The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 4

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

The Fall of the Marquess’s Daughter: Survival Chronicles 004
The carriage bearing So-ah away from the Imperial Capital turned northward.
With each league traveled north, the scent of spring faded.
At the edge of the chill wind, white breath bloomed.
Unlike the Imperial Capital, where blossoms had tumbled thick as snow, the northern gorge still held frost locked in ice.
So-ah watched the man through the carriage window.
All the long way here, he had remained as endlessly quiet as ever.
Each time the horse set down its hooves, his black robes and the hem of his long coat swayed like wind.
‘I heard his voice.’
They called him the Silent Prince.
A Curse had stolen his voice, they said.
But then why……
‘Could it be part of my own ability?’
If she could hear the voices of beasts, perhaps she could also hear the voice of a man who could not speak.
Then.
【So-ah, are you really going to marry that monster?】
Un-jo, perched on the carriage rail, shattered her reverie.
Only then did So-ah tear her gaze from Seo-heon.
“……Yes.”
So-ah nodded faintly.
She recalled the funeral of the man visible through the window.
“Besides, weren’t you yourself always defending the Mute King?”
A cursed bloodline.
A stain upon the Imperial Household.
These were the words Seo-gon used to describe Seo-heon.
And so Seo-gon ascended to the throne, and not long after, unsheathed the blade he had long harbored.
His aim was clear.
The head of the North’s master—the Mute King, Seo-heon.
‘A blade, perhaps, but a coward’s way.’
For this reason, there was no better ally than Seo-heon for her revenge.
When Seo-gon knelt at Seo-heon’s feet, there would be no greater humiliation than that.
Yet Un-jo seemed deeply unsettled by this sudden resolve.
【You haven’t fallen for that strange fellow, have you?】
At the keenness of his hawk’s gaze, So-ah let out a small laugh.
“Of course not.”
There was another reason she had chosen the Mute King.
“Besides, he keeps no woman near him.”
In her past life, Seo-heon had never kept a woman at his side, no matter his age.
‘Even Mok-yeon, who was dragged to the Mute King’s Residence, remained a guest until the very end.’
So-ah closed her eyes quietly.
The pain of her throat burning still lingered vivid.
The betrayal of one she had loved.
To trust in people, in love, after suffering that—there could be no greater folly.
For this reason, Seo-heon was an ideal match.
As her husband, he would demand nothing of her.
And the last reason she had chosen him was……
“From here begins the Mute King’s Residence.”
The coachman’s cry shattered her thoughts.
The sun had already crested the ridge of hills.
“There is a riverside ahead, so we shall make camp and light a fire.”
The carriage soon came to rest at a desolate stretch of bank.
With no inn nearby, the servants began gathering kindling and lighting fires, pitching shelters as they went.
So-ah too descended from the carriage, her body stiff from the long journey, seeking to ease the tension from her limbs.
A scarlet sunset flowed across the frozen river.
【I’ll scout the area and return.】
Feeling cramped within the carriage, Un-jo took flight into the sky.
So-ah leaned against the carriage, gazing at the landscape as day turned to dusk.
Dry reeds trembled in the cold wind off the river.
Trees still bare of shoots wept in the harsh wind.
Then.
Yelp! Yelp!
From behind, the sound of wild dogs barking reached their ears.
【There—that sinister smell! Get out of here this instant!】
A stray dog in the tall grass barked harshly at the carriage.
“Damn it. The strays get bold once the sun sets.”
The escort soldiers moved to drive the dogs away, though without much enthusiasm.
But.
【It smells like demons gathering! We need to bury it in mud right now!】
The stray dog barked and clawed at the ground, its eyes fixed on the carriage where So-ah leaned.
“A scent that summons demons…?”
【That pouch attached there—it’s Demon-Luring Incense. It calls to demons.】
The stray dog growled the warning.
A pouch…
So-ah examined the carriage.
There, beneath it, hung a crimson fragrance pouch.
She removed it and checked, but no scent reached her human nose.
“Take care on your way, So-ah.”
So-ah recalled Mok-yeon’s parting words, her eyes closing as she bade farewell.
‘Nothing has changed.’
Had the dogs not alerted her, she would never have known.
‘I need to dispose of this quickly.’
This land bordered Demon Valley.
Unlike the Imperial Capital, which remained safe from demons, creatures prowled these borderlands.
So-ah took the incense pouch and made her way toward the Riverside, away from camp.
A dense tangle of reeds swayed in the wind.
‘Will this spot do?’
She was searching for a good place to bury it when—
Shing.
A chilling blade pressed against the nape of her neck.
So-ah lifted her head slowly.
Reeds stained scarlet by the sunset swayed in the breeze.
A man in a black veil held a sword against her.
【…What exactly are you doing right now?】
His cool voice rang out clearly.
Could she truly be hearing his voice?
The reason eluded her.
