I Became My Ex-Boyfriend’s Concubine - Chapter 10

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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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Chapter 10

Before the Sajikdan, the shamans surrendered to the music, their bodies swaying through a dance of brilliant color. With each step, their skirts rippled like water across the stone.
The officials seated on either side of the pavilion watched them with satisfied smiles.
There was something tender in it, as if they were calling to someone beloved—yet at the same time, something desperate, as though they meant to drag the rain down from the heavens by force alone. Eyes could not look away.
And on the steps above, beneath the shade.
There the concubines were arranged in a row. Each displayed her beauty as though competing to show it off, their collective radiance drawing the eye quite against intention.
But the one who stood out most was the Queen herself, whose exceptional beauty had already become the talk of the capital.
The deep blue silk of her skirt, draped across her form, was like gazing upon a dark sea attending to a sun—the King himself.
And at the highest place, the one no one could dare approach.
There sat the King.
The concubines whispered quietly among themselves about his appearance, more resplendent than usual, more magnificent than ever. His cool expression, harmonizing with the ceremonial robes of the Rain-Praying Ceremony, dominated the entire assembly.
Upon a field of white, gold thread worked into intricate patterns. It was a radiance that no one but he could bear.
The officials found themselves kneeling of their own accord.
Before them, heads bowed, Hyeon gazed down silently upon the ceremony below.
It was a day he had waited for so long. Whatever else might happen, the Rain-Praying Ceremony had to proceed today—no matter the cost.
“Hey!!”
Then, from somewhere far back, a shout cut through the air, and the music stopped.
Every eye turned backward at once. A woman was pushing through the shamans, walking forward with bold confidence.
…A woman?
The officials exchanged startled glances with one another.
The rumors about Danbi had spread widely among them.
The King, who normally kept women at a distance, had concubines now only because he had been pressured into it by the royal kinsmen and ministers who hoped for an heir—women he had reluctantly allowed into the palace. But when word came that this iron-willed King had granted the title of Female Noble to a woman who had entered the palace only the night before, the Inner Palace erupted in chaos.
For by law and convention, every concubine was meant to ascend slowly, step by careful step, through the ranks. This was both propriety and unwritten custom.
What manner of peerless beauty could melt the ice in the sovereign’s heart in a single stroke?
So the officials had waited in anticipation, hoping at last to lay eyes on this mysterious Female Noble of whom they had heard so much…
Only to find her dressed in careless, shabby clothes, and speaking in a manner both reckless and crude.
Was this really the one who had seized the rank of Female Noble in a single night?
The assembly stirred with unease at the sight of someone so far removed from proper decorum.
Leaving the whispers behind her, Danbi crossed the ceremonial space without hesitation.
At once, the royal guards began to move toward her. But Hyeon raised his hand, stopping them.
Danbi came to a halt directly before the steps where the concubines sat, fixing her gaze upon someone in particular.
When their eyes met, Hyeon spoke without emotion.
“You’re late, Female Noble.”
“I know. Someone was causing trouble.”
The Queen rose abruptly from her seat.
“How dare you speak with such disrespect, Female Noble! And do you truly forget that as of today, you are forbidden to leave the Lesser Palace—”
“You’re the thief here. Don’t talk so much.”
“What did you—!”
The Queen’s face flushed with outrage. At such crude language as none of them had ever heard, the air at Sajikdan froze solid.
But Danbi did not hesitate. She lifted her head high, her bright eyes flying straight to Hyeon.
Or rather, to the familiar garment draped across his shoulders.
“Take off your clothes.”
In that moment, the assembly fell silent as if cold water had been thrown upon it.
Hyeon’s eyebrow twitched. Danbi continued forward, climbing the steps.
“Take off my clothes, I said!”
Perhaps overwhelmed by her momentum.
Hyeon rose from his seat. At the same moment, the Queen turned to him, as if to stop him.
“Your Majesty…!”
As Hyeon descended the steps one by one, Danbi halted in her place.
Meeting halfway down the staircase, Hyeon looked down at Danbi with narrowed eyes.
“I think that’s a line I should be speaking to you.”
“What? What does that—”
The smile at the corner of Hyeon’s mouth vanished in an instant. He turned toward the royal guards surrounding them.
“You there! Search the Female Noble’s person immediately!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
At the command, the guards seized Danbi’s arms on either side and began to search her roughly, their hands moving across her entire body.

“What on earth is this?”
Danbi thrashed about with a panicked expression, but she stood no chance against the trained strength of the palace guards.
One of the guards finished searching through Danbi’s sleeves and breast, then shook his head with an awkward look.
The moment Hyeon’s brow furrowed deeply, several more guards rushed in from a distance.
“Your Majesty.”
“Well? What have you found?”
The guard who had approached placed a Short Sword into Hyeon’s hands.
“As you commanded, we have found a Short Sword without a Sword Scabbard.”
Hyeon slowly picked up the Short Sword from the guard’s palm. Then he withdrew a Sword Scabbard from his breast.
Danbi’s eyes went wide in an instant. The Sword Scabbard looked familiar for some reason.
It was the flower-patterned Sword Scabbard of the Short Sword she had received as a reward item not long ago.
How does he have that?
Before shock could fully settle, Hyeon slowly slid the Short Sword into the Sword Scabbard.
There was a sharp click as the blade fit perfectly into place.
“But… how did you…?”
“So it was you after all.”
“What?”
“Seize the Female Noble Danbi at once on charges of Treason!”
“Yes, sire!”
Danbi was forced to her knees by the guards’ strength. Her mind swirled in confusion.
Treason? Did he just say Treason?
Wait… could it be…?
“No, I just asked you to take off your clothes! Fine, I cancel it. Cancel!”
As Danbi cried out in desperation, Hyeon stared at her coldly.
“Do you intend to feign ignorance to the very end?”
“Feign ignorance? I really have no idea—”
“I remember clearly the moment you defaced your garments and met my eyes. Will you truly deny all knowledge?”
“What? What do you mean—”
Words failed her. Nothing made sense.
I made garments, yes, but defaced them? How could that possibly—
Even as her mind reeled, the guards began closing in from all sides.
Cold steel glinted in her vision, and her skin prickled with dread.
Am I really going to die like this?
Her heart hammered wildly.
As the weight of death pressed upon her shoulders, one forgotten fact struck her mind.
Oh, that’s right! This was a game!
“Game Over! Exit the game!”
Danbi, lying prostrate on the ground, cried out toward empty air. A blue window appeared before her eyes.

「Do you wish to exit the game?」

She looked down.

「
YES NO
」

Two options appeared. Danbi answered without hesitation.
“Yes!!”
In that instant, the window froze with a crackling sound. A warped noise pierced through her eardrums from all directions.
Then.

「Unable to exit game」
「Unable to exit game」
「Unable to exit game」
「Unable to exit game」
……

The windows multiplied infinitely, glitching and wavering.
“What… what is this? I said to exit!”
At that moment, a blade from the guards thrust upward above Danbi’s head. She seemed to hear Sol’s voice calling her name from behind.
Danbi squeezed her eyes shut. In an instant, the screen went black.
All sensation receded into vast distance.

Game Over

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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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