If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 95

The gathering ended like that. It was sunset time.

Footsteps echoed steadily beside Yuseol. Deok-eun was walking about a step away. Both were wearing sseugaechima pulled over their heads, walking while looking only ahead.

It was an ambiguous distance—too far to pretend not to see each other, but also awkward to strike up conversation. Yuseol only looked at the heels of Yanghui walking ahead. She could feel Deok-eun’s gaze from the corner of her eye. Should she try saying a careful farewell loudly enough to be heard clearly?

Yuseol mustered her courage and looked at Deok-eun. But Deok-eun seemed to have no intention of greeting her and hurriedly turned her gaze forward.

Yuseol, who had been hesitating, also looked ahead in disappointment. How many steps had they walked like that?

Deok-eun’s unstable gaze turned toward Yuseol again. She seemed concerned about the woman who resembled her old friend. Perhaps she was properly seeing Han Yuseol in Sahwa’s face.

Yuseol pulled and gripped the sseugaechima wrapped around her head and bowed her head. Her footsteps, which had been slow because she wanted to walk with Deok-eun, picked up speed.

A path that split in two directions appeared. Cheonghweru, Yuseol’s quarters, was the left path. She entered the left path as if being chased. Deok-eun’s footsteps began to gradually grow distant. At some point, they couldn’t be heard.

Rather than relief at escaping sharp gazes, longing surged. Since she couldn’t do anything, she wanted to do many things. How happy would it be to chat with an old friend while drinking flower tea?

Yuseol’s eyes, filled with yearning, looked back at the fork in the road. Deok-eun had stopped and was looking at Yuseol. She could feel a gaze that seemed to be saying something.

But the time spent apart had been long, so it was a language she couldn’t understand.

***

There was a problem with the sundial for writing desks that had been prepared as tribute from Museolwon. Yuseol’s quarters, which had been turned upside down, only calmed down when evening came.

Mu-yeong left the palace and headed to the marketplace to repair the sundial. It was his way back after meeting a clock craftsman there. The endless road was packed with crowds of people. Though he liked tranquility, such commotion wasn’t bad for a day. No, when his head was complicated like now, he needed minor commotion.

He deliberately passed through the densely clustered people. It was both to enjoy the commotion and to shake off the surveillance that had been following him since he left the palace.

The men disguised as palanquin bearers had been desperately following him but lost their way. Though he had achieved his purpose of coming to the marketplace, Mu-yeong suddenly stopped in front of a stall.

It was a place where beautiful accessories of five colors were displayed. A light pink rose quartz ring caught his eye. It seemed like a ring for a lovely woman with white skin.

He pictured a woman with white skin who would blush red even at just a light touch of lips. A faint smile appeared on his cold lips. It didn’t disappear for a while even after purchasing the ring.

His footsteps headed toward a tavern that was packed full. The proprietress welcomed him and guided him to a room. A simple meal was plainly set on one table in the clean and cozy room.

A scholar who had been drinking only water despite having food in front of him stood up with a pleased face upon seeing Mu-yeong. It was Yun Seonghyeon, the man who had been making appeals in front of the castle gate.

“I finally meet you, my lord. It’s even more delightful since it’s been so long.”

Yun Seonghyeon was a scholar who had followed Han Jeongin, Han Yuseol’s father. He was affectionate and had a strong sense of justice, so he had followers spread widely across the country. For that reason, he was also a person of concern that the king was always wary of. He was probably included in the elimination targets the king had designated. Mu-yeong sat at the table while looking at Yun Seonghyeon’s pale complexion.

“Your face has grown gaunt since I last saw you.”

Yun Seonghyeon sat down politely afterward and poured water into Mu-yeong’s cup.

“This much is nothing. It’s nothing compared to the effort you make in looking after us, my lord.”

The Choi family related to Mu-yeong had been helping hungry scholars for a long time. However, since they moved like shadows, there were always only rumors.

It was only a few months ago that a man claiming to be a representative of the Choi family appeared. He possessed the Choi family’s seal and introduced himself as Mu-yeong. He told the scholars to reveal the truth about Grand Minister Han’s death if they didn’t want the country to be dyed in a sea of blood.

At first, the scholars didn’t know what connection Grand Minister Han’s death had to the country’s misfortune. Curious Yun Seonghyeon was the first to start digging into the truth, and by chance, he met the court physician who had examined Grand Minister Han. He heard a strange story from the physician. He said Grand Minister Han had turned blue in less than half a day after drawing his last breath. The common point that the former king who had passed away earlier had also been like that was truly surprising.

Yun Seonghyeon asked the physician to inform a court historian at the Royal Secretariat about this fact and have it recorded. However, Chief Secretary Kwon Ujin blocked it, saying it would destabilize the court’s political situation, and the truth was buried like that.

It was around that time that another incident occurred in the capital. Foreign powers had brought in a strange medicine, and people began drinking it mixed with alcohol like a beverage, saying it was excellent for recovering from fatigue. Blue-skinned corpses began to be discovered throughout the capital. Yun Seonghyeon, who instinctively felt that the cause lay in the foreign mysterious medicine, obtained the medicine and became enthusiastic about experiments with fellow scholars.

The mysterious medicine was a blue powder without fragrance that dissolved well in alcohol. Its color was distinctive, so it would be visible at a glance if mixed in food, but mysteriously became colorless and odorless when put in alcohol. It didn’t react to silver spoons either.

Yun Seonghyeon and the scholars secretly suspected that the former king and Grand Minister Han had been poisoned. But they couldn’t know which damned person had done such a thing.