I Became My Ex-Boyfriend’s Concubine - Chapter 93

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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 93

“This Norigae was hanging from the Royal Seal?”
At the sudden words, Dan-bi’s eyes went wide.
She immediately looked down at the Norigae. The yellow tassel at its end was woven into a ring shape so it could connect with something. Its form was no different from any other Norigae.
But thanks to this ring, it could be hung as decoration anywhere, not just on a jeogori. In fact, it was often used that way.
Even so, for this ornament to have been hanging from the Royal Seal—what did that even mean?
‘Wait.’
Dan-bi’s head snapped up as she looked toward Hyeon.
“Your Highness, did you perhaps see something?”
“I did see.”
“Then, in the water just now…….”
At his affirmative silence, Dan-bi’s mouth fell open. She too had glimpsed a dream of unknown origin in that pitch-black water.
If that were the case, then perhaps.
“Did you see anything else?”
“Anything else?”
“Well, I…….”
Dan-bi opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. It felt wrong to ask whether he remembered all those countless moments when she—in that dream—had killed him with her own hands.
Besides, she still didn’t know for certain who the dream Dan-bi with her exact face truly was.
And if she carelessly spilled all of this, there was a real risk the Main Quest itself would be exposed.
Dan-bi paused to think, then spoke carefully.
“You asked me before. Whether I remembered the Past Lives that came before.”
Those Past Lives were the ones in which the woman who wore her face had tried countless times to kill Hyeon. He too was just beginning to recall fragments of those memories as the rain fell on him.
He took a moment before answering.
“……Yes, I did.”
“I saw those memories in the water.”
“The memories from those past cycles you spoke of?”
“From even older cycles than that.”
Though fragmented, she had glimpsed the era when she had repeated death and rebirth countless times.
Until now, only memories from cycles she had actually played through had surfaced, so she couldn’t explain why memories she’d never played were flowing into her—but they were unmistakably ‘someone’s’ memories.
“I wondered if Your Highness might have seen those memories too.”
If Hyeon had seen the Norigae hanging from the Royal Seal, then it couldn’t be something from this current cycle. Neither he nor she had ever even laid eyes on the Royal Seal now.
Dan-bi was curious whether Hyeon, like her, had glimpsed the countless cycles of the past.
“All that I saw was only that.”
But Hyeon fell silent in thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“Still, it seemed to me that the ornament was already coming loose from the Royal Seal.”
“It was coming loose?”
When Dan-bi repeated the question, Hyeon gazed down at the Norigae. Then he squeezed his hand tightly and released it, murmuring softly.
“I meant to hold it fast like this, but I let it slip away. I had no choice but to…….”
Watching his words fade, Dan-bi tilted her head in confusion.
He had given it to someone? To whom?
Then a scene flickered across her mind.
Before the game had even begun, another version of herself standing in pitch-black space, clutching a Yellow Ornament.
“Your Highness, could it be……!”
The sudden realization made Dan-bi’s head snap up. But in the next moment, her mouth fell open and she froze.
A single transparent tear was rolling down Hyeon’s cheek. His gaze remained fixed straight on Dan-bi.
“Your…… Highness?”
At Dan-bi’s whispered call, Hyeon finally came to his senses and quickly wiped his cheek with his sleeve. His face flushed crimson in an instant.
Dan-bi took a step closer toward him.
“Your Highness, what’s wrong?”
At that, Hyeon abruptly turned his back to her.
“It’s nothing.”
“Nothing at all!”
Whether in the outer world or here, this man was far removed from tears.
He could be so cold it seemed a needle couldn’t draw a drop of blood from him—and now, in broad daylight, he was suddenly weeping. She couldn’t help but be taken aback.
Dan-bi quickly sidestepped to stand in front of him. As she reached out in concern, Hyeon immediately twisted his body the other way and snapped sharply.
“That is enough!”
“Enough of what?”
Unable to hold back any longer, Dan-bi seized Hyun by the shoulders and forced him to turn around. His face flushed even deeper at the contact.
“How dare you——!”
“I’ll listen to the scolding later. First, let me see your face.”
She cradled his face between her hands, and he startled, stumbling backward.
Only when his back touched the cave wall did Dan-bi rise onto her toes. She examined his features carefully, then tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“Is something really wrong?”
Concern flooded through her.
He’d definitely seen something in the water, but could he have suffered some unbearable nightmare instead?
As she continued studying his face, Hyun bit his lower lip, then abruptly turned his head away.
He gently pulled down her arms from around his face. A soft cough echoed through the cave.
“…Pollen must have gotten into my eyes.”
“There isn’t a single blade of grass here, let alone flowers.”
“The entrance is right there!”
Cutting off her words, Hyun hurried ahead. Dan-bi followed, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she tilted her head.

