Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 29

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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 minor concubine.
29
The already chill night air cut across my spine with a chilling edge.
“Who’s there!”
My voice cracked without my meaning to, torn and strange.
The palace attendants following behind me seemed not to have heard, murmuring among themselves, but when their voices faded and silence descended, a sound came again, as though something had been waiting for exactly this moment.
-Sia. Sia……
“Agh.”
This time the palace attendants heard it too; I caught the sharp intake of breath from behind me.
-Sia……
Though it was calling my name, the voice was utterly unfamiliar, and my brow furrowed of its own accord.
But it seemed the attendants heard something different.
“Your—Your Highness……?”
-Sia……
As though answering the attendant’s call, the voice drew steadily closer.
And as the palace attendants grasped this, their faces drained of color one by one.
“Aahhh!!”
“Kyaaaah!!”
Whether it had been hiding in the shadow of a building or elsewhere, at the same moment the terrified attendants screamed, a massive silhouette hurled itself from the darkness.
-Come here. Your brother says so.
Tense at the sound of that unidentifiable voice, my attendants blocked my path and began slowly backing away.
There was no one else on this path to call out to for help—only us.
The strange standoff did not last long; something shaped like a four-legged beast began rushing toward us with a growl.
The form flickering in the light of the lantern the attendants held looked like a tiger’s face.
“Kyaaaaaahhh!!!”
Gai, holding me close, and the palace attendants began to run, their screams piercing the night.
In the darkness, the lantern was our only light, but in their panic the attendants dropped it as they fled, plunging our escape route into shadow.
Nestled safely in Gai’s arms as we ran, I was the only one who could see whatever this was in any detail. And yet even with him sheltering me, I couldn’t make out what it was in the darkness.
‘What is that? What is it?’
Did this world really have monsters and things like that?
Strange toxins had appeared before, but I didn’t remember such creatures being part of the setting. Could I be misremembering, confusing this with another story?
Focused on shielding Gai who held me, I heard the screams of the attendants behind us multiply.
Without even looking back, Gai ran on, gasping almost in tears, but whether from exhaustion or having slipped on ice, he stumbled and fell.
“Ah……!”
Hitting the ground, Gai seemed to realize escape was no longer possible; he pulled me close and braced himself.
As the thing loomed before my eyes, it raised what might have been an arm or a foreleg, and at that moment something glinted, reflecting the moonlight.
“Young miss! Are you unharmed?!”
“Young miss!!”
And in that instant, the sudden sound of men’s voices startled the creature; it stopped mid-motion and quickly fled.
“Ah, young miss!”
“Young miss!!”
Soon the attendants scattered across the ground scrambled up and rushed to check on me.
The owner of the voice that had just saved us also approached.
“……Jwa Sema?”
“Yes, it is I. What on earth happened……? Are you unharmed?”
It was Jwa Sema and the night physician from the Royal Medical Office—we had just parted from them moments ago. They must have come running at the sound of the attendants’ screams.
“I’m all right. What about the others?”
As I turned my head, the palace attendants who had been lying on the ground struggled to their feet. Some remained down after the impact, but the physician hurried over to take their pulse, then let out a relieved breath.
“They are well. They are only unconscious.”
“We are unhurt.”
“Thank goodness.”
They had all been knocked down by that thing, but fortunately no one was seriously injured.
After confirming everyone’s safety, the tension finally drained from me, and I sank into Gai’s embrace.
“I’m grateful you two arrived when you did.”
“We simply happened to be nearby.”
“Though this body is still unfit for such exertion……”
The physician could not bring himself to blame Jwa Sema, only heaving a sigh. Had he been alone, even a physician would surely have been terrified.
I could guess without asking why they had been able to reach us so quickly.
They had come back along the very path we had taken in our flight, which meant they were not far from the Royal Medical Office.
At least no one was hurt. It was fortunate, truly, but—isn’t all of this deeply strange?
‘Why—are they all unharmed?’
If someone wanted to kill us, they could have done it long ago; yet no one bore any serious injury.
Besides, how fast could the palace attendants possibly run, especially while carrying me? I should have been caught ages ago.
And yet……
‘It seemed like they were targeting me.’
But why would they?
“What’s happened here!”
