The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 63

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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 a Noble Daughter Survival Record 063
So Ah turned the page again, and again.
With each page she turned, the handwriting matured.
The crooked strokes straightened, and the petulant gaps in the margins slowly disappeared.
So Ah caught glimpses of the years he had grown through, and a warm smile crossed her face.
Then at age eight.
The Demon War erupted.
He was in the Imperial City, and he grasped his sword in desperation.
To annihilate the Demon Beasts that had pushed down to the capital itself, the record was rushed and disoriented.
[I watched a child lose his mother before my eyes.
I wish to protect those who are powerless.
So I want to grow stronger.
But my master told me to empty even that desire.
How am I supposed to do that?]
In the confusion of the moment, his turmoil lay bare on the page.
It was far too heavy a burden for a child of merely eight years to carry.
So Ah suddenly recalled her own younger self—powerless and defenseless.
She too had lost her mother before her eyes that year.
The wound left by the Demon War was deep, and from that day forward she had leaned her heart on Seo Gon.
Unlike Seo Heon, who had grown up standing straight and alone, she had been fragile.
So Ah picked up the next volume.
The records after that had moved to the Mugwang Territory.
After the Demon Beasts that had surged into the capital were dealt with, Seo Heon was sent to the Mugwang Territory, which lay near the Yo Valley.
To eliminate the Demon Kings and remnant Demon Beast forces that had not yet been processed.
‘The Empress’s influence must have been considerable.’
Even so, he was a royal prince.
Sending Seo Heon, barely ten years old, to the Mugwang Territory with only Seo Baek showed clear malicious intent.
Yet Seo Heon had grown all the stronger for it.
[Three Flower Lotus—brother said nothing at all.]
The handwriting had long since lost its childish quality.
In place of complaints, pages were densely filled with analysis of Gugyeol and Geom Ro.
‘More detailed than any book in the Archives.’
Young Seo Heon had long since exhausted every volume in the Archives.
He walked a far deeper path than that.
So Ah read through his theories as though enchanted.
At twelve years old, the fourth petal.
The year people called him Sword Saint.
Then at some point.
So Ah’s hand froze mid-turn of the page.
The ink had bled and smudged.
The strokes trembled finely.
Writing as though it had not been done with a steady hand.
[He ordered me to guard the Yo Valley Entrance.]
And beneath it was nothing but stained emptiness.
The next page too.
And the next.
So Ah continued turning several more pages.
But until the volume ended, not a single word was written.
That was the year he received a curse from the Demon King.
So Ah picked up the next volume.
Unlike the previous one, this cover was pristine.
As she opened the first page, neat handwriting appeared.
It was familiar to her eye, yet seemed to belong to a different person than before.
Precise and cool handwriting, as if drawn with a ruler.
Looking at the date, it was only three years ago.
After the death of the former king, Seo Heon had inherited the Mugwang Territory and written these entries out of duty to the Seonwidae.
Now no emotion showed through at all.
The Seo Heon who had hated his brother, pitied the weak, and trembled with dread—he was gone.
Only the sword and training remained.
The writings of a Seo Heon with no ‘self’ were nothing but arid.
So Ah gazed intently into the fabric of his life.
Outside the window, the sky was gradually brightening to a pale gray.
* * *
Early morning.
So Ah closed the final volume and stepped out of her quarters.
But a long shadow was cast across the doorway.
So Ah found herself face to face with the Yunche Mask.
Seo Heon stood alone at the door, without the old attendant.
“Your Highness.”
The hour when even the servants had yet to wake.
When So Ah clasped her hands and bowed properly, Seo Heon’s gaze slipped away.
【…….】
Seo Heon let out a shallow cough in the silence, then withdrew a slip of paper from his robe and extended it.
[It seems the old attendant sent something by mistake yesterday.]
“Sent by mistake, Your Highness?”
【How am I to explain such a thing?】
Seo Heon muttered inwardly.
He repositioned his brush and wrote across a Stone Tablet the size of his palm.
[An old Journal. The cover is worn, and the binding is loose.]
So Ah tilted her head.
“Yet Your Highness, most of what you sent had worn covers and loose bindings.”
【You…!】
His jawline tensed beneath the mask.
So Ah kept her eyes lowered, unbothered.
