The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 40

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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 Concubine’s Daughter: A Survival Story — Episode 40
Mok Yeon studied the bright smile on Jin So-ah’s face and filed it away in memory.
‘Could Jin So-ah have known all along?’
On the day her betrothal to Mok Wang was decided.
Jin So-ah had stepped forward first, volunteering for the marriage herself.
Now that she thought about it, something was off.
A girl who’d barely dared to open her mouth in the household—and yet that day she’d come forward with such boldness.
Snap.
Mok Yeon bit at the edge of her blunted fingernail.
‘It’s clear. She’d seen Mok Wang’s true face somewhere.’
Perhaps by accident, while running an errand.
Beneath the veil.
Maybe even what lay under that Mask.
‘That explains it…!’
Now Mok Yeon understood why Jin So-ah managed so well in this remote border region.
‘So that’s why she carries herself like that in front of me?’
Playing the role of mistress.
Smiling that way whenever Mok Wang was near.
Revolting.
‘She meant to steal what was mine from the very start!’
Once the thought had taken hold, it wouldn’t fade.
Even after returning to her quarters, Mok Yeon tossed through the night.
The image of Jin So-ah laughing at Mok Wang’s side, her tail wagging with pleasure, kept playing before her eyes.
And she grew curious.
What secrets did Mok Wang hold, that Jin So-ah smiled at him so readily?
* * *
Seo Heon’s brush glided across documents stacked as high as a mountain.
Then his hand suddenly stilled.
“When the Cheon clan’s influence wanes, gaps will open in Mok Wang’s Household. We must fill those voids swiftly.”
The voice of that woman echoed in his mind—speaking words identical to what he’d been about to write.
Seo Heon set down his brush and leaned back against his chair.
‘I can no longer tell if that thought was mine or Jin So-ah’s.’
Words that mirrored his own voice.
And yet, cunning in their subtlety.
“What does the Prince think of the matter?”
In the end, she asks for his opinion.
So that everything becomes his will.
“As the Minister surely knows….”
She subtly defers to other officials.
So that everyone naturally agrees with her thinking.
“Is it not all the General’s accomplishment?”
She even passes her own credit to others.
So that everyone cannot help but adore her.
‘A woman wearing a thicker Mask than I.’
Seo Heon adjusted his own Mask with a detached hand.
Though he could not speak, he excelled at reading people.
Whether in the Royal Court or on the Battlefield.
The Curse of silence had trained his eyes to observe keenly.
It was hardly difficult for him to gauge another’s depth by their gaze and the slightest tremor alone.
Yet when Jin So-ah met his stare directly without so much as a flicker, he found himself seized by a strange sensation—that it was he who was being read.
Though his eyes were indeed hidden behind the Mask.
Her deep, quiet black eyes seemed to gently measure all things.
And in a voice neither high nor low, never hurried, she would part those red lips when needed.
Not flashy in her eloquence, yet drawing one’s ear with a calm force.
He found that manner rather compelling.
What ordinarily caught his eye was loud.
Garish ornaments, eyes begging for attention, an inability to bear silence—such things.
But Jin So-ah was different.
Composed and clear, concealing herself, savoring silence—that sort.
A woman who reads people’s hearts as though they were her own palm, yet reveals not a character of her own.
With each passing day, my curiosity deepens.
What manner of person she is.
What lies hidden within her.
Yet it seemed she harbored no such questions about him.
People were always curious about him.
The face beneath the mask.
The curse that had stolen his voice.
The dark rumors that surrounded him.
“So he acquired a curse, how?”
“He’s quite handsome, contrary to the rumors. But why the mask…….”
“Maybe it’s not a curse at all—just that he’s mute.”
Though they heard he could not speak, they always whispered such things behind his back.
Whether from fear or curiosity.
They all longed to pry behind his mask.
Yet…….
‘Why does she never ask?’
It was strange.
When he had no intention of answering anyone.
That she alone did not ask struck something inside him, raw and abrasive.
As if there were only an empty space where he should be in her sight.
‘……Foolish thoughts.’
Seo Heon tried to brush away the distraction, fingers working at the mask’s ties.
Then.
“My lord.”
Chief Steward Noh entered.
“Mok Yeon of the Jin Clan Estate requests a private audience.”
His brow narrowed beneath the mask.
Mok Yeon, was it.
The woman who had made Jin So-ah into a concubine’s daughter serving like a slave.
She was also a criminal deserving of execution in connection with the Hyogyeong Incident.
‘……Still.’
The Jin Clan was Jin So-ah’s enemy clan.
