Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 102

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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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Born the daughter of a concubine of the lowest rank.
Episode 102
‘The Crown Prince doesn’t seem to know much more about that day either.’
Though he appears to have received a proper report.
Still, he doesn’t seem aware that I was the one who was kidnapped.
‘If the Crown Prince doesn’t know, then the King doesn’t either. Thank heavens.’
Both the King and Crown Prince likely suspected that I occasionally slipped in and out of the Palace grounds, but they’d been turning a blind eye. Yet if I were caught up in something genuinely dangerous, there’s no way they’d let it slide.
‘They’d either forbid me from leaving, or have me travel about like proper royalty—palanquin and all, with an entourage in tow.’
Such fanfare was necessary only for proper excursions or when visiting the Palace from outside residence, but for casual outings like mine, it would be nothing short of a nuisance.
Of course, my reasons for roaming about weren’t purely for amusement.
‘Ugh. Why do I have to uncover treason, of all things?’
Reality check on playing the role of a princess…
It might seem like an odd leap, this talk of treason out of nowhere, but given that this world’s timeline adheres rather closely to the source material, it was a persuasive line of reasoning.
‘Damn it. I wish I could reject this persuasive logic…’
Even if rebellion did occur, it wouldn’t be immediately—it would likely happen years from now.
By my recollection, it wasn’t yet the right time for an uprising.
Besides, treason wasn’t something you could prepare for in a day or two.
Though there were cases carried out with relative impulsiveness, those required a military official commanding troops—and such positions were appointed with extreme caution because of the danger.
So if someone with power or ambition were to plot treason, there would inevitably be signs.
‘Money is needed, soldiers are needed, weapons are needed…’
And justification.
Justification itself made dynastic change rare.
Without cause enough to overturn Joseon itself, the typical approach was to elevate a single member of the royal clan as king.
‘Since Suyang Daegun, there haven’t been many cases of royal clan members leading a rebellion themselves.’
Because Suyang Daegun himself, a Royal Clan Member, had committed treason once before, power was no longer granted to the Royal Clan.
Here too, power was forbidden to Royal Clan Members because one with authority had attempted rebellion in the past.
Yet when rebellion did occur, it was still some Royal Clan Member who got elevated.
‘The Crown Prince has no living male siblings right now.’
Jungjong and Jinseong Daegun had been the only legitimate princes during Yeonsan-gun’s reign, so they’d been forced into kingship.
But what if a rebellion were launched now?
‘The people… don’t harbor great discontent with the royal family right now.’
The Crown Prince’s lack of marriage was a concern, but he was still young and healthy, so it wasn’t a major problem.
If there were no heirs, it wouldn’t be difficult to name one of the Royal Clan children as successor.
So if someone wanted power, it would be easier and safer to cultivate ties with influential Royal Clan Members instead.
Treason? In historical dramas it happens almost like clockwork, but it wasn’t an easy thing to accomplish.
‘Not that it’s rare, either.’
Plots to assassinate the Crown Prince fell squarely into the category of treason.
Deposed Consort Hong whatever-her-name was arrested for treason when evidence of cursing against Seongwon the Crown Prince came to light.
So perhaps even now, somewhere, people harboring resentment toward the King or Crown Prince were plotting treason.
Moreover, the King and Crown Prince had recently begun acting as though their views diverged.
Once the King officially announced the Regency, it seemed they’d pretend to be at odds while tackling the slavery issue.
In such cases, the pattern was always the same: the King as the conservative, the Crown Prince as the reformer.
Consequently, many powerful figures owning large numbers of slaves were uneasy about the Crown Prince.
In fact, among the Royal Clan Members, I owned the most slaves, but I… had no particular grievance.
‘For now, they’re making it seem like the Crown Prince’s personal thought.’
The two would feign opposition while steering the realm as they desired.
So the King wouldn’t be caught off guard or anxious during this, he’d given me advance notice that the Regency would soon be entrusted to the Crown Prince.
Of course, the Regency didn’t surprise me.
In the source material, the Crown Prince had been handling it since his early twenties.
Besides, looking at the King, I couldn’t tell him not to.
‘His health isn’t severely compromised, but he seems exhausted.’
Though he tried not to show it in front of me, Father bore the signs of considerable weariness since the Seongwon matter.
Despite being too young to think of retirement, he seemed desperate to pass everything to the Crown Prince at the earliest moment.
‘Is that why he’s leaving the matter of the Crown Princess to chance as well?’
Since the person who should pressure the Crown Prince most remains silent, the Crown Prince grows more defiant.
Looking at the situation overall, there seemed to be those who might be tempted by treason, but it still felt premature.
This really did seem too precipitous for the current moment.
‘Not that there’s harm in being cautious.’
Treason or not, those men were sophisticated swindlers and criminals—vicious enough to kidnap a small child.
‘I won’t let them off…!’
Now that I’d escaped safely, I found myself plagued by second thoughts. Should I have done it differently then? Could I have tried another approach? My mind churned with nothing but regret.
If I was being honest with myself, though I’d faced some danger in childhood, I’d grown up sheltered and peaceful—and there was no way these short limbs of mine could have managed anything more decisive in that situation!
Yet the discomfort in my heart remained an inescapable fact.
And the most direct way to resolve such unease was to eliminate its root cause.
‘Kidnapping a child is a serious crime anywhere.’
And if it became known that the victim was a member of the royal family, the severity of punishment would climb several degrees higher.
Of course, I had no intention of letting that become known.
The King and the Crown Prince were busy enough without my adding to their worries.
