Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 109

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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 concubine of the lowest rank.
109
“Your Highness. Are you all right?”
“……I’m fine.”
Song Nae-gwan had watched the book Si-a threw strike the Crown Prince squarely in the chest and rushed to inquire after him, but the Crown Prince waved him off, insisting he was unhurt.
It did sting—he hadn’t expected such a small thing to pack such force—but it was nothing serious.
“If she treated anyone else this way, it would be a disaster. The girl has grown far too spoiled.”
“Forgive me for saying so, Your Highness, but to my knowledge, Princess Si-a treats no one else in such a manner—only you.”
The princess was famous, after all, for being generous and warm-hearted even to those beneath her in station.
But toward the Crown Prince, she was simply… unrestrained.
“What? The heir to the throne is not formidable enough to command respect?”
“He is her only older brother, Your Highness. Moreover, the two of you have shared a deep bond since childhood. Is not the Crown Prince the one Princess Si-a relies upon most, the one she holds closest to her heart?”
……
He understood the implication woven through those words and found himself without reply.
The King, though he cherished Si-a, was occupied with his duties; the Queen, meanwhile, had always been delicate in health and was not one to keep people near her. Even his own mother, who had become Queen, had not permitted him easy access to her presence after her elevation—he could only visit when paying formal respects.
When he was young, before Seongwon became Crown Prince, there had been many days spent in Si-a’s company.
But in the time since, half of Si-a’s already meager blood relations had passed from this world.
And even he, after ascending to the position of Crown Prince, had been too occupied to look after her properly. She must have been lonely.
Yet she had never uttered a word of complaint, always finding something industrious to do, living with brightness and vigor…….
‘…… Why do I feel like the villain here?’
When one’s younger sibling slipped out without a word and was caught returning late—was it not fitting for an older brother to offer at least a mild reproof? And from such a small child at that!
“Your Highness, what shall we do about this?”
“……Give it to me.”
Lost in thought, the Crown Prince had not noticed Song Nae-gwan retrieve the book that had fallen and was now offering it to him.
‘It was not intentional…….’
He had only meant to give her a mild reprimand. He knew she loved books, but her love of them could not justify her returning home so late. Even within the Capital City, danger lurked, did it not?
‘Perhaps I should propose reinstating the Curfew Edict.’
If the Curfew Edict were enacted, women would be permitted to move about until the Haeshi period—the hours between nine and eleven in the evening—which would be safer.
But then again, the thought that Si-a might simply begin venturing out even later, unconstrained, was hardly appealing either.
“Let us return for now.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
He had sent people several times to check when she would return, and growing anxious as darkness fell without her arrival, he had come searching for her. Now, unable to deliver even a proper word of warning, he left only frustration in his wake. His heart felt unsettled.
‘If only I hadn’t tried to take the book away.’
He should have left that alone.
Even as regret settled over him, he thought that by tomorrow Si-a would have forgiven him and would come to him first, wanting to play.
When they were children, they had quarreled often over trivial matters, but the next day she would arrive as though nothing had happened, eager to resume their games.
But Si-a did not visit the East Palace.
***
The Crown Prince’s inner circle of attendants had noticed that in recent days his temper had been decidedly ill.
They did not know why.
None of them had done anything wrong, and there was no pressing political crisis to speak of.
Even ordinarily, aside from working people hard, he was not someone who made life difficult for those around him. What on earth could have happened?
But no one among them was brave enough to ask outright, so they all went about their duties in silence, speaking little.
Still, today they had harbored a small hope.
‘Surely today, when Princess Si-a brings refreshments, his mood will improve somewhat?’
The irritable Crown Prince’s favorite person was, after all, his only younger sister.
But their hopes were not to last.
“I shall take my leave now.”
“……Very well.”
The princess, who had brought refreshments, did not even meet the Crown Prince’s eyes—she merely placed the food before him, offered a stiff bow, and vanished just as swiftly.
In all their years, this had never happened before, so unless one were a fool, it was impossible not to perceive that something had transpired between the two of them.
“Your Highness. Did you perhaps have a disagreement with Princess Si-a……?”