To strike down Mok Yeon carelessly would be to lay hands upon Jin So-ah’s own family.
‘The Chancellor and the Minister of Personnel favor Jin Jae-in, yet there remain those who dislike a concubine meddling in state affairs…….’
Surely there would be those eager to seize upon this matter and torment Jin Jae-in.
That was why Mok Yeon had not been implicated in the Hyogyeong Incident.
But that did not mean he harbored any goodwill toward her.
Seo Heon had no intention of sparing his time for Mok Yeon.
The King of a region was hardly so idle as to entertain every clan’s young lady.
Refuse.
His brush stroke was decisive.
Yet moments later.
Chief Steward Noh, who had departed to relay his wishes, entered again.
“My lord, she claims……Mok Yeon says she has urgent news concerning Jin Jae-in.”
Jin Jae-in.
At that name, Seo Heon’s hand stilled.
‘What scheme is this?’
His eyes narrowed behind the mask.
She was surely inventing some flimsy excuse to secure an audience.
Seo Heon reached for his brush to refuse once more.
And yet.
“That Jin Jae-in has been hiding some illness…….”
The brush hung suspended in air.
An illness?
Seo Heon’s mind turned to something that had happened before.
The image flickered past—how she’d concealed wounds beneath her sleeves, saying nothing.
“It’s not a deep wound…….”
Wasn’t this the same woman who had tried to tend her own fire alone, even when servants had left the room cold?
‘……Mok Yeon doubtless harbors other intentions.’
After a moment’s deliberation, Seo Heon gave a nod.
【Listen to this.】
* * *
The door to the King’s Private Chamber, sealed shut for so long, swung open wide.
‘Heavens, it actually works?’
A twisted smile flicked across Mok Yeon’s lips.
He’d ignored her and refused her again and again—but three syllables: Jin So-ah. And the door opened.
She adjusted the fragrance pouch hanging at her waist.
‘Good thing I brought it, just in case.’
With the pouch in place, she stepped into the King’s Private Chamber.
Black pillars lined the chamber.
Ledgers and documents were piled high on a desk.
Between bands of light streaming through the windows sat a man in dark robes.
From the man facing her directly emanated an indescribable, chilling presence.
‘Where in the world did those rumors come from……?’
She’d thought him a puppet king—voiceless, powerless, unable to wield authority.
Yet as he sat upon that throne, he radiated a gravitas far greater than when she’d seen him at the Jin Clan Estate.
“I pay my respects to Mok Wang.”
Mok Yeon pressed her hands together demurely and lowered herself into a bow.
Silence followed.
Seo Heon said nothing.
But Mok Yeon did not falter.
“The Hyogyeong Incident is truly a matter in which I had no part. That I should come to be involved in such a thing—I never dreamed it…….”
Tap.
A sharp blow struck the stone tablet, cutting short her words.
Seo Heon gazed quietly down at the woman before him.
The brush in his hand had written nothing.
But Mok Yeon understood his meaning.
【Speak of Jin So-ah’s illness.】
His interest lay in that alone.
Mok Yeon’s chest twisted tighter.
“It is a matter that must not reach another’s ears. If I may, I would tell only you, Your Majesty.”
She hid her turmoil behind an artful, honeyed tone, closing her eyes demurely.
“Would that be acceptable?”
The aged attendant at the back exchanged a glance with Seo Heon.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
The chamber emptied of all but them.
Mok Yeon watched for his reaction, then spoke again.
“I fear her private troubles might be exposed. Would it be proper if I drew closer to tell you?”
She feigned concern that her voice might carry beyond the room, arranging her face into an expression of pitying discretion.
Seo Heon studied her for a moment.
‘What nonsense does she mean to spout?’
He recognized her thin stratagem instantly, yet he nodded his assent.
At that, Mok Yeon stepped forward carefully.
Seo Heon caught an unfamiliar scent emanating from her as she drew near.
Strong, cloying, sickly sweet—yet something deeply unpleasant within it.
“Your Majesty, Jin So-ah’s affliction is…….”
Mok Yeon’s lips parted.
Seo Heon’s head turned toward her.
【The scent from you is so potent……】
The moment Seo Heon moved to push her away, Mok Yeon’s hand darted toward his face.
Swish!
She seized with all her strength the cord looped around his ear.
Snap—
The ancient cord snapped with a sound like a cry.
Pale light from the window slid across the cold steel surface.
And below it.
A beam of light slanted through the space where the mask had been torn away.
In the instant the mask clattered to the floor.
“……!”
Mok Yeon’s eyes went wide.
Mok Yeon stood frozen, mouth open, unable to make a sound.
‘That face…!’

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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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