If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 22

She had already guessed that Mu-yeong probably didn’t want money. His clothing, his gat strings, even his norigae were all rare things scarcely seen even in the palace.

He had likely brought the chimanocho just for amusement, and mentioned the bedchamber just for his own entertainment too….

He was clearly a shameless man, but the fact that he had also saved her life left her deeply confused.

Yuseol lay on the floor panting. Having sweated a bit, she felt somewhat refreshed.

She placed both hands on her chest and gazed endlessly at the rafters on the ceiling. As her agitated heartbeat settled, that man’s voice spread in her ears again.

“Now that I think about it, there’s no woman to warm my bed.”

Just then, Myoyeon’s voice came from in front of the door.

“I’ve prepared tea.”

Lost in thought, Yuseol only blinked without hearing Myoyeon’s voice.

The door opened. Because she was lying with her head toward the doorway, she met Myoyeon’s eyes upside down.

Startled, Yuseol bolted upright and turned around to check her appearance.

“Ah, you’ve come. I was distracted.”

She guided him to the folding screen. A servant followed him in and placed teacups and a teapot on the table.

Myoyeon noticed the thick wooden stick neatly placed in the corner of the room. Then he spoke as if guessing.

“It seems I’ve interrupted your rest time after training.”

Yuseol, sitting across from Myoyeon, looked troubled and bowed her head.

“That’s not it. I apologize.”

After the servant left, Myoyeon poured water into the teacup and spoke.

“I prepared tea with flowers picked from the inner courtyard. There’s no better remedy for fatigue recovery, so you should feel more energized.”

He smiled brightly. Yuseol looked into the teacup with a somewhat relieved face.

“Flower tea…?”

They enjoyed tea in the palace too. However, since they brewed ginseng, ginger, medicinal roots and such, flower tea was quite novel.

Yuseol’s curious eyes examined the inside of the teacup. Yellow tea leaves were floating around inside.

But it was strange that despite the many tea leaves, no floral fragrance emanated. No matter how much she smelled, only a faint sweet lingering scent could be felt.

When she tilted her head, Myoyeon smiled as if it were natural.

“It’s tea made from dandelion flowers.”

“Ah… it was dandelions.”

Dandelions were Yuseol’s favorite flowers. They were everywhere—front yards, fields—so she could see them without having to search for them. Weren’t they just like longtime friends who had shared hearts?

To think she hadn’t recognized them despite seeing them for so long.

Yuseol carefully examined the wet petals.

“No wonder there wasn’t much fragrance.”

Myoyeon nodded and answered.

“They’re famous for having no scent.”

Yuseol gracefully lifted the teacup and smelled it again.

Suddenly a past incident came to mind. It was the day she had woven dandelions from the yard into a necklace and placed it on her mother’s grave. Her father said flowers without fragrance were no different from weeds and made her remove the dandelion necklace.

Yuseol, saddened by the dandelions’ treatment, cried sorrowfully at the graveside and put the dandelion necklace around her own neck. She was a little angry. Why did God create flowers that wouldn’t be treated as flowers? For what purpose exactly….

But living in the world, she seemed to understand a little. If dandelions had deep fragrance, all kinds of people would have plucked them. So perhaps God made dandelions as companions for the lonely.

Yuseol held the teacup with both hands and blew long into the cup. The steam rising above the cup dispersed faintly. Bright yellow petals floated on the water. When she took a sip, surprisingly intense sweetness permeated deeply into her mouth.

Seeing Yuseol raise both eyebrows in surprise, Myoyeon spoke.

“Dandelions are flowers without fragrance, but their sweetness is exceptional.”

As if he had prepared something else, he opened the lid of a brown seed bowl and scooped white petals to put in Yuseol’s teacup.

“When the tea cools, if you mix in chrysanthemum flowers, you can feel the fresh fragrance of a flower garden.”

Yuseol drank the tea again while feeling the chrysanthemum fragrance rising. Along with the sweetness, the scent of a flower garden entered deep into her body. After taking another sip, she set down the teacup and asked.

“Then what should this tea be called?”

It certainly wouldn’t be dandelion tea, and somehow it didn’t seem like chrysanthemum tea either.

Should she call it dandelion chrysanthemum tea? Or mixed flower tea might be good too…

To her deep contemplation, Myoyeon answered.

“It’s called chrysanthemum tea.”

Yuseol showed disappointment.

“The dandelions would feel very wronged.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes. If I’m reborn as a flower later, I should be born as a chrysanthemum.”

At her small joke, Myoyeon smiled.

“I should do the same.”

Yuseol suddenly became curious. Would dandelions also want to be reborn as chrysanthemums?

Such curiosity didn’t last long and disappeared. Because she remembered last night’s incident that she had briefly forgotten.

“Now that I think about it, there’s no woman to warm my bed.”

Yuseol pressed her temple firmly with her index finger. As if pushing away the man who appeared whenever she felt a little better and made her heart uncomfortable.