While the physician examined the attendants’ conditions, more torch-bearing figures came rushing toward us.
Imperial Guards.
‘Now that I think of it, the Royal Medical Office is located in the Palace Inner Affairs Office, and it’s close to Imperial Guard Headquarters too—so they must have heard the screams.’
It was only natural given the proximity.
The Imperial Guards who arrived looked startled at the sight of me sitting on the ground and the collapsed attendants.
“Princess?”
“What on earth has happened?”
One of the attendants, seeming reassured now that people had arrived, opened her mouth with a still-confused voice.
“It was—the Crown Prince, he—a tiger—”
“Be quiet!”
I cried out in alarm.
I’d realized what the attendant was about to say.
“What do you mean, my lady?”
“She’s speaking nonsense out of fright. Pay it no mind.”
Everyone looked bewildered, but I shook my head firmly.
“A suspicious figure threatened us and fled in that direction. By now, we may have lost the chance to catch them.”
“—! Understood.”
At the mention of someone threatening the royal family within the palace walls, everyone’s expression shifted and they began moving with urgency.
Given such an incident, we couldn’t simply return on our own, so we made our way back to Sook-ui’s Quarters under Imperial Guard escort. The attendants seemed relieved yet still anxious, whispering to me constantly.
“But—but my lady! What if—what if that was a vengeful spirit—!”
At her frightened voice, I let out a sigh.
I was startled at first too, but that creature couldn’t possibly have been the Crown Prince.
“The voice was different.”
“My lady?”
“Do you think I can’t tell my own brother’s voice? That wasn’t him. And it certainly wasn’t a tiger.”
“Eek!”
At the very mention of tigers, she flinched and drew herself in.
There was an old saying—speak of the tiger and it appears—so mentioning tigers at night was considered a kind of taboo.
Especially now, when we believed ourselves attacked by one.
“It was not a tiger.”
In this age, tigers certainly existed, but few people had actually seen one alive.
The odds of meeting one and surviving were low.
Yet in my past life, I’d seen living tigers at a zoo. I’d watched photographs and videos of them many times.
‘That just now was definitely tiger-shaped, but—it didn’t move like a living tiger at all.’
But most likely, anyone who’d never seen one in person would have no trouble thinking it was a tiger.
“Did you see it clearly, Jwa Sema?”
“I beg your pardon. By the time I drew near, it had already fled far away, so I couldn’t see it properly.”
“It had a blade.”
“My lady?”
“Something glinted in the moonlight. That wasn’t like beast claws. So it must have been human work.”
I myself had wondered at first if it was some kind of monster.
As I muttered to myself, I suddenly felt eyes fixed on me and furrowed my brow.
“What is it?”
“Nothing at all. I was merely recalling how the Crown Prince has always said your lady possesses remarkable wisdom.”
Ah, I’d said too much.
But if I didn’t explain things properly in this situation, there was no telling how rumors would spread.
Many people in the palace already knew that the Crown Prince had died in a tiger attack.
And if his beloved younger sister had been harmed by a tiger—by something presumed to be one—they’d think like the attendants just now.
That the dead Crown Prince had become nothing but a vengeful spirit clinging to a beast.
That the tiger would target those close to the Crown Prince.
“My lady, wait a moment.”
“…?”
The Imperial Guard made us stop. Someone was running toward us from the opposite direction.
“That person is…….”
Those rushing forward with lanterns were my mother’s attendants from Sook-ui’s Quarters and a eunuch whose face I recognized.
The attendant who had been running in panic looked flustered at the sight of us.
“Miss? What are you doing in a place like this—no, never mind that! Please, go check on your mother at once!”
“Huh?”
“What’s happened?”
“M-madam is…… A physician!!”
The attendants, their faces ready to crumble into tears as they shuffled their feet anxiously, caught sight of the physician who stood beside us and their eyes lit up—they rushed toward him and seized his arm.
“What—??”
“Hurry! Madam is experiencing vaginal bleeding!”
“What……!”
Even I, who had been half-dazed by that strange attack just moments before, felt my wits snap back into focus at those words.
If a pregnant woman was bleeding, this was no trivial matter. And judging by how desperately the attendants were crying and rushing about—
The Imperial Guards escorting us seemed equally alarmed, stirring with unease.
