The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 44

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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 Survival Record of a Fallen Noblewoman — Episode 44
Seo Heon’s brow furrowed just as deeply.
He knew well enough the nature of the rift between Mok Yeon and So Ah.
Yet she dared ask for leniency.
A thin, caustic irritation bloomed in his chest.
‘Is she really shielding her family like this, protecting the young lady of the Jin house?’
They say the arm bends inward — blood calls to blood.
Yet she bore such treatment without a trace of resentment.
For the first time, he felt a stubborn resistance to granting her request, a perverse instinct rising in him.
But the moment his gaze met So Ah’s, every trace of opposition dissolved.
Her eyes had settled into a chill so severe it cut through him like winter frost.
‘That wasn’t warmth for blood kin, was it?’
There was no softness in that look toward Mok Yeon.
It was the eye of one laying out a perfect strategy on an immaculate board — every stone precisely placed.
Seo Heon picked up his brush again.
[Give me your reasons why Mok Yeon should live.]
“First, because Muk Wang Palace is not yet a match for Wi Wang Palace.”
Seo Heon’s eyes narrowed at the first words from her lips.
He had thought her plea would be personal. Instead, she spoke of the two palaces as though balancing scales.
‘She speaks as if she knows exactly what weighs on my mind.’
It was the very question that had gnawed at him since yesterday.
The crime of laying hands on a king’s face, of exposing his weakness — death itself would be insufficient payment.
But Mok Yeon was the betrothed of King Wi.
If he executed her merely for removing his mask, King Wi would seize the pretext to attack Muk Wang Palace.
That was why he had been wrestling with how to dispose of her.
“To execute Mok Yeon would only invite conflict between the two palaces.”
So Ah laid out his own unspoken concern with crystalline clarity.
“Moreover, the more severely Your Majesty punishes Mok Yeon, the more people will suspect what lies beneath the mask — and what the curse truly is.”
There had been endless talk of Seo Heon’s curse.
To execute Mok Yeon now would be pouring oil on an already smoldering rumor.
She glimpsed the face beneath the mask and died for it? What could possibly be hidden there?
People would clamor all the more to uncover the truth.
Worse still, whispers would spread: ‘Mok Yeon saw the face of the King of Muk Wang and fell victim to his curse.’
[But if I let Mok Yeon live, she will spread word of my face to King Wi’s court.]
Seo Heon’s brush moved with the weight of stone.
He was afraid.
Of his curse — something So Ah could never know.
But So Ah only smiled.
“Then wouldn’t that be precisely what Your Majesty desires?”
If Mok Yeon spread the word, it would inevitably reach the ears of King Wi, Seo Gon.
And if she spoke the truth — that the face hidden by the mask was beautiful?
‘Seo Gon will never tolerate that.’
Before him, Seo Heon had to remain forever what he was: the ugly younger brother beneath his heel.
If she spoke a single word calling Seo Heon handsome, their betrothal could shatter in that instant.
And the Jin Family, a great power within Wi Wang Palace, would find themselves at odds with their king.
Conversely, what if Mok Yeon lied and told King Wi that Seo Heon’s face was hideous?
‘Then Mok Yeon would have fabricated a falsehood to Seo Gon….’
But lies, sooner or later, are exposed.
And exposure sows seeds of distrust.
‘Truth breeds annulment, lies breed suspicion….’
Either way, a fissure would form between King Wi and Mok Yeon.
“To spare the criminal is to fracture their bond….”
Noh Chief Administrator’s jaw fell slack as he grasped her meaning.
‘Did such a scheme truly spring from the mind of a young woman?’
Noh Chief Administrator felt a chill run through his entire body.
‘What a blessing that the young lady of the Jin Family came to Muk Wang Palace!’
Had she been an enemy, she would have been treacherous beyond measure to oppose.
“From the moment Mok Yeon grew curious about Your Majesty’s face, the separation between her and King Wi was already written.”
So Ah had always intended to let Mok Yeon live.
Because Mok Yeon was still useful.
Too valuable to simply let die.
“First, Your Majesty, laying hands upon the royal visage is no light crime, and I humbly ask that a punishment befitting the offense be imposed.”
So Ah requested not forgiveness, but a sentence other than death.
Behind his Mask, Seo Heon regarded her with an unwavering gaze, his mind working.
Had she cast some spell over him?
Otherwise, how could her every word find such perfect purchase in his heart?
And.
【I shall execute Mok Yeon’s punishment.】
He set down his brush and handed the Royal Edict to Noh Chief Administrator.
