The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 68

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Fall of the Noble House, Episode 68
A night bright with lanterns.
He returned to the Study Chamber holding a scroll of silk, his silence absolute.
An Imperial Decree from the Imperial Court.
Why Seo Gon had volunteered as Northwest Campaign Commander and come to the Mugwang Territory was painfully transparent.
But that much was of no consequence.
What he truly feared was this.
“Consort Jin Mok Yeon of the Wei King will be coming as well, Your Majesty.”
A list appended to the Imperial Decree.
And there, on it, was Jin Mok Yeon’s name.
Seo Heon lifted the mask that covered his face.
[You are hereby banished from the lands of Mugwang Territory in perpetuity.]
His reason for not killing Jin Mok Yeon had not been mercy.
He had merely hoped.
That no one would die again from his curse.
That what clung to him was not a curse that killed—that he could believe it.
That he was not the monster people pointed at and whispered about.
It was nothing more than a fleeting glance of eyes meeting.
So it could not be a deep curse, he had reasoned.
And so he had made his peace with it.
“If Your Majesty will not embrace me, I will throw myself from these City Walls at once.”
His jaw tightened beneath the mask.
The tragedy his curse had once wrought rose before him again.
‘What if Jin Mok Yeon too…’
He was afraid of her—how she defied the Banishment Order and returned to the Mugwang Territory regardless.
Once more he felt that suffocating tightness around his throat.
[An Imperial Decree cannot be defied, else it is treason.]
Seo Gon’s intent was transparent.
Knowing everything, he brazenly included Jin Mok Yeon on the roster and brought her with him.
Either way, his position would become untenable.
Seo Heon’s chest grew tight; he gripped his collar.
Then.
“Your Majesty.”
A voice came from beyond the door.
Seo Heon released the collar he had been holding and straightened his robes.
“May I enter?”
The door opened, and So Ah stepped through.
“I hear the Wei King will arrive at the Mugwang Territory in four days.”
So Ah clasped her hands and faced him.
The moment he met the light in her eyes, Seo Heon realized it was different from hers beneath the Onyang Festival lanterns.
And then.
“There is something I must ask of you.”
So Ah lowered her head quietly.
* * *
Days later.
Beyond the City Gate, where the Onyang Festival lanterns had not yet fully descended, the Wei King’s procession drew near.
Red banners stretched across the road as commoners craned their necks to watch, and the procession halted before the gate.
The Mugwang Territory should have received him.
But the City Gate did not open.
Seo Gon’s eyebrows rose sharply from where he sat upon his horse.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Then an old man approached the gate.
“I pay my respects to the Wei King.”
The elderly chief steward, adjusting his spectacles, continued.
“Having received the Imperial Decree, the Mugwang Territory has made all preparations to receive Your Majesty.”
“Then why are the gates shut?”
Seo Gon’s face hardened with a chill.
Then the old steward straightened from his bow.
“Forgive us, but the Consort cannot pass through this gate.”
At that, the gathered spectators before the City Gate began to murmur.
At that moment, the carriage following behind the procession came to a halt.
A woman in deep purple silk descended with the help of her attendant.
She wore an elaborate wig so splendid that no one could tell her hair had been shorn short.
It was Jin Mok Yeon.
“How disrespectful.”
She fixed Chief Eunuch Noh with a sharp, narrowed gaze.
At that, the deep lines around his mouth deepened further.
“Either your wit fails you, or you’ve already forgotten.”
He withdrew a sheet of paper from his sleeve.
And then.
“Criminal Jin Mok Yeon.”
He read the document aloud in a clear voice, ensuring all could hear.
“The criminal deceived the Imperial Court with vicious falsehoods, seeking to lay eyes upon the King. As though that were not sufficient, she shamefully placed her hand upon the sacred visage, thereby insulting the authority of the Imperial Court, her irreverence reaching toward heaven itself.”
His voice did not waver.
At the charges proclaimed before all the people, Jin Mok Yeon’s face flushed red with shame.
Then.
“Do you dare call my Consort a criminal?”
Seo Gon stepped forward.
“It is a judgment already rendered.”
At Chief Eunuch Noh’s unyielding stubbornness, Seo Gon’s gaze swept beyond the City Gate.
Standing in the center of the crowded street was a man wearing an Iron Mask.
The corner of Seo Gon’s mouth rose slightly.
