The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 31

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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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A Fallen Noblewoman’s Survival Record, Episode 31
So Ah approached Dan Mok Heum.
Her wet hands gripped his rough ones and pulled him to his feet.
“Minister, sir.”
A faint smile broke through the wet strands of her hair.
“I understand your sincerity well.”
At So Ah’s gentle voice, Dan Mok Heum’s eyes wavered.
“It’s only natural that you’d doubt me.”
She held no resentment toward him.
By any reasonable measure, she lacked credentials.
She had no experience in civil engineering, nor any way to prove her knowledge of it.
All of that had scattered and vanished in her past life.
If no one suspected a woman with such a background, that would be the real danger.
“It’s fortunate that the Mugwang Estate has a minister like you, sir.”
At those words, Dan Mok Heum’s eyes reddened.
The harsh language he had poured out toward her.
The memorial he had submitted to Seo Heon belittling her.
Yet Jin Jae-in did not blame him for it.
Instead, she respected his sense of duty and sincerity.
“Going forward, I’d like to seek your counsel whenever I have questions—would that be all right?”
At that, Dan Mok Heum’s lips began to tremble.
Drop.
A tear fell from his eye.
“Hngh… Jin Jae-in, you are a vessel vast enough to hold the sea itself.”
“Please forgive this narrow-minded servant for failing to grasp such magnanimity!”
As Dan Mok Heum shed tears of gratitude, the administrators behind him cried out in admiration as well.
Bewilderment flickered across So Ah’s face, surrounded by their praise.
Un Jo, sitting atop the cliff, burst into quiet laughter.
【Our So Ah’s more generous-hearted than the minister himself!】
At Un Jo’s wordplay, So Ah awkwardly gathered her wet hair.
Then large hands drew her outer robe back up onto her shoulders.
【The wind grows cold. Leave the rest to others and go inside first.】
Seo Heon adjusted her outer robe, which had slipped down her shoulders.
So Ah looked up at him with her wet face.
His expression, kept cold and distant by design, was severe.
Lips pressed together without a word.
Certainly a man who seemed hard to approach.
“You’re always so thoughtful, aren’t you, my lord?”
To her, hearing his voice made him seem infinitely ordinary and kind.
Then his cold demeanor wavered slightly.
【It’s not kindness, it’s…….】
Just as Seo Heon was about to protest.
So Ah suddenly reached out her hand.
At the sudden closeness, Seo Heon’s body went rigid.
When So Ah’s wet sleeve brushed his shoulder, the scent of wet wildflowers rushed toward him.
But only for a moment.
“It seems to have blown over and stuck to you in the wind just now.”
So Ah held out her hand before him, shaking it gently.
A wet fallen leaf clung to her fingertips.
Seo Heon awkwardly brushed the moisture from his cold expression and turned his head away.
【Let’s go inside.】
Was it the lingering tremor in his legs?
The aftershock of the flood’s violent rapids?
His heart, pounding since moments ago, refused to calm.
* * *
After that, the landscape of the Mugwang Estate began to change.
“How is it, Jin Jae-in!”
“You are indeed a true minister, sir. With this method, even if snow melts, the ground won’t become waterlogged and bind our feet.”
So Ah poured out praise as she looked at the Turtle-back Stones that Dan Mok Heum had brought.
At that, Dan Mok Heum’s cheeks swelled with a wide grin.
Un Jo, perched in the branches above, murmured with a grave expression.
[‘Have I been trained in the same manner, I wonder…’]
The Turtle-back Road Paving had been So Ah’s idea from the start.
She had simply laid the groundwork and passed the credit to Dan Mok Heum.
“If we tamp down the road foundation using gravel and coal ash from the Coal Mine, it will be far more stable,” she had said.
By repurposing even the mine’s waste, she had created grooves that made travel smooth for carts.
A month had passed since the major construction began.
The journey that once took a week to the Ye Estate now took only three days.
The cart wheels no longer needed constant maintenance.
Once the road opened, everything began to move.
Goods, people, and coin alike.
“My lord, look! Look at this!”
Baek Ui Seop, the Administrator, rushed to Seo Heon, his weathered hands trembling as he thrust the Account Ledger forward.
“A surplus, my lord—a surplus!”
It was the first time in the history of Mugwang Estate.
The barren north, which had always relied on support from the capital.
Empty storehouses and mounting debts had been the norm.
“In all my years, I never dreamed this day would come!”
Tears of joy welled in the eyes of Ui Seop, who had devoted his entire life to the estate.
All those years of tightening his belt, saving every copper coin in a life without surplus.
All those days endured despite the whispers that he was a stingy old fool.
And now, at last, light had broken through!
“It cannot wait, my lord. This very night, I must arrange for you to consummate the union with So Ah—!”
As Ui Seop poured out his words in a rush, Seo Heon gripped his shoulder firmly.
[‘Compose yourself, Baek.]
“Ahem, perhaps I spoke too boldly, but I spoke from the heart, my lord.”
“…”
“Should you let slip such a treasure as So Ah, it would be a failure of lordship and a calamity for the estate.”
Ui Seop raised his white brows and counseled him with utmost sincerity.
[‘Does the Administrator possess such a side?’]
Seo Heon found this eagerness in Ui Seop strange.
The stern face that had always been furrowed with worry was nowhere to be seen; now only deep laugh lines creased the corners of his mouth.
