Surviving as the Heavenly Demon’s Concubine - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Follow me. The lady will surely have questions, and you’ll need to fill in any gaps from the side.”

“What? Why should I do that?”

When Riser boldly questioned back, Guard 1 made a bewildered expression.

Come to think of it, Riser was just an ordinary person, so she had no obligation to explain, but how could she ask such a principled question when she wasn’t unaware of who Lady Seo was?

‘Ah, she doesn’t know.’

Guard 1 suddenly realized that Riser was a prospective initiate.

“Lend me your ear for a moment.”

“What are you trying to…”

Whisper whisper.

As Guard 1’s whispers continued, Riser’s eyes grew wider and wider.

If what she had just heard was true, Riser’s fate could change dramatically according to the will of Lady Seo, no, the noble Seo Yeon Khatun.

* * *

From lake-colored eyes, drop by drop.

Transparent tears like glass beads sparkled and rolled down.

“Mashin has sent a benefactor to Mujin.”

How could such fortune come to her son who had been causing trouble every other day?

Seo Yeon Khatun tightly grasped Riser’s hands with both of hers and smiled on her tear-stained face.

“Not only did you save the life of the Cheonma bloodline, but you also elevated his stagnant martial arts realm. That merit is by no means small. How should I repay this kindness?”

“You speak too highly of me, Seo Yeon Khatun.”

Riser said while lowering her head as if embarrassed.

“All I did was notice the Third Prince’s critical condition from beyond the wall and quickly call for help, then boldly break into the prison despite the danger and loss, and offer all the spiritual medicine I had without a moment’s hesitation or regret. Anyone could have done it.”

“How truly remarkable. To be so humble and selfless.”

Guard 1 inwardly wondered ‘Is that humble?’ but said nothing.

Now was the time for Riser to dramatically inflate her contribution as much as possible.

‘If things go well, I might get some crumbs too.’

This wasn’t a vain expectation either.

Considering Seo Yeon Khatun’s generous nature and past actions, if there was good news about her son and a meritorious person deserving praise, she would never be stingy in her rewards.

Riser, the one who achieved the merit, would naturally receive abundant compensation, and even the guards and investigators nearby would likely be promoted as well.

“Child. What crime could a good girl like you have committed to be imprisoned in Noeok?”

“…It was due to unfortunate coincidences piling up.”

Riser detailed how she had been falsely accused with the world’s most pitiful and sorrowful expression.

“Being human, I wasn’t without feelings of injustice and resentment at first. But thinking about it now, I realize all these trials were Mashin’s calling to save Magong-ja. If not for his divine intervention, how could an innocent person like me be in this place? Right next to the Third Prince’s cell, no less.”

“Your words are truly right!”

Seo Yeon Khatun was greatly moved and offered a prayer of gratitude on the spot.

At this moment, in Seo Yeon Khatun’s eyes, Riser was both the benefactor who saved her son’s life and a messenger of the great Mashin.

“Guard, listen.”

“Yes, Khatun.”

Riser’s heart pounded rapidly.

“No one can blame what Mashin has guided. Erase all records of this child’s imprisonment and grant her a pardon.”

* * *

“Riser! You’re back!”

Jegal Lin ran out barefoot to welcome Riser.

Riser was bewildered by the more enthusiastic welcome than expected, but grateful for the sentiment, she smiled.

“Were you very worried?”

“Of course I was worried! If something happened to you, I’d be all alone!”

Just imagining it made Jegal Lin tear up.

“All alone? There’s Moyong Hye and Peng Guyeon too.”

Then Jegal Lin hesitantly replied in a small voice.

“But they only practice mainstream martial arts…”

Unknown to those unaware, the path of non-mainstream martial arts practitioners in the martial world was harsh.

It was common to receive misunderstandings like ‘Ugh, how cowardly! Using sorcery!’ just for using martial arts learned from one’s family.

Jegal Lin thought that in Cheonryeon Palace, filled with mainstream martial artists who preferred wielding sharp weapons, the Jegal Family of formations and the Sichuan Dang Family of poison arts had to help each other to avoid being ostracized.

‘So it wasn’t because of friendship.’

Riser felt a strange sense of relief at such an understandable reason.

If someone felt such excessive attachment after knowing each other for only a few days, it would have been rather unsettling.

“And I was the one who suggested looking for Namgung Yeonhwa. I thought I bore some responsibility.”

“That’s fine.”

Riser laughed it off generously.

Not just because of the night pearl she received as compensation, but because it really wasn’t Jegal Lin’s fault.

“Though your suggestion of that suspicious night walk was one of the reasons I became suspected.”

The reasons Riser was identified as the culprit in this attempted poisoning of Namgung Yeonhwa were complex.

There was the fact that the poison used as the weapon happened to be Ojamsan, a poison exclusively produced by the Sichuan Dang Family.

There was also the circumstantially suspicious point that there had been a dispute between the victim Namgung Yeonhwa and Riser over the poison taster position that very day.

But the decisive reason was that the victim Namgung Yeonhwa, while hovering between life and death, had said ‘D-Dang Ri-seo… I won’t let you get away with this.’

“So don’t worry too much about it. If the night walk had been the main reason, you would have been imprisoned together with me.”

“…Do you need more night pearls by any chance?”

Riser shook her head.

She didn’t want to exploit her friend’s guilt twice over the same matter.

Jegal Lin had already sufficiently compensated for the damage she had caused.

‘I wanted to give her something out of pity.’

Jegal Lin, who had purely wanted to comfort her by gifting night pearls that Riser liked, put the silk pouch she had been holding back away.

“Anyway, I’m glad the false accusation was cleared. You must have felt very wronged.”

“It hasn’t been cleared yet though.”

“What? Then how were you released…”

Jegal Lin, startled by Riser’s nonchalant reply, widened her eyes and was about to ask for detailed circumstances.

“It’s Dang Ri-seo!”

The prospective concubine girls, who had apparently been doing something together and spotted Riser through the open gate, came rushing into the courtyard in a group.

“What happened? My goodness. The girl’s face is half gone!”

“I thought you’d never come back.”

Moyong Hye made a fuss, grabbing Riser’s hands and jumping around, while Peng Guyeon spoke in a relatively calm tone but showed clear signs of relief.

“How much of an ordeal it must have been.”

“You’ve been through quite a trial.”

Other girls from the Orthodox Faction whose lodgings were nearby also took turns asking about Riser’s well-being with worried faces.

“But…”

However, not everyone was genuinely worried about Riser.

“What exactly happened?”

About half of the gathered girls seemed eager to hear detailed stories about how Riser had returned alive and what the Demonic Sect’s prison looked like.

‘This is a bit burdensome.’

Riser began rolling her eyes around.

In this world, there are people who like to gather an audience and tell exciting tales of adventure while receiving admiration and praise, and there are people who experience exactly the same situation only in nightmares – Riser wasally the latter.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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