More than anything, I couldn’t predict what So-i and Seong Gyeom-sabok might say to their superiors.
I’d already spent considerable effort keeping both of them quiet, fearing they might confess everything out of guilt.
‘I wasn’t the target anyway—I just happened to be there and got caught up in it. I told them not to make it a bigger issue.’
Besides, I’d omitted the part about them actually trying to harm me.
But since it was clear they were con artists and dangerous people regardless, everyone agreed they absolutely had to be caught, and they all cooperated willingly in tracking them down.
‘Hmm. The people at Siyeongwon probably don’t know yet. Fortunately, I managed to get the children at the Tavern to keep quiet before word spread there.’
I was well aware that my influence over the Siyeongwon children was quite substantial.
But honestly, the children were closer to and more frightened of Min the Court Lady than of me. If she pressed them for answers, could they really stay silent?
‘I’m nervous about going to Siyeongwon.’
Unlike others, Min the Court Lady had a fairly high chance of becoming suspicious about something.
For now, I decided to operate under the premise that I’d nearly been swindled.
***
Information was exchanged at my residence rather than within the Palace walls, where word might leak out.
Seong Gyeom-sabok, who knew the full truth, was more active than anyone.
“Is what you’ve told us everything regarding the circumstances when you awoke, Princess?”
“Yes. I don’t really know the exact location either.”
My eyes had been covered the whole time they were moving me around—how could I possibly remember?
Still, it was clearly a mountain path, and even if my eyes hadn’t been covered, I wasn’t confident I’d have been able to remember the way back.
In any case, the conclusion was that I wanted to find the place where I’d been held, but pinpointing the exact location proved difficult.
“The person who rescued me that day—don’t you think he might know something?”
“Why didn’t you detain him, then?”
“He said his uncle was waiting and he had to go quickly. I was pretty disoriented at the time myself.”
“I apologize.”
“No, don’t apologize.”
He was my savior, after all, and I felt some regret at not properly thanking him.
He’d definitely seemed quite young—clearly still had that youthful look about him. Though he was fairly tall, so I couldn’t say for certain whether he was truly a boy or simply had a youthful face.
‘He had a refreshing impression and seemed rather handsome, I think.’
But he’d left so quickly that day I never properly learned anything about him.
According to what I’d heard at the Tavern, he was a face no one in the area had ever seen before.
“They said he was handsome, though.”
“Yes.”
“If a youth so handsome that even you would remark upon it lived in the area, surely the people there would have known of him.”
“I…suppose so?”
As I tilted my head uncertainly, Seong Gyeom-sabok let out a soft chuckle.
“The Crown Prince possesses such an otherworldly elegance that most men would hardly catch your eye, yet you did say this youth was handsome.”
“Did I?”
I turned to So-i, whose age was closest to my own, and asked for her objective judgment.
“You rarely say men are handsome, Princess.”
“Well, I don’t see many men, do I?”
“You frequent the Gyujanggak quite often.”
“No, most of them are either old or—married men, I mean.”
Besides, though they called them young talents, outside of a tiny handful of geniuses, most people didn’t pass the Civil Service Examination until…
Of course, it was a place where those rare geniuses gathered.
“And besides, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to be evaluating people’s looks there anyway.”
Though they were technically lower officials, most of them had been marked as associates of the Crown Prince.
They were people I needed to maintain good relations with.
I’d been too occupied with unexpectedly working alongside them—ah, so that’s why I didn’t notice their faces properly.
Confronting this rather unwelcome reality, I decided to steer the conversation back to the original topic.
“In any case, finding that youth seems difficult.”
“Yes. Did he mention anything else in conversation?”
“Well, he said he happened to be nearby when it happened, and when he heard that a child had been kidnapped, he followed to investigate and found me instead.”
“That is quite…a noble young man, isn’t it.”
“What a handsome young man—and with such fine character to match.”
Seong Gyeom-sabok and So-i nodded in agreement, their admiration plain.
‘If that were all there was to it… I’d be truly grateful.’
Seong Gyeom-sabok decided to use the physical description I’d given him and canvas the area around the Tavern where I’d been found.
Not long after, he discovered that in the woods where I’d been discovered, woodcutters occasionally used a small thatched cottage.
“But when I went there, the place was already empty.”
“You’re certain that’s the location?”
“Just as you described, there was a window in the storage shed large enough for a child to slip through.”
Though I could have gone myself to verify, everyone objected—it was too dangerous.
Even Seong Gyeom-sabok didn’t go alone; he brought along some of his old colleagues from Siyeongwon.
They found no one there, but at least no one was hurt in the search.
“What could those people have been?”
“Perhaps a temporary hideout used by forgers peddling counterfeit goods?”
“I’d prefer if that were all it was.”
That day, we gathered at Sa-ga to hear the results of the investigation. There wasn’t much to report.
Only four people knew the precise details of what had happened that day—myself, So-i, Seong Gyeom-sabok, and Yeong-seon—so we kept silent about it with everyone else.
Seong Gyeom-sabok seemed so troubled by what had occurred that he refused to leave my side, which only worried me further.
As for So-i, well—that’s simply her profession.
‘I was startled too, but perhaps I’m overreacting.’
Unless they were specifically targeting me, it was nothing more than an accident.
‘That man definitely said the eighteenth. That day was the twenty-fifth, so unless he was speaking of something already past, he meant the eighteenth of next month—or rather, the eighteenth of this month.’
Now I had to consider whether I should investigate that Dabang Valley gisaeng house they’d mentioned.

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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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