These days she’d become quite skilled at knowing and pretending not to.
Eventually, Seo Heon lifted the brush again.
[The seven oldest volumes.]
“Ah.”
So Ah nodded as if understanding at last, went inside, and returned carrying a box.
Seo Heon reached out hastily to take it from her.
But So Ah’s hands suddenly stilled before surrendering the box.
“Your Highness.”
“…?”
“Did you hate the Former King so much?”
Seo Heon’s outstretched hands froze in midair.
The nape of his neck, exposed beneath the mask, slowly flushed crimson.
【…You read it.】
So Ah continued, her voice tinged with amusement as she covered her mouth with her sleeve.
“There were even tear stains.”
【Enough.】
“…I too hated much and wept.”
So Ah’s eyes met his gaze behind the mask.
“Long ago.”
She added with a clear smile.
A small ripple stirred in Seo Heon’s chest.
* * *
Seo Heon’s steps quickened as he turned down the Corridor.
Early in the morning, officials arriving at the palace for the assembly were passing by.
“Your Highness, we bow before you.”
The officials who spotted him bent their waists as one.
The old attendant came running behind.
“Your Highness, I was startled to find you gone so suddenly.”
The old attendant straightened his crooked spectacles, which had slipped in his haste, and his eyes widened at the sight of the box in Seo Heon’s hands.
“Your Highness, how could you carry something so heavy yourself…!”
The old attendant hurried to receive the box from him.
But was it the sudden reach that caused it?
Clatter—
The weight shifted and the lid swung open.
Black silk slipped and unraveled through the tilted gap of the box.
A Royal Robe, embroidered with golden thread dragons.
There was only one person in the Mugwang Territory who could wear such a garment.
“…….”
Silence settled over the Corridor.
The elderly chief steward hurriedly gathered up the Royal Robe and placed it back in the chest.
“Ah, forgive me—my old hands are clumsy……!”
After collecting the items and closing the chest lid again, the elderly chief steward made his way toward the Study Chamber with Seo Heon.
As the two of them disappeared beyond the far end of the Corridor, the old man who had been standing with his head bowed slowly raised it.
“Where did that chest come from?”
“From the quarters of So Ah, it is said.”
A court official lowered his voice and spoke in hushed tones.
At this, the Chancellor Geum Seo Ak’s gaze turned toward So Ah’s quarters.
“You mean she came from So Ah’s quarters in the early dawn?”
The creases around Geum Seo Ak’s sunken eyes deepened further.
* * *
After the court session adjourned.
Geum Seo Ak sat before his writing desk and slowly turned the Ring on his finger.
‘So they call it the Three Flower Lotus.’
These past few days, an unfamiliar name had circulated through the Mugwang Territory.
The lotus of the immortals.
It was a name that even those who wielded Sword Qi did not use lightly, yet somehow an undeserved title had already attached itself to So Ah.
‘Now she even meddles in the Seonwidae—the king’s favoritism has truly gone too far.’
He was displeased that a mere lady-in-waiting should intrude upon the Seonwidae training.
But today, she had even been granted Seo Heon’s Journal.
That which had not been shown carelessly even to the Seonwidae members themselves—given in its entirety to a woman from without.
And this morning, that Royal Robe…….
Geum Seo Ak leaned back and closed his eyes.
So Ah.
That woman was keen-witted, bold, and knew the weight of the moment.
‘Which is precisely why she is dangerous.’
Geum Seo Ak opened his eyes.
He poured water into the inkstone and slowly ground the ink stick.
Then, without hesitation, he picked up his brush.
‘The king who is swayed by a woman also bears great responsibility.’
He began writing sentences upon the paper.
After waiting for the ink to dry, he folded the letter and sealed it with his stamp.
“Is anyone there?”
At Geum Seo Ak’s summons, a servant from outside entered.
As he handed over the letter, the servant bowed deeply and received it with care.
“Shall I deliver it to the Study Chamber, my lord?”
“No.”
Geum Seo Ak shook his head briefly.
“Send it to the Imperial City.”
“Yes……? But my lord, documents from the Mugwang Territory require the king’s seal…….”
“This is not a document of the Mugwang Territory, but my own private correspondence.”
Geum Seo Ak spoke slowly, turning the Ring on his finger with deliberate care.

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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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