Three Thousand Court Ladies - Chapter 69

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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 69
Once word spread that a young child had been discovered inside a jar, the search became grimly methodical.
The soldiers, swallowing curses, opened every container and cabinet large enough to hide a person—rice bins, wardrobes, anything.
Sam-cheon herself moved through every corner to confirm.
As the search was winding down, I-re spoke.
[I’m a bit uneasy about this, but could you check under that table? I’m not picking up anything violently emotional, but there’s something off about the feel.]
Sam-cheon strode over, lifted the table’s edge, and spotted a wooden plank laid flush against the floor. Buyeo Hui, who had been circling nearby, approached, pushed the table aside, and tapped the plank experimentally.
“There seems to be a space below.”
At his order, soldiers removed the plank—and the reek of blood hit them like a wall.
The violent stench made Sam-cheon flinch backward on instinct. In that moment, Buyeo Hui drew his sleeve across her nose and mouth.
“Open every window. Team One, descend.”
Following the command, some soldiers threw open the shutters while others made their way down the stairs. Only once fresh air poured in and the stench thinned did Buyeo Hui lower his sleeve.
Sam-cheon offered her thanks in a low voice. I-re seemed to have let out a small snicker, but she ignored it.
The soldiers who had gone below returned shortly and began retching. Their ashen faces worried Buyeo Hui enough to ask.
“What is it?”
“There is a corpse, sir. However…….”
The soldiers trembled, struggling to continue, and chose their words with care.
“The victim was severely tortured. Death occurred not long ago. It appears to be a woman.”
Buyeo Hui’s eyebrows rose sharply.
“Appears?”
“The damage is too extensive, sir.”
Buyeo Hui’s gaze turned glacial. He gave Sam-cheon an order.
“You stay here. Ju-hong, keep Sam-cheon from going down.”
Though the soldiers had confirmed it was safe, Buyeo Hui’s tone was uncompromising. He rotated in fresh soldiers and descended with them.
As Sam-cheon stared at the stairwell to the cellar, Ju-hong shook her head with sorrowful eyes.
[There’s no one alive down there anyway. You don’t need to go.]
She wanted to look for herself, but if everyone objected……
“I’ll stay here. It would be better if you went down with the Crown Prince. The soldiers are there, but you never know.”
“You have to stay here. It’s a promise.”
“I understand.”
Once Ju-hong had extracted that promise from Sam-cheon, she descended. Worry was beginning to creep in when Buyeo Hui climbed back up.
“It wasn’t human.”
Ju-hong, who followed after him, had gone equally pale.
Buyeo Hui, seething with rage, issued new orders to the soldiers.
“Collect every clue that could identify who owns this house. Transport all the bodies to Ungnjin-seong. Someone will recognize them.”
His voice had dropped, his gaze transformed.
This was not his usual irritable grumbling. He was genuinely angry.
When Sam-cheon’s eyes drifted toward the stairwell, Buyeo Hui caught her wrist.
“There’s nothing good to see.”
His voice, grinding as stone on stone, carried a deep fury.
She had no real desire to go down and witness the horror, but a stubborn defiance rose in her nonetheless.
“I followed you to the battlefield.”
“This is different. That was slaughter. This is pure malice. You could have ended up like that.”
In that instant, goosebumps erupted across her entire body.
If Sam-cheon had been captured, she might have been brought here. Then she could have ended up trapped in a jar, only to descend into unspeakable tragedy.
“I understand now.”
Only then did Buyeo Hui release her wrist.
“Good. Tell me what the royal family member looked like when he came yesterday.”
Sam-cheon searched her memory.
“It was dark, so I didn’t see clearly. I’d estimate his age in his late twenties to early thirties. His cheekbones were slightly prominent. His face wasn’t so much angular as gaunt—lacking flesh. His lips were thin and noticeably red.”
Buyeo Hui’s brow furrowed.
“Sounds like it could be Gyeol.”
“The eighteenth prince?”
“That’s right.”
He had married into the Goguryeo royal family, though his wife had died in childbirth, or so the rumors ran.
With his mother, a concubine favored by the king, he had relocated to Sabi and was said to be building his power base.
That he would cross paths with them—was it mere chance?
“I’ve seen Gyeol only a handful of times myself. I hear he’s an upright man.”
“I-re said he was a dangerous person.”
“He might have hidden depths. I should look into it.”
Buyeo Hui’s characteristic arrogant smile crossed his lips.
“You think he might own this house?”
“There’s talk that if the Crown Prince were replaced, Gyeol would be it. That such a man would hide his royal status and lodge in a remote inn—it’s too convenient, isn’t it? Better to confirm than be caught unprepared.”
Without meaning to, Sam-cheon swallowed hard.
Joong-buin Baeksi faced the late-arriving visitor that morning. With his thick frame, heavy features, and imposing build, he resembled an enraged bear.
His flushed face—ears and neck burning red—suggested he had heard about Buyeo Hui taking over the trading company.
‘Late,’ she thought.
Such ignorance of news meant he was failing to manage his subordinates properly. Though it was something she had long known.
“What brings you to visit so early?”
“Mother, is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“I heard Hui has inherited the Jahyeon Trading Company.”
The Jahyeon Trading Company was indeed profitable, though not large in scale. Yet this was the first time Joong-buin Baeksi had passed on a business rather than mere wealth. The symbolism of it unsettled him.
“Do you begrudge the company being given to Hui?”
“Yes, I do. I am the eldest son.”
“And what reason do you have for inheriting our family’s business besides being the eldest?”
Joong-buin’s question instantly deflated him.
“What? That is…….”
He floundered, as though the question had never occurred to him.
Joong-buin Baeksi regarded him in silence for a moment, then lifted her teacup. She sipped the tea slowly, savoring its fragrance, until the cup was empty.
Setting the cup down, she spoke again in her usual gentle tone.
“Tell me at least one reason.”
Only then did he grasp that this was Joong-buin Baeksi’s method of extreme remedy. Unless he spoke, she would strip him of his businesses one by one, applying steadily increasing pressure.
Indignation flared in his chest, but he composed his face.
“I will not neglect my studies anymore. I will distance myself from the worthless friends you called a scourge. I will treat my wife better, and I will stop beating the servants.”
Having made considerable concessions, he waited for her response.
“These are the things I have repeated until my ears burned.”
“I will endeavor to meet your expectations, Mother.”
He knew what Joong-buin Baeksi valued was effort itself. That she asked of him nothing but trying.
But her response departed from his expectations.
“I have given you many opportunities over a long time. Live comfortably as you wish. You are the twenty-fifth prince and the eldest of the Baek Clan—your future is already assured without your lifting a finger, is it not? Continue to enjoy indulgence and entertainment with your disreputable friends as you do now. You will be pleased to live as you desire, and I will no longer need to speak words that displease me.”
Though the words tempted him, he could not assent. He understood that his associates whispered about him because he was the prince who would inherit everything the Baek Clan possessed.
“Mother, I understand. I have reflected sufficiently, and I will make the effort. When I change, even my late grandmother would be pleased.”
He invoked his grandmother, who had cherished him especially.
“Yes. Your grandmother spoiled you. Always saying, ‘eldest grandson, eldest grandson,’ praising everything you did—and this is what became of you. Your grandmother is gone now. It means you have no one left to cover your faults without question.”
“But I will become master of the Baek Clan…….”
Joong-buin Baeksi regarded him in silence as he faltered, unable to finish his words.

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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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