Three Thousand Court Ladies - Chapter 73

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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 Seventy-Three
Sam-cheon surveyed the confined space slowly, less examining what sort of place it was than verifying that nothing had been overlooked.
Meanwhile, Buyeo Hui faced the reality before him.
“There were people from my mother’s circle mixed in downstairs. If my brother hadn’t moved, it would have been impossible.”
Even with his reputation in tatters, he was known as the prince who would become master of the Baek Clan. There were those who followed, hoping to catch the scraps of his favor.
But he was his brother’s blood—his own flesh and blood.
He couldn’t believe Tae had orchestrated something so extreme. Buyeo Hui, who had been staring blankly, felt his thoughts turn to Ju-hong, who must have been downstairs.
“Did you see Ju-hong in your dreams?”
“Once we escape this place, I’ll recover I-re first, then we go rescue Ju-hong. The circumstances aren’t as favorable for Ju-hong, so we must hurry.”
Speaking rapidly, as if voicing her urgency, Sam-cheon immediately pressed her hand into the narrow gap between the latch bars. If she hesitated, the pain would only worsen—it was better to finish it in one motion.
But her resolve crumbled when Buyeo Hui, startled, seized her arm.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to open the door.”
Sam-cheon pulled gently to signal him to let go, but Buyeo Hui refused to release his grip.
Sam-cheon explained the situation calmly.
“Prince Tae and his guards will arrive soon. We must escape while the guards are few.”
It was a reasonable enough explanation, yet Buyeo Hui’s face only creased further.
“You truly think your hand will fit through that gap?”
“It does fit.”
“Your hand will tear, or you’ll break a finger—perhaps two.”
How had he known?
Sam-cheon was startled by Buyeo Hui’s perceptiveness.
Every time, her little finger broke and her hand tore. But to calm him, Sam-cheon answered evenly.
“I can receive treatment once we’re out. So please, let me go.”
Sam-cheon pulled her arm again, but Buyeo Hui didn’t budge. Instead, he tightened his grip.
“Do you feel no pain at all?”
“It’s bearable. I’m fine.”
“What do you mean, fine?”
“If my limbs are intact in this situation, then it’s fine.”
Her words made him imagine what dream she must have had. Buyeo Hui’s eyes hardened.
“Sam-cheon.”
“I don’t want to dream again.”
She clenched her lips and glared, and Buyeo Hui reluctantly released her wrist.
“Let me try.”
“Your hand won’t fit through. There’s no time for this. Please, follow my lead. I will get you out, I promise.”
Sam-cheon spoke with resolve, but Buyeo Hui expressed his emotion by turning away.
He seemed deeply angry.
Sam-cheon disregarded his feelings and thrust her hand into the gap.
Her hand tore with the scrape of skin, and drops of blood fell to the floor with a wet sound. Yet through some learned technique, her little finger didn’t break this time.
‘Thank goodness.’
Sam-cheon exhaled in relief and wiggled her fingers. When a blunt wooden splinter caught her fingertips, she pushed with all her strength.
As the latch slid upward with a crude sound, she nearly wanted to cry out. She’d opened the door faster than ever before.
“Done.”
Sam-cheon withdrew her hand with a slight smile. Blood dropped to the floor again.
Buyeo Hui, his face twisted with displeasure, unwound the Hair Ribbon from his head and wrapped it around Sam-cheon’s bleeding hand. The pale blue cord darkened with blooms of blood.
So this Hair Ribbon met the same fate once again.
It was far too precious an object for mere wound care, and it had suited him so well—she felt a pang of regret.
As Buyeo Hui knotted the ribbon tightly, his hand withdrew. It was his hand that trembled, though it was Sam-cheon who was injured.
Sam-cheon pushed the door open and spoke.
“We’ll go to the right. Once we’re out, we must move without making a sound.”
And she advanced without hesitation.
She was tense, but not uncertain. At intervals, she checked only that Buyeo Hui was following well.
Buyeo Hui walked behind her, taking in the building’s layout. It seemed to have been used as a prison—aside from the room where he and Sam-cheon had been held, everything else lay empty.
Moving cautiously, checking their surroundings, they suddenly heard a loud voice.
“Found you! Linking them was the right call, as expected.”
Unlike Buyeo Hui, who flinched, Sam-cheon smiled as if she’d anticipated this and stopped at a corner ahead.
“Wait—don’t turn the corner.”
Before I-re could finish, Sam-cheon was already responding. Buyeo Hui realized then that she must have lived through this moment before.
They held their breath and waited. I-re’s voice came again.
“All clear now. Come quietly. I’m inside the box.”
Sam-cheon approached without hesitation, opened the box at once, found I-re nestled inside, lifted her out, then rummaged through clothes on the table to retrieve a Key.
“Wait here a moment.”
Moving her lips almost soundlessly, Sam-cheon approached the door a few paces away. She removed the scabbard surrounding I-re, steadied her breathing, then yanked the door open.
Even with her eyes closed, she could have pinpointed the guard’s throat.
Sam-cheon cleanly pierced the throat of the man standing in the doorway. With a single strike, the guard fell, and she wiped I-re’s blade on her skirt.
“What? You’re not someone with this kind of quick reflex. When did you get so skilled?”
“I was fortunate.”
Sam-cheon smiled with bitter amusement as she stepped outside.
Darkness lay thick beyond the threshold.
Buyeo Hui, who followed her out, surveyed what looked like a mountain villa and narrowed his brow. The torches lit here and there made it difficult to read the terrain.
Unlike the bewildered Buyeo Hui, Sam-cheon pointed in the direction they would go and took the lead. The night was dark; the sound of insects rang loudly.
“They’re taking longer than expected.”
Gyeye of the Weol-rang-dan kept watch on the building where Sam-cheon and Buyeo Hui had been dragged, muttering to himself. Half a day had passed since they entered, and night had already fallen.
“She’s a Celestial Maiden—surely nothing will happen to her.”
The fourth member replied curtly.
“That’s true, but since our leader isn’t here, I can’t help but worry.”
When Weol-ya had been present, they could verify Sam-cheon’s whereabouts whenever suspicion arose using Self-Command.
But now he was away. Sam-cheon had a habit of inviting trouble, so Gyeye couldn’t afford to lower his guard.
The fourth member, who had been looking down at his feet, spoke.
“Does our leader truly believe the Celestial Maiden can save us?”
“Not belief—hope, perhaps.”
“But none of this would have happened if not for the Celestial Maiden in the first place. Maybe it’s better not to have such expectations.”
They had now met three Celestial Maidens.
The first Celestial Maiden had thrust them into this cursed fate.
The second Celestial Maiden they encountered was an elderly woman on the threshold of death.
She lamented that she had come too late, left word that they should find the next generation’s Celestial Maiden should she fail, and breathed her last.
And the third Celestial Maiden was Sam-cheon.
She had been too young to do anything but linger nearby. They had waited for her gifts to blossom, and at last the time had come.
Yet Gyeye too wondered if it might all be meaningless.
“We might be mistaken.”
“Sir?”
“But even then, there are paths we have no choice but to walk.”
“Is that so.”
“You haven’t been here long enough to know, but there’s a satisfaction in watching from afar, even from a distance——”
Gyeye stopped mid-sentence.
A group of people arrived on horseback, entered the building, and a considerable commotion erupted inside.
“What’s happened?”
The people within were dragged out and forced to their knees on the ground. From a cart that arrived later, the matriarch of the Baek Clan descended.
Her face aflame with rage, she berated those on their knees, drew her sword, and cut them down with her own hands.
Watching heads fall one after another, Gyeye understood that something had gone catastrophically wrong.

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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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