Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 39

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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 39. The Protagonist’s Role
Jang Hee-bin’s footsteps faltered. She had clearly spotted the King.
He stood with his back turned to us.
The crimson fabric of his robes, carrying the scent of mountain wind, swayed gently.
‘…I knew he would be here, and yet my heart is racing terribly.’
I swallowed hard, my throat dry.
It was because of Jang Hee-bin’s reaction.
She remained utterly motionless.
Her steps, her gaze, even her breath—all had stilled.
Frozen in place, she could only stare at the King’s back.
‘What must she be thinking?’
I could not contain my curiosity.
The first thing I noticed in Jang Hee-bin’s expression was a joyful smile.
Delight. Happiness. An excitement so palpable it seemed she might dash forward barefoot at any moment.
Yet that smile faded almost at once.
Her lips fell, and the brilliance in her eyes dimmed to something hollow and heavy.
Her face was a tangle of emotions that no single word could define.
Joy and anticipation, regret and lingering attachment.
And sorrow and fear….
She could not take a single step forward, nor dare she call out to him or make any sound.
‘How pitiful.’
Compassion welled within me.
Her trembling fingertips fidgeted, her lips quivering, unable to part.
Even as she gazed at the man standing mere steps away, she yearned for him.
“….”
I watched Jang Hee-bin in silence.
I know nothing of love.
With no romantic experience whatsoever, how could I possibly understand such profound longing?
Given such circumstances, I felt helpless in knowing how to aid her….
‘This is not my place to intrude.’
The certainty was absolute.
What I knew of Jang Hee-bin’s life was merely a handful of lines adapted through history.
Jang Hee-bin and King Sukjong. Of the love between these two who had spent twenty years together, I knew nothing.
‘From this moment forward, it is Jang Hee-bin’s role.’
This was her story. A painfully beautiful love story in which she was the protagonist.
Therefore, this reunion had to belong to her alone.
I soon understood what I needed to do.
As I quietly stepped to the side, Jang Hee-bin’s gaze lowered.
Toward her, whose lips moved as if to speak, I raised a finger to my own lips in a gesture of silence.
“….”
No further words were necessary.
I carefully distanced myself from Jang Hee-bin.
Treading softly so my footsteps made no sound.
A Pavilion nestled among the fully bloomed plum blossoms came into view.
‘That would be perfect.’
I slipped away quietly yet swiftly from their stage, concealing myself from sight.
***
Perhaps it was because he sensed the subtly altered air.
King Sukjong, who had been gazing at the clear waters of Okryucheon, slowly turned his body.
His eyes trembled faintly upon discovering the silhouette of a woman.
‘Jang Hee-bin.’
It was Jang Hee-bin.
Though the King’s eyesight was terribly poor, he could recognize her form at a glance.
In truth, it had always been this way. Even at a distance far greater than this, it would have been no different.
Jang Hee-bin’s bearing, standing amid the sunlight pouring down around Okryucheon, was both elegant and unyielding.
“….”
The King did not open his mouth.
Jang Hee-bin merely gazed at him in silence.
‘Why do you wear such an expression, Jang Hee-bin.’
In Jang Hee-bin’s eyes, the King read regret and sorrow.
Her gaze seemed yearning, resentful, trembling with love and hate all at once….
Yet what he recognized first was longing.
The King turned over in his mind a question he had harbored for quite some time.
‘Is it truly me that you long for.’
Do you truly yearn for that man called Yi Soon.
Those glorious days when she possessed the King’s heart.
Like threads of light slipping through his fingers—was she not longing for a past that had been radiant yet also hollow.
He wished to know. He wished to ask.
Yet the King maintained his silence.
For he knew better than anyone that he had been the one to destroy Jang Hee-bin.
Between their two gazes, countless years pass and return.
Youth, beautiful precisely because it was fleeting.
Eternal vows, transient though they were.
And those days when they were consumed by desire for one another….
‘Jang Ok-jeong.’
He still remembers vividly the moment he first saw her, a Palace Maid of Queen Jangyeol’s Quarters.
It felt as though his breath had stopped. He seemed about to be blinded by her beauty.
There was a time when he had made enemies of all to possess her.
