Three Thousand Court Ladies - Chapter 57

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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 Fifty-Seven
Buyeo Hui’s sharp gaze swept across the palace attendants surrounding them, so cutting that each one who met his eyes shrank back.
When his attention turned back to Sam-cheon, his expression softened as though nothing had passed between them.
Sam-cheon blinked once before answering.
“No. I was just thinking of something else.”
“That so? Then it’s fine.”
Geum, who had followed them out, squeezed between Buyeo Hui and Sam-cheon, swaying slightly. Buyeo Hui shifted forward without hesitation, blocking her from Sam-cheon’s view.
Gye-san arrived moments later, her footsteps brisk and cheerful as she joined them.
“Let’s head back.”
Sam-cheon pressed close behind Gye-san at once. Buyeo Hui and Geum fell into step with them as naturally as breath.
Once they had left the crowd and the listening ears behind, Buyeo Hui finally spoke.
“Gye-san, you did well talking back to that seventh brother of yours earlier. You sounded almost like me.”
Gye-san’s face lit up at the praise.
“Right? I remembered something you said yesterday—it just popped into my head. ‘I know my own affairs best. My results speak for themselves,’ wasn’t it?”
Gye-san repeated the words with evident satisfaction, though Buyeo Hui was not entirely convinced.
“Open your eyes wider. If you look too gentle, it loses half its effect.”
“Okay! I’ll practice harder.”
Geum stumbled forward and whispered something into Sam-cheon’s ear: “The world is spinning.”
There it was again. When Geum drank, she always wanted to whisper secrets.
“I’ll need to make her some honey water tomorrow morning.”
Sam-cheon rubbed her ticklish ear where Geum’s breath had touched it and quickened her pace. The reeling Geum wobbled toward Gye-san instead, whispering something to her as well.
“Geum’s truly drunk now.”
Gye-san dug at her own ear and pushed her away, sending Geum tottering back toward Sam-cheon. In that instant, Buyeo Hui took a long stride and wedged himself between them.
Geum collapsed directly into his arms.
“If anyone forces Geum to drink again, I will break their wrists.”
Even as he growled the words, Buyeo Hui held her firmly upright.
Gye-san pointed out what he had said.
“You already broke one today.”
“That one crossed a line.”
“I suppose. If you hadn’t broken his, I would have stepped in.”
“You hold back too much. Stop being so patient!”
“Usually people tell me to be more patient, not less.”
“We don’t need to. I was born this way, and you’ve risen to a station where you can be the same.”
“That’s thanks to Sam-cheon, not my own power.”
Gye-san credited her reputation as the Undefeated Great General entirely to Sam-cheon. Without her, Gye-san would not have survived at all.
“What are you saying? Your attendant’s achievement is your achievement.”
Buyeo Hui pressed shamelessness upon her, and Sam-cheon chimed in with agreement.
Gye-san scratched the bridge of her nose with one finger.
“I suppose.”
There was still reluctance in her reply.
Buyeo Hui, who had been watching her, spoke now with a gravity he had not shown before.
“I heard from Geum about your dream. I will watch the war situation myself, so forget about it for now. I’ll find and deal with the tall one too.”
He spoke as though he meant to crush every man taller than himself.
“Thank you. Brother.”
Gye-san smiled with relief, then turned back to Sam-cheon.
“Let’s pack up and move to the Military Camp.”
Her voice was bright, but the meaning beneath it was far from light.
“I’ll have Deok-sim leave the palace and transfer to the Gyeon Hwon Forces. Tell Kkot-nim she can choose either another palace assignment or a position with the military—I can match her salary, but the work will be harder. Make sure she understands.”
It seemed Gye-san was concerned that Deok-sim and Kkot-nim might become hostages. Sam-cheon had worried about the same thing and answered promptly.
“Yes, I will convey that.”
Buyeo Hui, listening in, interjected.
“That’s only a temporary measure. You yourself will need to leave.”
“That’s true. Brother, why don’t I marry?”
“It would be the most certain method.”