‘No amount of resistance will avail him.’
He had brought Jin Mok Yeon for one reason alone.
To force Seo Heon to soften the command he himself had issued, with his own hand, in the heart of his own territory.
To let all the people witness the King’s word breaking at the threshold.
To render every single character that the mute fool had written utterly useless.
“But I’ve brought something with me.”
Seo Gon withdrew a silk pouch from his sleeve.
Upon it, a red seal gleamed clearly.
The Imperial Seal that even Seo Heon would recognize.
“This is His Majesty’s command to spare the criminal from banishment.”
At that, Chief Eunuch Noh’s face hardened.
“Read it yourself. If your eyes fail you, I can read it in your stead.”
Seo Gon held out the silk pouch.
At the mention of the Emperor’s command, the people of Mugwang Territory stirred with agitation.
Seo Heon received the Imperial Edict with proper respect and read aloud the document.
…….
His gaze flowed beneath the seal, and Seo Heon quietly passed the edict to Chief Eunuch Noh.
Retrieving his brush, Seo Heon wrote his response.
Seo Gon watched him, lifting his head with arrogant satisfaction.
‘An Imperial Decree — you have no choice but to yield.’
Before all these people, he would have no choice but to admit his own powerlessness.
But what Seo Heon’s response said, as Chief Eunuch Noh read it aloud, was this:
[Mugwang Territory’s Seo Heon, in deference to the Imperial Edict, hereby suspends the Banishment Order against Jin Mok Yeon. However, should she enter these gates, let her know she does so at the cost of her life.]
Seo Gon’s lips trembled.
“Do you dare defy an Imperial Decree?”
…….
Seo Heon remained silent, offering no reply.
That silence seemed to dismiss Seo Gon’s words entirely.
Just as Seo Gon was about to press charges against Seo Heon—
“Your Majesty!”
A woman emerged from within the city, her voice urgent.
A woman of neat appearance, a Lotus Flower Hairpin adorning her hair.
“Is that the former lady Jin?”
“The one who gave her life for the young lady?”
The people murmured as they beheld her.
Among them, So Ah stopped and bowed her head deeply.
“Your Majesty, I humbly beseech your generous forbearance……!”
So Ah knelt with her head bowed beneath her sleeve, her plea fervent and bound by proper ceremony.
“Though my sister Jin Mok Yeon’s crime is grave, what happened that day was a mistake, Your Majesty.”
Jin Mok Yeon’s face contorted at this.
‘Why is that wench suddenly shielding me?’
It made no sense.
“Moreover, since His Imperial Majesty has commanded that Jin Mok Yeon’s Banishment Order be lifted, to go against his will would bring shame upon the Mugwang Territory.”
So Ah dropped to her knees before Seo Heon and bowed deeply.
Her earnest plea moved even the onlookers to pity.
“So Ah.”
Seo Gon, who had been watching her, stepped forward.
“Rise. You didn’t come all this way to be treated thus.”
Seo Gon wrapped an arm around So Ah’s shoulders and lifted her to her feet.
“Fourth brother, is it the custom of the frontier to make women kneel on cold stone?”
“…….”
“Answer me.”
The moment Seo Gon pressed his silent brother, Seo Heon seized Seo Gon’s arm that rested on So Ah’s shoulder and wrenched it away.
Seo Gon’s arm froze in mid-air.
“Let go, fourth brother.”
Seo Gon pulled his arm back with casual ease.
But it did not budge an inch.
Then.
“Your Highness…….”
So Ah clutched at the edge of Seo Heon’s sleeve.
“…….”
Only then did Seo Heon’s grip slacken.
“Ha.”
Seo Gon rubbed his wrist and let out a laugh.
“Impressive. I hadn’t expected my youngest brother to be so disrespectful after all this time apart.”
As he spoke, Seo Gon’s fist clenched tight.
Though it was only a moment, vivid red marks had already formed on his wrist.
‘When we were young, he wouldn’t even meet my eyes…….’
When did he become so bold?
And when did he stop looking up to me?
Seo Gon’s gaze drifted slowly toward Seo Heon’s side.
So Ah was still gripping the hem of his dark sleeve, pleading silently.
Seo Gon’s eyes narrowed.
Then.
“Your Highness, please don’t fight because of me……!”
Jin Mok Yeon, standing alone at a distance, rushed between Seo Heon and Seo Gon.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————