The Survival Story Of A Fallen Lady - Chapter 74

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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 House Seo: A Maiden’s Survival — Episode 74
Seo Gon looked down at her with dark, penetrating eyes.
“So Ah.”
“Yes, Wang Ya.”
“Your gift for making things difficult for people has only grown, I see.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
So Ah smiled brightly.
“Didn’t you say you would not meddle in affairs of state or military matters?”
So Ah had been slipping naturally into the Yahdal situation from the start.
For someone merely a concubine, it was nothing short of open interference.
Yet So Ah answered with an innocent expression.
“Did I involve myself?”
“And what else would you call it?”
“Did I issue orders, or suggest any judgment……?”
At So Ah’s question, Seo Gon paused to reconsider.
So Ah had never held the power of decision.
“Look closely at them. Most are civilians, not soldiers.”
She observed from behind, reading the situation.
“If you drive them away, where will they go?”
And she simply asked.
The thinking and judgment belonged to the other party.
In the end, Seo Gon let out a hollow laugh.
“So you’ll follow into that dangerous land of Yahdal? You?”
A woman who can’t even draw a sword, without fear.
“You’ll die if you go.”
“I won’t know unless I try.”
“Have you forgotten how your mother died?”
So Ah’s fingertips trembled for a moment.
“Do you wish to meet the same fate as your mother?”
Seo Gon stepped closer to her and spoke softly.
So Ah’s fingers curled inward.
【It doesn’t matter.】
A low voice cut in from behind her.
【I’ll protect you.】
A long black sleeve draped across her shoulders.
When So Ah turned around, Seo Heon was standing at her side.
Seo Gon fixed his gaze on the two standing far too close together.
He was taken aback by the way Seo Heon kept vigil at So Ah’s side, wordless and steadfast.
‘The fourth has never allowed anyone—let alone a woman—so near.’
A slow smile spread across his lips.
“Very well. I shall go with you as well.”
“……Your Highness will come too?”
“Didn’t you say it yourself? Seeing once is worth a hundred words.”
His gaze turned toward Seo Heon.
“As the Commander of the Northwestern Frontier, it wouldn’t be amiss to observe how the Seonwidae move in actual combat.”
Of course, he had no intention of facing the creatures himself.
Only dozens of guards brought from the Wi Wang Territory.
Beyond that.
‘I’ll put the fourth and the Seonwidae at the forefront.’
He meant to fall back and watch from behind the lines.
* * *
Beyond the long horizon, dawn was breaking.
A column moving northward passed through the city gates.
At the head marched the warriors of Yahdal, led by Tarkhir.
So Ah rode her horse behind Seo Heon.
Among them, Pung Roe suddenly opened his mouth.
【Ah, the smell of grass is absolutely wonderful.】
The horse Seo Heon was meant to ride.
【It seems Pung Roe follows you just as well.】
“But Wang Ya, Pung Roe is the one you always rode…….”
Don’t think for a moment that I have only one horse to my name.
So Ah understood why Seo Heon had deliberately given her Pung Roe.
The fastest, the strongest horse.
He’d entrusted it to her as insurance against the unknown.
‘……Still, giving up his own mount like that—it’s not a small thing.’
The sideways glances of the Seonwidae members fixed on her.
“Seo Heon gave up the Jeok To Ma.”
“A woman like a rabbit! A horse like a tiger! Remarkable!”
The warriors of Yahdal also showed keen interest in her astride Pung Roe.
So Ah felt an unfamiliar warmth of embarrassment and glanced sideways at Seo Heon.
But he rode in silence, his gaze fixed on the grassland ahead—different from his usual manner.
So Ah followed his line of sight to the unfamiliar terrain.
This was her first time crossing the border and venturing beyond Wang Territory.
‘Though I’ve sent out birds and beasts before.’
Her tense hands gripped the reins hard.
‘I wonder if Wun Jo is doing well.’
While she and Seo Heon left the palace empty.
She had left Wun Jo in Jin Mok Yeon’s care……
Don’t be afraid. Trust only me.
As they traveled north, the grassland grew more desolate.
Not a cricket stirred, and no shadow of birds crossed the sky.
The horses ahead grew nervous, their ears flattening backward.
Then Pung Roe’s nostrils flared wide.
This is strange. I smell something, but it’s too quiet.
The Yahdal horses ahead began to lag one by one.
As if their hooves were rooted to the earth, the more timid mounts began to balk.
The Yahdal warriors too grew restless, murmuring among themselves.
Through the stilled wind.
Jingle.
A horse bell chimed once.
And then.
The sound cut off.
