The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 70

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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 Survival Chronicle of a Fallen Noblewoman — Episode 70
Crimson dusk slanted through the windows of the Study Chamber.
Seo Heon sat before his desk, absently brushing the tip of his brush.
All he had done today was pick up the brush.
“Your Highness will need to decide how to receive the criminal.”
Not a soul in that room would have realized it.
That the one kneeling in the lowest place, offering prayers, was orchestrating everything exactly as he wished.
Yet strangely, what lingered in Seo Heon’s mind was something else entirely.
“So Ah.”
The way Seo Gon had spoken her name.
His hand around her shoulders.
So Ah’s body, refusing to yield.
……
Seo Heon opened a drawer.
His fingers closed around an old Record Book buried deep within.
Jin So Ah — Personal Record
A record buried away for some time.
He read through the few lines detailing how she had lost her mother in the Demon War a decade ago and had served the Jin Clan as a handmaiden.
And then his gaze caught on a single line.
She maintained close relations with the Prince of Wei, and rumors suggest she harbored admiration for him.
When he first read it, the sentence had meant nothing.
Or rather, it had been reason alone to keep his distance.
Whether she, a fallen noblewoman, had simply sought to catch the eye of a prince, or whether she shared some deeper connection with the Prince of Wei—
Either way, it was nothing he could welcome.
But now……
Just then.
Kree-ee-eek!
A bird’s cry, shrill and tearing, cut a long wound across the empty air.
Seo Heon turned his head toward the window.
Dusk had already fallen outside.
A desolate wind was blowing.
At that moment.
“Your Highness, the banquet preparations are complete.”
No Chief Steward’s voice came from beyond the door.
* * *
The Banquet Hall blazed with brilliant light.
Musicians played, and each table was laid out with wine and food in meticulous order.
Among them, there was one seat that drew particular attention.
“……What is this?”
Jin Mok Yeon gazed quietly down at the table positioned at the very end.
Behind a pillar at the entrance.
A single worn wooden table.
In place of silver cups sat crude ceramic ones, and a straw mat lay where silk cushions should be.
“It seems I was shown to the wrong seat.”
Jin Mok Yeon turned to look at the head of the hall.
Deep within the Banquet Hall.
The highest seats held the places of the King of Mugwang and the Prince of Wei, arranged side by side.
And beside them, there was a seat for So Ah as well.
“I am the Secondary Consort of the Prince of Wei.”
“Indeed.”
The Palace Official answered without expression.
“However, within the Mugwang Territory, you hold the status of a criminal.”
“A criminal?”
“Criminals are ordinarily forbidden entry to the Banquet Hall, but in consideration of your station as Secondary Consort to the Prince of Wei, we have prepared a seat for you inside. Please be seated.”
Every eye in the room turned toward her.
Jin Mok Yeon bit her lip.
‘Jin So Ah.’
Something hot welled up inside her.
But she could not let it show.
She forced the corners of her mouth upward into a smile.
“Very well.”
She remained standing, head held high, and did not sit.
“I shall ask again when His Highness arrives.”
Then.
“The Prince of Mugwang Territory and the Prince of Wei have arrived.”
The announcement rang out through the Banquet Hall in a sonorous voice.
Everyone in the hall rose to their feet at once.
The curtains parted, and two men entered.
Seo Gon, draped in a magnificent robe of golden silk.
Behind him, Seo Heon appeared in a plain black garment.
Jin Mok Yeon’s eyes sparkled at the sight of him.
She abandoned her lowly seat as though she had been waiting for this moment.
All eyes turned toward her at once, but she paid no mind and approached the head table.
Then.
Snap.
Mu Jin stepped directly into her path.
“The criminal must stand aside.”
Jin Mok Yeon’s brow furrowed.
“Move.”
She pushed him roughly, but Mu Jin did not budge an inch.
At the disturbance, Seo Heon’s gaze turned toward her.
“Your Highness.”
Jin Mok Yeon bowed her head, her voice soft and measured.
“In days past, I was reckless and committed a grave discourtesy.”
At her words, Seo Heon’s ascent to the head table faltered.
Jin Mok Yeon concealed her joy at his reaction and spoke again.