* * *
The courtyard before the Guest Courtyard.
In place of an execution frame, a single low wooden chair had been set.
“No, what is this…!”
Mok Yeon, who had suffered the bitter cold of the Prison through the night, was dragged forward by soldiers.
The Jin Family’s attendants and servants, who had been waiting for her in the Guest Courtyard, stirred and cried out in alarm.
Thud—!
The soldiers forced her down into the chair.
Then Noh Chief Administrator stepped through the gateway.
Mok Yeon’s eyes flew wide as she cried out.
“I demand to see the Prince!”
She screamed, but Noh Chief Administrator adjusted his spectacles with perfect composure.
And then.
“Accused Mok Yeon.”
He unfolded the Royal Edict received from Seo Heon and began to read.
“The accused deceived the court with vicious falsehoods in seeking an audience with the Prince. Not content with this, she laid hands upon the sacred royal countenance with shameless disrespect, thereby insulting the authority of the throne and committing blasphemy that pierces the heavens.”
At Noh Chief Administrator’s steady, unwavering voice, murmurs rippled through those gathered in the courtyard.
They had heard rumors that Mok Yeon had touched the Prince’s face—but it was true?
“Therefore, I hereby command that her hair be shorn, that her shame be made manifest and plain to all, and that she be forever banished from the lands of Muk Wang Palace.”
Hair shorn and permanent banishment.
At this, Mok Yeon’s pupils trembled.
“Carry out the order!”
The soldiers’ rough hands seized her head.
Mok Yeon thrashed, her head twisting in resistance.
“Your Highness! Let me see the Prince!”
Her desperate struggles echoed through the courtyard.
Snick—!
Her long hair fell away.
One soldier gripped her locks like straw in his fist, hacking away at them with scissors in rough, brutal strokes.
Black tresses tumbled to the white stone floor of the courtyard, scattering like scattered reeds.
The attendants standing in the courtyard covered their mouths with both hands, unable to contain their horror.
“No, the young lady’s hair…!”
The lustrous hair they had tended to so carefully each day, oiling and combing it with devotion, was now being cut away without mercy.
It was a cruel and brutal punishment that trampled both dignity and pride.
When one soldier held up a Mirror, Mok Yeon’s hands began to tremble.
The once-radiant face of Mok Yeon, adorned with beautiful ornaments, now looked grotesque.
Hair shorn short and jagged like a rotted chestnut burr, standing up in uneven tufts.
Mok Yeon’s attendant could not hold back her cry.
“How does Muk Wang Palace treat a young lady of a great family in such a manner!”
Criminal or not, was this not a punishment that violated the basic bonds of humanity?
How could she face anyone with such hair? How could she bear to live with the shame of it shorn from her head?
But Noh Chief Administrator’s expression did not change as he gazed down at the attendant.
“You do not grasp the Prince’s mercy.”
“Mercy from the Prince? Even barbarians would not—!”
Scritch—
A sharp blade touched the attendant’s neck.
A soldier had drawn his sword and now held it pointed at her.
The attendant’s lips sealed shut as she trembled, unable to speak.
“Do you now show proper respect for the Prince’s mercy?”
Noh Chief Administrator slowly adjusted his spectacles.
The attendant’s head moved in slow, trembling denial from side to side.
* * *
The sky hung low and gray that day.
A woman with shorn hair, wrapped in a rough hemp headwrap, climbed into a carriage.
So Ah watched the carriage recede into the distance, her fingers absently adjusting the lotus hairpin nestled in her hair.
【How do you feel, So Ah?】
Woon Jo, circling above with a bird’s view of all things below, posed the question.
【Doesn’t it feel satisfying?】
Woon Jo laughed with malicious delight.
He knew well enough what So Ah had endured all this time.
But So Ah shook her head.
“Not yet.”
This was only the beginning.
The real beginning would come when Mok Yeon arrived at Wi Wang Palace.
Still, So Ah sensed something different in Mok Yeon’s departing figure—a shift in the air around her.
‘She will return.’
So Ah felt it with perfect certainty.
She had watched Mok Yeon for so long, and in that watching, she had come to know her well.
Well enough to know that she had no intention of letting this end here.
Then Woon Jo folded his wings and landed beside her.
【So Ah, I have one more piece of good news.】
Woon Jo’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial pitch, his eyes alight with something sharp.
At So Ah’s questioning glance, his beak opened with a knowing edge.
【I’ve found someone who knows about the Curse on Muk Wang.】
So Ah’s head turned away from the disappearing carriage toward Woon Jo.

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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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