Perhaps it was an extension of her ability to hear the speech of beasts—she could only guess.
But.
‘…I cannot let this ability be discovered.’
It was the power to hear the words of the Mute King—words no one else could perceive.
If this were known, surely…
“How could the Imperial Household ever accept a demon-woman who understands the speech of beasts as empress?”
So-ah gripped the incense pouch tightly.
Abilities that set one apart from others only invited exploitation and swift abandonment.
So-ah opened her mouth as if she had heard nothing of his words.
“Does the Mute King’s Residence hold the custom of drawing steel on a bride?”
She indicated with her gaze the cold blade pressed against her nape.
The sword slowly lowered toward the ground.
But.
“Ugh—!”
A large hand roughly seized her wrist.
In the same instant, a brutal force pulled her forward.
So-ah’s body lurched sharply, her frame drawn tight against Seo-heon.
The long black veil descended in an instant, closing the distance between them.
He was tall, his presence overwhelming.
【So it is Demon-Luring Incense.】
He had identified the pouch’s nature at once.
【Was the King of the West behind this?】
Suspicion deepened in his voice.
It was not baseless doubt.
Indeed, Seo-gon had long made a habit of planting his spies within the Mute King’s Residence.
There had even been considerable discord in the Residence over that matter in the past.
But So-ah looked up at him with eyes blazing.
“That incense—we must bury it at once, or there will be danger.”
…….
“Surely the Lord must know this himself. Why then do you seek to obstruct me?”
So-ah turned the question back on Seo-heon with sharp insistence.
At that, Seo-heon fell silent.
Beneath the mask that covered half his face, So-ah could not read his expression.
“Then I may take it back, yes?”
When she pried the sachet from his grasp, he yielded it without resistance.
Clutching the sachet, So-ah clawed at the muddy earth of the reed bed with her bare hands.
Seo-heon watched in silence as she buried the incense.
【With my own hands I brought it here, and with my own hands I bury it?】
No—there was no escaping suspicion this way.
After a brief moment of thought, So-ah parted her lips as if speaking to herself.
“Someone planted this on my carriage.”
She pressed the sachet deep into the hollow she had dug.
“If this incense were mine, would I have come to this reed bed alone?”
【…….】
The eyes beneath the mask seemed to narrow slightly.
Yet there was nothing to refute.
So-ah crouched before the hole and turned her head to look at him.
“Is this depth sufficient?”
To her calm question, delivered with an even gaze, Seo-heon made no answer at first, then gave a curt, dry nod.
His gaze, hidden beneath the mask, lingered on So-ah as she stood, brushing dirt from the buried sachet.
Mud caked the hands of the noblewoman.
Dark earth was wedged beneath her fingernails.
“I should wash my hands.”
So-ah shifted her muddy hands behind her skirt in embarrassment and moved forward.
Then Seo-heon suddenly raised his head toward the distant sky.
The long mask rippled in the cool wind, catching the glow of the sunset.
At the same moment.
【So-ah, flee!】
Un-jo, who had been scouting ahead, cried out a warning.
So-ah turned to look in the direction from which Un-jo had come.
Across the river.
A strange shadow was bearing down upon them.
“Demons! The demons have come!”
The servants and soldiers at the Riverside fled in panic.
But the shadow bore down like a mockery of human fear, swallowing the riverbank in an instant.
A pitch-black darkness engulfed So-ah.
And within it.
Eyes yellow as a beast’s fixed upon her.
“Shriek—!”
Fetid breath struck her face.
A mouth torn open as if the skin would rend apart.
A crimson tongue lunged toward her throat.
In the instant she realized there was no time to run.
A flutter—her vision was swallowed by a black sleeve, and a crystalline Mystical Aura erupted forth.
‘This is…….’
As she lifted her head, the long mask rippled in a white wind.
A hand gripping a blade.
On the back of that hand, a pure white lotus blossom was inscribed.
From its edge, a brilliant white flash tore through the void.
Like a meteor, white Mystical Aura swept across the shadow of darkness.
Upon the frozen river, a massive wave surged, and shards of ice scattered in brilliant arcs.
A Sword Dance of an instant.
The black silk fell loose in the long wind.
Through the gap, So-ah saw.
Skin pale as ice.
And above his square jaw, a chill shadow falling softly.
A half-mask forged from silver steel.
And beneath it, eyes gleaming with unmistakable clarity.
‘Those eyes…….’
The moment their gazes met, the wind died.
The billowing fabric stilled, and his face retreated once more into shadow.
Holding a bloodstained blade, Seo-heon’s gaze turned toward her.
So-ah realized only then.
That her dirt-covered hands had been gripping his sleeve.
So-ah hastily released her grip and stepped back.
【I’ll need to wash away the Demon-Luring Incense that clings to you first.】
Seo-heon muttered as he brushed the dirt from his clothes.

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