Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 28

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Born the daughter of a lowly concubine.
Chapter 28
The Crown Prince’s funeral, they said, would be a Ceremonial Funeral, not a State Funeral.
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard this.
They’d called the Crown Princess’s funeral a Ceremonial Funeral too. But it was certainly one piece of information I’d never wanted to know.
‘My eyes won’t open.’
It seemed that after crying myself to sleep again, someone had carried me back to my quarters.
Still, my eyes felt refreshed, so they must have laid a cold cloth across them while I slept.
I’d woken, but I had no desire to move—I simply sprawled across the warm ondol floor.
Lying here in a daze, my parents’ funeral came to mind.
Had I fallen asleep midway through that too?
No—back then, I’d been caught up in the arrangements, the procedures, and later receiving visitors. I’d had no time to think.
And because I’d spent so long in the hospital, I’d had time to prepare myself, to understand what was coming.
At some point, I’d simply known. There would be no getting better.
So at their funeral, I’d been composed, almost calm.
Ah, I remembered now.
During my parents’ funeral preparations, I’d been composed too—until the casket ceremony, when suddenly the tears had come pouring down.
But this time, I couldn’t even see his face one last time.
It was so absurd that here, with nothing required of me, the funeral proceeded smoothly on its own, and I’d fallen into a pattern of crying and sleeping, sleeping and crying.
So much so that I’d lost track of how many days had passed.
“They say the body isn’t even intact.”
“Hush, be quiet. The young lady might hear.”
From beyond the door, young attendants were whispering gossip about the Crown Prince in voices that carried through perfectly.
“All the guards with him are dead or wounded, and what’s to be done?”
“Jwa Se-ma alone came out of it unscathed, they say.”
“That man caught the tiger, didn’t he?”
“He caught the tiger after everyone else was dead?”
“Well, there was more than one, apparently.”
“I heard that tigers used to leap into the Palace itself in the old days. Can you imagine?”
If they were simply gossiping for amusement, I’d have gone out and scolded them, but these attendants were genuinely frightened.
‘Thanks to them, I learned things easily enough.’
No matter how chaotic things were, no one would be foolish enough to tell a six-year-old child about the Crown Prince’s death directly, but amid all the confusion, I’d managed to piece together some understanding from the whispers drifting here and there.
But still, I needed to hear it properly.
‘I need to go see Jwa Se-ma.’
He was the only one who’d witnessed the Crown Prince’s final moments.
“They say they’ll burn what’s left of the body—what the tiger ate—so the tiger won’t come looking for it.”
“But what if it really does follow here? Why, there are strange rumors going around these days. Tiger tracks spotted, ghosts….”
Creak—
“Good heavens.”
When I opened the door and stepped out, the attendants who’d been in the midst of their sinister conversation startled and scrambled to their feet.
One of the younger maids hurried off to fetch the other servants.
No doubt they were all somewhere weeping in secret, speaking of the Crown Prince.
“Young lady, you’ve Woken from Sleep?”
“Yes. There’s somewhere I need to go.”
“…It would be better if you drank some water first.”
As I turned to leave without ceremony, the attendants—already accustomed to my nature—gave up trying to stop me and simply began attending to me instead.
“Do you know where Jwa Se-ma is?”
“Pardon?”
The sharp gaze of the senior attendants turned toward the younger maids who’d been keeping watch over my sleeping quarters.
Those girls would probably be scolded later. Since they all seemed unwilling to speak and claimed ignorance, I decided I’d simply find someone who would know.
***
I went to the Royal Medical Bureau.
“Young lady, what brings you here at this hour?”
“I want to see Jwa Se-ma. Do you know where he is?”
“Please, wait just a moment?”
Because a physician recognized me and spoke first, finding Jwa Se-ma was easy.
He was receiving treatment at that very moment.
‘They said his limbs were unscathed.’
Rumors truly couldn’t be trusted.
Jwa Se-ma had bandages wound tightly around his face, so I could only see half of it clearly—and blood and pus were seeping through in a way that made it obvious he was gravely wounded.
If “limbs being intact” means the limbs are still attached to the body, then yes, that’s accurate enough.
“Are you… all right?”
“Your Highness?”
“There’s nothing to get up for. Rest.”
“No, I’m fine. Truly.”
Jwa Se-ma couldn’t meet my eyes, weighed down perhaps by guilt that he hadn’t protected the Crown Prince.
“I’m sorry—I know you’re not well either. But I thought you’d give me the most accurate account.”
Looking at Jwa Se-ma’s face, I found myself imagining what the Crown Prince’s final moments must have been like, and without thinking, my hands began to tremble. Sensing my state, Jwa Se-ma fell silent as well.
“It would be better if you did not hear this.”
“I need to hear it.”
