I Became My Ex-Boyfriend’s Concubine - Chapter 46

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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 46

Though dawn had broken, the air in the Great Hall hung heavier than it had all night.
The officials arrayed beneath the throne murmured low and restless.
The faces of those who had shared wine in secret at Yuhwa Hall the night before had grown ashen and drawn.
“Is it true, then? The report that he passed through the Main Gate?”
“With the drought so severe, even the wild beasts should be crazed with thirst—how is any of this possible?”
Minister Park clasped his sweat-dampened hands and whispered urgently. Beside him, Minister Lee bit his lip, anxiety etched into every line of his face.
“He returns after spending a night away? Such a thing cannot be.”
“Saying so now avails us nothing.”
At Panseo Kim’s cold remark, Minister Lee opened his mouth, then closed it again.
The source of their collective dread was singular and absolute.
Until last night, the seat of the Great Hall should have remained empty—and yet, in the early dawn, word had come that he had arrived.
Panseo Kim leaned toward Woosang, who stood beside him. The other man’s eyes had lost all focus, trembling visibly.
“Sir. How—how has this come to pass? You said yourself that you had sent them.”
Woosang did not answer. Instead, he bit his lip and stared ahead. Youngsang, standing opposite, was watching him intently.
He turned his face away as though he had noticed nothing.
Panseo Kim, forgetting even to wipe the cold sweat beading on his brow, tugged gently at Woosang’s sleeve.
“If even one of them speaks, we are finished. Sir, we must find some way—”
“Silence. Do you wish to confess everything on your own?”
Woosang’s voice dropped to a growl, his brow furrowing sharply. The confusion gripping him was absolute.
He had meant to end it at the Hunting Grounds. He had placed an insider among the Royal Guard, driven beasts to the spot, and even released assassins for the final stroke.
Only two hours past, a messenger had brought word that the prey was completely cornered.
When the Sovereign did not return, Woosang had allowed himself to believe the deed was done. But in the early dawn, as he was settling into that certainty, news arrived that the Sovereign was returning to the palace.
The assassins he had sent had vanished without a trace.
All that remained now was to hope that they left no trail that could lead back to him.
“If matters stand thus—”
“Nothing has occurred. We have simply returned to where we began. Compose yourselves.”
Woosang pushed Panseo Kim away with a low growl, but the sickly pallor of his face did not fade.
It was then.
“The Sovereign approaches!”
The great doors of the hall swung open on both sides.
Between them, a man’s silhouette stretched long, backlit by the flooding daylight.
As he took his first step, a revolting stench consumed the cold air of the hall.
‘What is this …?’
Woosang’s head rose instinctively, then dropped just as quickly.
The others reacted likewise. With each step the man took, the thick reek of blood spread through the Great Hall.
The officials parted involuntarily, a silent scream lodged in each throat, their ranks splitting like the Red Sea. Down the center, Hyun walked forward with heavy steps.
Drops of blood traced a path down his white cheek to his chin, falling steadily to the floor.
The red Cheollik he wore had lost all color. Whether it had been crimson to begin with or only seemed so now, soaked in blood, none could tell.
Something hung from his left hand, visible at the torn edge of his sleeve.
A man’s corpse, limbs bent backward in an impossible angle.
Gripped by the hair in Hyun’s grip, a figure in black clothes was being dragged across the floor.
With each step he took, a long red line was drawn across the stone.
Screeeech―
The nauseating sound of a body scraped across stone was the only noise pressing down upon the suffocating silence of the hall.
Hyun walked forward with unhurried steps, surveying the officials who stumbled backward in terror.
Woosang lifted his gaze for a moment, but the instant his eyes met Hyun’s, he cast them down.
It was certain. It was him.
The clothes of the man held in the Sovereign’s grasp matched exactly the garb of the assassin Woosang had sent.
Woosang noticed shallow breath still escaping the dragged figure and hunched his shoulders.
A grave miscalculation. He had not thought—had not dared imagine—that they would take him alive.
The one mercy was that he had not shown his face directly to any of them. There was still a thread through which to escape.
But ….
Woosang lifted his gaze slightly, then drew in his breath. Hyun had stopped before the throne, and their eyes met.
Woosang hurriedly dropped his gaze and clasped his trembling hands together. He felt the sticky weight of that stare pressing against the back of his hands.
Hyun remained motionless for a long moment, then turned toward the throne and took a step forward. He released his grip on the hair, letting it fall carelessly.
Thud!
The man’s head struck the stone floor with a sickening crack.
Hyun wiped away the blood around her eyes with the back of her hand, then turned her gaze toward the highest point of the Great Hall.
As footsteps climbed the stairs, Woosang’s shoulders sagged lower with each step. Before the Sun-Moon-Five-Peaks Painting, Hyun stood and slowly turned to look down at those below.
“An unforeseen calamity forced me to step away. I apologize.”
“Your Majesty, we are overwhelmed by your grace!”
The ministers bowed in unison. Woosang pressed his lips together and lowered his head with the rest, his face hidden among theirs.
There was no choice. What had already happened was done—all that remained was to deny it to the end. He had no guarantee that the king was certain of the murderer’s identity.
Woosang steadied his wavering voice and spoke louder than anyone else.
“What a mercy that Your Majesty has returned to us unharmed.”
“Do you speak truly? Woosang.”
……!
His breath caught in his throat. Woosang composed himself slowly before he answered.
“Your Majesty, I do not understand what you mean…….”
“The forest was overrun with wild beasts. They gave me no small amount of trouble. The hungrier ones had the sharpest teeth.”
Hyun rolled up her blood-stained sleeve slowly. Her white forearm, unmarked, was half-drenched in fresh blood.
Woosang could not tear his eyes from that stain. He swallowed hard.
“But the worst were those beasts that seemed to understand human speech.”
Hyun gestured with her chin toward the man sprawled on the floor below, his face crushed and mangled. His mouth was gagged with cloth, and his entire body was bound tightly with rope—a pitiful sight.
“This one was among them. He had the audacity to come at me and try to bite—so impressive that I kept him alive and brought him all the way here. I thought perhaps you, Minister, might know who owns such a beast.”
“Your Majesty, I do not understand what you are saying…….”
“You don’t?”
Hyun leaned forward deeply from her throne.
The sharp edge in her voice made Woosang bite his lip. A chill ran from his scalp to his toes.
“During the night in the forest, as I was pursued by those beasts, I came to understand something. The dryness of this nation’s mountains and rivers—it was not because heaven withheld the rain.”
Hyun tapped the armrest of the throne with a blood-stained finger. A steady rhythm echoed softly through the silent Great Hall.
“The rats who seized the land had drunk dry every drop of water that the people needed to drink. Is that not so, Woosang?”
Woosang’s eyelids trembled. In that instant, Hyun gestured with her chin toward the space before them.
“Rang.”
The captain of the Royal Guard approached with a lowered head. Hyun spoke in a low voice.
“Bring it forth.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
A soldier behind the captain handed something over. The captain received it in both hands and knelt before Hyun.
He spoke flatly as he added:
“Set it down.”
The eyes of all the officials arrayed on either side fixed downward at once.
A single small leaf, green and no larger than a fingernail, wrapped in a scrap of paper. The moment Woosang saw it, his eyes clamped shut.
“Zaoxiao Plant.”
A stir rippled through the Great Hall. Immediately, every eye turned toward one person alone—Woosang.
Hyun’s voice fell soft and final.
“Have you nothing more to say, even now, Woosang?”

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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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