The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 55

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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 Noblewoman’s Survival Record — Chapter 55
【I harbored a foolish hope that someone might hear my voice.】
He returned to Seo Taek and took up his brush.
Scratch, scratch.
The sound of bristles on paper filled the silence.
[Your Qi Meridians are pristine. What remains flawed is not I, but your body itself.]
Seo Heon tilted his head toward the wound lingering on her shoulder.
[It grows late. Return and rest, tend to your recovery.]
His neat characters bloomed across the page as though nothing had transpired.
As if everything he had pressed for moments before had been nothing but a dream.
So Ah read through his words, unchanged from their usual form.
She clenched her trembling hands together and lowered her head.
“Yes, my lord.”
Her gaze avoiding his.
Her steps more hurried than usual.
Seo Heon watched her fleeing figure disappear from Hyeon An Jae.
Alone in his chamber, Seo Heon stared at the closed door.
He dragged his hand roughly across the mask.
【Damn it.】
It wasn’t meant to frighten her.
He hadn’t wanted it to become this.
He had simply been happy.
That someone heard his voice.
That it was So Ah—her.
In his elation and curiosity, he had acted rashly, carelessly.
【What exactly was I hoping for?】
For a moment, he had been lost in illusion.
If she recognized his ability, wouldn’t she too be pleased?
Wouldn’t it mean he could share more with her?
How absurdly naive a fantasy.
He had never once considered her position.
【How am I any different from Jin Mok Yeon?】
Seo Heon removed the mask and let loose a bitter laugh.
He had tried to forcibly strip away her mask—driven by personal curiosity, by selfish anticipation and hope.
【The worst.】
He bit his lip, staring at the Medicine Box resting on Seo Taek.
He set the mask he had removed beside the Medicine Box.
It was the worst.
Undoubtedly the worst……
【Why, then, does my chest feel so light?】
Seo Heon quietly opened the Medicine Box she had left behind.
* * *
So Ah closed the door to Cheo So and drew the bolt.
In that instant, her legs gave way beneath her.
She sank down with her back against the door.
The trembling in her hands spread to her shoulders, through her entire frame.
‘I wasn’t discovered.’
Or rather, to be precise……
‘He let me go.’
So Ah understood.
No matter how much she denied it, Seo Heon was certain of her ability.
And yet he had withdrawn.
‘…Why?’
So Ah wrapped her arms around her knees.
She could not fathom it.
She was the sole person who could hear his voice.
If she misused such power, the repercussions would be vast.
He would have reason to see her as a threat.
Worse, she had been eavesdropping on his private musings all this while.
He might suspect her of gathering intelligence on the Mugwang Territory.
‘But why…….’
He withdrew suddenly.
As though he’d read the fear in her eyes.
As though he’d strayed onto a path he shouldn’t have.
Her chest tightened without reason.
‘There was no help for it.’
So Ah buried her face against her knees.
Then.
Bang, bang, bang!
Someone knocked on the door without mercy.
“Miss! Miss, are you in there?”
Young Gyo’s voice carried urgently from beyond the threshold.
So Ah sprang to her feet.
“What’s happened?”
She unlatched the door to find Young Gyo standing pale as a sheet.
“S-Something terrible……!”
Something terrible?
Could Seo Heon have said something about her ability?
“Lord Hye Rang has suddenly come to call……!”
“Lord Hye Rang?”
The unexpected name caught her off guard.
A small figure passed confidently through the entrance of Cheo So, walking straight in.
A child with round bun-shaped hair on either side, pale and soft-cheeked.
“Lord Hye Rang.”
So Ah hastily smoothed her clothes and greeted her.
“Sister Jin!”
Hye Rang scampered over and grasped the hem of So Ah’s skirt.
Since the incident with the cucumbers, the child often visited and brought snacks, and on account of this, Hye Rang had grown quite fond of her.
But this was the first time she’d come to Cheo So in person…….
“Lord, what brings you here?”
So Ah worried for a moment whether something troublesome had occurred during the supernatural incident.
“Sister, sister. I have a question.”
“A question?”
“I heard something just now.”
Hye Rang looked up at her with bright, gleaming eyes.
“Did you sleep with sister and the King?”
“……!”
Sleep……?
Young Gyo, listening beside her, flushed as red as a strawberry and opened her mouth.
