Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 25

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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 as the daughter of a lowly concubine.
Chapter 25
“A pregnancy?”
“Yes, miss. You’re going to have a younger brother.”
As I listened to the palace women’s chatter, I racked my memory.
‘There was no mention in of any other concubine bearing a child.’
Prince Yeongwon was twelve years old.
Soon I would be approaching the point where the male and female leads meet in the novel.
Though the details weren’t entirely clear, the novel mentioned that the current Crown Prince would be murdered several years before the two protagonists met, and Prince Yeongwon himself would later face threats of poisoning.
Transformed by distrust of humanity, Prince Yeongwon would hear whispers about the selection of a new Crown Princess and approach her in disguise to learn who this girl was. But the heroine would see through him despite his concealment, refusing to bow and speaking her mind plainly—naturally, he would grow fond of her. Yet when they meet again as adults, he wouldn’t recognize her. Still, according to the novel’s backstory, after those young princesses passed away, there were no more royal descendants.
‘Those princesses lived at most three or four years before dying in childhood, and their deaths were somehow connected to Prince Gyeongeon and his mother.’
If the Crown Prince survived and I now gained a sibling, it meant I had truly rewritten the novel’s trajectory entirely.
‘To this extent, I’ve avoided the tragic arc.’
Of course, given the medical standards of this era, there was no way to know how misfortune might strike in an instant, but that was beyond my control.
“It seems miss is in good spirits today.”
“Yes. I should go congratulate her in person.”
Such a sensitive matter—her attendants likely knew earlier than most.
‘But she didn’t even tell me.’
Now that I thought about it, something had seemed odd when I first tried that pudding. Could that have been morning sickness?
When I was younger, people spoke freely about all sorts of things, but once I reached an age to understand the world a little better, they’d grown as guarded as clams. It was somehow disappointing.
Though matters of importance were still exceptions.
“I don’t understand why the Crown Prince’s Residence people are always so prickly.”
“What are they saying now?”
“Goodness, you’d think we were housing some great lord threatening the Crown Prince himself, the way they act toward us. I can only imagine what it’s like for those actually serving a prince.”
“I don’t follow.”
“The Crown Prince is truly a good man, but I don’t understand why they’re so different from him.”
Hmm. The attendants beside me see the Crown Prince often, so their praise runs high.
As for the Crown Prince’s Residence staff, it makes sense they’d be wary—a concubine born from the palace women might enter before even the Crown Princess herself.
‘But those who serve him must know he harbors no such thoughts.’
Besides, whether she’s of palace origin or not, once a concubine produces a Crown Prince’s child, that alone strengthens the Crown Prince’s position. Why such hostility?
At any rate, I should smooth things over myself.
“I’ll mention it to my brother later.”
“Thank you, miss!”
Everyone would come anyway to offer their congratulations, so there was no need for me to visit first.
‘The Crown Prince would surely arrive with a bright face.’
He was so fond of his younger siblings.
Given that she was young with no powerful backing as a concubine, even if the child were a younger brother, there’d be no real threat.
There’s much to think about and it grows tiresome, but this is how one grows accustomed to palace life.
Still, this was hardly a worry to carry at my age.
***
“Brother!”
“Sia.”
That day, contrary to my expectation that the Crown Prince would arrive with a bright face, he appeared with a darkened expression.
I hurried over and whispered in a small voice.
“What’s wrong? You look terrible.”
“I didn’t sleep well last night. Does it look so bad even to you? That’s troublesome. A countess should only see the good in things.”
“Even with lost sleep, you’re handsome enough that you needn’t worry about such trifles.”
“How is it our Sia always says such pretty things?”
The Crown Prince, who had brought gifts of congratulation for the pregnancy, seemed especially unwell today.
Though the Crown Prince suffered from chronic exhaustion just as much as the king.
“I’ll bring you something delicious. Come here.”
“What?”
I grabbed the hem of the Crown Prince’s sleeve as he finished his greeting and dragged him along. The gazes from those Crown Prince’s Residence attendants grew even more uncomfortable.
What did they expect to do about it?
My own subordinates could be scolded, but they could say nothing to me—such was the reality of the class system.
‘I don’t love wielding rank, but those people’s harassment of my attendants stems from the Crown Prince having more power than me.’
Though that same Crown Prince was weak when it came to his younger siblings.
I led the Crown Prince to a room where refreshments I’d prepared in advance awaited.
“Here, eat. Wait—should I taste it first?”

“No, Sia. Who taught you something like that?”
As I set the pudding before the Crown Prince and spoke, he furrowed his brow and asked.
