The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 7

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

The Fallen Noblewoman’s Survival Record — Episode 7
So-a, having posed her question, tilted her gaze naturally upward to the sky.
In the distance, a hawk circled in lazy spirals.
If General Maeng were to ask how the Tiger Tally had come to be dropped in such a place—
【A handful of rice, and the mice came scurrying to carry it away?】
It was thanks to her earnest and reliable new companions.
The result was clear-cut.
[Investigate General Maeng.]
The moment Seo-heon’s decree came down, Chief Administrator No bowed his head.
“General Maeng, if you would step this way for a moment.”
“Your Highness, this is surely someone’s frame against me—”
“Indeed. Your Highness is not doubting you, General—merely a formality, nothing more.”
Just as Chief Administrator No was leading him outside the warehouse with soothing words,
General Maeng’s eyes met So-a’s.
So-a’s gaze was secretive, yet finely curved.
‘That bitch orchestrated this!’
General Maeng stopped dead in his tracks, and his hand rose.
“You outsider girl with no sense of propriety. A wretched retainer dragged in from the streets—!”
A palm broad as a cauldron lid descended toward her cheek in that instant.
Crack!
General Maeng’s arm twisted violently.
“Gasp!”
General Maeng’s mouth gaped open in silent heaving.
As all held their breath, a dark shadow fell across his soundless scream.
Beneath the mask, eyes both terrible and bright bore down upon him.
【Chief Administrator No. Strip General Maeng of his courtesies and cast him in the dungeon.】
The voice carried a killing intent so vivid it seemed to gleam.
Seo-heon had twisted General Maeng’s arm in his grasp.
* * *
“Your Highness, evidence of charcoal and wood charcoal being smuggled from General Maeng’s residence has been discovered.”
The evidence was conclusive.
[Root out all those connected to General Maeng and his associates, and punish them without mercy.]
As Seo-heon issued his written order, the Inspector received his command and withdrew.
“Matters do resolve with remarkable speed, don’t they.”
Chief Administrator No observed the space where the Inspector had departed.
Yet Seo-heon drew his hand across his mask with a dry gesture.
The Maeng Clan had held high offices for generations since the reign of the previous king—a Powerful Noble House of long standing.
General Maeng himself had accumulated considerable merit from his youth.
He had waited for the moment when just cause would arise to strike at him.
‘I never imagined it would resolve so swiftly.’
It was fortunate.
And yet.
‘…if only it were not for this curse.’
The muscles of Seo-heon’s jaw tightened with rigid force.
If only he possessed his voice.
If he could simply discharge his duties as lord of Muk Territory as he ought—
There would have been no need to let General Maeng’s insolence fester to such a degree.
Seo-heon seized his own throat, as if to wring out the voice that would not come no matter how he struggled.
Veins bulged grotesquely along his neck, strangled as though his breath would fail.
‘Damn it all.’
He wanted only to tear this curse from his throat.
If only someone could hear his voice.
“My lord!”
Chief Administrator No rushed forward in alarm at the sight of Seo-heon choking himself.
Since the curse took hold, Seo-heon had often found himself thus—self-torment for his lost voice.
‘Before the curse, he was never like this…’
Chief Administrator No recalled Seo-heon’s childhood.
A boy who laughed with open joy, a kind and gentle soul.
So clever and capable that even the previous king had favored him.
Without the curse, the other nobles would never have dared treat him with such contempt.
After the late king’s death.
Seo-heon reduced his sleep and attended to state affairs day and night to overcome the curse.
As if determined to conquer his curse through sheer force of will.
‘Throughout history, there has never been a ruler who could not speak…….’
She thought it remarkable that Seo-heon managed to maintain Muk Territory to this degree while bearing a curse.
That the demons in Yo Valley did not easily invade the territory was surely thanks to Seo-heon’s presence.
Yet Seo-heon himself seemed far from satisfied.
“Please take some tea first.”
No, Chief Administrator, offered tea to calm him.
Seo-heon drew a deep breath and leaned back in his chair.
Now that he thought of it…….
[What of Jin Jaein?]
“She appeared quite shaken, so I had her receive treatment from the physician and retire to her quarters to rest. Of course, I made certain her attendants provided ample charcoal for warmth.”
No, Chief Administrator, replied.
Yet an unease lingered.
He could not forget General Maeng’s manner toward Jin Jaein.
“A woman from outside who doesn’t know her place. A retainer dragged here in chains, no less……!”
But she was his retainer nonetheless.
To lay hands on her so carelessly.
That General Maeng could act so recklessly — some of the fault lay with him as well.
Seo-heon pressed hard at his temples beneath the mask.
No, Chief Administrator, seemed to encourage him, raising his thumb approvingly.
“You were quite magnificent when you stopped General Maeng for Jin Jaein’s sake, my lord.”
At the excessive praise, Seo-heon frowned and held his head.
It was merely a matter of principle.
There was no deeper intent behind it.