“If you would grant me the chance to apologize here today, I should like to offer you a cup of wine with my own hands.”
For a moment, silence fell.
Then Seo Heon raised his hand.
No Chief Steward immediately presented him with a Stone Tablet and brush.
Scratch.
The tip of the brush moved briefly across the surface.
And then.
[How did a criminal come to be admitted to this banquet?]
No Chief Steward adjusted his spectacles, clearly uneasy.
“As she is the Secondary Consort of the Prince of Wei, we could not turn her away at the gate entirely, so we assigned her a seat at the far end.”
Seo Heon’s brush moved again.
[It was unnecessary.]
Jin Mok Yeon arranged her face into a pitiful expression.
“Your Highness, I merely wished to apologize……”
But Seo Heon did not spare her a glance and, having written his final sentence, turned and walked away.
[Remove her.]
Jin Mok Yeon’s face went rigid.
Then.
“Brother.”
Seo Gon’s voice cut in with a note of laughter.
“Surely you’re being too cold — she is my Secondary Consort, after all.”
Seo Heon regarded his brother once, then, without answering, moved to take his seat at the head table.
“Dear me, Jin Mok Yeon. It appears my brother has taken offense.”
Seo Gon smoothed his sleeves and turned his eyes toward her.
“For now, you must defer to my brother’s wishes.”
“Your Highness……!”
“After all, we have come here as guests, haven’t we? If the host wishes you gone, courtesy demands you yield your place.”
Jin Mok Yeon’s eyes wavered.
In that moment, she understood.
Seo Gon had no intention of quarreling with Seo Heon on her behalf.
She closed her lips for a moment.
The eyes of everyone in the room were upon her.
The longer she clung to this, the more ridiculous she would appear.
Jin Mok Yeon bowed slowly at the waist.
“This concubine’s health being poor, I had intended to refrain from attending, but I was told it would be right to convey my sincerity to the Mugwang Lord…….”
She drew herself up with an aloof expression and stepped back.
“If such is the Lord’s will, I shall comply.”
Jin Mok Yeon departed from the Banquet Hall with her spine perfectly straight, her gait unchanged from when she had entered.
So Ah watched her receding figure in silence.
Beneath the sleeves of Jin Mok Yeon as she left the Banquet Hall, a fist could be seen, clenched tight.
After Jin Mok Yeon’s departure, an awkward and frigid silence settled over the Banquet Hall.
The others cast about uncomfortably, gauging the mood.
Then Seo Gon raised his cup.
“What are the musicians doing? Adding no gaiety to the banquet?”
Only then did the musicians resume their performance.
“With a younger brother who cannot speak, it seems I must open my mouth for such trifles one by one.”
Seo Gon turned his cup slowly as he spoke.
But Seo Heon did not respond.
Seo Gon smiled and raised his cup lightly toward him.
“After so long with my brother face to face, surely we must clink cups once.”
…….
“But wine tastes better when a beauty pours it.”
Seo Gon turned his head.
And where his gaze settled.
“Jin Concubine.”
Where So Ah sat.
“Come here and pour me a cup.”
The air froze again, subtly but perceptibly.
The expressions of Baek Ui Seop and Dan Mok Heum and the others from Mugwang Territory hardened as well.
It was a clear provocation.
However low a concubine’s station, she was plainly the Mugwang Lord’s woman.
‘But if I refuse, he’ll use it as a reason to find fault with me.’
It was truly a shallow ploy.
‘How very like Seo Gon.’
So Ah knew exactly how to handle him.
And so, the moment she began to rise——
【Do not pour.】
A low, grave voice brushed against her ear.
She halted mid-rise, lifting her head to find Seo Heon looking at her.
【Stay where you are.】
And with that, Seo Heon, who had been seated at the head of the table, rose to his feet.
Every eye in the Banquet Hall fixed upon him at once.
Seo Heon did not pick up a brush.
Instead, he quietly reached for the wine bottle on the table.
Glug.
With one hand, he poured wine into Seo Gon’s cup.
“Well, well…….”
Soon after, Seo Gon burst into laughter.
“The King himself pouring wine—such lavish hospitality indeed.”

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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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