“…… It is said that the Crown Prince could not overcome your stubbornness, and it seems he was right.”
……
At the mention of the Crown Prince, tears threatened to spill again, so I looked away.
“But the Crown Prince……”
“I already know what a Tiger Calamity is. Don’t hold back.”
It was a story of a man killed by a tiger—hardly fit for a child’s ears.
Jwa Se-ma, equally uncomfortable, groped for his words and began to unfold the tale.
“…… After that, a sudden snowfall separated the Crown Prince and a few of us from the rest of the party.”
That day, the Crown Prince’s group waited for the snow to ease, hoping to hurry back. But instead, the horse slipped on the icy road, and the Crown Prince was thrown.
Fortunately, the Crown Prince, who had not been badly injured, was reaching to mount Jwa Se-ma’s horse when his own would not rise—when a tiger appeared, as if it had been waiting.
Perhaps it was because of the blood-stained clothes.
The tiger pursued the Crown Prince, who had barely managed to mount, with relentless fury.
While the guards diverted its attention and escorted the Crown Prince, Jwa Se-ma stood against the tiger at the cost of his life.
“It was an old tiger. Its movements were sluggish, so I managed to inflict a mortal wound with the Strong Bow alone.”
Even a Tiger Hunter would not attempt such a dangerous thing as hunting a tiger alone.
So it could only be called luck. At least, at that point.
He abandoned the horse, which could no longer run due to the tiger’s attack, and followed the tracks left in the snow to find the Crown Prince’s group, who had fled.
But those he had naturally expected to have escaped safely……
“Forgive me. It was my negligence.”
Tigers mostly hunt alone, but there are always exceptions.
Those he thought were safe had been left in a horrific state by another tiger’s attack.
And Jwa Se-ma had already exhausted his arrows killing the first tiger.
To face another tiger with such an exhausted body meant there was no hope of returning alive.
All that remained was a single sword at his waist.
He managed to wound it, but as the tiger’s forepaw grazed his head, consciousness fled and he collapsed.
Had his dodge been any slower, he would have died on the spot.
Barely regaining awareness, the tiger’s fangs were already closing in through his dimming vision.
In the moment when he thought it was over and gave up all hope, closing his eyes, the sound of wind splitting filled the air, and the tiger that seemed about to end Jwa Se-ma’s life suddenly twisted and howled.
An arrow was lodged in the tiger’s flank.
And another arrow struck the beast.
At the same moment, the voice of the Crown Prince—whom he had already thought dead—rang out.
“You want me! Come after me!”
It would have been better if he had simply fled.
The foolish Crown Prince, in his stupidity, risked his own life to save his guard.
He should have stopped him, but his body would not obey, and he lost consciousness.
“And when I opened my eyes again, I was the only one left alive.”
Dragging his wounded body, he followed the tiger’s trail and found the wounded, panting tiger and the scattered, partially devoured remains of those it had consumed.
From the remaining clothes and belongings, it was possible to identify who they were. It was not difficult to recognize the Crown Prince’s robes in particular.
Without hesitation, he used the sword of his dead comrade to cut the life from the tiger, and as the tension released, he lost consciousness again.
When soldiers found him and he received emergency treatment, it fell to him as well to identify whose bodies lay before him.
“Moreover, the Crown Prince was carrying portraits of the Grand Prince and Your Highness in his bosom……”
“…… That’s just like him.”
At Jwa Se-ma’s words about identifying the body, I pressed my aching eyes and let out a breath.
He should have run.
Should have.
But that was who the Crown Prince was.
It was such a fitting end for my brother—too fitting—and my heart felt a little heavier for it.
“Thank you for telling me. I’m sorry for bothering you when you’re hurt. Please, rest now.”
“Your Highness is merciful.”
Jwa Se-ma had asked the King for punishment for failing to protect the Crown Prince, but it was not accepted, he said.
Perhaps she thought the same way I did.
‘Resentful as I am, if I punish this person, the Crown Prince’s death becomes meaningless anyway.’
Surely the Crown Prince would never have wanted that.
I stepped outside, trying to settle my troubled heart.
By the time our conversation had wound to a close, the sky had already darkened.
“My lady, the air grows cold. You should return soon.”
“All right. Jwa Se-ma, you needn’t come further.”
“That’s not possible.”
It felt burdensome to have an injured man trailing after me.
But he seemed to carry some guilt about the matter, so I told him to do as he wished.
Perhaps because the night had grown dark, my attendants actually seemed reassured by his presence.
‘I’d rather not have my attendants show how much they enjoy being near a man outside the palace.’
Most of the palace women here would leave with me anyway when I depart for my marriage, so there was little real harm in it.
But then I noticed one of them looking elsewhere, and puzzled, I tugged at her sleeve.
“What is it?”