‘I’m becoming entangled with Jin Jaein against my will.’
Seo-heon found today’s circumstances somewhat contrived.
Jin Jaein, who happened to be traveling with General Maeng.
And it was she who discovered General Maeng’s Tiger Tally.
‘Whether she intended it or not, I can simply make use of her.’
Whether she orchestrated this to win his favor, or it was mere chance.
There was no need to deliberate deeply.
At that moment, No, Chief Administrator, opened his mouth with a knowing smile.
“My lord, Jin Jaein seemed quite frightened. Shall I send someone to look in on her?”
Seo-heon, who had fallen briefly into thought, picked up his brush.
[Do not bestow too much upon Jin Jaein.]
From the incense to the Tiger Tally.
She is a woman not yet to be trusted.
Having set aside his thoughts, Seo-heon brought forth a question he had shelved due to pressing duties.
[What of Hye-rang?]
“She has fared well while you were in the Imperial City, as she always does.”
Hye-rang was the daughter of the late king, who had ruled Muk Territory.
After the late king passed, Seo-heon had taken in the orphaned child and cared for her.
For Seo-heon too had received great kindness from the late king.
‘Since His Majesty accepted me as a son, Hye-rang is no different from my younger sister.’
Even amid his burdens, Seo-heon made it a habit to ask after Hye-rang’s well-being.
The problem was that the young girl feared him deeply.
‘I wish to go and see her face, to know that she is well.’
But the moment she sees his face, she has a fit.
“My lord, you are hardly the sort of appearance a child would find pleasing.”
At No, Chief Administrator’s words, Seo-heon’s hand trembled as he held the brush.
No, Chief Administrator looked at him and chuckled.
“Do not worry. It seems she is particularly fond of cucumbers and enjoys cucumber soup every day.”
Cucumbers…….
Having heard news of Hye-rang from No, Chief Administrator, he set brush to paper.
[Procure plenty of cucumbers so that Hye-rang may eat her fill.]
Winter had only just passed; cucumbers were rare and precious.
But for the sake of Hye-rang, who lived alone.
He would have sold his sword to provide them.
* * *
So-a, you nearly got yourself slapped just then!
As I walked through the garden, a familiar voice dogged my steps with its nagging.
“But I didn’t get hit.”
That’s no excuse for provoking him like that!
“That much evidence alone wouldn’t have pinned General Maeng. He needed to reveal his true feelings himself—that’s the only way to be certain.”
General Maeng is the head of a Powerful Noble House.
Mere evidence of the Tiger Tally wouldn’t have been enough to corner him completely.
He could simply claim someone else had framed him, and it would all come to nothing.
But by touching that hot-blooded temperament of his, his guilt became far more certain.
“The other nobles will find it difficult to defend him openly now.”
So-a smiled faintly, and Un-jo shook his head in exasperation.
“Either way, things are moving faster than expected.”
So-a was surprised at how quickly General Maeng’s case was being resolved.
These matters usually dragged on for months.
Apparently, preparations had been underway since last autumn, from what I hear.
Not just the charcoal—other pieces of evidence as well.
“So he waited half a year…….”
Until every situation fell into his hands?
Well, Seo-heon still has plenty of problems. If it were me, I would’ve broken that reckless general’s neck long ago.
So-a couldn’t deny Un-jo’s words.
After several days observing Muk Palace, she had come to understand.
The curse placed upon Seo-heon didn’t merely rob him of speech.
“Has His Highness responded?”
“No reply has come yet, sir.”
The officials had to waste considerable time making decisions.
“What… what does this character mean?”
“Let me see. ‘Sool’? Yes, ‘sool’!”
“It’s ‘Su’, sir!”
Misunderstandings arose among those unlettered in writing.
Small confusions sometimes bred grave mistakes.
Communication barriers were the greatest curse of any organization.
In peacetime this was troublesome enough; in wartime, when circumstances shifted by the hour, his curse would prove far more fatal.
‘It’s a wonder I managed to defend the north at all, in my past life.’
Now I was beginning to understand.
Why Seo-heon, who could fell demons with a single stroke, had never fully eradicated the creatures of Yo Valley.
Why he had devoted himself merely to defense.
‘He was simply struggling to survive.’
I had suspected as much in my former life.
The beasts had brought me information, after all.
But seeing it with my own eyes, it was far graver than I’d realized.
‘Muk Territory cannot grow like this.’
The festering problems ran deep.
Without change, it would be crushed beneath Seo-gon’s heel again, just as before.
‘I’ll have to change things, one by one.’
With that thought, I was crossing the Half-Moon Bridge in the western garden of Muk Palace when—
“Uurgh, ugh……! Cough, cough, cough!”
From somewhere below came the sound of someone retching in distress.
So-a, look below the bridge!
At Un-jo’s words, I peered under the bridge and saw a girl who appeared to be six or seven years old.
Twin buns tied on either side of her head.
A round, baby-soft face.
Yet there she was beneath the bridge, clutching her stomach and vomiting, her complexion ashen.

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