“……It was not a quarrel, merely a minor exchange of words.”
In common parlance, that would be called a fight.
But none dared say such a thing to the Crown Prince, so they exchanged glances until finally one of them took the plunge.
“Might we inquire what occurred, Your Highness?”
“The princess’s conduct has been excessively free, so I merely cautioned her to mind her words and actions……. In attempting to offer instruction, I—that is, the princess’s book…….”
“……The book, Your Highness? What happened to it?”
“I tried to take it from her, and in error…….”
Ah…….
The faces of those listening all twisted slightly.
“……Did you perhaps tear it?”
“I didn’t tear it. It was torn!”
When the Crown Prince snapped in irritation as if struck, those around him suddenly realized that the source of his foul mood these days had been his quarrel with his sister, and they began to push back, deflated.
“Your Highness, how could you possibly quarrel with such a young, innocent princess?”
“Young? What do you mean, young? She’s already sixteen.”
The Crown Prince answered with a choked voice, though his face had clearly lost some of its force.
“Even at sixteen, isn’t she still six years your junior, Your Highness?”
“If siblings have that much age difference, even the families of commoners don’t quarrel so fiercely.”
“Besides, to tear a book, no less. We all know how tenderly the princess treats her books.”
“So in conclusion, I’m in the wrong?”
“Your Highness was excessive.”
“Your Highness was not being mature.”
‘It’s all on me, then……’
The Crown Prince’s feelings were wounded, but he felt a prick of guilt as well.
There was no help for it. A twenty-two-year-old genuinely quarreling with someone who was seven years old—by any measure, the twenty-two-year-old looked like the villain.
‘I never even intended to tear it.’
He knew how tenderly Si-a treated her possessions—why would he deliberately rip her book?
He understood well enough how worrying it must be, having heard that people had been losing children near the Capital City lately; without realizing it, he’d been a bit rough with her, and that awareness only made him feel worse.
‘But Si-a doesn’t go out alone, so there was no real reason to be so concerned. Did I overdo it?’
He wasn’t ignorant of how stifling it must be to live within the palace walls.
Perhaps without knowing it, he’d been envying his sister for her freedom?
He’d returned to the East Palace, but shame and self-disgust mingled within him, and sleep wouldn’t come easily that night.
Si-a’s book, the one he’d brought that day, lay carefully arranged in his room.
The cover was so distinctive and looked so refined that it couldn’t help but catch his eye, and each time he looked at it, his mind grew unsettled.
Frowning, he gazed at the torn book, and the words his attendants had spoken came to mind.
‘Would it not be fitting for Your Highness to procure a replacement?’
‘Indeed so. Your Highness, with your generous heart, should extend your hand first to the princess. Even if the princess erred, was tearing the book not excessive? Reconciliation, too, requires a measure of sincerity.’
Procuring a new book was certainly not a bad idea.
The question was only which book.
‘I glimpsed it briefly that day—it had illustrations. Surely it’s not an inappropriate book?’
Flipping through it, the illustrations that appeared at first seemed relatively wholesome. But without reading it, he couldn’t determine the content. Even if he asked someone else, they might well protect the princess…… there was that possibility.
The princess was generous to those beneath her, so everyone liked her, and given that it was merely about the content of some Miscellaneous Tales novel, they might well brush it off.
‘I suppose I’ll have to read it myself. The title is…… Flower Shadow?’
Well, it’s probably just another run-of-the-mill tale.
Sleep wouldn’t come anyway, and his sister wouldn’t be coming to nag him.
With a petulant, childish mood, the Crown Prince opened the book.
And soon enough, he found himself absorbed by the story.
‘Popular for good reason…… it seems.’
He’d expected it to be merely a novel centered on romantic fiction, but unexpectedly it wove in political themes, and glimpses of medical knowledge appeared as well. There were passages brimming with tension, and the narrative possessed a compelling charm that made it impossible to look away.
That was his impression upon finishing.
And the realization that he’d been desperate not to give her what he thought was an improper book only deepened his shame.
‘Reconciliation, too, requires a measure of sincerity.’
“Sigh.”
I’ll have to find a replacement copy.