So Ah’s eyes snapped open in alarm.
The hooves were clearly striking the ground.
The grass swayed in the breeze.
Yet nothing could be heard.
They had entered the Domain of Soundlessness.
In that instant.
Whoosh—!
Blood sprayed from the shoulder of a Yahdal warrior ahead.
“……!”
The warrior convulsed in agony.
But no scream came.
Moments later, blood erupted from another direction.
No form was visible.
Only a sharp wind swept through their ranks.
“Pung Roe, can you hear me?”
So Ah spoke aloud.
Yet even her own voice could not reach her ears.
Within that eerie, skin-crawling sensation.
I hear you, human. Are you frightened?
Pung Roe’s boastful reply returned.
‘That’s right—I can still communicate with animals.’
Voice itself didn’t matter.
Seo Heon raised his hand.
A hand signal to tighten formation.
The agitated Seonwidae immediately drew into a perfect circle.
The invisible blade wind crashed over them again.
But this time shields and swords rose to meet it.
So Ah saw the White Sword’s formation blazing with pale light.
Even in the fierce gale, the Seonwidae soldiers held their ground without giving an inch.
This was nothing like the military report Seo Heon had seen before the return.
The Seonwidae that had crumbled at the first assault was nowhere to be found.
With a single hand signal, they had closed ranks and drawn even the warriors of Yahdal into their formation.
But.
【Find Moosung Gwi.】
At Seo Heon’s hand signal, anticipation flickered in the eyes of the Seonwidae soldiers.
Yet Moosung Gwi’s form remained invisible.
Only the occasional gales slicing through the air existed.
‘As I thought.’
Before the return, So Ah recalled the military reports she had read.
The reason the Seonwidae had suffered such heavy casualties at the hands of Moosung Gwi.
It was not because Moosung Gwi was strong.
[Great difficulty in pinpointing Moosung Gwi’s form.]
A land without sound.
An invisible enemy.
[A lure is needed to draw out Moosung Gwi.]
The only method was to force Moosung Gwi to reveal itself willingly.
Because of this, countless Seonwidae soldiers had to step forward as bait, offering their lives.
But in this life, there was one thing that had not existed back then.
So Ah gripped the reins and traced the current of the wind.
Then.
【Jin Jae In.】
Seo Heon’s voice cut clear through the pure, silent air.
【Do not stray from my side.】
He spoke, watching the flow of the wind.
His long black hair streamed in the gale.
So Ah held the image in her eyes for a moment, then slowly dismounted from Pung Roe.
Though her movement made no sound, Seo Heon turned to look at her.
And So Ah stepped forward.
One step.
‘Come out.’
So Ah watched the wind sweeping across the wide grassland and took another step forward.
‘If you are a Yo Gwe, you won’t let me pass by.’
Double Soul.
The reason Yo Gwe desired her.
So Ah drew a deep breath.
The distance she had agreed upon with Seo Heon.
Also the distance his sword could reach.
Ten steps.
“I place my faith in Wang Ya.”
So Ah spoke silently, then advanced one more step beyond the formation.
【Jin Jae In……!】
In that moment, the wind that had swept the grassland ceased.
And.
“Found you.”
In the endless silence, a voice that chilled the spine flowed past her ear.
It was the voice of a stranger — a man.
“There was indeed a peculiar scent.”
This time, the voice of a child.
Simultaneously, a grayish form materialized behind her.
A towering shadow both human and beast.
A grotesque head crowned with countless ears tilted sideways.
The face had no mouth.
Instead, at the nape of its neck, crimson vocal sacs like a heart were tangled and embedded there, threading like blood vessels.
“So it is you.”
With the voice of an ancient woman, vertically slit pupils flashed with exultation.
‘As expected, it emerges.’
Faster than anticipated.
More eagerly.
So Ah lifted the corners of her mouth.
In that instant.
【Get down!】
So Ah dropped her body low without hesitation.
Flash—!
A white blade’s gleam swept past just above her head.
With the gale came Moosung Gwi’s severed form, sliced clean through.
“Aaaaagh—!”
In the heart of the Grassland, where sound had died.
Dozens of voices tangled together in a hideous, discordant shriek.
“Damn it—that cursed human.”
Moosung Gwi staggered backward, reeling.
Following the creature’s gaze.
There stood Seo Heon, holding a pure white sword.
In the next breath, a massive hand seized So Ah’s arm.
Seo Heon pulled her roughly behind him, shielding her against his back.
【Don’t stray from my side.】
A glacial voice reached her ears.
【I made that clear, didn’t I.】
Behind the mask, his eyes burned with a ferocity she had never seen before.

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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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