I Became My Ex-Boyfriend’s Concubine - Chapter 99

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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 99

Her vision swam.
‘Where… am I?’
Dan-bi blinked slowly.
As she stared at the unfamiliar ceiling that blurred before her, Hyeon’s face suddenly came into view. At his side stood the Physician she had seen before in the Inner Chamber.
She tried to open her mouth to speak, but her throat felt strangely constricted, and no sound came.
Finally, she managed to force a breath from her throat.
“Your… Highness…?”
At her voice, Hyeon and the Physician seemed to exchange urgent words. But strangely, she could not hear them clearly.
As she gazed blankly at only the shape of their lips, Hyeon bent his head near to hers.
“Noblewoman.”
Only then did his voice reach her clearly, close to her ear.
Unable to respond, she merely blinked; his low sigh brushed the edge of her ear.
“Your condition is not good at all.”
‘What…?’
Now that he mentioned it, her recent memories were hazy. She could not recall why she lay here at all.
‘What’s happening to me?’
Prick—
As she traced back through her fragmented memories, a sharp sensation that had grazed her fingertips returned to her mind.
She thought she had merely scraped herself slightly on the edge of the water bucket, but dark crimson droplets began to fall onto white cloth.
Then a terrible vertigo seized her. Her entire body began to tremble.
Just before losing consciousness, the last image was of Hyeon bursting through the door with rough urgency.
“Noblewoman.”
Hyeon leaned closer, his lips near her ear. His breath against her ear sent a strange tingling through her.
“This will hurt. Bear it.”
She had not yet understood what his words meant.
Hyeon seized her bleeding hand and, without hesitation, thrust it into his mouth and bit down hard.
“Ah—!”
At the same instant, the Physicians across from them cried out in alarm and lurched from their seats, ready to stop him for fear of what might happen to the Royal Body.
But Hyeon paid them no mind; instead, he bit deeper into her fingers. As warmth flooded the wound, a sharp, stinging pain spread from her fingertips.
She twisted against the terrible agony. Upon seeing her move, Hyeon fixed the Physicians with a cold stare even as he kept her wound in his mouth.
“Hold her still. Do not let her move.”
“Yes… Yes, Your Highness.”
The ashen-faced Physicians immediately gripped both her shoulders firmly. A thick white cloth was placed between her teeth.
She opened her eyes narrowly, clenching the cloth.
Her fingers remained caught between his teeth. His warm, moist tongue coiled around them, drawing deeply.
Overwhelmed by the strange sensation, she finally squeezed her eyes shut.
Her mind had gone hazy. She could not tell what was causing it.
Was it the terrible fever burning in her skull, or the scalding warmth that enveloped her fingers?
Soon Hyeon slowly withdrew her fingers from his mouth. Then he turned to the Physician, who held out a vessel, and roughly spat what had pooled in his mouth into it.
‘Blood…?’
Red blood dripped from between his lips.
“Your Highness!”
“If harm comes to the Royal Body…”
Ignoring the Physicians’ protests, Hyeon bit down on her fingers again.
How many times did he repeat this—drawing out and spitting away the blood?
Only when her fingertips had turned pale and swollen did he finally release her hand.
A waiting Physician immediately offered a vessel of water. Hyeon took the water into his mouth, rinsed, and spat it into the vessel containing blood.
His lips glistened with moisture. His gaze remained fixed on Dan-bi in the bed.
“Take her pulse.”
The Physician bowed and grasped Dan-bi’s wrist. After examining her pulse with eyes closed for some time, he finally opened them.
“All the toxin has been drawn out.”
At those words, everyone in the chamber released a breath of relief. The Physician carefully lowered Dan-bi’s hand back onto the bed and added:
“Now we must observe her condition over time. Nothing more can be done.”
“You may leave.”
Hyeon nodded curtly and issued the order of dismissal.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The physicians bowed in unison and withdrew behind him.
Click.
Only after the door closed did Dan-bi attempt to slowly push herself upright. But Hyun, who had been watching quietly, immediately moved to support her shoulder, his brow furrowing.
“Your body isn’t yet healed.”
“I’m fine.”
“Is your mind clear?”
“Yes.”
Dan-bi settled into a seated position with a dry cough. Hyun removed the cloth that had rested on her forehead and dampened it in a vessel of water.
Wringing out the cloth between both hands, he began gently wiping her wrist—the very place where the physician’s hands had touched.
Dan-bi, watching this quietly, ventured to speak with caution.
“Your Majesty…”
“What is it? Do you have pain elsewhere? Tell me.”
At his worried gaze, which immediately searched her face for signs of distress, Dan-bi found herself closing her mouth instead.
As her eyes drifted to her tingling fingertips, Hyun’s followed in the same direction.
“All the toxin has been drawn out.”
“What do you…”
“It was on the verge of spreading through your body. Had we not extracted it when we did, you would have been lost.”
Hyun lifted his gaze to meet hers.
“Did you injure yourself on something in the Inner Palace?”
Dan-bi paused for a moment before slowly nodding.
“I scraped myself slightly on the edge of a water bucket, and after that, my vision suddenly blurred.”
“A water bucket…”
Lost in thought, Hyun was just beginning to push himself up from his seat when Dan-bi seized his hand. He turned to meet her eyes willingly.
“Is there something you wish to say?”
“Why are you doing this?”
At her question, Hyun fell silent for a moment. Dan-bi kept her gaze fixed upon him.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Why do you treat me this way?”
It was confusing. Or rather, she had been confused for quite some time now.
Since some point, Hyun had been drawing too close, and her heart raced without restraint, and there was nothing she could do about it.
It was all because of him.
Every time she found herself struggling, he appeared as if by instinct to take her hand, and she could not bring herself to pretend ignorance of those eyes so full of concern.
“Please… don’t do this.”
Dan-bi finally lowered her head. She forced down the tears that rose in her throat.
It was unbearable. Every time he was like this, her heart swayed beyond her control.
This place was all false. If she left here, this world would vanish like a mirage. He was always meant to be a stranger to her.
Yet she could not understand why her heart kept turning toward him. The more he did such things, the deeper she sank, helpless to resist.
“You said you must receive my love to leave this place.”
At his sudden question, Dan-bi’s head snapped up. Her unwavering eyes met his.
“Why did you not answer that question?”
“That is…”
Dan-bi quickly averted her gaze, letting her words trail off.
It was something she could not bring herself to speak aloud. Even knowing she had to leave this place, whenever she thought of it, her chest tore, and she could not possibly confess such a thing.
She should simply have said yes, should have answered right then. But just as she forced her lips to part—
“Or is it not the truth?”
“…Pardon?”
Bewildered, Dan-bi opened her mouth like a fool. What was he saying?
“You told me that you could only leave this place if you received my love.”
Hyun’s eyes grew sharp and shadowed.
“I did not wholly believe such an absurd claim, yet at some point I found myself wanting to believe it—so that you would not have lied to me.”
“What do you mean…”
“But it troubles me still. Why, among all those memories, must I repeatedly stand at the brink of death by your hand? You called it merely another of your actions, but if that is truly the case—”
Dan-bi remained frozen, unable to look away from him.
“If this entire world is truly an illusion and your body has repeatedly sought to harm me, can you swear that this bears no connection to your true purpose?”
“…!”
Her breath caught. Hyun’s deep eyes flickered faintly.
“Is it not possible that you must kill me in order to leave this place?”

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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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