The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 72

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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 Fallen Noblewoman’s Survival Record — Episode 72
“Urgent dispatch from the northwestern frontier!”
The musician’s playing stopped abruptly.
Seo Heon straightened in his seat, and the courtiers gasped in surprise.
Among them.
“Speak.”
Once Seo Gon gave his assent, the messenger knelt on one knee and delivered the urgent dispatch.
“Yatal is advancing southward in force and attempting to cross the border.”
The banquet hall erupted into murmurs.
Seo Heon rose at once from his seat.
【To the northwestern frontier.】
The old chamberlain hurried after him in alarm.
But those who could not hear Seo Heon’s voice were left bewildered, milling about in confusion.
Seo Gon, too, furrowed his brow and pursued Seo Heon’s retreating form.
“So the Prince of Wei intends to survey Mugwang Territory’s forces directly?”
So Ah rose from her seat and met Seo Gon’s gaze.
“A fortuitous opportunity has presented itself.”
* * *
Before dawn broke.
Arriving at the northwestern frontier, the keen wind of early morning lashed against their faces.
Beyond the torches arrayed in a long line atop the fortress wall.
The sound of hoofbeats and footsteps rang out clearly.
In the darkness, countless tents and wagons lay tangled together.
Clothing trimmed with fur and feathers.
Skin burned by wind and sun.
They were Yatal.
“Open the gate!”
“Let the child through!”
Halting, broken Imperial speech mingled with the shouting.
Seo Heon looked down at them from the fortress wall.
“The movements have been unsettling since the day before yesterday, yet they reached the wall in an instant and now block the gates.”
A Seonwidae member guarding the northwestern frontier delivered his report.
Yatal’s mobility was legendary — they appeared and disappeared like ghosts.
“How many are they in total?”
Seo Gon, standing beside him and gazing beyond the fortress wall, asked.
“At least three thousand.”
Seo Gon’s face went cold.
“Bring the archers to the front.”
Seo Gon gave the command, but no one moved.
He glanced at Mu Jin, who stood beside him, but he too remained motionless.
“Did you not hear the king’s words?”
Seo Gon glared at Mu Jin, but Mu Jin merely looked down at him in return.
“The fourth one cannot speak, it seems — and this one cannot hear?”
As Seo Gon’s tone turned contemptuous, Seo Heon quietly raised his hand.
The soldiers immediately lowered their weapons.
Seo Gon’s mouth hardened.
“You’re too soft, fourth brother. If they cross the border, it is already an invasion.”
Seo Gon gazed down at Yatal.
“Better to drive them out now than to regret it after letting them in.”
There was nothing wrong with his reasoning.
Thousands of foreign peoples were massed before the national border.
If they were to break through, the damage would fall entirely upon the people of Mugwang Territory.
Yet.
“Do you believe the Commander of the Northwestern Campaign intends for them to assemble here to strike at the Empire?”
A measured voice came from behind.
So Ah, who had followed them, was studying the area beyond the fortress wall.
“Look at them more carefully.”
So Ah pointed to the people of Yatal.
The mounted warriors of Yatal were visible.
But they were few in number — most were women, children, and the elderly.
The carts they’d brought were laden not with weapons, but with cookware, carpets, and other household goods.
“Most of them aren’t soldiers. They’re civilians.”
“And so you let them in?”
“If we turn them away, where will they go?”
So Ah posed the question, and Seo Gon laughed.
“Why should we concern ourselves with that?”
“We should.”
It was an unexpectedly bold answer.
“Those with nowhere to go will simply find another path, even if we drive them out.”
If Yatal had come this far, there had to be a reason they couldn’t stay in the north.
Mere steel couldn’t solve the problem.
No—if anything, that’s when they’d truly become our enemies.
So Ah watched the warriors of Yatal.
Strangely, they weren’t keeping watch on the soldiers with spears and swords—they kept glancing backward, over and over.
Their true enemy should have been here, yet they looked as though something were chasing them.
So Ah turned to the soldier who’d been watching the northwestern border.
“Did they fire arrows at us during the night?”
“No, they didn’t.”
“Did they charge the fortifications on horseback?”
“No. They’ve only been pleading to be let through.”
