The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 59

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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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Fallen Noblewoman’s Survival Record, Chapter 59
Seo Heon entered Hyeon An Jae and came to a halt, the Unochul Mask still resting on the table before him.
【Four days now.】
Four days since So Ah had begun avoiding him.
He was not unaware of it.
He could see plainly enough how she would leave her quarters at hours when he was known not to pass, how she would deliberately take the long way through the Garden rather than the direct path.
The behavior was transparent as glass, yet he did nothing.
He had been the one to frighten her, after all; it seemed only right to grant her space.
Time would mend it, he thought.
So he had believed.
Then came last night.
She had come to him.
He had wondered if she had finally found the courage to meet his eyes—
【My seal was all she needed.】
All the while she was examining the Record Book, she never once lifted her gaze.
In the old days, she would always have looked at him directly.
He had treasured that look.
When he gazed into those dark, clear eyes, he felt wholly contained within them.
They were the only eyes in this Wang Territory that saw him not as a monster, but as a man.
Yet now, those eyes fixed only on the ground at his feet.
Her shoulders, uncharacteristically hunched, pressed heavy against his chest.
It was his fault.
He had forced open her secret.
So he had decided to keep his distance.
But today.
Today, worried about what Geum Seo Ak had done, when he visited her quarters for the first time of his own volition, he had seen it.
Her smiling at Woo Je as she always did, chattering and exchanging words with ease.
In that instant, something within his chest tilted.
Beyond the Courtyard Wall.
So Ah seemed to exist in an entirely different world from his.
Bright as ever, at ease, and tender in her manner.
But the moment he crossed the threshold into the quarters, the laughter that had animated her face stiffened.
And the eye contact she had been sharing freely with others now fell away to the floor.
“……I am grateful for yesterday’s wisdom.”
Yes—a greeting of scrupulous formality, utterly businesslike.
Seo Heon found it, somehow… vexing.
He had stepped back to give her room to ease her heart, for she shied from him so—
Yet where he was absent, she seemed entirely untroubled.
He touched the Unochul Mask on the table with a slow, deliberate hand.
Fragments of sunset scattered across its surface.
【If she will feign not to hear, then I too shall pretend I do not understand.】
Seo Heon took up his brush.
And unrolled fresh paper.
* * *
In the pale light of early morning.
The Training Grounds were suddenly abuzz with commotion.
“It’s been how many years since the Sahwaryeon?”
“The first time since after the Demon King campaign.”
News of Mu Jin’s flowering had remained the center of their talk.
“But they say it’s thanks to the young lord.”
It was because word had come down that the young lord would now be attending Seonwidae drills.
A royal decree from the Mugwang Territory delivered yesterday.
[For service rendered in assisting the Sahwaryeon flowering through Yo Seup, the duty of transmitting Seonwidae Script to the young lord is hereby entrusted.]
By this decree, the Training Grounds had erupted anew into commotion.
“Maybe I should ask him too? What’s wrong with my sword?”
“Your sword isn’t the problem—your discipline is.”
“Ah, but you never know, do you? If I can just break through the Three Flower Lotus barrier, then I can say I handle the Sword Specialist art.”
“Ha. What could a foreign woman possibly know of the Sword Path.”
An older veteran among them let out a scoff.
To the south lay the peaceful Wi Wang Territory.
There is only one who can wield the Seon Sword in that place.
The bodyguard of Wi Pyeong, and they say he has bloomed the Three Flower Lotus?
Yet some lady from a noble house, a mere secondary daughter, claims she’ll teach the Sword Path?
“We’ve trained for years. Why should we listen to such a woman?”
“Just the other day, I heard the Seonwidae visited that woman’s quarters.”
A few of them voiced their discontent.
Then a young martial artist opened his mouth.
“Whether she knows much or not, the captain’s sword is evidence, isn’t it?”
A refined, measured voice. A veteran scoffed.
“It was chance. Captain Mu Jin’s sword was still grasping at the Gate Handle of Sahwaryeon.”
It was clear he had overcome a wall he couldn’t scale except through a sudden surge of power.
Jin Jae-in had merely been there by chance.
Then.
“I know my own sword well enough.”
A clipped voice cut through the ranks.