“I-I shall go at once and see what’s happened.”
“Go, quickly!”
The physician, who had originally followed us intending to inspect my quarters and check whether Sia and the attendants had sustained any injuries, paled visibly and rushed out.
Relieved at having found a physician so quickly, I gripped the attendant who had collapsed in tears and demanded an account of everything from the beginning. One of the Imperial Guard soldiers ran off in the attendants’ stead to summon more physicians and medical attendants.
“What in the world happened? Why did she suddenly start bleeding?”
“Until she took her evening meal and drank her herbal decoction, there was nothing notably amiss. She said she wished to take a walk, so we accompanied her, and then, and then suddenly——”
“Some sort of… creature……”
“!?”
Though it came out of nowhere, we understood at once what the attendant meant.
“From somewhere, a young man’s voice called out to Madam Sook-ui. It was as if—as if……”
“Was it a human voice?”
“Yes? Yes! And then, suddenly something strange came rushing at us…… Madam, s-she was so startled she fell, and then, th-then the bleeding started……”
I questioned the attendant, whose face was now streaked with tears, to clarify.
“What became of this creature?”
“I do not know. In our panic to attend to Madam, it disappeared.”
The attendant trembled again as she spoke, seized once more by fear.
The eunuch beside her explained that he had been keeping vigil due to the Crown Prince’s funeral rites, heard the commotion, and came out—and accompanied the palace women because they were frightened.
Gai, who had grasped the situation as quickly as I had, urged me forward.
“Miss, it would be best if you went to her at once. Allow me to carry you.”
“Yes.”
He was telling me to let him carry me as he ran. Without hesitation, I threw my arms around Gai.
As Gai began running with me in his arms, the palace women and the Imperial Guards followed close behind.
When we arrived at Sook-ui’s Quarters, several palace attendants who had already heard the news were already outside, pacing anxiously.
I could hear the whispered voices of the palace women who had not been allowed inside.
“She was saying just recently that her abdomen felt tense……”
“And she was startled by what happened to the Crown Prince……”
Among the murmuring voices—some thick with tears—an unexpected remark caught my ear, and I seized one of the quarters’ attendants.
“What do you mean by that? Are you saying there were strange symptoms before this?”
“Yes?”
“I heard her speak of her abdomen feeling tight for some time now.”
“It may have been because she grew anxious over the Crown Prince’s affair. Since the funeral rites began, she has been unwell in small ways throughout.”
After she drank her herbal decoction, she seemed to grow worse, so we reported it to the Royal Medical Office several times, but……”
“She underwent pulse diagnosis multiple times, but they said it was merely psychosomatic. After new herbal medicine was prepared, she seemed to improve for a while, but then again……”
“Aaaahhh—!”
A scream from inside the room cut off the attendant’s words, and everyone fell silent, their bodies tensing instinctively.
‘Sister’s voice……’
Gai, who had felt me go rigid, held me tighter and murmured softly.
“Miss. It will be all right. It will be all right.”
The child might be lost.
No—if only the child were lost, it would have been a mercy.
‘Were they targeting me, and through me, my sister and the child in her womb?’
No creature, no mere tiger. And certainly not the Crown Prince’s phantom.
But then—who would gain by harming me?
“Aaaahhhhh!!”
Another scream pierced the air, and whatever I had been grasping at in my mind simply evaporated, leaving only blank terror.
Dimly, I understood.
There was no doubt now—she was delivering a child born before the full months had passed.
Word must have reached them through the Imperial Guard soldiers who had returned earlier, for soon a court physician and several medical attendants came rushing toward the chamber and disappeared inside.
The palace maids could not enter the room, and could only shift their weight anxiously outside the door.
“Oh, my lady! You cannot remain here. Your body—you’re frozen through.”
Everyone held their breath against the winter wind, and only then did Gai seem to remember me and try to draw me back.
“……No. I have to stay here.”
Though I had lost all sensation in my body, my lips trembled with anxiety as I spoke those words.
The screams that had come at intervals were growing less frequent now.
“Your Majesty!!”
“Your Majesty!!!”
The voices of the palace attendants echoing from inside were laced with weeping.
A terrible premonition cut through my mind.
“Oh, my lady…….”

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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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