I Became My Ex-Boyfriend’s Concubine - Chapter 76

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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 76

Cough, cough.
With each breath, scalding ash scraped raw against her throat.
Dan-bi couldn’t suppress the coughing fit that tore from her lungs, her body folding in on itself. Black smoke already choked her vision, leaving everything a murky haze.
‘It’s so hot…….’
Heat seared across her skin as if her flesh were burning away. Above her head, the rotten rafters crumbled into formless ash and fell. There was no reason to be surprised if a wall of flame came crashing down on her at any moment.
Dan-bi pulled Myeong-i closer against her chest, clutching the child harder. The boy’s breathing had grown increasingly shallow.
“Myeong-i, stay with me. Just a little longer……just hold on a bit more.”
Her hoarse voice scattered weakly into the inferno.
With trembling hands, Dan-bi tore a strip from her skirt and wrapped it around Myeong-i’s nose and mouth.
But she’d already inhaled so much smoke that the world spun before her eyes.
Her sweat-soaked forehead pressed against the child’s cold cheek.
‘It’s all my fault.’
Dan-bi bit down on her lower lip, shaking her head.

A ruse to buy time, pretending to accept his conditions.
She’d meant to distract Park Dae-yeong with the ‘fake’ she’d scattered throughout the Sangui-won, to prevent him from actually interfering with the Gi-u-je.
Her calculations had worked perfectly. The price had been merciless.
She’d warned the boy with all her strength—if anything went wrong, don’t look back, burn it all down.
Yet she’d known all too well that he would never abandon his affection for her, that his tender heart would ultimately choose to keep her secret. She’d been careless anyway.
She’d known how relentless a man Park Dae-yeong was, yet she’d been complacent. Her past failures now bit deep into her chest, aching unbearably.
‘If something happens to Myeong-i because of this…….’
Dan-bi gripped the boy’s jacket tighter against her chest. His breathing, barely audible at the nape of his neck, made her heart clench with dread.
In that moment, she understood something: she had changed.
Not long ago, this place had been nothing but a game to her. No matter how familiar a face looked, she could dismiss them all as nothing more than fakes.
Perhaps that very defense mechanism had allowed her to endure this long.
If she believed this was a world she would eventually leave, any relationship, any bond, seemed inconsequential.
But somewhere along the way, everything had come into focus.
Whether it was from clashing repeatedly with Hyeon, from being among the people at the Sangui-won, or from dragging this Gi-u-je forward with her own hands—she couldn’t say for certain.
Yet somewhere along the way, she had become deeply woven into the fabric of their lives.
The labored breathing of an NPC, supposedly nothing but fragments of data, now made her chest feel like it might split open.
She could no longer distinguish between game and reality—her heart had become too entangled.
Meanwhile, as time passed, her memories of the outside world had grown hazier. She could barely remember what she was struggling so hard to accomplish.
‘Do they still remember me?’
The faces that flickered at the edges of her mind blurred her vision with tears.
The people from Neon Beauty who’d grumbled in the background yet ultimately trusted and followed her. Sol, who’d always brought new games whenever things got tough. And…….

She didn’t know if it had been fading all along, or if the roaring flames now blocking her sight simply wouldn’t let her see it anymore.
Dan-bi stared blankly ahead.
The exit was already swallowed entirely by fire. Only the sound of wood crackling as it burned filled her ears.
Was this the end? Is that why that damn face kept coming back to her?
Dan-bi slowly closed her eyes.
The image of Hyeon in her mind gradually dissolved. And in its place, another figure began to overlap.
Lips that spoke harsh words yet never truly pushed her away.
A steady grip that grumbled and complained, yet never let go in her moment of crisis.
Eyes that had always held a worried tenderness when turned toward her.
She was opening her eyes slowly to that emerging face when——
Bang, crash——!
Something struck violently against the door from outside.
Dan-bi lifted her head, grasping at her fading consciousness.

“Your Highness! Are you there!”
Was it a hallucination?
Through the haze that imprisoned her vision, a familiar voice reached her ears.
“It can’t be…….”
Just as she managed to push her leaden body upright, the tightly sealed door exploded inward with a deafening crash.
Cold air rushed through, cutting through the acrid smoke.
A dark silhouette emerged from the billowing haze.
Steady footfalls striding through the inferno with deliberate purpose.
Dan-bi exhaled the breath she’d been holding.
By the time she realized it, he had drawn near, dropping to one knee. The familiar crease of worry marked his brow.
“Your Highness……?”
“Are you conscious?”
“How did you……?”
Instead of answering, Hyeon spread his arms and pulled Dan-bi against him. Buried within the crimson of his Dragon Robe, she caught the scent of cool fragrance at her nose.
In that moment, the tension that had locked her body rigid drained away entirely.
She had thought she would die.
If she died like this, the game would simply end.
The outcome was predictable.
‘Everyone would forget me again.’
Time had passed since she arrived here. The people of the outside world had likely forgotten her by now.
This place would be no different. No matter what bonds they had formed, they were ultimately just entities moving according to their programming.
When the game Reset, they would erase her from their memories as if nothing had happened.
She had been certain that’s how it would be.
Rip, rip—
As she lowered her head, she saw Hyeon tearing at the hem of his own Dragon Robe with rough urgency.
He pressed a piece of crimson silk against her face, wrapping it around her nose and mouth. His eyes, where they met hers, burned hotter than the flames themselves.
‘I was wrong.’
It had been her mistake.
She had forgotten, for a moment.
That even if the world forgot her, even if everyone erased her, at least this man would remember her.
“Your Highness……. The Dragon Robe, you mustn’t damage it so carelessly…….”
“Stop talking. The smoke is toxic.”
Without pause, Hyeon slung Myeong-i’s body across his shoulder and rose, supporting Dan-bi’s waist firmly with his other arm.
His sharp profile filled her vision. Dan-bi took in the sight, committing it to memory.
Yes, Hyeon.
Even if this world Reset, he alone would remember her.
Dan-bi followed in his footsteps as he advanced ahead.
Cold air seeped through the gaps in the flames that consumed the entrance.
Fierce fire still blocked the way forward, but there would be enough space between them to slip through.
‘Am I just going to keep accepting help?’
This was the second time she owed Hyeon her life.
The irony wasn’t lost on her—that she was the one meant to kill him, yet each time she was the one he saved. She shook her head at the absurdity of it all.
Whoosh—
With a sharp gust, her body was torn from Hyeon’s side.
Startled as her vision inverted, she turned her head and saw Hyeon still standing, Myeong-i slung across his shoulder.
Her body had been knocked away from him against her will, spinning backward.
But that wasn’t the most alarming part.
“What are you doing!”
Dan-bi’s breath caught as she saw what lay in her hands. The Short Sword she had tucked away in her embrace only moments before now gripped her palm.
And its blade was pointed directly at Hyeon.
‘No.’
Against her will, both hands seized the hilt, already in striking stance.
Dan-bi fought desperately to suppress her body as it launched forward. Her hands trembled violently.
“Your Highness, please……run!”
Before she could finish speaking, her feet pushed off the ground and she lunged toward Hyeon.

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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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