Three Thousand Court Ladies - Chapter 28

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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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Chapter Twenty-Eight
Seon-hye stepped into the Separate Palace. Flowers lay trampled and crushed; every plant had been broken. The earthen ground was dark with pooled blood.
She passed the Hot Spring, where the stench of iron hung thick, and stopped before the storage room.
Of all who had been in that place of slaughter, only one remained alive.
As Seon-hye entered the room, the bound bandit lifted his head. The soldier guarding him dipped his head slightly in deference.
The bandit, recognizing her rank, pressed himself flat to the ground in prostration.
“I’ve told you everything I know. Please, I beg you—spare my life.”
“I wish I could grant that.”
While all the other soldiers and bandits had been found as corpses, this one man alone had survived his confinement in the storage room.
Seon-hye questioned the survivor.
“Who gave the order? Did the Jin Clan make a move?”
“I—I don’t know. I only did what I was told.”
“Testifying that your leader took orders from the Jin Clan is the only path that will keep you alive.”
“What?”
Rather than explain further, Seon-hye simply looked down at him in silence. The bandit, reading the situation, immediately confessed.
“I think I overheard our leader say he’d received orders from the Jin Clan, yes.”
With that, her first objective was achieved.
The problem was that Gye-san had actually vanished.
If she’d fallen into the hands of the Jin Clan, her survival was far from certain. In the worst case, she could become a hostage.
“Come with me.”
Seon-hye’s command was cold. She turned and left the storage room first.
The bandit, hands bound, was dragged along by a soldier. Seon-hye led him to the Back Garden, where bodies lay arranged in neat rows.
The soldiers tending the corpses noticed her and withdrew to one side.
Seon-hye spoke to the bandit who followed behind her.
“Identify any of your gang among these bodies. If you lie even once, you’ll forfeit your life.”
“Yes, understood.”
The bandit picked his way through the corpses, identifying his comrades one by one. When Seon-hye finished her inspection, she gestured, and a soldier led the bandit away.
The Vice Commander, who had been observing a step behind, approached and made his report.
“All those he didn’t identify were our soldiers.”
“So there was definitely another faction involved.”
“We’ve confirmed the compound burned completely with no survivors. We also found traces of arson.”
“Do you think it was the side that hired the bandits who attacked?”
“I can’t say with certainty.”
Seon-hye deliberated, then came to a decision. The truth could be uncovered later.
“We’ll escort the witness to Sabi Fortress in secret. Please select swift-footed soldiers. First, I need to observe the Jin Clan’s movements.”
“And the search for Her Highness the Princess, then…?”
“Begin around the Separate Palace and its perimeter. After that, it would be best to move under His Majesty’s orders. There are too many variables.”
“I’ll make the preparations.”
Once the Vice Commander had bowed and withdrawn, Seon-hye exhaled slowly.
‘Who ordered this.’
It was strange that someone had singled out a palace attendant and instructed the bandits to kill her before the princess’s eyes. This was personal vendetta.
The Jin Clan didn’t seem to be behind it, but for now, fulfilling His Majesty’s command mattered more than uncovering the truth.
She looked back at the inner chamber where Gye-san had been staying.
“She had better be unharmed…”
She murmured the words, but that was all.
Seon-hye took no action on Gye-san’s behalf. Her first priority at the Separate Palace was the expulsion of the Jin Clan.
Protecting Gye-san was not her concern.
Gye-san awoke, gripping her calves with both hands. A cramp had seized her legs, and her back had stiffened as a result.
As Gye-san stretched her trembling, knotted legs, an empty bed came into view.
Samcheon was not there.
When she sat up abruptly, she saw a blanket spread on the floor beneath her bed.
Samcheon lay on the blanket on the ground, asleep, making faint groaning sounds as if suffering even in sleep.
‘Why would he sleep on the floor.’
Gye-san gazed at the being she had protected for the first time. The sensation of having taken a life lingered at her fingertips, but she felt no regret.
Yong-yong’s advice had proven invaluable.
Gye-san descended to the floor and lay beside Samcheon. The ground was hard, but sleep came quickly.
When the rooster’s crow broke the silence of dawn, Samcheon’s eyes opened. Thinking something had gone wrong, he stirred urgently—only to see Gye-san lying beside him.
‘Was she frightened.’
Samcheon draped the blanket over her and lay back down to sleep. After the ordeal of the previous night, the two of them did not wake until the sun had climbed high into the sky.
Hui regarded Nakwhaam with an indifferent gaze.
Beside the large, broad stone grew a single crabapple tree. The blossoms on the crabapple tree created a spectacle when they bloomed, their petals scattering beautifully down the cliff face—which was why it was called Nakwhaam, the Falling Flowers Rock.
But with no flowers yet in bloom, there was little to inspire wonder.
‘How tedious.’
Perhaps it was because the person sitting across from him displeased him.
Hui observed the young woman seated across the tea table. He would admit she was prettily featured, but the artifice painted across her face and the calculating gleam in her eyes had extinguished any interest.
‘How in the world does Samcheon think this suits me. He truly doesn’t know how to judge people.’
As Hui stared blankly ahead, Ha-bin, unable to bear the silence any longer, spoke first.
“It is an honor to meet Your Highness the Prince.”
“Moisten your lips before you speak.”
“I am sincere.”
Ha-bin laughed softly. Though the saying goes one cannot spit at a smiling face, Hui was not a man who abided by such conventional wisdom.
“So you’re the one who pushed Samcheon into the pond?”
Ha-bin laughed radiantly, as if she had been waiting for this very moment.
“I heard there was one who stirred the heart of the one to whom a betrothal proposal had been made. I sought to investigate. The girl is naturally quite jealous, I’ve heard. After marriage, she might not live long.”
Hui let out a short laugh.
‘So that’s how she comes at it.’
He knew the Ye Clan could not refuse this betrothal proposal. But that did not mean he was willing to overlook such overt displays of displeasure and arrogant behavior.
“That’s my preference. I like jealous women.”
“How fortunate.”
Ha-bin smiled sweetly and picked up her teacup.
“Fortunate indeed.”
Hui raised his own teacup to meet hers.
He drained it as though the tea were wine. Ju-hong, standing nearby, looked as though she might weep as she refilled the empty cup.
Hui had followed his mother through the years and witnessed countless varieties of human nature. He had seen types like Ha-bin before, and each time his mother had taught him that those blinded by desire, no matter how high they climbed, never came to a good end.
So why had his mother seated such a person before him now.
‘Just fill the time. Eventually you’ll understand why the meeting was arranged at Nakwhajung. Until then, simply remain.’
There had been no instruction to make a favorable impression. This must be a betrothal his mother herself did not approve of. Hui could not believe his mother would have overlooked what he had grasped.
But if she could not openly refuse this arrangement……
‘Then it must be by His Majesty’s arrangement.’
One corner of Hui’s mouth twisted upward in something like a smile.
“So you claim to be a Heavenly Official.”
“Everyone is kind enough to say so. It is embarrassing.”
Ha-bin displayed an enchanting smile, and Hui’s lips curved upward to match.
“Of course you should be embarrassed. It’s a swindle.”
“Oh, you didn’t know? I actually have Prophetic Dreams.”
“Then every fortuneteller would be a Heavenly Official.”
Despite Hui’s mockery, Ha-bin’s expression did not falter. If anything, she seemed to welcome the exchange.
“It seems Your Highness disapproves of this betrothal. My heart aches.”
She was no ordinary opponent, that much was clear.
“How could I disapprove? I told you—jealous women are my taste. Fraud is my taste too.”
Hui raised his chin slightly.
Now what.

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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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