If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 83

In Yuseol’s despairing eyes, a puddle appeared. In the abundantly pooled rainwater, the figure of Jo Cheol-ong from the Uigeumbu, who had handed her the death poison, suddenly reflected.

The memories of the day she received the death poison began to repeat in Yuseol’s mind. Many soldiers had come to kill one woman and were waiting for her to drink the poison. Their urging pupils became frighteningly clear. The feeling of being driven before countless murderers surged again.

But her thoughts were very different from that time when she had been so afraid that dying seemed better.

She was now beginning to become curious. What reward Jo Cheol-ong had received after completing his mission, what positions the people who came with him had taken. How delighted Kim Tae-ui, who had secured the position of Prime Minister, must have been. And she wanted to know what dinner Kim Seon and Meisa had enjoyed and how they had laughed.

They would still be hoping that Han Yuseol had died quietly.

Yuseol picked up a stone from the ground and threw it into the puddle. Jo Cheol-ong’s figure rippled and muddy water splashed in all directions. Raindrops poured down again into the turbid world below. Yuseol’s eyes, which had been dim, became clear.

Just as Kim Seon said he thought of Han Yuseol when it rained, she too was reminded of him. It seemed like she could picture his face that would have smiled while imprisoning her sister. Since everything was working out smoothly for him, he couldn’t help but smile. His seven brothers and the former king, who might have been obstacles to his ascension, had each died for their own reasons, and even the Prime Minister, who had been the former king’s loyal retainer, had breathed his last. Her sister imprisoned in jail would also soon meet death at his hands.

She opened the fist she had clenched in overwhelming emotion. The pooled rainwater flowed down her palm. She, who had been dazed, reddened her eyes. The emotions she had suppressed until now began to boil up in an instant.

An impulse began to rise to risk her life to block his path. What would he be like if that really happened? If the specter of Han Yuseol appeared in the palace to agitate the people and ministers. If she threatened Meisa’s position and secretly freed her sister to unite the opposition forces?

Would he lose sleep from anxiety? Would he be unable to contain his rage and turn the palace upside down given his personality?

Yuseol wanted to see that sight directly. That seemed better than hiding away and dying without anyone knowing.

Yuseol, who exhaled her excited breath long, looked around the forest. Trees with rainwater beads and fresh flower buds appeared in her eyes.

A dim attachment appeared in her pupils. Because she had been waiting for Museolwon’s spring. She had been looking forward to the thanksgiving offering that would begin soon.

Before she knew it, the raindrops had intensified. She looked down at the path leading to her quarters and took a step. Her skirt, soaked through with rainwater, swayed heavily. Strength was added to each step walking forward.

Walking like that, she reached the end of the path. Yuseol suddenly looked at the pavilion on the inner courtyard side. There was a tranquil tea table in the middle of the pavilion. The man who seemed to be the owner of the table was sitting on the pavilion railing.

It was Mu-yeong. He was holding a teacup in one hand while supporting himself on the railing with the other, appreciating the scenery.

She took a long deep breath and passed by the pavilion pretending not to see him. He was caught very briefly in her indifferent side glance. It was a splendid sight of him leisurely drinking tea in a place where not a drop of rainwater seeped in. To him, the shower seemed to be merely a tool to add atmosphere. It couldn’t help but be a fate as opposite as possible from hers, who had to walk the pouring rain path to return to her quarters.

Yuseol found it newly amazing that she had encountered such a person, even by chance. It was probably a meeting at a crossroads during life’s long journey.

She walked her own rain path. Finally, the camellia tree in front of her quarters came into view. Perhaps because of the rain, she felt incomparably beautiful atmosphere.

She planned to engrave it in her eyes since she would miss it when she left for the palace. Yuseol began to slow her steps. It was right then that a black shadow fell on her back.

It was an unfamiliar sensation, but somehow she felt déjà vu. In the eyes of Yuseol, who turned around, Mu-yeong was reflected. The suddenly intensified sound of rain rang chaotically in her ears. Already thoroughly soaked by the heavy rain, he slightly raised his gat from which rainwater was flowing and said quietly.

“Your hearing is poor.”

“…….”

“I called your name.”

Whoosh. The voice coming mixed with the thick sound of rain was dim. Yuseol swept back the hair that had covered her eyes while examining his intentions. She could see a gaze appreciating the face of a woman suffering from cold. He didn’t care even though his dopo was getting wet enough to stick to his upper body. She thought he seemed to have come for some unprecedented amusing harassment.

Yuseol clasped her two hands trembling from cold and looked at the ground. Rainwater was flowing down the downhill path. In front, she could see the scene of his two feet blocking the water stream. Her feet, which had been freezing and stinging from rainwater that had entered her straw shoes, seemed to feel a little better.

That was a strange feeling. She moved her trembling lips.

“Me? Why did you call me…?”

Rainwater was beading on his long eyelashes. As if that bothered him, he rubbed around his eyes with his index finger and answered.

“I received the letter from the palace.”

His expression suggested the letter’s contents were interesting. It seemed to mean he had the intention to go with her if she asked politely and desperately. He seemed to regard the palace trip as something like a casual outing to relieve boredom. If not, he would be someone who couldn’t feel the fear of death.

“Yes. But it seems dangerous. I plan to go alone.”

The pouring raindrops intensified further. He was staring at her with eyes of a subtle color. He gave off his usual indifferent atmosphere, but his eyes shone darkly.

She had thought he would feel relieved if she said she would go alone. That he didn’t look pleased at all was confusing.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

Yuseol firmly suppressed her feelings of being swayed by him and made her pupils shine with detachment. There was no fear in those eyes. Even if she were to stand before death again.

He answered quietly with an expression whose thoughts were unreadable.

“No.”

“…….”

“Farewell.”

The thick raindrops were gradually carving out the dirt ground.