Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I was born the daughter of a lowborn concubine.
Chapter 100
‘Si-a, my Si-a.’
Someone was holding me close, calling my name.
There was only one person who called me like that.
Crown Prince Seongwon….
Yes. That was his voice.
I hadn’t even been able to recall his voice since that fake tiger incident….
“Come to your senses!”
“…!”
When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar face was staring down at me.
Who is this?
“Are you awake?”
“Ah…?”
I blinked several times, then recalled my last memory before losing consciousness, and shuddered.
“Ah, I—I have to run…!”
“It’s all right. Please, calm yourself.”
“…???”
Looking around, I found myself in yet another unfamiliar room.
“Where… am I?”
“Well. Shall I bring you some water first?”
“…No.”
The memory of what had just happened was too vivid to drink anything from a stranger.
I studied the figure before me carefully.
He was a boy with a sturdy build but a face still soft with youth.
As for other distinguishing features… he was handsome, and the calluses on his hands suggested he’d trained in martial arts.
“I understand your caution, but I’m truly not a strange person. I found you collapsed in the mountains and brought you here. You seemed unwell, so I took you to the nearest tavern.”
“Why were you in the mountains?”
“Well, I saw officers rushing by earlier and went to see what was happening. There I heard that a child had been kidnapped, and I followed the kidnappers, and then….”
“Ah.”
Now that I thought about it, that was right.
“This may sound strange, but was the kidnapped child you, miss?”
“Yes.”
“Thank goodness. I didn’t know what I would have done otherwise.”
“Ah, I need to… contact my home.”
“Ah, the people working at this tavern said they’d send word that they’ve found you.”
“What??”
Then this was… one of my franchised taverns?
Were these people from Si-young Won who recognized me?
“Yes. So your family should be coming to find you soon.”
Strictly speaking, not family… but they were certainly all worried sick by now.
‘Oh no. They haven’t contacted the palace yet, have they? That would be a disaster!’
If the Crown Prince or the King found out, it would be a catastrophe.
As I sank into mild panic, I realized something.
“Oh? So you went into the mountains because of me. Thank you for helping me. I’m alive because of you.”
“No, I just brought someone who was collapsed here. In any case, I’m relieved you’re safe.”
As he said this, the boy gently stroked my hair.
Well, there were only three people in this world who could touch my head like that, but I’d forgive him.
‘Ah, so that’s why I dreamed of Crown Prince Seongwon just now.’
As the memory came back to me, my body trembled. What on earth had happened?
And what had become of the person who was chasing me?
“I understand your wariness, but I think it would be best if you drank at least some water. Shall I call someone?”
“No, it’s fine.”
I crawled out through the open doorway.
At that moment, a woman who had been chopping vegetables caught sight of me and came rushing over with tears in her eyes.
Good. A familiar face.
She was one of the children who had been at Si-young Won for quite some time. A few years older than me, I think?
“Oh, Miss!”
“Wow. It’s been a while.”
“My goodness. How worried I’ve been. They said a child was found collapsed in the mountains and brought here, and when I looked—it was you, miss! What a thing this is!”
“Bad luck, I suppose.”
“How can someone as kind as you, miss, have bad luck? Something’s surely amiss.”
“Ha ha ha.”
The woman fetched water and placed a hand on my forehead.
“No fever, I hope? You’re not hungry, are you? Just wait a moment. I’m making chicken porridge for you, miss.”
“Has your cooking improved much?”
“Of course it has.”
Having someone I knew nearby genuinely eased the tension I’d been holding.
Since that cursed Gyeongeon Gun had been placed under house confinement, I’d never felt this on edge before.
“Then I should be going now.”
“Oh, the porridge will be ready in just a moment—do eat before you leave.”
The boy who’d saved me shook his head with a strangely warm smile on his clean face.
“That’s all right. My uncle is waiting for me. Since I’ve seen you awake, I ought to go at once. Please take care of yourself, miss!”
“Oh—ah, thank you!!”
The boy smiled with such composure and vanished in an instant.
He’d rescued me so generously and left so coolly that I felt almost bereft.
“I should have at least asked his name before letting him go.”
“I meant to ask too, but I was so flustered I forgot. But miss, why were you in such a place?”
“It just… happened that way.”
Hmm. When would word reach me through Si Youngin?
I’d grown used to an age without smartphones, but the inconvenience was unavoidable.
Fortunately, not long after, So-i and Seong Yoon found me, and I was able to return to the palace before sunset.
“Miss, I thought my heart would stop.”
“So-i was quite frightened, wasn’t she? Don’t worry. Don’t cry.”
“Sniff, sniff. I thought something terrible had happened to you…”
It took even longer to comfort So-i—a testament to how quickly the two of them had found me.
According to So-i, before Seong Yoon could report the kidnapping of royalty to Podo Cheong, word of my location fortunately reached them through a nearby branch Tavern, and he went there instead.
‘These children are quite clever.’
It seemed a system had been established: rather than going directly to Si Youngin with news, nearby Taverns would relay messages, creating a faster network.
There was the side effect of many children learning I’d collapsed in the mountains, but thanks to that, word reached Seong Yoon quickly.
By So-i’s account, upon hearing of my kidnapping, Seong Yoon was furious enough to kill—and now he blamed himself in a heavy voice.
“It is my fault for not serving you properly, miss.”
“No, it’s only that the constables of Podo Cheong failed to do their job.”
With such a large jar sitting there, wouldn’t a proper search mean opening it and poking through it?
‘Come to think of it, that is rather strange.’
I’d assumed the location was already fully inspected, so it should be fine.
At most, I expected they might find some genuine antiques that had been hidden—I never thought there’d be a person inside.
