I Became My Ex-Boyfriend’s Concubine - Chapter 44

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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 44

She’d first noticed the change in him about a year ago.
When Christmas—something they’d never missed together—was suddenly spent apart.
When she could no longer remember the last peaceful weekend afternoon they’d shared.
When sharing an evening meal had become something to commemorate.
As she grew accustomed to these small shifts in him, day by day, she finally understood.
The hand she believed they’d been holding together—she’d been clinging to it alone, desperately, all this time.
Yet she pretended not to notice. The moment she acknowledged it, she feared everything would truly end.
She told herself it was simply how relationships changed over time. Just as he’d been a brother to her once, then a parent, and finally a lover.
They were merely progressing naturally to the next stage. This was how she’d deceived herself each time.
By the time she realized she could no longer pretend, it was already too late.
She knew he no longer offered her the encouragement he once had, that he’d decided to remove his name from the project he’d been so invested in.
And she knew, too, that all these choices might have something to do with Harin.
But she couldn’t accept it. That he’d let go of her hand first.
She didn’t want to believe that the thread connecting them had snapped, that he was no longer by her side.
That’s why she’d wavered so long, clinging to the remnants of her lingering attachment—the faint hope that perhaps he might come back.
If she didn’t hold on, even to that, she felt she would fade away, grasping at nothing.
Such a foolish thing to do. Clenching the shadow of someone already gone—her hands would never hold anything real that way.
What had she been doing all this time?
Yes, now she had to face reality.
He was no longer beside her.
There was no reason to force her way out of this place, no reason to return and confront that hellish reality again.
Most of all, if all that awaited her was the sight of his turned back, she didn’t want to see it.
“I left him behind, but if he does not wait for me, then——”
So not returning was the answer.
“Then what will you do, Your Highness?”
Danbi met the eyes fixed on her, neither flinching nor looking away.
Eyes that looked exactly like his.
She hated those eyes. Looking at them made her hear his voice unbidden.
I’m not waiting for you. You don’t need to come back.
Unable to bear the lengthening silence, she yanked her wrist free from the hand holding it. The lingering warmth remained on her skin, but she didn’t look back.
She drew the Short Sword from her belt and headed straight for the front door.
“Forget you heard that. I’ll handle the door——”
“He will wait.”
Danbi froze at the voice that cut through her words.
She turned slowly, and a heavy gaze struck her. Her face clouded with confusion at the unwavering eyes before her.
“What——”
“He will surely be waiting for you.”
Danbi stared at him. Over his face, another’s image kept overlapping. As if entranced, she moved toward him and whispered.
“Really? Will he really wait for me——”
Whoosh!
An arrow suddenly pierced through the paper of the door and flew into the room.
In an instant, he grabbed Danbi’s arm roughly and yanked. Before her body could pitch forward, the arrow grazed her cheek and buried itself in the wall.
Danbi found herself in his embrace, dazed. Above her, his brow contorted in pain as ragged breathing escaped him.
Her gaze drifted downward. The Jeogori wrapped across his chest was already soaked with blood.
Danbi bit her lip hard. Then, as though wresting it from his grip, she grabbed the Bow he was holding. The moment she tore the arrow from the wall——
Scrape.
The sound of something dragging across the floor came again from outside the window.
Danbi instinctively turned her head. She grabbed a Brass Bowl rolling across the floor and pushed him behind her.
Without hesitation, she hurled the bowl hard toward the front door.
Crash!
The door shattered, and the bowl flew outside. Immediately, a volley of arrows poured down in the direction the bowl had gone.
Not missing her chance, Danbi kicked the front door open. As arrows concentrated on the doorway once more, she threw herself backward and fell flat against the floor.
Danbi raised her upper body and aimed upward. She spotted the figure standing on the Roof, taking aim at her.
Before he could nock another Arrow, she loosed her own. The moment it buried itself in his arm, he shrieked and tumbled backward.
‘Four on the roof.’
Danbi assessed their numbers in an instant and pushed herself to her feet.
Dodging the barrage of arrows, he charged toward the nearest archer and brought the pommel of his Short Sword up hard against the man’s jaw.
“Ugh!”
As the man crumpled with a muted groan, Danbi snatched the Quiver from his side in one smooth motion.
She spun, nocked an Arrow into her Bow, and took aim.
‘Six below.’
She released toward the faint sound of breath behind the tree.
“Ahhh!”
A strangled cry followed, and the thud of a body hitting ground.
Without pause, Danbi threw herself forward and rolled through the doorway of the Thatched Hut.
Arrows came raining down where she’d stood a heartbeat before, feathered shafts embedding themselves thick across the floor. She exhaled slowly at the sight.
“That was close.”
“This is reckless—what are you—!”
Harin rushed forward as if to cry out in protest, but Danbi pressed the Short Sword into his hands first. He took it numbly, his face vacant as he looked down at her.
Danbi met his gaze steadily and parted her lips.
“You said you’d wait.”
Without hesitation, she turned her back to him, pressing against his spine. Her eyes, gripping the Bow, fixed toward the open doorway.
Footsteps drew closer and closer.
Danbi held the bowstring taut and spoke low.
“So I can trust you with my back, right?”
“…What exactly do you think I am?”
His quiet laugh rumbled through his chest and into her back.
He planted himself firmly, shoring up her position. Danbi smiled in return and released her arrow at the dark silhouette before them.
Yes—hiding away like a trapped mouse was never who she was.

“He will certainly be waiting for you.”

Those words, spoken with such certainty in his steady gaze, echoed in her ear. For a moment, she let herself believe he might actually be waiting for her.
No—even if he wasn’t, it mattered no longer.
Danbi tightened her grip on the Bow and drew the string again. The shadow blocking her path fell without resistance.
She smoothly nocked the next Arrow, her brow furrowing.
“Arrogant bastard…”
If he wasn’t waiting for her, then what? She’d find out when the time came.
To plant even one arrow in that conceited face, she simply had to fight her way out.
Clang!
“Ahhh!”
A cry from behind made Danbi glance back. Enemies fell like autumn leaves before the brutal sweep of his blade.
Even in the thick of combat, their backs never separated. When he sensed her gaze, he fixed her with a sharp frown and reproached her.
“This isn’t the time to be careless.”
Watching him turn away coldly, Danbi let out a snort.
Of course that was it.
Any comfort she’d felt from him, even for a moment, was surely a delusion.
“…Ugh!”
“Harin!”
At that short cry from behind her, Danbi spun around in alarm.
Blood bloomed across Harin’s chest—the wound had torn open from his reckless movement.
In that instant, assassins swarmed toward him like ants.
The moment she turned to assess the situation, an Arrow whistled past her cheek.
Three archers had already closed in, each drawing their bowstrings simultaneously from different angles.
‘What do I do?’
Danbi bit down and pushed Harin behind her back, then began rotating her Bow frantically, covering all sides.
Then it happened.
Whoosh—!
“Ugh.”
A low groan, and an Arrow buried itself squarely in the forehead of the figure before her.
As he fell lifelessly, arrows rained down from the sky.
The startled assassins turned only to be struck and dropped. The once-fierce attackers scattered, crying out in panic one after another.
“Your Highness!”
A low voice cut sharp and urgent through the chaos.
‘That voice…’
A broad-shouldered figure crashed through the doorway of the crumbling Thatched Hut.
…was a wolf.

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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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