If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 66

Kim Seon’s dry hand this time flung open the study door.

“Who is inside?”

Myoyeon urgently entered the study and blocked the bedroom door.

“Your Majesty! Please consider the feelings of the family members who would worry about the nighttime commotion.”

Even if Myoyeon was a person from the Choi family who had been former royalty, blocking the king’s path was disrespectful. Kim Seon couldn’t contain his rising irritation and drew his sword.

“I will confirm this myself, so stand aside!”

The atmosphere was stretched taut as if it would snap at any moment. The private soldiers of Museolwon who had followed and Kim Seon’s guards began drawing their swords and facing off.

In the tense silence on the verge of eruption, footsteps climbing the stairs echoed. All gazes turned toward the passage.

Soon Mu-yeong entered the study and said.

“Your Majesty, since you were urgently looking for a court lady, I thought you were conducting business, but you were here. Why have you drawn your sword?”

When Mu-yeong took one step closer, Kim Seon retreated with a tense expression. Then, as if that wasn’t satisfactory, he sheathed his sword and opened the bedroom door wide, avoiding Mu-yeong.

“Since I heard there was someone suffering from illness, I was about to visit to boost their spirits and perhaps bestow medicine.”

Rattle, thud!

The bedroom door hit the wall and closed halfway again. Kim Seon’s gaze quickly swept the inside of the bedroom.

Yuseol was reflexively running toward the storage connected to the lower floor. Then she stopped in front of the exit door, stepped on the meal tray Myoyeon had left, and pulled up the upper locking mechanism.

Click!

The door opened immediately. Yuseol urgently ran down the stairs.

“Haa, haa!”

The yard was as bright as day under the full moon. There was a flower bed with sprouting buds in front of the stone wall, and jar stands were lined up in rows.

On the left was a dead-end wall. If she climbed over the wall, she would immediately see the forest.

Yuseol wanted to hide in the forest with all her heart. However, she hesitated, thinking she would be caught if soldiers set up camp.

While she hesitated, frighteningly fast footsteps came down the stairs. Yuseol, who was restless, tore at her norigae and threw it toward the mountain-side wall.

The norigae hit the wall, broke into pieces, and fell to the ground. It looked like something dropped while hurriedly climbing over the wall.

Yuseol quickly crawled under the wooden floor. Though she was confident in running as much as the men, if she fell while running through the forest, she would be caught.

When she settled under the wooden floor, her vision darkened. Her heart was beating so tremendously that she felt like her chest would burst. She couldn’t even hear the surrounding sounds because of her heartbeat.

Then white socked feet began leisurely crossing the yard. Kim Seon’s shout roughly echoed through the air.

“I say, where are you going in such a hurry?!”

Not only from the stairs Yuseol had burst out of, but from various parts of the inner house and yard, ministers came running all at once. Myoyeon, who had come down faster than them, stood in front of Kim Seon and showed displeasure.

“Your Majesty, the person who was just in the room is Lord Mu-yeong’s lover. No matter how much the people here support Your Majesty, they cannot let this matter pass.”

This was the result of agreeing to cover for Yuseol as Mu-yeong’s lover if such a situation arose. Kim Seon, who had flinched briefly, answered in an agitated tone.

“Didn’t you just say there was someone suffering from illness? Moreover, if that woman is merely his lover, there would be no reason to run away, would there?”

Myoyeon did not back down.

“I humbly report that she did not run away, but took refuge because she was startled by men who burst into the bedroom in the middle of the night.”

Yuseol, who had been holding her breath because Kim Seon was right in front of her, took split breaths. However, it was nowhere near enough to maintain consciousness. Her senses dulled as if she had fallen into a nightmare. She felt the illusion that Kim Seon’s shadow reflected on the ground would come rushing at her.

She gripped the sword she had brought from the bedroom and squeezed her eyes shut. If she were to die, she wanted to stop breathing quietly under the wooden floor without anyone knowing. She couldn’t reveal her existence and harm the benefactors of this place.

So please, just a little more….

She breathed again, just enough not to make a sound. Strangely, she felt drowsy.

Then Kim Seon, who had been standing one step away, slowly knelt toward the wooden floor. His hand pressing against the ground to maintain balance was visible to Yuseol.

“If I have misunderstood, I would like to meet that woman directly and express my regret. She probably didn’t go far.”

Kim Seon’s elbow bent as if to look under the wooden floor, and his upper body began lowering toward the ground.

She could see Myoyeon’s feet fidgeting beside him.

“Your Majesty, how can you lower your precious royal body!”

Yuseol covered her mouth with her dirt-covered hand and pressed her back against the inside. Her heart, which had reached its limit, swelled as if it would burst inside her body. If she were discovered like this, everything would be over. Forget about restoring the Han family’s honor—Museolwon would also be devastated by Kim Seon’s revenge.

She shouldn’t have shared such a big burden in the first place….

At that moment, a spine-chilling sound came from near the mountain-side stone wall. It was suddenly a sound that made her legs go weak, like the growling of a tiger encountered in the mountains. An animal—no, a dangerous beast—was approaching while making low throat sounds. Intense killing intent began to cast over the yard.

Yuseol’s eyes, filled with tears, followed the sound toward the left. A huge four-legged beast was closing the distance with Kim Seon.