Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 20

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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 low-ranking concubine.
Chapter 20
“I only ran to save my sister when I saw her fall into the water. It is clear that Gyeongwon is slandering me again, just as he did before.”
“Your Majesty, this is not something we can simply overlook! First he accused me of a terrible crime, and now he’s resorting to violence?”
Ah, this is unbearable.
Yeongbin’s voice rang harsh and clear as she defended her son and condemned Gyeongwon.
“Your Majesty, Gyeongwon treasures the young princess dearly. How could he have stood by and done nothing after witnessing such a terrible sight?”
“Seonbin, what madness are you speaking? Surely you’re not suggesting that Gyeongeon deliberately harmed the child?”
“Indeed, yes. Does Yeongbin not know better than anyone how Gyeongeon treats his younger sister?”
“Are you slandering a prince before the King himself? You understand the consequences of such words?”
This was the first time I’d heard Seonbin raise her voice like this.
If things went wrong, Gyeongwon’s safety would be at risk—so Seonbin could not remain silent either.
But…… why are they still arguing like this?
“Hm-mm.”
“Young lady?”
“Mm…….”
When I opened my eyes, my sister was looking down at me with a worried expression.
‘I must have fallen asleep as the tension from before finally released.’
I barely managed to open my drowsy eyes before burying my face in my sister’s embrace again.
I’m sorry—I must have frightened you.
“Thank goodness you’re unharmed.”
“Mm.”
As I rubbed my eyes and looked around, an attendant waiting nearby suddenly rushed to the King and reported.
“Your Majesty, the young lady has regained consciousness.”
“Sia! Are you all right?”
“Ah…… yes.”
I nodded.
I tried to sit up from where I’d been resting against my sister, but my body had no strength.
‘What’s this?’
I suppose I’d overestimated my own body. I thought I could manage this much.
Unable to move, I was simply blinking in my sister’s arms when the King arrived and took me from her into his own embrace.
Wait, this man?
“What is the meaning of this? Did you not say there was nothing wrong with her?”
“The young lady appears to have been greatly startled by the sudden incident. She will need to rest for some time.”
The familiar-faced Court Physician who had been beside me rushed forward and bowed deeply.
He was right. My body seemed to be in shock from the whole ordeal, so rest was the answer.
I’d heard that children don’t sustain serious injuries when they fall from heights because their bodies don’t tense up—but since my mind is not a child’s, perhaps that became my disadvantage instead.
“Sia?”
“Mm-ugh.”
Still, I forced myself to sit up.
I’d thought things would be resolved by the time I woke, but they’re still arguing heatedly.
It seemed everyone had missed the crucial moment.
‘I went through all that trouble, and the timing didn’t work out.’
All eyes naturally converged on me.
When I lifted my head, I could see Gyeongwon and Gyeongeon kneeling. Behind them stood Seonbin and Yeongbin respectively, watching me with anxious faces.
I raised my finger and pointed at Yeongbin and Gyeongeon. Then I chose my words carefully.
“Bad…… Nain…….”
“Sia is speaking……?!”
Focus on the content.
Yes, but that’s probably too much to hope for.
My biological father, upon hearing my voice, embraced me tightly as if moved to tears.
“Then it was indeed me you called out to just now. Yes. I’m Father.”
“Fath…… er…….”
I was about to repeat this new title to add more emotion to the moment when Gyeongeon seized the opportunity without hesitation.
“M-mother, surely you heard it. Just now she clearly spoke words insulting myself and Yeongbin.”
“The child spoke?”
Everyone seemed incredulous—a child who barely says ‘father’ and ‘bad’ is supposed to have spoken insulting words?
Then someone unexpected spoke up.
“I have also heard Sia speak before.”
Wait, you surely aren’t……?
“Is it true, Gyeongwon?”
“Yes. Because I kept calling him ‘you,’ I taught him that he shouldn’t do that to me—I taught him to say ‘brother’ instead—but it seems it was still too difficult for him to follow, so he fell silent.”
The air around us froze solid.
Well, well. How impressive.
Thanks to that testimony, a hypothesis built itself neatly: a small child who barely knew how to speak had supposedly been thrown into the pond simply for calling me “you.”
“No, no, Your Majesty! That child dared to say something insulting toward me and Yeongbin. I merely disciplined her for it!”
“What insult could a child who’s only just begun to speak possibly have uttered?”
I kept my mouth closed.
“And you threw this child into the pond because she displeased you?”
“I did not throw her!”
“Can you take responsibility for that claim?”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
At that confident answer, the gaze of the king holding me shifted unexpectedly elsewhere.
At the end of that gaze stood a single officer, his face taut with tension.
‘That face… it’s definitely…’
The officer who had followed me earlier.
Was it possible he’d deliberately pretended not to know, only to interrogate her afterward?
“Officer So. Repeat here what you reported earlier.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. When this officer arrived at the pond following the young princess, she was there together with Prince Gyeongeon. Seeing the two of them together, I thought it safe and prepared to watch from a distance—but I saw Prince Gyeongeon seize her by the collar and lift her up. I was startled and came back to report to Your Majesty, and in that interval, this officer failed to anticipate such a calamity would befall. Due to my foolish oversight, the young princess suffered such a terrible ordeal. I beg Your Majesty to take this disloyal life.”