‘Hmm.’
Was it really just an oversight?
After thoroughly reassuring Seong Yoon and sending him on his way, I made sure So-i and all the tavern children kept their silence before returning to the palace.
Of course, I stopped by the Residence to fix my appearance, so no one in the palace knew of the incident.
Podo Cheong knew that a child had been kidnapped in connection with the counterfeit antiques case, but they didn’t know it was me. Since I reported through them that the abducted child had returned safely, the matter seemed likely to be quietly resolved.
But lying quietly in bed that night, I couldn’t fall asleep for several thoughts weighing on me.
‘What I overheard then… it might have been something important.’
The words I’d clearly understood were “Dabang-gol Gisaeng House,” “the eighteenth,” and “Crown Prince.” They were unrelated words, but even if I ignored the Gisaeng House, “Crown Prince” was a term I couldn’t simply let pass.
If these men—who forged antiques, sold them, and wouldn’t hesitate to kidnap or kill a child like me if needed—
‘Come to think of it, they definitely said, “If it might hinder our Grand Scheme, we must dispose of everyone.”‘
A “Grand Scheme” that required killing even children, and the “Crown Prince”…
When words connected like this, there’s only one concept that came to mind: treason.
“Sigh.”
Until now, I’d thought this world was contained in a novel, but maybe it was something different.
‘Could this actually be a historical drama world?’
In the novel, no actual treason took place, but in historical dramas, even with adaptations, treason almost always happens at least once.
If major events were happening similarly to the novel despite things having changed, then perhaps someone else was plotting treason as well.
Gyeongeon Gun is already dead, so who on earth would be plotting treason now?
‘Ah, I just wanted to live peacefully.’
It had been a long time since I’d lost sleep over anxiety about the future.
***
And the next morning, I resolved to live with a somewhat more forward-thinking mindset.
‘Yes, even without Gyeongeon Gun, someone is plotting treason like this, so everything else will happen too. The heroine will appear, my illness will be cured, and the hero… the Crown Prince and I will marry and live happily.’
Treason? The main character is the Crown Prince—there’s no way treason would succeed.
The world was already spiraling so far out of control that I couldn’t imagine the ending would change.
‘Then of course the Crown Prince survives? The female lead and male lead marry and live happily ever after, right?’
The ending is a guaranteed happy ending, after all.
So that’s why people should read novels with happy endings instead of bad ones.
Even with a happy ending already promised, I’m this anxious—if I’d reincarnated into a novel with a bad ending, I’d probably end up alive but emotionally shattered.
That said, it’s nice that this novel has a happy ending, but there’s one problem.
‘But I’m not part of that.’
In the original story’s timeline, I was supposed to be a one-line extra—maybe two lines at most—who died long ago.
Could I survive?
I looked at Ga-i, who was attending to my meal, and thought of both Ga-i and So-i.
Song Bi didn’t seem to be mentioned in the original at all, but the fates of Ga-i and So-i in the source material were far from good.
So-i died young, and Ga-i spent her entire life avenging her sister, ultimately succeeding—but the novel never showed what happened to Ga-i afterward.
Even if she’d plunged her blade into her enemy’s back and found satisfaction, what became of her after that?
Could she have mourned her sister’s grave using her enemy’s corpse as an offering, and then lived out her own life in happiness?
Though Ga-i was the protagonist’s ally in the novel, outwardly she belonged to Gyeongeon Gun.
Ostensibly to avenge her dead sister, she became a confidante of Hong Sukwon—now the Deposed Consort Hong—and helped her accumulate illegal wealth. She gained the trust of Young Bin and Gyeongeon Gun by stepping on others at their command.
‘I think she was probably trying to atone for her sins.’
Since she’d extracted her price from Gyeongeon Gun for the harm he’d done to her sister, it seemed she was trying to pay the price for her own misdeeds as well.
“Ga-i…….”
“Yes, my lady? Is something the matter?”
“Mm, nothing. I just haven’t seen much of Ga-i lately with how busy she’s been, and now that she’s here beside me again after so long, it makes me happy.”
“Oh my, my lady. What’s gotten into you? Hehe. Hearing you say such things makes me so happy I hardly know what to do with myself.”
“You know I’m always grateful to you, don’t you?”
“Of course, my lady.”
I said this and pulled Ga-i into a tight embrace.
Given that I was supposedly sixteen, it was a bit embarrassing to say, but since my outward appearance was seven years old, this much should be acceptable.
Ga-i seemed taken aback at first, but when she realized there was no one else in the room besides the two of us, she gently patted my back.
Now that I thought about it, such close physical contact was extraordinarily rare.
Part of it was that I had few blood relations, but mainly it was because the royal court’s strict etiquette made it impossible for anyone to dare lay hands on a member of the royal family, and even as a child, I couldn’t easily indulge in such familiarity.
‘Is that why the Crown Prince feels so lonely?’
Since I was finally acting as a child, I should spoil her a bit more until the female lead arrived.
“Oh, my lady. If you do this, Song Bi will grow jealous.”
“Mm? I should give Song Bi a hug too, then.”
Fortunately, neither Ga-i nor Song Bi knew about yesterday. Thanks to Young-seon handling it well, Song Bi only thought I’d been late because I was distracted watching something.
As for So-i, if it became known that she’d been kidnapped right before my eyes, there was no telling what would happen—but she’d surely keep her mouth shut on her own.
The more I thought about it, the more people I realized I had serving me.
If treason broke out, would all of them be safe?
“Sigh, I can’t just sit still if there’s something I can do about it.”
“I suppose not, my lady?”
“I think I need to go out again.”
“My lady?”
There’s no evidence, no solid basis for it, but I have a feeling treason is about to break out.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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