If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 76

Yuseol deliberately turned her attention away.

“Will Your Majesty be departing tomorrow?”

Myoyeon nodded her head.

“Since there were no particular words otherwise, it will probably be so.”

In Yuseol’s eyes, which were inwardly relieved, a massive tree was reflected.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen such a large tree.”

“It’s an ancient tree that has guarded this place for thousands of years.”

When they reached about halfway up the stone steps, tree branches extending over the high fence became visible. But it had always been strange that the branches, which should have living grain, were completely black.

“If it’s an ancient tree thousands of years old… has it been that black since then?”

Myoyeon went up one step ahead and looked back at Yuseol, shaking her head slightly.

“According to records, that ancient tree was a white camellia tree. But during the war period a thousand years ago, it was completely burned and only the skeleton remained.”

So it wasn’t a tree born that way originally, but one burned by fire.

Yuseol’s pupils flickered gloomily.

“…How sad.”

Myoyeon looked up at the tree in sympathy.

“Before it was completely burned, there are records that it was a sacred tree that could see the future. It was a holy object that told the country’s fortune and misfortune through the color of its leaves and the state of its flowers.”

“How could such an important tree have been burned?”

“According to records, everything was strange on the day the tree burned.”

“Strange… how so?”

“The tree was always protected by fog. When grave robbers approached to cut down the tree, fog would thicken and make them lose their sense of direction.”

“…….”

“But that day, the fog that had been watching over the ancient tree disappeared, and it was so dry that lips cracked. In the forest, birds fled in flocks, and giant wolves came down from the mountain to threaten people. People all fled in their sleep.”

“Ah….”

“Because the fire happened in the midst of that chaos, the culprit was never caught.”

Myoyeon bit her lower lip regretfully.

“The tree died like that and could no longer bloom flowers in spring. That’s how it came to have such a sad name.”

“Sahwa (死華)…?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Yuseol’s footsteps, climbing the stone steps, suddenly stopped.

In the wind that blew from a distant place, leaves rustled down. Even as the leaves fluttering in the air brushed her cheek, Yuseol only looked at Myoyeon. Only after Myoyeon climbed two more steps and stopped did she quietly stroke her cheek. She was dazed as if struck by something. It also seemed like she was having a distant dream.

Yuseol carefully asked.

“But why does Lord Mu-yeong dislike talking about Sahwa?”

Myoyeon waited for Yuseol to come up and answered.

“I don’t know that for certain either.”

“Did Lord Mu-yeong originally have no lover?”

“Yes. Lord Mu-yeong has always been alone, and only spent much time beside Sahwa.”

Had it also been a misunderstanding when he reacted particularly sensitively whenever asked about Sahwa?

Could it be that he had done something to Geon to make flowers bloom from Sahwa?

No…. The last time she saw Geon, he looked robust without a single wound, so it must be groundless worry. Yuseol put down the pieces that wouldn’t fit together and looked up at the tree again.

“People’s heartbreak must have been great when the sacred tree burned.”

“There are records that the people of that time actually rejoiced.”

“What? They rejoiced…?”

“Sahwa used its ability to see the future to warn people in advance about wars that would happen to the country. But people began to believe that wars occurred because of Sahwa.”

Did they think burning Sahwa would prevent wars? Yuseol climbed the last step and arrived, expressing her regret.

“What foolish people.”

Myoyeon looked into the wide-open main gate of the offering hall and answered.

“That’s true, but it seems people also felt fear toward Sahwa’s power, whose limits couldn’t be measured.”

Yuseol nodded as if that reasoning wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

It was frequent in the court for officials with special abilities to be driven out by ministers’ jealousy and schemes. If a god fell to this earth, wouldn’t it also be killed by people’s hands?

As she stepped inside the main gate, the towering ancient tree became visible. But she was captivated by its magnificent appearance only briefly, before Mu-yeong, who was looking at the tree in front of it, entered Yuseol’s sight.