It was not only Ui Seop.
The entire estate seemed alive with a vigor it had not possessed before.
Seo Heon raised his gaze.
Among peach blossoms that had bloomed in profusion.
There was So Ah.
“Spring has come, it seems.”
Ui Seop said this, upon seeing her.
Seo Heon nodded quietly.
Spring had come.
Warm spring had arrived even in the cold Mugwang Estate.
* * *
“Since the flooding has subsided as the Administrator mentioned, we must build a sturdy new bridge…”
It was while Dan Mok Heum and Woo Je were discussing this matter.
Un Jo, sitting on the eaves soaking in the sun, fluffed his feathers.
Caw, caw—
Far off, a flock of crows suddenly took to the air.
So Ah’s hand froze as she studied the Blueprint.
“So Ah, what troubles you?” Dan Mok Heum asked.
So Ah turned her head toward him.
It seems the time has come at last.
“So Ah! So Ah!”
Sure enough, Young Gyo rushed in, breathless.
“You must come! A visitor has arrived.”
“Not a guest of the lord, but a guest of So Ah?”
Dan Mok Heum gave Young Gyo a pointed look for interrupting the meeting.
Above all, a guest of So Ah’s—that was unexpected.
She had come to Mugwang Estate alone, with no one to support her.
Moreover, So Ah had no dealings with the other ladies of the estate.
At most, the only visitors were a handful of palace officials.
“It’s the Jin Family—the young lady of the Jin Family……!”
“The young lady of the Jin Family?”
Wasn’t Jin Jae-in the young lady of the Jin Family?
Woo Je’s eyes narrowed in confusion.
But So Ah rose from her seat as though she’d anticipated everything.
“It seems we have a welcome visitor after all.”
* * *
Before the Main Gate of Mugwang Estate, where the apricot blossoms bloomed in full splendor.
An Ornate Silk Palanquin came to rest upon the path, where spring sunlight settled like dust.
Above the colorful baggage, a Jin Family Banner fluttered in the breeze.
The people of Mugwang Estate stirred with bewilderment.
“The Jin Family? Isn’t that Jin Jae-in’s ancestral home?”
“We didn’t receive any notice of their arrival.”
No Chief Steward hurried toward the Main Gate, adjusting his glasses.
As he took his place before the gate, the silk curtain of the palanquin drew back slowly.
Beneath it, the face of a heavily made-up woman was revealed.
A bright red beauty mark adorned her brow, and her lips were as crimson as roses.
Her eyes were set in an arrogant tilt, the corners lifted high.
With the help of her attendants, the woman descended gracefully from the palanquin.
Her elegant form flowed beneath layers of luxurious silk.
She surveyed her surroundings with a knitted brow.
No Chief Steward recognized her at once.
The woman who was meant to have become Seo Heon’s wife.
The legitimate daughter of the Jin Family—Jin Mok Yeon.
The wrinkled eyes behind his spectacles sharpened.
‘Why has she come here?’
No Chief Steward recalled the contents written in So Ah’s Personal Record.
‘Isn’t she the woman who persecuted Jin Jae-in?’
The glasses on his nose seemed to become rose-tinted.
An uninvited guest.
In ordinary circumstances, he would have turned away such an intrusion at once.
‘But she is still family of Jin Jae-in…….’
He could not simply cast her out.
No Chief Steward swallowed his pride and offered proper courtesy.
“You have traveled far, Miss Jin.”
“Even in spring it is cold here. The air reeks of coal.”
Mok Yeon wrinkled her nose against her sleeve, and her attendants tittered behind her.
……
“Clearly, this is some graceless nobleman’s residence.”
The naked contempt stirred a memory that No Chief Steward had nearly forgotten.
‘A southerner.’
The southern folk had always looked down upon the north.
He had forgotten this only because Jin Jae-in had settled so well into Mugwang Estate.
No Chief Steward had no intention of humoring this rude interloper.
“What brings the young lady of the Jin Family to such a distant place?”
“I grew concerned after sending my younger sister so far away.”
“Concerned?”
From the family that had treated Jin Jae-in as a servant?
“Though she married, even if it was as a lowly concubine, we sent no proper dowry, and it has weighed on my mind ever since…….”
Mok Yeon gestured haughtily toward the wagons that had followed her.
The procession of carts stretched quite far.
Clearly she imagined that poor Mugwang Estate would be grateful for it.
“How kind. But Jin Jae-in alone brings such abundance to the estate—pray take those things back with you.”
At his polite but unmistakable refusal, Mok Yeon’s expression turned cold.
“It seems Mugwang Estate does not know how to receive guests.”
“It seems Ye Estate does not know the courtesy of announcing a visit.”
No Chief Steward parried with a good-natured smile, but Mok Yeon’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
Then, a crisp footfall.
An elegant figure stepped out from the shadow of the eaves.
At once, the people of the estate parted left and right, bowing in unison.
“We pay our respects to So Ah of the Jin Family.”
A woman emerged between the divided ranks, her stride perfectly composed.
Jin Mok Yeon’s eyes flickered slightly at the sight of her.
Her clothes were impeccably arranged.
Her posture, rigid and commanding.
Her gait betrayed no deference to anyone.
“So Ah…?”
Is this truly the So Ah I once knew?
“Thank you for traveling so far, sister.”
So Ah smiled gently toward Jin Mok Yeon.

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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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