Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 23

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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 as the daughter of a lowborn Concubine.
Chapter 23
‘I’ve done it.’
It took longer than expected, but I’d managed to produce something reasonably satisfying.
“Hee-hee-hee.”
“Young Miss, you seem to be in quite a good mood.”
“Yeah. It turned out okay.”
“You rejected it so many times, saying ‘This isn’t it!’ that we were quite flustered. However did you come up with such a dish?”
“Well, somehow it just happened.”
I felt a bit bad for the Palace Maids in the Royal Kitchen, but after several attempts and failures, I’d finally managed to create what I wanted.
‘It seems there are people who know about my mother.’
The looks directed at me were mixed—some favorable, others ambiguous.
‘Some seem to view me as the daughter of a former colleague who rose suddenly in status……’
Still, since Song Bi, who had also been a former colleague, acknowledged me, everyone greeted me with reasonably warm faces.
‘I failed several times, but it turned out exactly as I wanted.’
When I mentioned wanting to make a sweet and silky Steamed Egg Custard, everyone thought it was nothing difficult, but to achieve the texture I wanted, it actually took considerable time.
‘As a result, the Palace Maids were forced to taste-test this new sweet Steamed Egg Custard.’
I’m so sorry!
Still, thanks to Song Bi, who retained her touch from her old days working in the Royal Kitchen, we succeeded faster than I’d expected.
It was probably too difficult for my young hands to do alone, so I mostly just directed from the sidelines with my voice.
‘Controlling the heat really is the hardest part.’
I didn’t even dare dream of an electric oven, but I did miss a gas stove or microwave. Not that missing them would change anything.
After cooling it thoroughly in well water and tasting it, the result was better finished than I’d anticipated.
Without gelatin, it lacked that bouncy texture, but even this was something.
‘Making caramel sauce feels so wasteful with precious sugar burning away, so it’s probably better to stick with honey next time too, right?’
Though it once threatened my life in childhood, now it was considered health food.
In this era, desserts simply didn’t exist without honey.
Upon returning to my quarters after dinner, I pressed the chilled Pudding directly into the hands of my birth mother, who was now known as Yun Suk-ui.
“My, Young Miss. What is this?”
“Something delicious.”
“Is it Steamed Egg Custard?”
“It’s similar, but a bit different. Song Bi and I made it together.”
I hastened to offer this explanation to spare her unnecessary worry, and she seemed relieved.
“I’ve never considered such a combination, but it’s sweet and smooth—quite delicious.”
After tasting it for a moment, my mother covered her mouth as though something were troubling her. She seemed about to gag.
“What’s wrong? What is it?”
“No, it’s nothing at all.”
Then, as if thinking it over, she blinked her eyes and added this:
“There’s a slightly fishy taste from the eggs—wouldn’t it be better to add a bit of fruit cordial?”
“Oh, that’s a great idea.”
Normally one would use vanilla extract to mask the eggy smell, but since that wasn’t available here, I’d been struggling—and her unexpected solution made me clap my hands in delight.
“During my time in the Royal Kitchen, I used to secretly make sweets and share them with the other maids. It’s been such a long time since anyone made something for me like this. That it would be you, Young Miss, who made something for me—I never would have imagined it.”
The Pudding stirred unexpected old memories, and nostalgia softened my mother’s face as she ate.
Then, looking at me again, she smiled with joy.
“I wonder if you’ve inherited your nature from me, Young Miss.”
“People say we look alike just from our faces.”
“Hee-hee. So they do.”
Setting down the Pudding, my mother’s hands drew me into a warm embrace, gently stroking my hair.
Though the Royal Household observed strict propriety even between parent and child, with only the two of us present now, we clung to each other like an ordinary mother and daughter, whispering softly.
Since childhood, when it had been difficult to act childlike, it had never been hard to behave tenderly toward my birth mother, who resembled me. Of course, I still had to be careful with my words.
“Did Mother make sweets from childhood too?”
