The Survival Story Of A Fallen 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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The Fall of a Noble Daughter, Chapter 39
Mok Yeon forced the corners of her mouth upward, trembling despite her effort.
“So Ah, what on earth is all this?”
Mok Yeon asked as though nothing were amiss, but So Ah’s gaze remained fixed on the servants packing their belongings.
“Sister, it’s about Hyo Gyeong…”
“I truly knew nothing about it. Wi Wang sent her along as an escort—how could I refuse?”
The moment So Ah began to speak, Mok Yeon spilled out her excuses.
So Ah listened in silence, then let out a quiet laugh.
“Of course. There was a time when I couldn’t refuse things either, when I was weak. I understand.”
So Ah met Mok Yeon’s eyes directly, one hand reaching up to touch the Lotus Hairpin nestled in her hair.
“It suits me better than you, doesn’t it? Why? Don’t you want to give it to me?”
Not long ago, So Ah herself could not have refused Mok Yeon.
Even as her possessions were stolen, she was beaten, she went hungry—
She never dared think of escaping Mok Yeon’s grasp.
“But back then, whenever I couldn’t refuse your orders and something went wrong, it was I who suffered the punishment.”
Her voice was gentle.
Yet a cold bead of sweat traced down Mok Yeon’s spine.
“So, So Ah. We share the same blood, don’t we? Surely you don’t suspect your own sister?”
At Mok Yeon’s words, So Ah blinked.
The same blood?
Sister?
Words she had never imagined would fall from Mok Yeon’s lips tumbled out, and she nearly burst into laughter.
“Sister.”
“Yes, So Ah?”
“I’m thirsty.”
So Ah spoke as she settled into a chair in the Guest Hall courtyard.
Mok Yeon spun around at once and shouted at the servants.
“Fetch water this instant!”
“Not the water the servants bring. If you could give me water filled with your affection, sister, that would be nice.”
As So Ah made her request, crossing her legs as she sat, Mok Yeon’s eye twitched.
“Well, then. Can’t I do such a thing for my younger sister?”
Mok Yeon pressed her lips together, then returned with a cup of water.
“Thank you, sister.”
So Ah did not drink the water Mok Yeon had brought. She simply left it on the table.
“Why aren’t you drinking?”
“Oh, right. I won’t drink it.”
So Ah nodded pleasantly.
She had never intended to drink it from the start.
She knew what might be in water poured by Mok Yeon’s hand.
Mok Yeon looked back and forth between the untouched cup sitting forlorn on the table and So Ah.
A humiliation she had never felt before.
Her teeth chattered.
Yet there was nothing she could do.
Helplessness had conquered humiliation.
Then So Ah tilted her head, watching the tremor creep across Mok Yeon’s fingertips.
“Sister, aren’t your nails terribly long?”
“What?”
“Your nails.”
So Ah pointed at the fingers of the hand that had brought the cup.
Mok Yeon had always cultivated her nails long, maintaining them with care.
Unlike So Ah’s nails, which remained perpetually short from the grueling work she had always done.
And—
“The Empress, learning of her shame, took her own life…”
So Ah remembered those long nails digging deep into her own cheeks.
“Those long nails look rather dirty to me.”
“And so…?”
Mok Yeon forced her lips into a smile and asked.
Surely she wasn’t suggesting that I trim these nails?
As if bringing a single cup of water gave her such license!
These were nails cultivated with such care!
Mok Yeon tried to ignore it, pretending she hadn’t heard.
“I just think she’d look prettier if she kept it neat.”
So Ah smiled and continued.
“By the way, I just saw Hyo Gyeong being dragged off to the Coal Mine with a Criminal Brand marked on her forehead.”
“Really? How dreadful.”
“Long nails would break right away in the mines, wouldn’t they?”
“You……!”
“Your nails do seem rather long.”
So Ah’s smile faded as she met Mok Yeon’s eyes again.
And so.
“I’ve let them grow too long, haven’t I?”
Mok Yeon’s voice trembled as she spoke.
So Ah said nothing in reply.
Mok Yeon finally called for a servant to bring the Grooming Box.
Her fingers shook as she drew out the Nail Scissors.
So Ah watched Mok Yeon in silence.
Snip.
One carefully cultivated nail fell away.
Snip.
The sharp, pointed edge was blunted to a dull finish.