When they emerged from the cave, Som and Rang came into view, pacing anxiously nearby.
“Som!”
“Dan-bi!”
Dan-bi rushed into Som’s embrace, gently stroking the back of her head. Som looked up, her eyes already reddening as though tears might spill any moment.
“Are you truly well, my lady?”
“I’m fine.”
“But why are your clothes so wet? Did you perhaps fall into that water earlier?”
“Well, it just… happened somehow.”
“Your Majesty!”
At the voice calling from behind, Dan-bi turned. Rang bowed before Hyun, his brow furrowed with concern.
“Your health——”
“I am well.”
“Yet your garments have suffered considerable damage, sire.”
“They are merely wet. Do not worry yourself.”
Hyun glanced back at Dan-bi.
Over his shoulder, the dawn was breaking. The darkness that had pressed down on all sides began to lift, and a pale blue light spread across the sky like a flood.
“Noblewoman. Make ready—we return to the palace.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Dan-bi followed quietly in his wake. Som and Rang stepped ahead, as if clearing a path for him.
As they descended slowly along the rugged stone path, verdant vegetation began to appear.
Red flowers bloomed abundantly around them, and when she looked up, white clouds drifted serenely across the blue sky.
Seeing the vividly restored colors, her chest swelled with emotion. They were all colors she had reclaimed with her own hands.
Dan-bi found herself stopping. She was gently cradling a red flower blooming at the tip of a branch when——
“Do you enjoy flowers?”
At the voice from behind, Dan-bi turned slowly. Hyun had drawn up beside her, leaving Som and Rang ahead on the path.
She regarded him for a moment, then gave a light nod.
“Is there anyone who dislikes flowers?”
“Until recently, I was such a person.”
At her puzzled gaze, Hyun’s eyes drifted toward the blossoms in full bloom.
“Nothing reveals its color as intensely as a flower. Every time I saw them, I was reminded only of my own powerlessness.”
Dan-bi bowed her head quietly at his words.
Thinking of how these beautiful red flowers now flourishing at her fingertips must have been withered and colorless all this time, she felt something strange stir in her chest.
Hyun had shouldered such heavy guilt for more than a decade.
“It is not your fault.”
Dan-bi lifted her head, meeting his gaze directly.
“You need not bear all the tears of this world alone.”
She reached for his hand and grasped it. Warmth flowed gently through their joined palms.
She desperately wanted to tell him.
That he need not try to endure everything by himself. That just as they had together restored the world’s colors, they could continue walking forward step by step, side by side.
“Everything will find its place in the end.”
Hyun looked down at Dan-bi in silence. After a brief stillness, his lips finally parted heavily.
“Did you say we must return?”
“Pardon? Ah……”
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Dan-bi hesitated before nodding. Now she remembered why she had worked so hard to restore these colors.
Dan-bi swallowed the bitter feeling rising in her throat and began to slip her hand from his.
“If so, I would ask.”
Yet the grip of Hyeon’s hand, holding Dan-bi’s, tightened. When she lifted her gaze, she found herself reflected whole and entire in the depths of his eyes.
“That word you spoke—that I must receive love from you—was it truly so?”
“…!”
It was a question he had posed once before.
But at that time, Dan-bi had evaded a direct answer. She had merely seized upon the excuse that she needed to recover her color, turning the conversation aside with hurried steps.
She had known he would ask again someday, yet now that the moment had arrived, her tongue still would not obey.
But why hesitate at all?
If she meant to escape this world, there was only one answer she could give. There was no room for calculation.
Dan-bi straightened her throat and lifted her head.
“Yes. It is true.”
“…I see.”
Hyeon’s murmur hung softly in the air.
Dan-bi met his strange expression, then began to turn away slowly. She was about to slip past him when—
“Then I would ask one thing more.”
At the sound of Hyeon’s voice catching her from behind, her steps froze.
As his hand gently drew her shoulder around and she turned to meet him, their gazes collided again, direct and clear.
His eyes flickered with something finely trembling.
“Would it please you if I loved you?”

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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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