I was flustered myself, wondering if the Crown Prince hadn’t noticed, and had to search my memory for a moment.
“What? It’s not……?”
“How could I doubt something Sia is offering me?”
“Well, no, but I should still be careful.”
If something went wrong, our household would be ruined.
“I gave this to the Crown Princess too, and she loved it. They say sweet foods are good for tired people!”
“Wow. So this is that pastry you gave to the Queen Dowager and the Crown Princess last time. Or was it some sort of steamed egg?”
It had been well-received at the Queen Dowager’s Hall too—when had word of it spread?
“The name doesn’t really matter. It’s soft and easy to eat. You eat it with a spoon.”
At my insistence, the Crown Prince picked up a spoon, his face brightening slightly as he spooned up the pudding.
“Ah, it really is. The texture is so smooth and sweet—delicious.”
“Do you like it?”
“Yes.”
Thank goodness. I’d poured my heart into making this for the Crown Prince, and it seemed to please him.
“Ah, eating something sweet really does seem to lift my spirits a little…… Have you given any to Father?”
“No, not yet.”
“Ha. So I’ve tasted something Sia made before Father. But why haven’t you given it to him yet?”
“Well, it needs a bit more testing before I give it to Father.”
Since the main ingredient is eggs, even if I test it with a silver hairpin, the discoloration would appear.
“For one so young, you think very carefully, Sia. But won’t Father be disappointed?”
“Hmm. But people keep saying I conduct myself without proper dignity.”
“…… Who says such things?”
“Well, here and there?”
In truth, I’d heard that Sang-gung Im of the Eastern Palace had scolded one of our ladies-in-waiting about serving the Crown Prince properly.
When I hesitated, the Crown Prince seemed to catch something and his brow darkened.
“Did Sang-gung Im say something to you?”
“What? No, even if she’s the chief lady-in-waiting of the Eastern Palace, she couldn’t speak directly to me like that.”
“She didn’t speak directly, no doubt. But how dare she meddle with her tongue about the Crown Prince?”
The Crown Prince, who had sensed what happened, wore a rare expression of anger.
‘Well, she’s the chief lady-in-waiting of the Eastern Palace—there are few people in the world she’d fear.’
In truth, speaking about it so directly to the Crown Prince wasn’t the best approach either.
As I was wondering what to do, the Crown Prince’s face, which had seemed to brighten a bit after eating something delicious, darkened again.
“If I cannot even control those beneath me properly…… I wonder if I have any right to be Crown Prince.”
“No, don’t say such things. You’ve worked so hard all this time—how can you speak like that?”
He wasn’t usually one to think so extremely. What could have happened?
Suddenly, I remembered that the Crown Prince had stopped by Chuiyeong Hall before we parted yesterday.
“Did something happen at Chuiyeong Hall yesterday? Did that woman trouble you again?”
“Hmm. I don’t want to talk about that.”
“So she troubled you again.”
He went out of his way to see her and look after her, and all she did was shout at him instead of offering kind words.
Poor thing.
When I patted the shoulders of the Crown Prince, who looked exhausted, a deflating laugh—like air leaking from a punctured skin—escaped his lips.
Whatever it was, it seemed to help.
“Ha. How would your brother even live without Sia?”
“Well. Hurry up and have a baby so you can be comforted by a princess or a county lady instead.”
At my teasing remark—telling him to stop clinging to his sister and make a baby to hold instead—the Crown Prince’s eyebrows drooped weakly.
“Our youngest is quite heartless.”
“I’m not the youngest anymore, you know?”
“Ah, that’s true too.”
As I laughed away, the Crown Prince’s face also became a little more at ease.
“Hmm. But you’re right, Sia. I really should take another Crown Princess.”
“Are you still hesitant about it?”
“Yes. It hasn’t been long since she left, and now I’m supposed to take another consort—it doesn’t sit right with me. If she hadn’t become Crown Princess, perhaps she wouldn’t have gone. And now another new Crown Princess……”
Moreover, I heard they were planning to bring in a concubine along with her this time, and I couldn’t feel good about any of it.
“We have no choice either way. Such is life.”
“Ha. That’s true as well. Yes, I want to treat her well. This time……”
It was always the way—when you thought of someone who had gone, only regret remained.
‘Hmm. Now that I think of it, I heard something similar long ago.’
A thought suddenly came to me.
“What if you gave me a ring as a gift or something?”
“Hmm?”
“Mother still has the ring she gave the Crown Princess back when you were Crown Prince.”
“……Really?”