“Sweets are precious foods here, so I first learned to make them after entering the palace. As for my childhood—I couldn’t even dream of sweet things then. My joy was stealing sweets from the Royal Kitchen.”
“Since childhood……”
So she must have entered the palace as a Palace Maid from a young age.
‘She’s never spoken of family before, and I’ve never asked.’
Despite becoming a favored Concubine, I’d never seen her maintain contact with any relatives.
“Did you have no other family?”
“I lost everyone in childhood and was taken in by relatives. But since their circumstances were difficult, I entered the palace as a Palace Maid to reduce the burden.”
“Mmm.”
When I embraced her warmly in comfort, my mother nuzzled her cheek against mine with joy.
“I drifted apart from my relatives so completely that the bonds snapped like dry thread, yet I had a friend closer than family. A child my age who lived nearby…… whenever my relatives lacked food, I’d notice they wouldn’t give me my portion, so he’d secretly share his own meals with me. Though that boy’s family was hardly prosperous either, you understand.”
“A true friend, indeed.”
In those lean times, when food was scarce, common folk like us certainly knew seasons of hunger. It was remarkable—relatives wouldn’t even share their grain, so for a stranger to do so willingly was all but unheard of.
“Isn’t it? One day, he vanished, promising that once he grew wealthy, he’d earn enough to feed me well. After that, I entered the palace as a maid myself, and the promise went unkept.”
“He never came looking for you?”
“……He came once, pretending to be my cousin.”
So he was a boy after all?
The moment those words slipped from her lips, nostalgia clouding her face, Yun Suk-ui seemed to catch herself. She went pale and brought her forefinger quickly to her mouth.
“You mustn’t tell a soul about this. Do you understand?”
“I won’t.”
I nodded solemnly.
For a child as young as I appeared to be, I rarely caused trouble, but even I recognized what she’d just said was dangerous.
I’d been picturing a girl all along, and then she says cousin.
‘Hmm. So they were something like that, were they?’
No wonder they’d shared blood-ties worth of food.
It was ancient history and hardly a crime, but if he’d come to the palace posing as a relative while she was a palace maid—that crossed a line. Now that she’d risen to Concubine, the last thing she needed was for someone to twist old matters against her.
Discretion was far safer.
Still, when nobody from her own blood came calling, wouldn’t she long for the one who did?
“Have you seen him since?”
“……It’s better not to invite misunderstanding. And Young Miss, you absolutely cannot tell anyone either. Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
After she’d made me swear several times over, the conversation drifted back to the Pudding I’d prepared.
“Would it be proper for me to help you make it next time?”
“I’d like that.”
“Once you’ve made it yourself, His Majesty will surely be delighted when you present it to him.”
“Giving it to Father… might be a bit awkward, don’t you think?”
The diets of kings and crown princes were invariably finicky affairs.
“But it’s a dish made by a Princess herself. Why not bring it when you next visit him?”
“All right.”
There had been a time when the King and I didn’t seem particularly close, but since he’d begun visiting me, their warmth toward each other had grown noticeably deeper.
‘Come to think of it, was it around the time Young Bin started tormenting me?’
It bothered me a little—the thought that he might have gotten swept into this rivalry over my favor against his better judgment.
‘Though there’s hardly any competition left to speak of these days.’
The Queen Consort remained frail, and the King was hardly a man consumed by carnal desire.
With only Prince Yeongwon and myself as children in the palace, his visits to see me had become frequent.
“Do you think she’d accept some Pudding as well?”
“She’s unlikely to dislike something sweet and soft.”
Paying respects to the Queen Consort was one of the daily duties expected of royal children, yet since she was delicate and sensitive by nature, she’d declined to receive them in person—so we merely sent servants with our regards.
Even before becoming Queen Consort, after Prince Yeongwon’s birth, she’d borne no more children and had kept herself in careful seclusion ever since. The fact that her manner hadn’t changed suggested she was a woman of unwavering principle.
Frail, yes—but also rather fearful, it seemed.
Still, my mother and I got along with her reasonably well.
‘And I’m close to Prince Yeongwon, too.’
