The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 24

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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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The Fallen Noblewoman’s Survival Record, Chapter 24
It had been a year since the Ye King began his tyranny.
Normally, a person drained of blood by Bihyeolrang for half a year goes completely mad.
A full year of having his blood sucked by a demon…….
‘Damn it all.’
Tendons rose across the back of Seo Heon’s hand.
Why hadn’t he suspected?
His brother had changed so drastically—why hadn’t he gone to him directly and asked?
If only he’d noticed sooner…….
Sharp self-recrimination carved into his chest.
He wanted nothing more than to rush to Ye King Palace and sever Bihyeolrang’s neck this very moment.
But.
‘If I kill Bihyeolrang without preparation, my brother will be in danger too.’
A human whose blood has been drained becomes connected to Bihyeolrang’s Demon Meridian and Qi Meridian.
The moment Bihyeolrang died, Seo Baek’s life would be cut short as well.
That was why.
So Ah had entered Ye King Palace alone.
To find the true Ye King, Seo Baek, and sever the Qi Meridian connected to the demon.
‘If only I could go myself…….’
Bihyeolrang would recognize him.
The sole master of the Five Fire Lotus.
Known among demons as the Holy Blade—if he moved carelessly, he might provoke Bihyeolrang and endanger Seo Baek.
So for now, there was nothing but to wait.
Seo Heon gripped the sword at his waist tightly.
‘I gave her that much as a contingency. All I can do now is pray she comes back safely…….’
Then a hawk’s cry pierced through the window.
As Seo Heon lifted his head, the hawk folded its great wings and landed beside him.
‘This hawk…….’
A bearing more majestic than an ordinary goshawk.
‘Could it be Jin Jae-in’s hawk?’
So Ah had brought one hawk with her from her family home, which she cherished dearly.
‘Is this……?’
Seo Heon spotted a small scrap of paper tied around the hawk’s ankle.
* * *
The stairs stretched endlessly into the darkness.
Darkness without a single torch.
【I smell something.】
In that darkness, Cheon Gang sniffed the air.
A familiar, longed-for scent.
Mixed among all manner of foul stenches, yet unmistakably their master’s scent.
So Ah quickened her pace to match Cheon Gang’s rapid stride.
They passed skeletal remains here and there, withered bloodstains twisted upon stone.
The air of the deep underground grew colder still.
Yet So Ah followed Cheon Gang without hesitation.
Then Cheon Gang stopped abruptly and turned back.
“What is it?”
【……Nothing.】
Cheon Gang stared into the darkness for a moment, then moved forward again.
How much longer they walked.
【It’s in here.】
Cheon Gang halted before a wall.
A thick stench of demon.
And beyond it, a faint, familiar fragrance.
【That stone there.】
Cheon Gang whimpered anxiously, pointing to a stone that reeked particularly strongly of demon.
“Mujeoak has many secret passages like this.”
So Ah pressed hard on the stone, recalling what she had heard in her past life.
Then came a click—the sound of a lock disengaging.
Bracing herself against the wall, she pushed with all her strength, and a heavy stone door began to swing open.
At the same moment, the sharp reek of blood came pouring out.
Inside, a single torch barely pushed back the darkness.
Beneath it, a man crouched like a frightened beast at the sound of the door opening.
‘That person…….’
A heavy chain wound around his neck.
His exposed nape was mottled with bruises.
Beneath tangled hair, the same face that had played the lute in Jeongnjeon flickered into view.
Yet if the man she’d seen in Jeongnjeon bore a brilliant beauty, this one…….
“Grrr…….”
A rough, bestial growl.
Eyes devoid of reason.
He looked no different from an animal.
So Ah’s lips pressed shut.
‘Have I arrived too late again.’
In her past life, Seo Heon had dealt with Seo Baek a full two years after this moment.
By then, Seo Baek could no longer be called human.
He had become a beast that tore into any life within reach.
In the end, Seo Heon had severed his neck.
For his eternal rest, if nothing else.
‘That’s why I moved sooner this time.’
She’d wanted to act before everything spiraled irretrievably beyond her control. But Seo Baek was already…….
Then Cheon Gang bolted toward the man’s feet.
Whimper—
Cheon Gang whined as he licked the blood-soaked legs of the creature before him.
At that, Seo Baek—bristling like a cornered beast—reached out to seize Cheon Gang by the nape.
In that instant.
Clatter.
His hand froze mid-air, trembling visibly.
“Cheon Gang…… is that you?”
A fractured voice scraped from between his parched lips.
“……!”
So Ah glimpsed a flicker of something else returning to his eyes.
“Cheon Gang, how did you…… come here?”
A gleam of the human Seo Baek, untouched by the beast’s madness.
So Ah knelt quickly before him.
“Your Highness, I’ve come at the command of Seo Heon.”
At the familiar name from her lips, Seo Baek’s eyes wavered.
“Heon……?”
Despair and hope tangled confusingly in his gaze.
But only for a moment.
He curled in on himself again, trembling violently.
Ragged breathing poured from his mouth.
“Your Highness……!”
The instant So Ah parted her lips.
His raised eyes met hers.
That gaze was savage.
His hands seized her nape in the same moment.
“Ugh……!”
Despite his wounded, wasted frame, an impossible strength closed around her throat.
And like a beast, he bared his teeth and lunged toward her.
Crack—!
Flesh torn.
Blood seeped from where his teeth had ripped.
So Ah stared at him with trembling eyes.
“……Your Highness!”
【Seo Baek!】
What he had bitten was not her, but his own hand.
Seo Baek clenched his own bloodied hand between his teeth, body shaking.
The grip strangling So Ah’s throat went slack.
“……Get away. Go.”
Through blood-stained teeth, his last thread of reason issued its warning.
So Ah watched him struggle against the surging instinct within, and she shook her head.
No—they couldn’t simply leave things as they were.
She studied Seo Baek, fighting to keep hold of his reason.
If he hadn’t been completely consumed yet, there was still a way.
She withdrew a small Pill from her sleeve.
“This requires the Celestial Qi of the King.”
Before arriving at Ye King Palace.
Something she’d asked of Seo Heon beforehand.
A Pill containing Seo Heon’s Celestial Qi.
“Please take this.”
So Ah held out the Pill to Seo Baek.
He recoiled, his face contorting in revulsion.
As though his instincts innately feared the Celestial Qi contained within.
“You must swallow it.”
So Ah stepped closer and forced the Pill directly into his mouth.
“Cough—!”
Seo Baek thrashed his head, writhing in agony.
Demonic Qi and Celestial Qi were forces in opposition.
For one consumed by Demonic Qi, the Celestial Qi would bring excruciating torment.
When he tried to spit the medicine out, So Ah gripped him firmly.
“You must swallow it.”
She cradled his head and forced him to take the medicine down.
As if understanding her intent, Seo Baek trembled with pain but did not expel the drug.
At last, having swallowed it, his breathing came in ragged, labored gasps.
“Gah, kah—!”
Burning deep in his bones, his skin searing as though it might crack and freeze in the same breath.
Across Seo Baek’s frame, the tendons rose and rippled as he endured the torment.
“Please, hold on just a little longer.”
Cheon Gang whimpered anxiously, circling around Seo Baek.
Then.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Applause echoed from the darkness.
“So the dog truly can sing.”
With a languid, hollow voice, a figure stepped forth from beyond the shadows.
So Ah turned her head.
A man barefoot, his long crimson robes trailing behind as he approached.
The moment her eyes met those luminous pupils gleaming in the dark, a chill shot down her spine.
“How amusing—what a game you’ve been playing.”
The smile that twisted Bihyeolrang’s lips was unsettling.

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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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