Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 120

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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 lowly concubine.
Chapter 120
There was only one response I could offer to A-yeong’s utterly ridiculous nonsense.
“He didn’t exist before, so calling him a new man is unfair…….”
At least if something existed, there’d be no grounds for complaint.
“Isn’t Seong your old man?”
“I haven’t sent Seong anywhere. He came with us today too.”
Even Seong Gyeom-sabok, the very embodiment of ruthlessness known throughout the palace for his merciless treatment of the Gyeom-sa-bok, was nothing more than Mister Seong to these children.
In any case, the children were far more interested in the fresh face than in an uncle they’d seen until they were sick of him.
“So who exactly is this new escort attached to the young lady?”
“Over there, you know, the big person.”
At Ji-a’s words, A-yeong pointed eagerly with her finger toward the playground equipment in the Siyeongwon courtyard.
I naturally turned my gaze to where A-yeong was pointing as well.
Even ordinary playgrounds closed at night and got some rest, but at Siyeongwon, the children rode the equipment day and night, so the apparatus showed the weathering of years in particular force.
‘I wonder if they’re doing proper safety inspections.’
They wouldn’t neglect safety checks on the equipment actually used here while only fussing over guest-facing matters—surely that sort of misfortune wasn’t happening.
While I was preoccupied with other thoughts, Ji-a furrowed her brow and asked again. It seemed she couldn’t quite tell them apart yet, probably because quite a few new people had arrived while the children I’d sent as tutors were away from Siyeongwon.
“Oh, the person operating the equipment over there?”
“No, the person riding it.”
At A-yeong’s words, Ji-a and the other children made puzzled faces.
“……?”
“Riding it?”
That was too much. Even the Chae-tam-in men had all found it fun when they first rode it. This was discrimination.
Of course, I understood why the children were bewildered.
“At fifteen, he’s at the age when riding would be enjoyable.”
“Ah……?”
The youth and children—though I called them children, they were actually all around twenty years old at minimum—made faces of disbelief at such a young age, but there was nothing to be done about it. It was the truth.
Noticing that I was watching him, Cheon-ho, who’d been dragged off as a fresh face by the children the moment he arrived here, looked at me as if asking what the matter was.
I simply waved my hand dismissively at him.
He didn’t need to escort me even within Siyeongwon, so I’d left him alone to play as he pleased, and it seemed he’d blended in surprisingly well.
Come to think of it, on the day I first brought him to Siyeongwon, the children had dragged him off saying he had to pass some test, and then much later, Cheon-ho had returned alone with a curiously triumphant expression.
‘Though something seemed to have happened between them, I didn’t pretend to know.’
On the day Cheon-ho was summoned to the palace, the Crown Prince had called him to congratulate him, but the interview somehow proceeded directly from that, and the Crown Prince, while taking a liking to Cheon-ho, decided to hold off on formally taking him on as an escort for now.
It seemed largely due to the fact that he was younger than expected.
At fifteen, he was still far too young to be taken on as the Princess’s escort anyway.
So while the Crown Prince issued a separate reward, he spoke of not truly understanding what this boy was thinking, and extracted an agreement that I should take the youth along whenever I went out.
Of course, the Crown Prince undertook to provide his stipend separately.
From my perspective, it felt like needless interference, but if I resisted stubbornly, the consequences might fall not on me but on So-i, Ga-i, or Song Bi who served me, so I decided to comply without resistance.
I had caused quite a bit of worry, and not intentionally.
And afterward, the Crown Prince supposedly held a separate meeting with Cheon-ho and Cheon-ho’s Uncle in a place where I was absent.
I don’t know all the details, but I could imagine well enough.
Regarding this incident, though Seong Gyeom-sabok and his colleagues had been too busy with their primary duties, the Crown Prince must have become interested in the ability of Cheon-ho’s Uncle, who’d uncovered the illegal slave trade before they did.
Of course, various other complicated and troublesome matters had occurred, but I decided to concentrate on the children before me.
It had been a long time since I’d seen them like this. Contrary to my concerns, they all looked healthy and seemed to have gotten by well enough.
“So, how do you feel about having lived away from here?”
But the answer was different.
“Home is the best……?”
“Dear me…….”
It seemed the children had been getting on far too well at Siyeongwon.
Well, among those I sent, the ones who found that place suited their nature wanted to stay longer, so I left them there, and only some who wished to return came back.
Of course, I sent out different children in numbers exceeding those who returned. Since the ones who went first had settled in to some degree, these would have an easier time.
Truth be told, I’d been quite strict, thinking that some might end up settling and building lives there after going away, but none of those who returned fell into that category, and the ones remaining said they hadn’t caused any trouble yet. In fact, the girls had leaned more toward distaste for it.
“After living only at Siyeongwon and seeing other regions, I really did feel a clear difference.”
“Besides, we don’t yet have the capacity to establish a household, do we? We have no savings because we’ve just been studying.”
“Well……that is true, but…….”
Perhaps because I’d once criticized yangban with no economic means and living only off studying in front of these children, they were quite negative about hastily marrying without economic capacity.
Of course, I could contribute money, but there were too many of them—how could I provide for everyone?
I could manage wedding gifts at best.
I hadn’t entirely failed to give the children things like stipends during all this time, but it seemed much of it had been spent on living expenses.
And then an unexpected remark came out.
“I’d rather study more, so I’m not too keen on getting married.”
“Right. We all take turns caring for the children at Siyeongwon in shifts, and that’s already exhausting. How could I study after having a baby?”