The next day, the Crown Prince asked about Si-a’s well-being through Song Nae-gwan.
“Of late, she has refrained from outings and occasionally receives visits from Seong Gyeom-sabok, with whom she converses. Otherwise, she continues as always to look after the concubines and palace attendants—there is nothing unusual in her behavior, it is said.”
So Si-a had been staying close to home lately.
Given the responsibilities he’d entrusted to her concerning Medical Administration, she shouldn’t have had much leisure time, yet somehow she managed to go out visiting so often.
From childhood, she’d dashed about the palace, seeing to things here and there, and she’d always been as dutiful to the concubines as she was to everything else—or so he’d heard.
Father wasn’t particularly attentive to the concubines, and since they had no children, he understood the pity of their situation, yet he’d never thought to look after them himself. No one had taught or asked him to do so, yet Si-a had always managed to care for those around her.
‘Si-a was a strange child from an early age—mature and attentive beyond her years.’
Even though she herself must have suffered most from not growing, she’d never let it show, always bright and smiling, putting those around her at ease.
Worried about her older brother who’d become Crown Prince, she was always bringing him food, scolding him to sleep early, and occasionally even genuinely lightening his burdens.
Listening to her chatter excitedly about amusing stories she’d heard would make him forget, if only for a moment, the headaches that weighed on him.
With a sister like that, had he truly been too harsh?
“……I should go see her.”
“Pardon?”
Using his sister as a pretext, the Crown Prince suddenly resolved on a secret outing.
The Crown Prince, too, had slipped outside the palace walls before—this would not be his first time.
Though not as often as Si-a, he had slipped out in secret from time to time.
He’d even come in secret to see it when Si-a’s palace residence was completed.
Si-a called it her private estate, but it was unmistakably a palace that laid bare the depth of the Crown Prince’s favor.
He sometimes wondered if his father might be planning to abdicate the throne early and spend his remaining years at Si-a’s residence.
‘Idle thoughts, though.’
After so long away, old memories stirred unbidden.
That festival day, the brief time he’d spent with the girl who might have become his consort — those memories lingered still.
What had become of her? Had she escaped safely?
So much time had passed that even if they met again, he wouldn’t recognize her; yet he wondered if they might someday cross paths by chance.
“Where did you say that book is sold?”
“A rental bookshop on Jongno would be best to try, Your Highness.”
Indulging in reverie had its place, but with only Song Nae-gwan and a trusted guard accompanying him on this secret outing, he had to attend to his purpose first.
Yet at the very first bookshop he visited, the Crown Prince left empty-handed.
When he showed the shop owner the worn volume and asked if they had another copy, the proprietor took one look at the torn pages and let out a cry of dismay.
“Oh my, what a shame to see such a precious book damaged like this… I’m afraid this is a reserved copy, and we have no other stock.”
“You just sold one to someone. Money is no object. Couldn’t you have new copies printed?”
“But this edition came with the author’s signature as a first-edition bonus, so it will be nearly impossible to find another.”
“There must be some way to obtain it.”
“Well…”
As the bookshop owner hesitated, clearly at a loss, another customer interjected.
“Excuse me, but I’ve come to collect my book — would now be a good time?”
“Oh, my apologies. Just a moment. Here is your… ah.”
The shop owner glanced back and forth between the woman who’d spoken and the Yangban-dressed Crown Prince, then seemed to think of something and drew the woman aside to whisper urgently.
“What do you say?”
“I don’t need the money that desperately, so I wasn’t thinking of it.”
“But they say they can pay anything. While there’s only a limited number of signed editions available…”
The Crown Prince couldn’t hear the conversation clearly, but from the tone of it, he could read what was happening.
That woman possessed the signed edition of the book he sought, and she was in need of money.
And she was refusing.
“I’ve collected my book, so I’ll be on my way.”
“Yes, please come again next time.”
Abandoning his attempt to press the owner further, the Crown Prince carefully approached the woman leaving the shop.
“Excuse me, but might I have a word?”
“What is it?”
“If you happen to have a signed edition of Flower Shadow, would you consider parting with it?”
“I beg your pardon?”

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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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