If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 5

Myoyeon hurriedly left through the main gate.

“I need to find out what’s going on.”

Left alone, Yuseol anxiously fidgeted with her hands that had grown cold with unease.

Could it be mere coincidence that people from the government office came looking just after she had such a nightmare? The very suspicion made her legs tremble uncontrollably.

Unable to sit still, she stood on tiptoe and peered over the wall. Being on high ground, she could see the officers climbing up the slope in a line. The villagers began gathering one by one at the mountain lodge’s main gate. Yuseol’s heart pounded unsteadily.

Surely not, it couldn’t be….

It must have just been restless dreams. Kim Seon had promised to quell the rumors and come for her. They must be here on other business…

Forcing herself to relax, Yuseol patted her constricted chest to calm her heart.

There was a saying that dreams come true in reverse. Perhaps Kim Seon was on his way to fetch her after suppressing the palace rumors. He may be mentally weak, but he’s someone who follows through when he sets his mind to it. It had been nearly a month since she left the palace….

Yuseol, usually composed, showed a slightly excited expression. Soon, the hesitant woman slipped on her flower shoes beneath the wooden floor. While the weather had been overcast in her dream, today was relatively clear, so it seemed dreams truly did come true in reverse.

If he really had come, how should she greet him first? Should she express her joy that he had personally come to find her? By the way, her complexion wasn’t good lately from searching for Geon day and night….

Not knowing what to do, Yuseol’s hands busily arranged her hair. Her footsteps grew lighter as she walked the stone wall path in her flower shoes.

Then a bell rang, as if announcing some unusual event in the village.

Before the clear sound echoing through the air could fade completely, people from the mountain lodge’s inner quarters came out in a line.

But the attire of a woman wearing a silk jeogori so long it dragged on the ground was extremely peculiar and unfamiliar. It was as if someone from centuries past had appeared. She had heard that the more isolated a place was from outsiders, the more people adhered to old customs, but to this extent… Kim Seon would find these people quite fascinating.

Soon she stopped in front of the imposing main gate. The gate was wide open.

People who had been watching the downhill path from outside rushed inside in alarm. For some reason, their expressions weren’t good. Perhaps it was because the footsteps heard from beyond the wall sounded threatening.

Yuseol approached Myoyeon, who was standing beside the wooden bench in front of the gate. Since Myoyeon’s expression wasn’t bright either, just as she was about to ask about the situation—

The officers suddenly entered through the gate and stood in formation with their backs to it. At this unexpected confrontation, the onlookers hurriedly stepped back.

The man who entered the courtyard amid the commotion was Jo Cheol-ong, a Royal Inspector of the Uigeumbu. Recalling how her father had jokingly called him the grim reaper, Yuseol sighed silently.

Myoyeon glanced at her and sent a wary look toward Jo Cheol-ong.

“I am Myoyeon, who oversees this place. But what business do you have in this place that is not under royal jurisdiction? Entry by outsiders without permission is prohibited, so please follow proper procedures.”

As soon as Myoyeon finished speaking, Museolwon’s private soldiers came out as if they had been waiting and surrounded the officers.

At that moment, Jo Cheol-ong spotted Yuseol among the crowd and pulled out a scroll as if he had found exactly what he came for.

“A royal decree! What procedures could possibly be needed?”

With an ominous premonition, Yuseol stepped backward. At that moment, Jo Cheol-ong’s triumphant cry struck her ears.

“Criminal, Lady Han, receive the royal decree!”

Two officers rushed toward Yuseol and forced her to kneel. Yuseol was pushed to the ground, her shoulder gripped by rough hands.

She couldn’t understand what was happening or how. It was wrong to suddenly treat someone who had lived in the palace as a prospective crown princess just a month ago as a criminal. Moreover, to receive a royal decree…. What sudden calamity was this?

This couldn’t happen overnight. The Han family had been loyal subjects who had devoted their entire lives to serving the royal family. Cornering them without giving them a chance to explain went against the former king’s will.

Just as Yuseol’s lips, filled with injustice, were about to move, Jo Cheol-ong, seeing this, coldly continued.

“The criminal shall keep her mouth shut!”

Yuseol’s bright eyes instantly became murky. The reality unfolding exactly like her nightmare didn’t seem real at all. Her eyes, filled with fear, wandered helplessly through the air.

At that moment, her eyes met those of an unfamiliar man sitting on the stone wall. He was a handsome fellow who looked like a gentleman of leisure. He was smiling like a spectator who had found something interesting after a long time. As if wanting to offer some advice, he mouthed something.

‘Run away now.’

He was a man she had never met in her dream. But even if something happened that she hadn’t experienced in her dream, the royal decree wouldn’t disappear. Yuseol’s eyes took on an empty, powerless light. Above her head, Jo Cheol-ong’s cry fell.

“The criminal Han Yuseol aided her traitorous father in assassinating the former king! She also brought a man into the palace and committed adultery. The crime of committing such unfilial acts and disturbing the royal family cannot be repaid by anything. Therefore, the traitor Han Yuseol is sentenced to death by 賜死 (sasa).”

None of it was something she could acknowledge.