If there were only three of us as siblings now, the Crown Prince was perpetually occupied with duty. Even with our age difference, Prince Yeongwon and I naturally spent more time together.
Though for his part, Prince Yeongwon had his own studies to pursue as a Prince.
‘Perhaps I should make fresh Pudding and visit both the Queen Mother’s Residence and the Central Palace with it.’
To survive in the palace, one needed to keep the right relationships warm.
***
I visited the Central Palace with the Pudding chilled several days later.
“Oh? Crown Prince!”
“Hmm? To think I’d meet you by chance—must be my lucky day.”
I’ve thought it before, but this man’s flirtatiousness is second nature to him.
Of course, the East Palace stood separate from the Concubine’s Quarters, so you didn’t see each other often unless you went out of your way—yet somehow we ran into each other fairly regularly anyway.
“What brings you to the Central Palace?”
“I made something delicious for the Queen Consort.”
“Something delicious? Did you make it yourself?”
“No, I was just the assistant—you know, ‘do this for me, do that for me.'”
At my bold admission, the Crown Prince and even his escort couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, you must take care while cooking—dangerous business. Anyway, you’re quite the dutiful daughter. What is it, I wonder? Your brother is curious too.”
“I’ll give you some later.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
The Crown Prince had bent down to match my eye level as he spoke softly, and a bow hung at his waist.
“Are you going to practice archery?”
“Indeed. Does it interest you?”
“Yes.”
I’d been to archery cafés with friends back then, but I’d heard that Korean Archery was something else entirely.
Seeing my eyes light up, the Crown Prince smiled, his eyes crinkling with delight.
“You’re still too small for it now, but when you grow a bit more, I’ll teach you myself.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Shall I teach you to ride as well? It’s not a bad thing to become familiar with such arts from a young age.”
“I’d love that!”
As I laughed and clung to him, the Crown Prince lifted me up with obvious delight.
“You’re so small now—when will you ever grow big enough to learn the bow?”
“Before long, I’m sure.”
As the Crown Prince and I laughed together, most of his attendants wore expressions that were far from pleasant.
The exceptions were his personal guard, who stuck to his side like glue, and a rather simple-minded young eunuch.
Jwa Sema Yeon Seon-o, who had served as the Crown Prince’s guard since before I could even walk, was one of the few people in the household who smiled genuinely when he saw me.
But the rest of his attendants? That was another matter entirely.
‘What is it about these people that they always seem so displeased?’
With only such people around him, weighed down as he was by constant study and duties, it was no wonder the Crown Prince grew tired.
So whenever he saw me, his face would light up and he’d come running.
“The three of us should eat together again later.”
By “three,” I meant myself, the Crown Prince, and Prince Yeongwon—the three of us siblings.
Apart from Prince Gyeongeon, whom I’d never been close to, these were the only siblings I could truly rely on.
‘I’ve heard the Crown Prince visits Prince Gyeongeon sometimes. Though it seems he doesn’t hear pleasant things in return.’
Whether it was excessive kindness or not, the Crown Prince seemed to care more about Prince Gyeongeon than their father, the King.
Come to think of it, the palace maids had mentioned that Prince Gyeongeon and Young Bin were close to relatives on the Crown Prince’s maternal side.
In any case, the Crown Prince, who cherished his younger siblings, clearly enjoyed spending time with us.
So I thought he would naturally be pleased—but instead, his expression had grown somewhat clouded.
“Ah… yes, let’s do that.”
“Why do you look like that, brother?”
“Well. In truth, I had planned to practice archery with Prince Yeongwon today, but something has prevented that.”
“……??”
Looking at how relaxed he seemed playing with me just now, what could have come up?
“Would you visit Prince Yeongwon later and tell him for me?”
“Of course.”
Not understanding the reason, I simply nodded.
And the reason became clear once I entered the Central Palace.
“Prince Yeongwon. Do you understand what this mother is saying?”
“I hear you, Your Highness.”
Prince Yeongwon was in the Central Palace.
But the atmosphere between him and the Consort did not seem pleasant at all.

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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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