“Captain…!”
A man with sun-darkened skin stood with his arms crossed.
They hurried to bow respectfully before Mu Jin.
“I cannot deny Jin Jae-in’s merit. That is why I also made this request of the Crown Prince.”
“You made the request yourself, Captain?”
“I did.”
Mu Jin said this and moved on.
Mu Jin felt it as he surveyed the Training Grounds, which seemed more unsettled than usual.
Among them were those who anticipated Jin Jae-in, and those who watched warily.
But one thing was clear: all of them felt Jin Jae-in’s presence vividly.
Just then, an unfamiliar face entered the Training Grounds.
The Training Grounds, which had been buzzing moments before, fell silent in an instant.
A frame too small for a martial training ground.
Fair skin and delicate bones.
Yet that small woman seized the air of the Training Grounds in a single breath.
The martial artists watched in held breath as she ascended the platform.
Standing on the platform, she surveyed the room slowly with a quiet gaze.
“I am Jin So Ah.”
A low but clear voice rang through the Training Grounds.
“From today, I have undertaken to share the Gugyeol with all of you.”
A brief silence fell.
Then a cough sounded from somewhere.
“Have you ever held a Seon Sword?”
It was Wi Pyeong, a veteran who had served a dozen years in the Seonwidae.
Two petals bloomed in the Ihwaryeon, yet this woman had never bloomed even a single petal, and they were to receive instruction from her…
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“I have never held a Seon Sword, not even once.”
So candid an admission left Wi Pyeong himself at a loss for words.
He opened and closed his mouth several times before he managed to speak.
“Then what do you intend to teach us?”
“I do not teach.”
So Ah shook her head.
“I have come to observe.”
“To observe?”
“How one grasps a sword.”
Wi Pyeong let out a hollow laugh.
Then.
Scrape—
“Well then, allow me to show you.”
Wi Pyeong drew his sword.
Early morning sunlight poured along the blade.
Countless gazes in the Training Grounds fell upon him.
“My sword happens to be feeling restless just now.”
Wi Pyeong aimed his blade toward empty space.
Mu Jin stood with his arms crossed, simply observing the unfolding scene.
He could have stepped in to restrain Wi Pyeong, but that would only be a temporary measure.
The Seonwidae was the very symbol of Mugwang Territory.
The Sword Specialist arts themselves were a special power that ordinary soldiers could not wield.
And with such distinction came proportionate pride.
To put it bluntly, it meant these were people with strong egos and stubborn wills.
For Jin Jae-in to teach them, she would need to master them first.
‘Will Jin Jae-in truly be able to break these warriors’ spirits?’
Then.
Soft footsteps.
So Ah descended from the dais, walking down to the Training Grounds floor.
“How opportune.”
She walked directly before Wi Pyeong and positioned herself in front of his blade’s tip.
And then.
“Try cutting me.”
So Ah tilted her head gently.
Cold sweat beaded on Wi Pyeong’s forehead.
“What do you mean, now……?”
“As one who holds direct commission from the King, I command you.”
So Ah’s voice did not waver in the slightest.
“Cut me with your full strength.”
Cold sweat beaded on Wi Pyeong’s forehead.
Had he ever seen a woman so out of her mind?
Yet he could not back down here.
“If you thought I couldn’t do it, you are mistaken……!”
Wi Pyeong lifted his blade.
The warriors who saw him turned in alarm to Mu Jin.
“Commander!”
But Mu Jin remained motionless, his arms still crossed.
At the same moment, two petals bloomed on Wi Pyeong’s hand.
White radiance faintly enveloped the blade’s edge.
And then.
Crack—!
With the sound of air splitting, the sword fell away.
The Training Grounds froze in an instant.
And then.
Whisper—
Beside So Ah’s cheek.
A few strands of her windswept hair drifted silently downward.
Wi Pyeong’s blade had stopped precisely at the side of her cheek.
Yet So Ah did not close her eyes.
Instead, she watched the petals withering on Wi Pyeong’s hand.
Wi Pyeong’s arm trembled faintly.
Not a soul in the Training Grounds dared speak.
Into that frozen silence.
“Why have you stopped?”
So Ah met Wi Pyeong’s gaze and asked coolly.

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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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