The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 52

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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 the Noble House: Survival Record, Episode 52
How long had it been since he’d left the room?
So Ah lifted the spoon carefully, placed the rice gruel between her lips, and slowly surveyed Seo Heon’s quarters.
Perhaps it was the sunlight streaming in.
The floor that had seemed cruelly cold now appeared strangely warm.
Once her mind cleared, the room revealed itself as orderly, serene, and luminous.
Simple wooden furniture with grain intact, unadorned yet painstakingly maintained furnishings.
Traces of Seo Heon’s care lingered in every corner.
‘I never thought I’d be eating a meal in the place where I died.’
She found herself smiling despite it all.
‘At least I won’t have indigestion to worry about.’
The carefully prepared rice gruel warmed her belly from within.
The moment she emptied the final spoonful, she heard commotion beyond the door.
As So Ah set the bowl beside her, the Inner Chamber’s door swung open.
“My lady!”
The one who entered was none other than Young Gyeo.
“You’ve awakened!”
“What brings you here?”
“The lord departed for court proceedings, but not before instructing me to look after you.”
Young Gyeo set down the Gold Wound Medicine she carried and spoke.
Then she glanced around Hyeon An Jae with curious eyes.
Hyeon An Jae—a place as forbidden as a taboo.
A maid like Young Gyeo would never set foot inside in all her years of service.
“For all I look, the lord’s sleeping chamber seems far too modest.”
Not a shred of ornate gold leaf or expensive decoration was visible.
The only thing that looked remotely costly was a row of swords resting on one side.
As Young Gyeo surveyed the space, she caught sight of the empty bowl and smiled.
“You’ve eaten the rice gruel!”
“It was written that I should.”
“You did well! You hadn’t eaten in days.”
Young Gyeo cheerfully cleared away the bowl.
“Days?”
“One day, two days… it’s been four days now.”
“Four days?”
Surely she hadn’t been unconscious for four days straight.
“The lord tended to you himself during those four days.”
Heavens above.
She’d thought she’d simply lost consciousness and come to—
Then what of Seo Heon all this time?
She’d been occupying the bed.
Where had he slept?
How had he managed?
‘I’ve heard that Hyeon An Jae is the only place where he removes his mask and rests.’
And she’d stolen that sanctuary from him.
So Ah pressed her hand to her forehead.
“My lady, are you unwell?”
“No, I’m fine. Just startled for a moment.”
Then, from beyond the door, more murmuring rose again.
Hyeon An Jae, which ought to have been quiet, seemed unusually bustling.
An unusually frequent rhythm of footsteps.
A sense of presence felt through the window.
“Did something happen while I was asleep?”
At So Ah’s question, Young Gyeo startled, then began shaking her head vigorously.
“Nothing at all! Oh, but Commander Mu Jin visited several times. He said he wanted to see you as soon as you woke.”
“Commander Mu Jin?”
“Yes, and I… well…”
Young Gyeo’s words trailed off uncertainly.
“There’s been some rumor in the palace…”
“Rumor?”
“Oh, it’s nothing important!”
Watching Young Gyeo stumble backward with her face flushed crimson, So Ah’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Then.
Knock, knock.
A large shadow fell across the door.
* * *
Seo Heon stood with his hand on the door handle, motionless for a moment.
For the past several days, he hadn’t managed proper sleep.
If he were to account for the reason……
It was for So Ah’s recovery, or so he kept telling himself.
But something else lingered in a corner of his chest.
“I would only burden you with worry…….”
Her answer hadn’t left his ears all night.
Fevered sleep-talk.
Even after concluding that was all it was, the futile questions refused to fade.
The words she had spoken.
The gestures she had made.
He had turned them over in his mind one by one through the night.
Seo Heon drew a measured breath before the firmly closed door of Hyeon An Jae.
Beyond it came the sound of So Ah and Young Gyeo chattering away.
He’d come straight away upon hearing she had awakened safely.
“Your Highness.”
Behind him.
Mu Jin, commander of the Seonwidae, stood at his side.
Seo Heon steadied his breathing low, then knocked lightly on the door.
Knock, knock.
At once, hurried footsteps sounded from within.