So Ah watched Mok Yeon’s pride being cut away along with her nails.
The corners of Mok Yeon’s eyes reddened as she gripped the scissors.
Anger, fear, or perhaps humiliation.
The emotion was impossible to name.
But whatever it was, it meant nothing before So Ah.
Just as it had once meant nothing when So Ah stood before Mok Yeon.
When all ten nails were shortened, Mok Yeon set down the scissors with a trembling hand and looked up.
“……Is that enough?”
“Very neat now, sister.”
So Ah smiled faintly and rose from her seat.
“When will you be leaving, sister?”
“……I shouldn’t linger here too long. I’ll depart once I’m ready.”
“You’re in quite a hurry. You have a long journey ahead—I’ll have the servants prepare some Dried Meat for you.”
At this, Mok Yeon studied So Ah’s eyes.
Does that mean she won’t hold my crime against me?
That I’m free to go?
But So Ah offered no clear answer.
“Then take care on your way.”
She simply nodded once and left the Guest Hall.
Mok Yeon watched So Ah’s retreating figure with a sharp, bitter gaze.
Her walk was composed, not a thread out of place.
Mok Yeon curled her shorn nails in her fist, her lips pressed tight.
A strange hand now, stripped of all its former glamour.
‘Jin So Ah, how dare you……!’
She had come meaning to mock So Ah, certain she was suffering in the Northern Region.
She’d wanted to see how miserably the woman lived, sold off to some beast.
Yet somehow it was she herself who now groveled before Jin So Ah.
‘It’s because of Hyo Gyeong, that cursed wretch.’
Her insides burned black with rage.
Mok Yeon rose to her feet, desperate to shed the anger.
An attending servant followed her.
Leaving the Guest Hall, Mok Yeon walked without direction.
That was when her footsteps halted at the Back Garden.
Beyond a small window in the Corridor.
Two figures stood before a white Stone Pavilion.
“Miss……?”
“Hush.”
Mok Yeon silenced the servant and peered through the window.
‘It’s Jin So Ah.’
Beneath the spring sun, where peach blossoms fell in profusion.
So Ah laughed softly as she spoke with someone.
Mok Yeon’s brow furrowed.
‘She’s laughing so easily?’
It was a smile she had never seen from Jin So Ah before.
And what was even more startling was on the other side of the courtyard.
‘Muk Wang……?’
Mok Yeon’s pupils trembled.
It was the first time.
The first time she had seen Muk Wang without his Hair Crown.
Hair as dark as deep obsidian swayed gently in the breeze with perfect composure.
Beneath the Hair Crown lay a striking face concealed behind a Half-Mask.
A nose bridge that ran straight down from the mask.
A mouth corner touched by cool composure.
A jawline carved as cleanly as if by a blade.
‘This is nothing like I imagined.’
Though only the lower half was visible, it was not merely striking—it was handsome.
“Could that really be Muk Wang?”
The maidservant following behind whispered in surprise.
“He doesn’t match the rumors at all!”
The terrible rumors about Muk Wang.
That he was a hunchback, that his entire body was ravaged by skin disease, that his face was inhuman.
She had wondered how hideous he must be—it had all been lies.
“There can’t be anything that grotesque hidden under that half-mask.”
And moreover…….
“Look there, miss!”
A few hours later.
As Mok Yeon passed near the Training Grounds, she saw him.
A hand marked with five blossoms of the lotus flower.
Brilliant light enveloped him, and from the tip of his sword came a wind as pure and white as snow.
When the hem of his Long Robe fluttered in the wind, a strong, sculpted frame was revealed along its folds.
Broad shoulders descending in a straight line, narrowing at the waist with a solid, defined form.
Not adorned with gaudy ornaments, but a body carved and hardened by years of relentless discipline.
In that moment, a profound question pierced through Mok Yeon’s mind.
‘What if he were not a monster, but a perfectly normal man—no, a decent one?’
He was a Regional Prince who governed the Royal Residence at the border, and an imperial prince.
Whatever his standing in the Imperial Court, his noble bloodline remained unchanged compared to any mediocre aristocratic heir.
‘If I’ve lost such a man to Jin So Ah?’
The tips of Mok Yeon’s fingers grew cold.
Muk Wang.
Originally, he was meant to be hers alone.

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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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