Having heard the answer, So Ah turned silently to Seo Heon.
Bring me the leader of Yatal.
At Seo Heon’s written command, Seo Gon’s expression hardened.
“Relying on sentiment at a border is folly.”
“The Lord of Mugwang Territory isn’t relying on sentiment—he wants to observe them and find the most advantageous move.”
So Ah met Seo Gon’s gaze without flinching.
“Drawing the bowstring can wait until after.”
* * *
In the darkness, only torches burned.
A small table was set before the fortifications.
Opposite where Seo Heon and Seo Gon sat.
There sat a man darkened by sun and wind.
Hair long and braided with horsehair, falling down his back.
A frame as broad and sturdy as a bear’s.
Eyes sharp as a hawk’s.
Yet no curved saber hung at his waist, nor any bow.
“I am Tarchik.”
The tribal leader of Yatal.
He continued in a parched voice.
“Until three full moons have risen, we ask to share the land.”
His first words reached them through an interpreter.
Seo Gon let out a hollow laugh.
“He asks to take the land as though it were nothing.”
At that, the tribal leader’s eyes flickered.
“Not taking. Borrowing.”
Broken Lyeo speech tumbled from his mouth.
Seo Gon smiled with interest.
“So Yatal speaks our tongue?”
“Borrowing only. The land inside the walls.”
“Borrowing, while leading thousands across the border?”
“Or we all die. Everyone.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
Seo Gon’s mouth tilted sideways.
As though he’d heard a trivial excuse.
But Seo Heon picked up his brush.
Will you return after three months?
“…If we can return.”
“If you can return?”
Seo Gon burst into hollow laughter, and the tribal leader Tarchik’s face grew taut.
In a moment of silence, Tarchik turned to look north.
For a moment, a flicker of uncertainty crossed his otherwise composed face.
“The Grassland is dead.”
“A drought?”
Tarchik shook his head.
“A spirit wind blows.”
“A spirit wind?”
Seo Gon’s brow furrowed.
“The birds vanished first. Then came the howling of wolves. Then the sound of wind itself.”
Tarchik’s voice trembled faintly.
So Ah, who had been listening to everything from behind, went rigid.
“Has the sound of human voices also disappeared?”
Tarchik’s eyes widened in alarm.
“How did you know?”
At Tarchik’s confirmation, every gaze in the room turned toward So Ah.
A child may cry soundlessly; a horse may gallop without the thunder of hooves.
And.
“Now it is not merely sound that vanishes—it is the things themselves.”
“Surely you don’t mean some barbarous tribal superstition…….”
“On the Grassland, the voices of the dead are heard.”
Tarchik swallowed hard.
In that instant, Seo Heon pulled the slate toward him.
Brief characters were inscribed across the dark stone.
[Musinggwi]
So Ah’s gaze fixed upon it.
She had read of it before.
A Yokai that devours sound.
And like Bi Hyeol Lang, it was recorded as having vanished long ago into obscurity.
And surely, even before the return…….
“Why would the Musinggwi appear now of all times…….”
Even Mu Jin murmured in bewilderment.
“We cannot enter the land of spirit wind.”
Tarchik spoke.
Warriors disappearing.
Children seized by terror.
Horses rolling their eyes white in the soundless gale.
Their southward flight was a desperate escape.
Yet Seo Gon tilted his chin at an angle and smiled.
“That is a matter for you to resolve.”
“But……!”
Tarchik’s eyes wavered.
So Ah, who had been listening quietly, spoke again.
“Has the Musinggwi established a territory?”
Tarchik shook his head once more.
“The wind continues to move.”
“If it moves…….”
“Southward.”
At this, So Ah turned toward Seo Gon and spoke.
“Then the Musinggwi is not merely a problem of Yatal alone.”
“So Ah, this is not a matter for you to meddle in.”
Seo Gon regarded her.
She had clearly sworn not to involve herself in matters of state and military affairs.
Hearing this, So Ah clasped her hands together and bowed her head.
“Forgive my presumption. The word ‘Yokai’ stirred such dread in me that I could not help but ask. I shall say no more.”
Yet So Ah’s voice as she spoke carried such serene composure it was almost unnerving.

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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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