“Forgive me, my lady. I thought I saw someone I knew, and—”
“Someone you know?”
“It appears to be one of the attendants from Hong Suk-won’s quarters—I mean, from the royal concubine’s chambers. It distracted me for a moment.”
Jo Ga-i had been an attendant in Hong Suk-won’s household, so she was well acquainted with the women who served there.
The physician who had come to see me off nodded at what Ga-i had said.
“Since the Crown Prince’s ceremonial funeral opened access for the women of Chui-yeong Hall, visits to the Royal Medical Bureau have become frequent. The concubine is naturally prone to Heart Fire, so she has been taking medicinal broths regularly all this while.”
“I see.”
I’d heard that Hong Suk-won, upon learning of the Crown Prince’s ceremonial funeral, had wept and pleaded to be allowed to pay her final respects, saying she wished to repay even a fraction of the grace he had shown her.
She had been granted temporary permission. From my perspective, it wasn’t entirely pleasant, but considering there was now no one left to look after them with the Crown Prince gone, it was something I could bear.
In truth, the Gyeongeon clan and their troubles were of their own making, but it was an environment that would breed melancholy.
There was nothing unusual about a palace attendant visiting the Medical Bureau.
Still, I didn’t much care to see it.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, my lady.”
I walked slowly, conversing with Jwa Se-ma as we went.
“The other guards will be given honorable burials too, won’t they?”
“They gave their lives protecting the Crown Prince, so His Majesty will surely not turn his back on them.”
“I hope so.”
Most of the Crown Prince’s Guard members who had always followed him were familiar faces, and my spirits sank at the thought.
I never wanted to experience the death of someone I knew.
“What will happen to the Crown Prince’s Guard?”
“It will be reorganized to serve the new Crown Prince.”
A new Crown Prince.
It was something that naturally had to be said, but hearing it from another’s lips left a bitter taste.
“What about you, Jwa Se-ma?”
“I no longer have the standing to serve. I mean to step down from my post.”
“But surely the Crown Prince wouldn’t have wanted that?”
I’d heard that Jwa Se-ma came from a fallen yangban family, and through sheer determination became a Tiger Hunter before eventually rising to his position through his connection to the Crown Prince. And now he meant to resign?
“After serving the Crown Prince for all these years, I have no shame left to serve a new master.”
“Even so, visit me before you resign. I’d like to speak with you once more.”
“Yes, my lady.”
He was someone the Crown Prince valued—I should give him something before he leaves.
Ordinarily I’d expect the King to provide for his retirement, but there was no telling whether His Majesty would even have the presence of mind for such things.
“The night is cold. Go now. The Crown Prince gave you your life back—you must treasure it.”
“Yes, my lady.”
My words seemed unexpected. Jwa Se-ma, wrapping his bandaged arm close against his body, smiled faintly. Then he drew a deep breath and opened his mouth with difficulty.
“The Crown Prince was greatly looking forward to seeing how you would grow—as a clever and wise person.”
“…Yes.”
“Please take care of your health, my lady.”
“You too. Mind yourself, Jwa Se-ma.”
I watched him turn back at the Inner Gate, then continued toward my quarters through a dark and silent night.
With only the flickering lamplight to guide the way through the darkness, it should have felt natural enough, yet in all the years since my return to this life, the palace had never seemed so barren and desolate.
‘Perhaps it’s only natural during the mourning period.’
By any measure, the Crown Prince’s reputation had been good—he was remembered as sincere and gentle in nature.
Officially his death was recorded as an accident from a fall, but rumors of the truth were surely spreading through whispered channels.
Not long ago, some loose-tongued palace attendants had been caught spreading rumors about Tiger Consumption and Changguai, then dragged away.
I had heard those same whispers the attendants were trading about just moments before.
Tales of tiger paw prints left behind, of hearing the dead Crown Prince’s voice — idle gossip, all of it.
“A Changguai, then…….”
“Miss, you mustn’t speak such inauspicious words.”
“Right. Do you know what that even is, Ga-i?”
A Changguai was the spirit of someone killed by a tiger — enslaved to its will, it would lure the living into the beast’s jaws, offerings of flesh for its master.
Thanks to Park Ji-won’s Tiger Tale, every scholar had heard the term at least once.
When I asked to be sure, Jo Ga-i nodded solemnly and pressed the matter upon me with utmost gravity.
“Miss, if you should hear a voice calling your name, you must not answer it — absolutely not.”
“You believe in such superstitions?”
A spirit that becomes Changguai calls the names of those it knew in life, luring them to their doom.
Now that there were no young men left within the Palace walls to call my name, if such a voice were to reach my ears, it would surely be the work of a Changguai.
And in that very moment,
—Si-a.
A young man’s voice called out through the bleak winter wind, clear and unmistakable.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————