Three Thousand Court Ladies - 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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Chapter 72
Buyeo Hui fixed his gaze on the man’s eyes and proposed a bargain.
“I’ll write you a letter. When you arrive at the Merchant Guild with it, we’ll weigh this child and give you gold equal to her weight. All you need do is take it and run. What say you?”
The man, who had been standing dazed and hollow-eyed, let out a belated snort of derision.
“Do you take me for a fool?”
“The price of the bargain includes my order that you go free. I know your involvement in the abduction was not by your own will.”
Those words shook the man. His throat rippled visibly as his eyes narrowed.
Buyeo Hui continued.
“My brother’s target is me. I’ll stay quietly here, so there’s no reason for him to chase you urgently. You’ll have plenty of time to escape.”
The man himself was beginning to doubt whether he would be made to bear the entire burden alone.
If he took upon himself the crime of kidnapping a prince—Buyeo Hui no less—and murdering him, not only he but his entire family would face death by dismemberment.
For a man who had been stationed at the warehouse knowing nothing, waiting in ignorance, it was a cruel injustice. He had merely been following orders to guard the place, and then an unconscious prince had arrived. It was enough to drive anyone mad.
Dead either way.
But if he accepted Buyeo Hui’s proposal, there was at least a slim chance of living his life with some pride. Yet would they really give him that much gold?
When the man did not answer readily, Buyeo Hui added as if to provoke him.
“Smuggling away a single palace attendant shouldn’t be difficult. You seem to be taking your time thinking. The sooner you move, the farther you can flee.”
Buyeo Hui’s final words shook the man once more.
“Once you’ve made up your mind, bring me a wooden tablet and a brush.”
Sam-cheon watched in silence as the man’s expression shifted moment by moment.
Had he paused to think calmly, he would have realized it was impossible, but greed and anxiety seemed to obstruct rational thought.
Then a hearty laugh echoed from around the corner.
“So you’re not much better. Did you think this trick would work? How foolish.”
Sam-cheon turned toward the sound. A bear of a man, wrapped head to toe in silk, stepped into view. Four guards who seemed to be his escort stood behind him.
“…Brother.”
Buyeo Hui called out to him, barely audible.
This bear of a man must be the twenty-fifth prince, Tae.
Yet he bore no resemblance to Buyeo Hui whatsoever. From his features to the very atmosphere he radiated, everything was different.
Tae drew his sword and cut the man down without hesitation. Blood sprayed as the man fell, not even managing a scream, his severed head rolling across the floor.
The scene unfolded so swiftly that Sam-cheon could not hide her shock.
Buyeo Hui frowned.
“Surely you can show some restraint.”
“You’re hardly in a position to give me orders.”
Tae taunted Buyeo Hui thoroughly before turning his gaze to Sam-cheon.
“A woman playing soldier.”
Sam-cheon immediately bowed her head.
“I greet Your Highness. My reputation as a strategist is mere rumor.”
“So you reviewed the ledgers of the Ja-hyeon Merchant Guild? Do you also manage the accounts of the Gyeon-hwon Army?”
“That could hardly be the case.”
“No matter. Drag her out.”
Tae shouted, waving his bloodstained blade.
The wooden prison door opened and two guards entered, roughly seizing Sam-cheon’s arms. As they moved to drag away not Buyeo Hui but Sam-cheon, the prince stirred.
Buyeo Hui grasped the guard’s shoulder and cried out.
“Release her! Wasn’t your target me, brother?”
“That girl has another use. I won’t treat her harshly—she’s been requested to be handled with care.”
Buyeo Hui focused on the fact that Tae had shifted to formal language mid-sentence. It seemed another prince was involved in this affair.
“I could give more than what was agreed upon.”
Tae’s face flushed crimson. He strode into the prison and stood before Buyeo Hui.
“What can you do, locked away here? It doesn’t matter how much you use that clever head of yours. There’s nothing you can do.”
“Why go to such lengths? Even if I stay still, you’ll inherit the family anyway, won’t you?”
“I was told to find a reason to inherit the Baek Clan besides mere primogeniture. So I thought I’d try to become the sole heir.”
The answer Tae offered with such pride was pathetically absurd.
Buyeo Hui slowly surveyed the guards. These men had once been Grandmother’s escort.
They had long served as the family’s protectors. Though they had sworn blind obedience, they could not fail to see that Tae had strayed onto a crooked path.
Buyeo Hui withdrew the hand of the guard gripping Sam-cheon’s shoulder and spoke.
“Are you not ashamed before Grandmother, who trusted you?”
At the mention of Grandmother, the guards’ eyes trembled subtly. By nature they should not judge right from wrong, yet the situation forced them into profound doubt.
At last, they withdrew their hands from Sam-cheon. Not so much an act of release as a silent plea for Buyeo Hui to persuade Tae.
Tae spoke with brazen confidence.
“Grandmother said everything I do is right.”
“Then what of Mother? You underestimate her too greatly, brother.”
“She’ll be furious, of course. But what can she do when I’m the only child left?”
Tae laughed boisterously.
As that strained laughter stretched on, his eyes grew increasingly savage. Then, as suddenly as he had started, he stopped laughing and swung his bloodstained sword like a madman.
At the same instant, blood spurted from Buyeo Hui’s neck.
‘What?’
Blood splattered across Sam-cheon’s face.
Irritable, willful.
Gentle.
The prince’s head fell.
Unable to fully comprehend what had happened in that instant, Sam-cheon dragged her fingertips across her cheek. Blood came away on her fingers.
Blood? Why? Whose?
“…Your Highness?”
“My brother won’t look at me with such disappointment now. Isn’t that so?”
In that moment of Tae’s sneering, something in Sam-cheon’s reason snapped entirely.
Sam-cheon lunged at Tae.
Tae reflexively raised his sword toward her, not to cut but to restrain her movement, yet Sam-cheon willingly threw herself upon the blade.
A resolve to die dozens of times over if it would change the future and save him and herself?
Such a thing was not necessary.
Sam-cheon simply acted.
“Sam-cheon, are you all right? Open your eyes. Where are you hurt?”
Buyeo Hui’s voice, thick with worry, drummed at her ears.
‘Your Highness?’
She had awakened from a dream.
Sam-cheon’s breathing grew ragged as her eyes flew open. The first thing she saw was Buyeo Hui’s eyes. Then his voice reached her, laden with concern.
“You certainly wake with a lot of commotion.”
Sam-cheon exhaled deeply and sat up.
‘I was resting on the prince’s lap again.’
Instead of withdrawing in alarm as before, Sam-cheon met his gaze.
“We need to leave here at once.”
Her voice was unbearably heavy.
Buyeo Hui searched her eyes. In Sam-cheon’s gaze, just awakened from unconsciousness, was stubborn resolve.
“…Did you have that dream again?”
“Yes. If Prince Tae arrives shortly, it will become irreversible. We must move before then.”
Buyeo Hui narrowed his eyes.
That Sam-cheon had dreamed meant she had died. Yet he could not fathom why his brother would harm her.
“Why did my brother drag you into this?”
“He said someone requested that I be handed over. He knew I examined the ledgers of the Ja-hyeon Merchant Guild. He thought me a strategist for the Gyeon-hwon Army.”
“There’s a rat in the Merchant Guild.”
Shock, hurt, suspicion—then fury.
Sam-cheon deliberately averted her eyes from the light in Buyeo Hui’s gaze as it shifted before her.
Now was not the time to comfort him.

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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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