Seo Heon knew.
Those quick, impatient footsteps weren’t So Ah’s.
And indeed.
The one who opened the door was Young Gyeo, So Ah’s handmaid.
“The Guest has awakened.”
Young Gyeo’s eyes gleamed as she gestured toward the interior.
Seo Heon found that strange.
The palace staff had always feared him, struggling even to meet his gaze.
But something had changed since So Ah arrived.
People were beginning to appear who didn’t shy from his look but met it instead.
‘It must be the Guest’s influence.’
She had always gazed at him directly, after all.
As if the rumors that followed him and the curses attached to his name did not exist at all.
Those who watched and learned from her side were gradually treating Seo Heon with less difficulty.
Seo Heon’s gaze passed over Young Gyeo toward So Ah beyond her.
Seeing color return to the pallid face, he felt something loosen somewhere in his chest.
“Your Highness.”
【How is your body?】
The question came before any proper greeting.
It was a question uttered soundlessly.
Yet her lips moved faintly in response.
Seo Heon’s eyes began to narrow.
“Commander Mu Jin has come as well, I see.”
So Ah offered a greeting to Mu Jin, who stood behind him.
‘Of course. It was a misreading.’
She had simply meant to offer him a greeting.
“Are you well, now?”
Mu Jin asked the question that he could not voice aloud.
“Thanks to the commander’s protection.”
So Ah answered Mu Jin warmly.
Was kindness to everyone simply her nature?
The warmth in So Ah’s eyes as she looked at Mu Jin displeased him greatly.
Yet Mu Jin himself seemed indifferent to her affection.
“If you speak of protection from the Yokai, I cannot claim credit for that.”
Mu Jin did not dance around the subject. He cut straight to the heart of it.
“If we’re speaking of credit, Jin Jae In deserves the lion’s share.”
“I myself have only imposed upon Your Highness.”
“The Sword Technique script, I mean.”
Beneath his sleeve, the tips of Seo Heon’s fingers stiffened ever so slightly.
Questions he had wanted to ask but could not.
“You’ve never trained in Sword Qi, yet how did you come to know that script?”
Mu Jin’s gaze fixed itself squarely on So Ah.
Seo Heon, too, waited for an answer while keeping his expression hidden beneath the mask.
So Ah met Mu Jin’s stare without flinching and answered.
“I read it in the Archives.”
The Archives.
True enough, that place held records of the Sword Technique.
It was a plausible answer.
Yet why did such a plausible answer leave him so thoroughly disappointed?
Seo Heon was startled by the strange emotion that had bloomed within himself.
‘What answer was I hoping for, exactly?’
No. This disappointment must stem from the answer’s incompleteness.
“If such things could be conveyed through books alone, every member of the Seonwidae would have already reached the Five Flower Lotus Realm.”
Mu Jin voiced the doubt right on cue.
By his logic, if everything could be transmitted through writing, Seo Heon would not have spent so long wrestling with the search for a way forward.
Yet So Ah answered with perfect composure.
“I saw petals wavering on the back of a hand, and I merely spoke what I saw.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
“Have you heard of Son U Je, the vice commander?”
At the sudden mention of U Je’s name, the brow beneath the mask furrowed.
Mu Jin’s face darkened as well.
“I’ve heard tales of him. The Minister of Works spoke highly of him—a genius, I believe it was.”
“He has a gift for handling numbers and calculation. Even difficult sums he performs with ease.”
“But why speak of him now?”
“Might there not be such a one in the Sword Technique as well?”
“Such a one would mean…”
Surely she wasn’t claiming to be a genius of the Sword Technique herself?
“Simply that such a person might exist, Your Highness.”
Mu Jin’s expression wavered, unable to settle on any certainty.
So Ah laughed softly.
“For instance, someone like Your Highness.”
Her gaze turned toward Seo Heon.
A Sword Technique genius who had awakened at a remarkably young age.
One who had borne the epithet Sword Immortal.
Beneath the mask, the corners of Seo Heon’s mouth twisted into the faintest of smiles.
【How brazen.】
Yet that brazenness did not displease him.
What she had shown since arriving in the Mugwang Territory was of such caliber that the word “genius” fell short.

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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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