“M-My lord! Where did you hear such a thing!”
“I heard you slept with the King for several nights.”
Hye Rang spoke with the innocence of a child.
So Ah burst into laughter.
Just moments before, her mind had been in turmoil, but the child’s innocent question cleared it at once.
“So you mean……sleeping, yes? Just sleeping?”
So Ah gently rephrased the young girl’s words.
Hye Rang nodded her small head.
Sleeping is sleeping, after all.
What else could there be?
Her round eyes blinked steadily, filled with confusion.
“Were you scared of demons, so you slept with the King? Because you were afraid to sleep alone?”
“Yes, Lord.”
So Ah nodded with a smile.
She didn’t wish to trouble the child by telling her that she’d been scarred by a demon.
“Then, will you have a Marriage Ceremony with the King?”
“……Yes?”
The thought that had been troubling So Ah’s mind until a moment ago vanished completely.
A Marriage Ceremony, suddenly?
Of course, having entered the Palace as a Concubine-in-Waiting, if she’d slept with him, it could be considered that a ceremony had taken place.
“Ok Byeong told me that when adults sleep together like that, they’re supposed to have a Marriage Ceremony.”
“No, that’s not quite right…….”
“When you marry, don’t you become the closest friend in the world?”
Friend…….
The child’s logic was refreshingly simple.
Then.
“Your Lordship!”
Young Gyo, who had been listening from beside them, interjected with a face still flushed crimson.
“A husband and wife are far more than mere friends!”
“…….”
So Ah turned her head to look at Young Gyo.
Young Gyo.
Was that what you called salvaging the situation…….
“What could be more than a friend?”
“That is…….”
Young Gyo, who had been speaking with such confidence, floundered and fell silent.
“What? What is it?”
“W-Your Lordship! You’ll understand that when you grow older!”
Young Gyo waved both hands frantically and hurriedly changed the subject.
So Ah exhaled a shallow sigh.
‘This is going to be trouble.’
If the rumor had reached Hye Rang’s ears, it meant everyone in the palace knew of it.
And.
Her concern proved justified within days.
“……What is all of this?”
In the courtyard before Cheo So.
Gifts were stacked high along one edge.
Precious bonsai brought from the southern lands.
Fine silk adorned with elaborate embroidery.
Honey and dried fruit wrapped in oiled paper.
Among them were silver purses as well.
“My lady! Look at this!”
Young Gyo came running with an animated expression.
“People have been lining up since dawn to leave these! They say it’s all in hope of your swift recovery.”
Young Gyo held up a bolt of silk with evident delight.
“Look at this silk, isn’t it beautiful? So many people care for you……!”
“Young Gyo.”
“Yes?”
“This is not care for me.”
So Ah’s face grew cold and composed.
‘They’re trying to build connections.’
It was all because of that strange rumor.
“Building such hopes on an impossible tale.”
As So Ah muttered this, Young Gyo hesitated before speaking.
“Though it’s said to be impossible—the lord has never brought a woman into Hyeon An Jae before.”
The people of Mugwang Territory knew Seo Heon well.
A man who had never kept a woman at his side, not even once.
“Surely the lord’s decision to keep you there for four days and attend to you personally must mean something?”
What the two of them had done that night was immaterial.
The care could have been delegated to Mu Jin.
Yet the lord of Mugwang had attended to it himself.
Moreover, he had given up his own sleeping chambers for four full days without allowing anyone else inside.
“Something impossible has come to pass!”
Young Gyo spoke with excitement.
“Even if Commander Mu Jin had been wounded, the lord would not have done as much.”
“Young Gyo, such talk is best avoided.”
At So Ah’s warning, Young Gyo grew cautious before asking.
“Then what do you intend to do about all this, my lady?”
With so many precious things arriving, surely you wouldn’t return them all, given how sincere those who sent them must be?
At Young Gyo’s question, So Ah surveyed the bribes.
‘No matter how far the rumor has spread, this pile of bribes is anything but ordinary.’
So Ah’s eyes narrowed as she assessed the origins of the items before her.
At that moment, birds perched on the branches began to chatter.
Hearing the birds’ song, So Ah’s gaze settled with quiet clarity.
“A more distinguished guest than I anticipated may be arriving.”
She’d thought of simply clearing things away.
“I’ll need to prepare the Guest Reception Order.”

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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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