“And your body suffers after childbirth.”
“Exactly.”
The girls were remarkably pragmatic about it. Well, that was a relief.
Better than getting swept up in romance, losing all sense, having a child recklessly, and living with regret.
“It must have been hard, being away from home.”
“Ha. It was difficult at times, but I found it rewarding in its own way. Teaching was enjoyable too.”
“Oh, I’d never seen the sea before. It was wonderful.”
“I’d never been to the coast either. It was so fascinating.”
“Me too. Back in Hanyang, I’d never even heard of some of those strange-looking fish they sold there.”
With the girls gathered again after their journey, the place was lively and bustling.
“And we brought a gift for you, young lady!”
“A gift?”
“Yes, it will surprise you.”
“Please wait just a moment. We’ll bring it right away.”
They brought something for me?
‘Regional specialty goods, perhaps?’
But most local specialties were already presented as tribute to the royal household, so there was little that could surprise me.
Perhaps I should feign amazement.
Then again, these girls probably wouldn’t miss such a thing.
When I first selected which girls to send to the provinces, Min Sanggung, the Chae-tam-in, and I had agonized over one criterion above all: choosing girls who could go out into the world and return without getting stabbed in the back.
We picked girls who were intelligent, quick-witted, trained in Self-Defense Technique, and possessed the wisdom to navigate society.
We also wanted them to gain some experience of the world beyond the confines of Siyeongwon.
‘It seems they all managed fairly well.’
Of course they did. It wasn’t as if they were sent to regions with no connections—they went to areas where I owned land. Few people were brazen enough to harm someone sent by a landowner, much less someone representing the royal family.
While I was thinking this, the girls who had excused themselves to retrieve the gift returned, carrying something heavy and substantial.
“……??”
“Goodness, it’s heavy.”
“You won’t be able to carry this by yourself.”
They laughed brightly, their eyes gleaming as they urged me to unwrap the bundle.
What on earth could this be……?
Under their eager stares, I untied the knot and found books.
‘Did they collect rare books somehow…… Wait?’
But the handwriting was familiar—the children’s hands.
And the contents were……
“Good heavens!”
My mouth fell open in astonishment after examining just a few volumes.
What on earth had they created?
“I love you all. Truly!”
“Yaaaay!”
***
At the sound of commotion coming from the veranda, Cheon-ho started and turned his head, only to have the children laugh at his reaction.
“It’s nothing serious, so don’t be alarmed.”
“What’s happened?”
The children, who had grown close to Cheon-ho by now, turned toward the veranda and kindly explained.
“The older girls and boys brought a gift, and it seems the young lady loves it.”
“See, I told you it would suit her taste.”
“Hmm?”
Cheon-ho tilted his head as if still confused, and the children grinned smugly.
“We know the young lady better than anyone, so ask us anything you want.”
“Anything? Really?”
“Well, not everything, but……”
They couldn’t claim absolute certainty since they didn’t know what she was like within the palace.
She seemed so at ease here, but surely a princess and someone of high rank would carry herself with more dignity in the proper setting.
The children vaguely held such notions.
“The young lady we see here is the real young lady, though.”
“Yes. That sounds right.”
“Doesn’t it? Doesn’t it?”
After his initial few turns, Cheon-ho had joined in playing with the children, and now, as he stepped away and brushed himself off, Seong Gyeom-sabok, who had been watching, gave his shoulder an approving pat for his efforts.
“You’ve got strength, you’ve got build…… at your level, you could aim for the Military Examination. Don’t you think about it?”
“Me, sir?”
“Yes. Why do you insist on staying at the Princess’s side? I’ve seen you around her more than once. If it’s just bread, there are plenty of ways to get it without having to guard her specifically.”
Had Si-a overheard this, she would have reminded Seong Gyeom-sabok that he was hardly one to talk, but the Princess was too busy being overwhelmed by the children’s gifts, throwing herself into effusive expressions of gratitude, to catch wind of their conversation.
“Well, if I’m being practical about it, sir—when the Princess is nearby, I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from. And I know it’s strange to say, but when I see her, I just feel like I need to protect her.”
Seong Gyeom-sabok pressed further, clearly unsatisfied with Cheon-ho’s vague answer.
“Why?”
“Well, perhaps…”
“Perhaps?”
“When I first met her—or rather, found her—the Princess had been abducted, escaped, and was lying unconscious in the mountains. That’s probably why.”
“…”
“The next time I saw her, I was at a Kisaeng House and nearly got caught listening to the abductors’ conversation, so I took her out. Then this scary fellow suddenly drew his sword and came at me.”
“Ahem.”
The scary fellow, finding nothing to say, cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Then another time I found her on the road and was about to talk to her when some strange man abducted her.”
“…”
“I said I’d go after her and rescue her, so she told me to report the location. I brought people to help as instructed, but by then the abductor was already threatening her…”
“…”
Even Seong Yoon had nothing to say to that.
“Every time I see her, she seems to be in some predicament…… naturally, watching her is nerve-wracking. More than that, how could you let her wander alone?”
Somehow Cheon-ho had turned the tables and was now the one pressing for answers.
“No, normally…… it’s not that bad……”
When he laid out just the facts like this, it was indeed the sort of situation that would make even a stranger worry.
‘Come to think of it, the first time I met her, she was being shaken down by thugs on the street, and the next time at the Safok-si, she was in danger because of fleeing rebels.’
Had he not thought then that this small Princess shouldn’t be left alone in danger?
‘Of course, that wasn’t my only reason……’
What then was driving this boy?

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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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