“Yes. She said she bought it when she went out in disguise.”
I’d definitely seen it when I was small, and then several times after that.
“Father gave Mother a ring……”
“……?”
He didn’t know?
Well, these palace families really don’t talk much, do they.
The Crown Prince, his face a complex mixture of pleasure and something else, pulled me close again and rubbed his cheek against mine.
Seriously, just get a dog or have a baby or something…….
“……How did our Sia become so clever?”
“I was born this way?”
“Pfu-hu-hut.”
I’d heard it so much since childhood that I’d grown calm in my response, but it seemed the Crown Prince never tired of hearing it.
Then again, the Crown Prince was a handsome but boring man. The way he buried himself in studying like that, it was only natural he’d become dull……or something like that?
Why did I find myself defending him all the time without even realizing it.
“This lonely place gains another unfortunate soul, so I must treat you well, as you say.”
“You’re lonely?”
“Ha. When I’m the only one left in the palace, and you marry off too, I’ll be even more lonely, won’t I? By then Prince Yeongwon won’t be here either.”
“I’ll visit you often.”
“Good. Come often. If your husband doesn’t listen to you, tell your brother right away.”
“I will. If I don’t like him, I’ll just live alone.”
He’s saying the most absurd things to a six-year-old.
Then again, the Crown Prince’s first marriage had been unusually late.
Royal marriages typically happened at quite a young age, so it wouldn’t have been strange if the Crown Prince was already married by the time I was born.
In that sense, the Crown Princess married young as well, and as the Crown Princess she had to be separated from her family and live in the palace, so she must have felt lonely.
Moreover, unlike princes and princesses who became independent after marriage and received their own residences, the Crown Princess had to enter the strict Royal Family, serve her in-laws—the King and Queen—layer upon layer, and endure the harsh trials of being a daughter-in-law to her husband’s family.
Sometimes, if unlucky, she even had to serve the Queen Dowager, and if the Queen wasn’t the King’s birth mother, she had to manage that relationship too…….
‘A weak person would probably drop dead from shock.’
Despite it all, the current Queen was managing well enough without major incident.
“Live alone? What about your husband—you want to live alone?”
“I’m a princess, aren’t I? Why can’t I live alone? If I live alone, you won’t give me money?”
“No, of course Father will give you a house and fields as a princess, and I can give you whatever you need……. But you can’t live alone when you have a husband, can you.”
“If my husband dies, can’t a princess live alone too?”
“Well…… no, that’s not…… surely you wouldn’t want your husband to……”
I didn’t mean it that way, but I suppose it sounded like I was saying I’d kill him.
“I’ll try my best not to kill him.”
“……Sia, dear.”
I’m not sure what was so funny about that, but the Crown Prince trembled with laughter again.
“I really need to choose your son-in-law carefully when you marry off.”
“Wait—were you planning to choose carelessly?”
“N-no no, of course not.”
My earnest protest, my furrowed brow—for some reason it struck him as hilarious, and after a long fit of breathless laughter, the Crown Prince finally managed to stop and asked in a somewhat calmer voice.
“Tell me, Sia—do you believe you can change your predetermined fate?”
“I do!”
I already have.
In the novel, after the young princesses’ deaths, the King fell into despair and no more Royal Descendants were born.
But now a child had been born, and that alone meant the storyline I’d read had already diverged.
“But you and Sia are of the Royal Family……?”
“Well. If I don’t want to marry and the night before the ceremony I pack my things and run off to Mount Geumgang for sightseeing, then that’s changing my fate.”
“We…… Sia, why are you always so extreme?”
Even as he said it, the Crown Prince set me on his lap and spent a long time stroking my hair.
I wanted to complain about the heat, but something seemed off about his mood, so I just let him have his therapy.
Maybe because the palace was so vast and so full of hardship, everyone seemed to want to find healing whenever they saw me.
After a while, his mood having lifted somewhat, the Crown Prince released me and walked me back to my quarters, whispering as we went.
“……If your husband doesn’t suit you later, just tell your brothers, all right, Sia?”
“We’ll see.”
“Mount Geumgang too—my brother will send for it, so go with your son-in-law. All right?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Do think on it, won’t you?”
The Crown Prince whispered the words with playful intent, then flicked my nose lightly with his finger before rising to his feet.
If I were a child, I might have told him what I was thinking.
In any case, not a soul in this household seemed to have an easy mind.
‘When I finally do leave this place, I’ll tell them all to keep a dog or a cat.’
I found myself with that thought, running my fingers through hair that had grown glossy from being patted by so many hands.

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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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