He had opposed the Queen Dowager, turned fierce ministers into enemies.
He had cast aside the Queen, and ultimately even turned away from the hearts of his people.
He had wagered everything on his love for Jang Ok-jeong.
…And his love had failed.
‘Was that Jang Hee-bin’s sin?’
He turned the question over in his mind once more, but could reach no certainty.
He was King.
The faction backing her grew more brazen with each passing day.
So intoxicated with arrogance that they mistook the royal radiance for their own.
It was his sacred duty as King to punish them.
He had not cast her aside out of favor for another.
His love had…lingered in one place for far too long.
He had merely needed to sever that root before the love itself became poison, consuming him whole.
“Ha….”
The King exhaled softly into the silence.
Even in that silence, his gaze never wavered from her.
He was curious.
He wanted to know if genuine affection for him still remained in her eyes—not bitterness and regret, but truth.
***
‘…Your Majesty.’
I did not know what words to speak.
This meeting I had longed for so desperately—yet the moment I faced the King, my mind went blank.
I should have observed proper decorum, but my body and lips felt frozen, unable to move.
No. That was not the reason I could not move.
I was afraid that if I moved, I would flee.
From a love reduced to ash.
From his heart that was once mine alone.
Terrified it would fade forever, and I would never see him again….
‘I met him when I was twenty-one.’
The moment I beheld the young King shining like the sun, I sensed our destiny to become one.
Everything about him captivated me.
His boldness and valor, his fearless strength.
I loved even the infinite power he possessed.
The fact that the mightiest man alive craved my love was a sweetness as intoxicating as nectar.
‘I was…such a fool in those days.’
I never imagined the vows of eternal love could ever change.
The boldness that had once captivated me became the blade that severed my supporters.
The power that granted my every wish brought my entire family to ruin.
The heart of a man who swore he desired only me…rested easily in other women’s chambers.
And yet, I still loved the King.
The heart that held the departed man was stained with crimson bruises.
But I could not stop loving him.
Longing, love and hate intertwined, jealousy and regret.
Day after day, they destroyed and shattered her.
Yet he was everything to her.
Jang Ok-jeong could only become whole if she possessed his love.
‘…Your Majesty.’
Tears welled up in her eyes.
She wanted to hate him. If only she could, perhaps she could survive.
…Yet this man she yearned for so desperately.
Just a few steps away, close enough to grasp.
But she could not reach out first, could not embrace him, could not press her lips to his.
Love had ended.
He had abandoned me.
“….”
Through her blurred vision, the crimson royal robe flickered like a dying flame.
A futile love. Burning brilliantly for a moment, then fading away….
That was when it happened.
The King approached her.
Slowly, with measured but resolute steps.
The crystalline sound of water flowing through Okryucheon, the humid air veiled in pale mist.
In the silence, even the whisper of fabric against skin became distinct.
The King, now standing before Jang Hee-bin, opened his mouth.
“Ok-jeong.”
“….”
He had called her by that name.
A name that had not been spoken in so very long.
“Your Majesty….”
Plink.
A tear fell from Jang Hee-bin’s eyes.
The cold King. The extraordinary King. The merciless sovereign without blood or tears.
His trembling fingertips, seeking restraint, wavered faintly, but he was ultimately defeated.
The King reached out and drew Jang Hee-bin into his embrace.
A powerful embrace.
Strong and unyielding.
“…It has been so long.”
Since I called your name.
“Ok-jeong.”
A gentle breeze stirred at that moment.
Plum blossoms carried on the wind swirled around them like delicate pink rain.
***
“Huff…! Huff-ah…! Huuuh…!”
Dizziness washed over me.
The world spun before my eyes, yet I could not possibly stop this grand undertaking.
“Huff! Huuh…!”
Gathering a handful of plum blossoms scattered across the floor, I blew with all my might, sending the petals swirling through the air.
Most of the petals simply fell back to the ground.
But fortunately, some caught by the wind drifted all the way to King Sukjong and Jang Hee-bin’s side.
Jang Hee-bin nestled in King Sukjong’s embrace.
Flower petals scattering around them.
‘Ah…!’
A magnificent moment in history, crafted by two protagonists and one supporting player.

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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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