If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 118

Yuseol’s gaze turned to Mu-yeong. She recalled the memory from a moment ago when she hadn’t properly looked around because she had so many things to worry about. Had he really been watching her from the beginning?

If what he said was true, she wouldn’t feel comfortable. It hadn’t been long since she had heard from him that meeting Kim Seon was dangerous in many ways.

Still, she wanted to be understood rather than blamed for being reckless. These days, when she closed her eyes, the memory of her family being lost and her being given poison without doing anything would surface, tormenting her to the point where she couldn’t breathe. The feeling that something like that was about to happen again was so strong that it was her daily routine before sleep to clutch her blanket and tremble. But that was probably the price of survival.

Yuseol didn’t want to lose her loved ones by doing nothing, as she had back then. If that was the reason she couldn’t just go with the flow, would he understand?

Yuseol’s somber eyes examined Mu-yeong. Unlike his usual languid self, he seemed to have a sharp edge.

The question of whether he had a reason for it lingered in Yuseol’s mouth. At that moment, he smiled darkly and said in a low voice.

“You looked like you were enjoying yourself.”

For some reason, Yuseol grew anxious and bit her lower lip. In fact, her conversation with Kim Seon hadn’t been enjoyable; it had brought a deep sense of gloom. But a court lady, who seemed to have been sent by Meisa, was watching from a distance, and Yuseol had no choice but to smile, thinking she couldn’t show her true feelings to Kim Seon.

However, she didn’t want to go out of her way to explain to Mu-yeong that she hadn’t enjoyed it at all. Someone might be secretly listening in, and she felt it would make her seem pathetic.

Yuseol had a hard time opening her mouth.

“I guess it looked that way.”

His gaze, which seemed to hold displeasure for some reason, came toward Yuseol. She didn’t know if it was because she hadn’t given a clear answer or because of the incident earlier in the day when she had avoided him.

He asked again, as if to confirm the truth.

“Was it not?”

A question arose in Yuseol’s mind. She wondered what he was interested in. Was he curious about the feelings of a woman who was abandoned by her betrothed and then given poison, her feelings toward that same betrothed?

She suddenly put strength into her lips. It was because an unpleasant memory began to waver before her eyes. The voice she had heard on the day she found the handkerchief she had left at the marketplace in Museolwon by his side rang in her ears.

“Why do you have this handkerchief? It’s something I gave to Lady Myoyeon to help her with the thanksgiving offering.”

“I collect rare things. I just paid the price for it.”

“Don’t you have an abundance of things that are even rarer than this?”

“Didn’t the Crown Princess-to-be make this for the King before she was deposed?”

“…….”

“Is there anything rarer than this?”

Perhaps this time, too, he was interested in those miserable and sad emotions.

Yuseol’s gaze fell to the floor. Her lips, which held the answer, hesitated endlessly. She felt like tears were about to well up just from the feeling of being used. It would have been okay to be used and discarded by anyone, but why was she like this only with this man…?

Time passed. The path, which had felt long when she left, was too short on the way back. She suppressed her sorrow and looked at Mu-yeong.

“Is it an important question?”

A cold aura appeared in Mu-yeong’s eyes, which had been wrapped in languidness.

“Is it an important enough question that you can’t answer?”

The more he did that, the more Yuseol felt like avoiding the answer.

“Yes. It is important.”

Before she knew it, they were in front of her chambers. She stepped into the courtyard faster than Mu-yeong and turned to look at him from in front of the wooden floor.

He didn’t step onto the wooden floor and stopped, watching her intently.

The servants were not in sight, as they were busy with other things. The wind blew, and the bell on the doorknob shook, spreading a continuous ringing sound. It was a moment when even the laundry in the yard beyond the wooden floor was fluttering in a disturbing way.

He narrowed his brow as if he was dumbfounded.

“You were abandoned once. So why?”

“…….”

“Is it because you’re drawn to things the more dangerous they are?”

A heavy silence began to linger. Yuseol’s eyes wavered uneasily. She couldn’t understand what he was talking about. Did he think she was avoiding the answer because she had feelings for Kim Seon again?

“Does it look that way?”