With that, the officer threw himself to his knees.
To interpret what he said, it amounted to roughly this:
Who could have known the child would be thrown into the pond in that span of time?
Honestly, this isn’t really my fault, is it? Right? Yes? Please spare me.
“Officer So’s testimony matches what was recorded earlier. And now that Prince Gyeongwon’s testimony corroborates Officer So’s account, you still claim otherwise?”
It was Prince Gyeongeon and Yeongbin whose faces had gone ashen at the officer’s testimony.
Gyeongeon stammered out excuses.
“B-but, Your Majesty. I am a prince, and no one can insult me. How could I allow a mere princess—daughter of a common palace maid—to insult me?”
Realizing he could no longer bluff his way through, Gyeongeon’s voice trembled, yet he did not stop speaking.
But his manner only seemed to kindle the king’s wrath.
“Who told you such a thing!”
Though he spoke those words, didn’t everyone already know the answer?
The eyes of all present naturally turned toward Yeongbin, standing behind Gyeongeon.
‘It’s done.’
What followed unfolded with lightning speed.
As for Gyeongeon—being a prince, he wouldn’t descend further in rank—but, as I had predicted, all hopes of ever claiming a Daegun’s seat evaporated.
And through this incident, the position of Crown Queen, vacant for so long, was finally filled.
“Your brother will henceforth be called by a different title, not Gyeongwon.”
“Mm.”
I knew.
I’d heard that Seonbin would become Crown Queen, and that Gyeongwon would consequently be invested as a Daegun, receiving a new title of nobility as well.
Yeongbin’s punishment was temporarily suspended, to be properly administered after Seonbin’s formal investiture as Crown Queen. It appeared the king wished to establish the authority of the Crown Queen’s Palace.
We had enjoyed amicable relations with her even before she became Crown Queen, and given the events intertwined with me in her ascension, the Crown Queen favored me—all in all, a most favorable outcome.
Of course, one could never be certain of the future as a concubine’s child, but with both the Crown Prince and Gyeongwon cherishing me, there was little to worry about.
Not long after, I visited the Crown Queen’s Palace.
“Prince Yeongwon truly dotes on the young lady.”
“She is his only sister. How could he not love her dearly?”
Walking unsteadily to pay my respects to the Crown Queen, and then remaining at her side alongside Gyeongwon, I found distant relatives approaching to pay their own respects, subtly marking their presence before me.
Yeongwon was Gyeongwon’s new title of nobility.
‘But Yeongwon… I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere…’
Had I seen something similar in a novel from my past life? I searched my memory, but having read no small number of stories, the recollection remained hazy.
Besides, all these names are much the same anyway.
“Now we can finally be at ease.”
“Yes.”
“…But telling you now, did you know how much danger you were in that day?”
“Huh?”
I tilted my head as though I didn’t understand.
“Those who were following behind you couldn’t find you. If I or your elder brother had arrived even a moment later, who knows what might have happened…!”
“Huh?”
“…I don’t know if you understand or not. Goodness.”
Better to play dumb. Little one.
‘It’s admirable that you worry about me, even so.’
I reached up and patted Gyeongwon’s—or rather, Gyeongwon Daegun’s—shoulder.
“Do well, all right?”
“……You really…….”
In stark contrast to our peaceful moment, Yeongbin’s quarters at Chwiryeongdang held the hush of walking on thin ice.
That place, which had once bristled with arrogance but now fell silent like a lie, grew raucous again not long after the Crown Queen’s Investiture Ceremony concluded.
Though not for any good reason.
Those who believed Yeongbin and Gyeongeon had lost their power showed no restraint whatsoever.
“Because Yeongbin and Gyeongeon have indulged in dissolute behavior within the palace, trusting in their authority all this while, their wrongdoing is not confined to them alone.”
While Yeongbin and Gyeongeon received no substantial punishment, the palace servants who had acted brazenly under their masters’ protection were dragged away en masse.
‘They mean to cut away all the limbs at this opportunity. Though Seonbin—or rather, the Crown Queen—must have harbored plenty of grievances.’
Now fully recovered, I hid behind the palace women who wished to witness Sia’s downfall with their own eyes, eager to see the spectacle unfold. And then I caught sight of a familiar face among those being hauled away and rushed forward.
“Young lady??”
“Don’t go!!”
There was only one person among Chwiryeongdang’s palace women whose face I truly remembered—Nain.
When I ran toward Nain, who was being dragged away like all the others, even the ruthless inspectresses paused in their movements.
My startled attendants rushed over and tried to persuade me.
“Young lady. Why are you doing this?”
“Young lady, you were even afraid to come here. You said there were bad people.”
“No…… not bad.”
My words were slurring together. I frowned and clung to Nain’s skirts.
While everyone stood helpless, unsure how to pry me away, Nain collapsed to her knees before me.
“Ah, young lady. Do you perhaps remember me?”
“Yes. You saved me…… you did!”
How could one forget kindness?
When I nearly took Gyeongeon’s blow, she became my shield though we barely knew each other. And when I was dragged toward the Pond, she threw herself forward to block Gyeongeon’s path.
“……!!”
Sensing something in my words, the inspectresses’ brows flickered.
And of course, this matter was reported to those above.

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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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