If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 80

“I told His Majesty that you are resting because the wound is larger than it appears. Now you should also stop worrying and rest well. We’ve tripled the guard here and Lord Mu-yeong will also come, so please be at ease.”

Those were the words Myoyeon had left when she visited earlier.

Yuseol was catching her breath in the bedroom next to the study on the second floor where she had been staying. She absently touched her treated forearm. It was strange that it didn’t hurt even though she was wounded enough to bleed.

“Lady, are you alright?! …You’re bleeding. Please show me.”

She looked at the jeogori she had been wearing when she was injured. The forearm part was stained with blood, but the fabric’s texture remained unmarked, flowing with only a lustrous sheen.

Should she be glad that at least the jeogori wasn’t torn….

Was it good that she returned after finishing her outing without other incidents?

When she curled up on the large cushion, her tension melted away. In her drowsy mood, she dozed off.

She seemed to have had a sad dream. She couldn’t remember everything, but watching fog disappear in the wind, she shed tears more sorrowfully than anyone.

Even after waking from the dream, her chest felt heavy with lingering emotions. As she was spending time like this, the sound of the study door opening rang out.

Yuseol, who came to her senses, held her breath and peered through the crack in the door. Mu-yeong was looking at the bookshelf. He seemed to be looking for a book.

Or perhaps he was just passing time without interest in books. His gaze, indifferently lingering on one side of the bookshelf, seemed to say so.

It was strange that her anxious mood suddenly cleared and she felt stable. She soundlessly moved to the front of the writing desk and began drinking tea. Her hand holding the teacup trembled slightly. She couldn’t tell if it was due to fear that was belatedly creeping in, or because of tension.

Rain began to fall patter-patter. The chrysanthemum scent shimmering in the teacup felt more fragrant. The rising steam also became denser. Mu-yeong’s shadow on the changho door also seemed to deepen.

She put down the teacup and closed her eyes. The distant shimmer of a man’s footsteps crossing through the rain appeared. They seemed to be Kim Seon’s. She no longer felt sad. Only the emptiness swirling in her chest deepened.

Time passed like that. The sound of rain intensified, then soon disappeared without a trace.

Yuseol, who had been endlessly staring at the cooled tea, quietly laid out her blanket. It was already midnight. Her eyes, with fatigue piled layer upon layer, were red like a rabbit’s.

It seemed she should sleep now. Though sleep didn’t seem likely to come, she would have to wake up early tomorrow too.

But she wondered if it would be alright to untie her jeogori strings. Was he still in the study now? Perhaps because of the rain sound, she hadn’t heard the presence of him leaving….

After hesitating for a long time, Yuseol approached the door and peered through a fingernail-width gap. The front of the bookshelf was empty. He was asleep, leaning diagonally against the window.

“We’ve tripled the guard here and Lord Mu-yeong will also come, so please be at ease.”

It seemed he meant he would guard the study. She felt grateful, but more than that, she felt uncomfortable.

She had a premonition that sleep wouldn’t come right away. She sat endlessly in front of the door.

Through the door crack she looked through again, she could see a window opened about a span wide. Perhaps rain had blown in, as there were dark stains on the wall. Water seemed to have pooled on the floor and was expanding its range.

If it poured rain again, the books wouldn’t survive. It was difficult to pretend not to see, so should she just close the window slightly?

After contemplating, Yuseol quietly went out to the study. The chill of the floor came up through her stocking feet.

She was curious how he could fall asleep in such a place where the night air was this cold. Perhaps he deliberately opened the window because he gets hot easily…. As she walked while focusing only on the open window, she suddenly stopped at Mu-yeong’s feet.

He was sitting on a window frame about a span and a half wide, leaning against the side with the closed window. Since he had removed his gat, his short hair was completely visible. It was an extremely personal and intimate appearance.

Yuseol’s pupils, holding the dim moonlight, examined his face. She knew his features were more handsome than they appeared, but seeing him up close, they were more delicate. The cold atmosphere added to make him feel like a noble work of art.

Then the wind coming through the window gap made the front panel of his jeogori flutter softly. Unlike his face with beautiful and cold lines, his solid chest revealed its presence.

She shrank back at the robustness that seemed more than twice her own body size and averted her gaze. She thought she understood why only her surroundings had been particularly dark earlier. Wasn’t it because his towering frame had been blocking the moonlight?

She timidly reached toward the window. Then she found the hook with difficulty and pulled it with her index finger.

The door closed soundlessly, creating a subtle vibration. His eyes, which had been comfortably closed, suddenly opened. Pupils as deep as the night sky suddenly began looking at Yuseol.

She shrank her shoulders and stepped back. For a moment, time seemed to stop. She had the illusion that only her heart was pounding.

“I closed the window because I was worried rain might blow in again.”

He gave no answer. He simply looked her over from her toes upward. It was a gaze filled with strange thirst. Like when he had overlapped his lips as if starving.

Yuseol felt danger.

“Then please rest.”

He stood up before she showed signs of wanting to leave. At that moment, something dropped to the floor with a thud.