I Became My Ex-Boyfriend’s Concubine - Chapter 55

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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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Episode 55

“What is this?”
No one dared answer the Prince’s question readily. Rang, standing beside him, made no attempt to hide his bewilderment, simply staring at the stone as though entranced.
“Your Highness, the stone is emitting light.”
The words came out in a voice that trembled faintly.
Dan-bi was equally astonished. She’d taken it for an ordinary rock, but clearly what lay inside was something else entirely.
Then again, it made no sense that the System would award her a useless stone as a reward Item.
Dan-bi swallowed hard.
Still, she’d never imagined light would actually pour from a stone like this.
‘Wait.’
Ignoring the Prince’s question, Dan-bi reached toward the table.
She ran her fingers across the rough fractured surface of the split stone without hesitation. A soft glow seeped through the uneven face.
But this was no ordinary light.
‘Could it be…?’
Dan-bi quickly grabbed the Candlestick sitting on the table’s edge. She brought the flickering flame near the stone’s glowing surface.
The Prince reached out in alarm, trying to stop her.
“What are you—!”
“This isn’t just emitting light.”
“…?”
Instead of answering, Dan-bi moved the flame closer, then farther away. Each time the candle’s wick wavered, the phosphorescence deep within the stone rippled as though alive.
She lifted her head and met the Prince’s gaze directly.
“It’s absorbing light and then releasing it.”
“Absorbing light…?”
The Prince repeated her words as if unable to comprehend. Rang examined the Candlestick in Dan-bi’s hand and the stone’s surface alternately, then looked back at the Prince.
“It’s true, Your Highness. The closer the light comes, the more intensely it glows.”
The Prince’s attention returned to the stone. Dan-bi moved the Candlestick again so he could observe.
There was no doubt.
Each time the flame drew near the surface, the light exploded with intensity; when distance was restored, it dimmed again. The difference in how the light absorbed and released energy was visible to the naked eye.
The Prince’s brow furrowed deeply. Dan-bi nodded at his gaze meeting hers.
This was no ordinary stone.
A bluish phosphorescence wavered through the fractures in the broken rock.
She was certain.
This was Phosphorescent Pigment.
A memory flashed through Dan-bi’s mind—a garment she’d poured her heart into creating for a past fashion show.
Phosphorescent embroidery had been sewn densely along the hem, a finale gown for that day’s closing model.
When all the lights went out, that dress alone would radiate brilliance, commanding the stage.
Though she’d ended up ruining the show with her own hands, never even approaching the stage before being banished to backstage.
Or rather, the moment Ha-rin touched it, her desire to send it out had simply evaporated.
‘I struggled with it endlessly back then.’
At the time, there had been the convenient material called phosphorescent thread, so all she had to do was embroider it into place.
But circumstances were different now.
She’d been given the raw stone itself—that was the problem.
To produce any usable result, she’d have to build every step from the ground up: processing, mixing, everything.
She could already feel the future ache settling into her shoulders.
What on earth was she supposed to do with this?
“A stone that absorbs light and releases it? Where did this rock come from?”
The Prince’s question shattered her reverie. His and Rang’s gazes fixed on Dan-bi, both tinged with bewilderment.
They seemed to be asking: what exactly is this stone, and how do you know about it so well?
Dan-bi hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“I brought it from the Other Realm.”
“It seems you invoke the Other Realm every time things grow difficult. Is that truly the case?”
The Prince narrowed his eyes, making no effort to hide his suspicion. His gaze traced persistently across Dan-bi’s hands, which trembled slightly.
“It is the truth.”
The Prince’s pointed words struck home, and Dan-bi felt a twinge inside.
Yet she maintained an unflustered expression outwardly. It was true that she resorted to the Other Realm excuse whenever in a bind, but it wasn’t entirely false either.
Though telling him the System had simply tossed it to her as a reward Item wouldn’t convince him anyway.
What truly gnawed at her was that very fact: that this was a ‘reward Item.’
Recalling the Short Sword and Antidote she’d been given before, this object too must mean something essential lay ahead.
The immediate task would be the next Quest: “Make Rain Fall.”
‘But what does making rain have to do with Phosphorescent Pigment?’
No matter how hard she thought, the two simply wouldn’t connect.
Dan-bi gazed quietly at the stone on the table, then rubbed away the debris clinging to its surface with her fingertip. The powder on her skin caught the light, glimmering faintly.
The clues given so far were the Quest “Make Rain Fall,” and the hint provided: “Moon’s Tears Become Rain.”
Nothing but a legend—the tears of the moon falling as rain.
Where exactly did the Phosphorescent Pigment fit into this? She couldn’t make sense of it at all.
‘…Wait.’
After staring at the debris in her palm for some time, Dan-bi’s head suddenly snapped up. She turned immediately to Rang and asked directly.
“Is there a well nearby?”
“Ah, there isn’t one close by. You’d have to go a bit farther—”
Dan-bi turned away without hesitation. She had no time to waste on a well.
Before the wall, atop a four-sided table, she spotted a Flower Vase.
Without pause, she snatched it up and pulled out the flowering branch that stood within. Fortunately, the Vase still held plenty of water, sloshing inside.
“What are you—”
Despite Rang’s protest, Dan-bi turned the Flower Vase upside down and poured its contents onto the table.
The cascade of water soaked the stone fragments. Moments later, the powder mixed with the water, emitting an eerie blue light.
Dan-bi tapped the glowing liquid with her finger to confirm it, then curved her lips upward in a smile.
“You asked if there was a way to make rain fall.”
She lifted her head and looked directly at Hyeon. His eyebrows twitched.
“There is.”
“…!”
Hyeon and Rang exchanged startled glances before immediately turning their attention to Dan-bi.
Hyeon, still harboring doubt, spoke in a low, measured tone.
“So you’ve found the Jade Seal after all?”
To his jeering question, Dan-bi shook her head quietly.
“Your words are correct. I do not have the Jade Seal now.”
It was a statement she’d braced herself to make. Even if Hyeon flew into a rage at the thought of false negotiation, she had nothing to say in her defense.
But now she had to clarify this point.
That she held no Jade Seal, that she herself did not know its whereabouts, and that a method to make rain fall existed even without it.
Contrary to expectation, Hyeon did not grow angry. He simply held Dan-bi in a steady gaze before opening his mouth quietly.
“Then, what is this method?”
“I can tell you, but there is one condition.”
“…A condition?”
“That you trust me without suspicion until the Rain-Making Ritual is held.”
Dan-bi gazed at the Phosphorescent Pigment and recalled her previous Quest.
The instruction to deliver a fatal blow to Hyeon.
At the time, she had hesitated, unable to raise the Short Sword, but when Hyeon took an arrow wound in her stead, the Quest was completed.
It was an unsettling conclusion, yet it yielded a crucial insight.
Even though she hadn’t laid hands on him directly, the System had recognized the injury Hyeon sustained—done to protect Dan-bi—as a fatal blow she had inflicted.
If the circumstances were merely arranged convincingly, the System would respond even if causality was twisted somewhat.
In other words, all roads led to the same destination.
Then if she used this Phosphorescent Pigment to create the phenomenon of “Moon’s Tears Become Rain” convincingly enough—?
Dan-bi faced Hyeon with a smile full of certainty.
“I think I’ve discovered a way to deceive the System.”

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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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