A princess marrying and leaving the palace was natural enough, but the lack of a suitable match was the problem. Gye-san spoke with a note of regret.
“Is there no good man out there? Someone quiet, trustworthy, someone I could rely on?”
“A good man I could recognize, but selecting someone truly worthy of trust is not easy. We will need to take time and observe carefully.”
“You’re right. I need to start looking now. If I hold onto Mokseo-gung any longer, I’ll lose my people.”
Sam-cheon looked away.
She had hoped Gye-san would marry someone her heart cherished, but it had come to this. Though the right to decide the marriage lay with Gye-san, if pushed through coercion this way, it would amount to nothing.
Her mouth tasted bitter, but she knew Gye-san’s choice was right. People were more precious than memories.
Everyone had to live so that new memories could be made together later.
Sam-cheon was walking with her eyes fixed downward when she felt someone approach. She looked up and met Buyeo Hui’s gaze.
“Why were you standing there looking so uneasy a moment ago? Speak freely while I’m asking nicely.”
Sam-cheon recalled the scene from before.
“At the banquet hall. A general who came as reinforcement during the Battle of Seonam Castle made a point of greeting me, and he said something strange.”
“What did he say?”
Summed up in one phrase.
“That I should marry.”
“Marry? Has he lost his mind? What impertinence.”
Buyeo Hui flared with anger, and Geum’s body, supported by his arm, swayed along with him.
A surge of rage—difficult to explain—rose up in Buyeo Hui’s chest. For someone to suggest marriage to Sam-cheon, Gye-san’s attendant, was a crossing of boundaries.
“You should have told him to mind his own business.”
Sam-cheon blinked once before answering.
“I let it pass. We might be going out to battle together later anyway.”
“If you held your tongue because you were afraid of causing trouble for Gye-san, then use my name and shut him down. What’s the problem?”
In that moment, Sam-cheon’s eyes gleamed.
“Really? I can do that?”
“Why are you asking as though it’s something new? You’ve sold my name before, now and then.”
Sam-cheon, feeling a touch of embarrassment, brushed her neck lightly.
“That was only when some petty trouble came up.”
“Your presumption knows no bounds.”
Sam-cheon laughed it away with a smile, and the corner of Buyeo Hui’s mouth curved upward in a faint arc. Gye-san, who had been thinking about something, spoke.
“Once you leave the palace by marrying, I’ll have to find a match for you too.”
One of Buyeo Hui’s eyebrows rose subtly.
“Tend to your own affairs first.”
“Sam-cheon’s heart matters too, so we should start looking now and arrange meetings. I want her husband to be distinguished, kind-hearted, and tender. Most of all, someone who wouldn’t just pass by a girl in trouble!”
“Your Highness, you remembered.”
Sam-cheon laughed with genuine delight. They had spoken of such things long ago at Iron Mine Mountain.
“Of course! I’ll find the perfect match for you.”
Buyeo Hui, not following the context, frowned and cut in.
“What does that mean?”
“Sam-cheon said her ideal type was someone who wouldn’t just leave a girl in trouble behind. I’m going to find her a perfect husband.”
Gye-san announced her intention.
The thought of watching Sam-cheon live peacefully with a perfect husband in a modest, neat tile-roofed house seemed like it would bring her happiness. If the child resembled Sam-cheon, she would surely be as precious as life itself.
Buyeo Hui applied the brakes to her rising imagination.
“Don’t get tangled up with some strange man out of nowhere. You’re too kind-hearted—you don’t know how to distrust people. Let me judge. Don’t rush into anything.”
“You’re right. Understood.”
Gye-san nodded with a naive expression, and Buyeo Hui, finally at ease, turned a reproachful look toward Geum’s crown.
As they arrived at Mokseo-gung to the sound of insects chirping in the evening, Deok-sim rushed out with a worried expression. Sam-cheon’s heart jumped as she asked.
“What’s wrong?”
“A messenger came from the physician’s office. It seems the Great King is unwell.”
Gye-san and Buyeo Hui and Geum shared the same father. Besides, there was no reason Deok-sim would call the Great King “father.” Which meant.
“…… Me?”

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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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