure white mourning dress stood blankly with lifeless eyes.
It was the Deposed Queen Chae.

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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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