Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 31

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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 the daughter of a lowly Hou-gung.
Chapter 31
Slipping into Chui-yeong Hall didn’t seem difficult.
In the past, there would have been guards posted to prevent entry, but now there would be no one.
‘On the other hand, Young-won Dae-gun’s quarters would be locked down tight by now.’
By proper law, Young-won Dae-gun, the only remaining Dae-gun, would soon become the Crown Prince.
For now, everyone would still be cautious, watching for signs, but once the Crown Prince’s funeral rites ended, wouldn’t people flock to Young-won Dae-gun’s side?
And Gyeong-eon Gun—he certainly wouldn’t stand for that.
‘I’ve never been inside Chui-yeong Hall since that day, so I don’t know its layout. Will I be able to find where Gyeong-eon Gun is?’
I moved cautiously through the shadows, skirting toward areas where people seemed sparse, reading the atmosphere around Chui-yeong Hall, when—against all my worrying—a boy’s voice carried over the wall.
At this hour, the only boy who would be in Chui-yeong Hall was Gyeong-eon Gun.
I pressed myself flat against the wall and moved toward where the sound carried best.
“Has the task been completed?”
“Yes, as you ordered, I have taken care of the Nain from Young-won Dae-gun’s quarters and—eek!”
Bang!
The sound of something being hurled.
“Who is a Dae-gun? Gyeong-won Gun is more than sufficient!”
“Yes, yes. This servant has spoken carelessly.”
There were scarcely any Nain left in his quarters, yet she was somehow tolerating his volatile temperament.
Wait—there shouldn’t be any Nain that young left in his quarters. Who could it be?
‘Come to think of it, in the novel, Young-won Dae-gun was always called Young-won Dae-gun even after becoming Crown Prince.’
I should be grateful, then, that I realized this was a novel early on.
But when Young-won Dae-gun becomes Crown Prince later, will he really accept being called Young-won Dae-gun?
In any case, I’d found the person I came for, so I drew my face down further and pressed myself quietly against the back of the wall.
“Put this secretly into Gyeong-won Gun’s food.”
“What is this, my lord?”
“Don’t ask questions.”
“Yes? Yes.”
“Once I leave here, I’ll seat you in a Hou-gung position as promised. You don’t want to rot away doing menial tasks in the palace forever, do you? You’d better execute this flawlessly.”
“Yes, yes. My lord.”
From what I heard, it wasn’t hard to guess what bait he’d dangled. Even at their highest rank, palace servants ranked lower than a Hou-gung.
Of course, someone at the level of a Chief Court Lady might transcend rank altogether, but that was possible only for the rarest inner-circle attendants.
“What are you doing, just standing there? Do it now!”
“N-now, my lord?”
“What, you’re sure you can get in and out in broad daylight without being noticed?”
“But dinner would have already been served by now, my lord.”
“Then prepare night food, or early morning rice—either way, food will be prepared, won’t it? Do I have to spell out every detail for you?”
“No, my lord! I’ll go at once!”
Without seeing, I could tell the Nain had bowed deeply and was hurrying away.
‘Thank goodness it’s not too late.’
I had to rush to Young-won Dae-gun and tell him about the poison.
In the novel, he’d avoided poisoning, so it seemed he’d be fine this time too, but one could never be certain.
Just in case, I was reaching out to grab Gyeong-eon Gun’s sleeve as he started to go inside when, unexpectedly, his voice came again.
“Come out.”
“…!”
Wondering if I’d been discovered, I held my breath when another voice—a man’s—came through.
“Yes, my lord.”
It seemed he hadn’t been alone with just the Nain from the start.
Relief washed over me, but I clamped my hand over my mouth, afraid even my breathing might be heard, and strained to listen.
“Follow her at a distance, and once she comes out of Gyeong-won Gun’s quarters, tell the palace servant you’ve been scheming with to come out with you. Then dispose of both of them.”
“Both of them, my lord?”
It was an adult man’s voice.
An eunuch, perhaps? There was one assigned to Gyeong-eon Gun when he was made Dae-gun.
“Yes. We can’t leave evidence. That foolish palace servant killed Gyeong-won Gun. She’s not even from my household, so suspicion won’t fall on me. Besides, there’s always the possibility of failure, isn’t there?”
“Truly, your wisdom is profound.”
“Even if he fails and Gyeong-won Gun doesn’t die, knowing he’ll live in terror of poison for the rest of his life isn’t so bad either.”
At the sinister laugh, I swallowed again and shrank back further.
He couldn’t see me on the other side of the wall, but if I were discovered, he would certainly kill me as well.
“Yoon Sang-gung and that arrogant woman—along with the lowborn thing in her belly, they’re all dead now. Once Gyeong-won Gun is gone, the Crown Prince’s seat will naturally fall to me.”
Hearing words I’d never wanted to hear, I could only pray that Gyeong-eon Gun would disappear soon.
I need to go at once and inform Young-won Dae-gun, then apprehend the Nain and secure evidence.
“If you had placed me on the Crown Prince’s throne from the beginning, Yoon Sang-gung would not have died. Is this not all a grave error on your part, Father?”
In that instant, my breath caught, and the world went dark.
‘What did he just say?’
Did he resent me simply because we hadn’t been close, and therefore take pleasure in my sister’s death?
No. But the way he spoke—it was as if Gyeong-eon Gun had something to do with my sister’s death.
The implication was unmistakably clear.
“Why did you spare the Young Lady, Your Highness?”
“Would a mere princess of lowborn origin truly obstruct me? And why would I dispatch her so easily? I shall take pleasure in watching her cling to me in desperate supplication before my eyes.”
As he spoke, Gyeong-eon Gun laughed with genuine delight, a soft chuckle escaping him.
“Besides, the food this creature makes is quite serviceable. When I become Crown Prince, it will have no choice but to crawl at my feet, will it not?”
The memory of that strange creature withdrawing without killing me that night, and the image of the Crown Prince carrying my Castella to Chui-yeong Hall, flashed through my mind.
Is that why I survived?
If not for that, would I have died that day as well?
The absurdity of this truth left me unable even to weep.
My head felt as though it might shatter.
“Gasp…”
Long after the footsteps faded, I remained frozen, unable even to breathe, until at last I drew a shuddering breath and, clutching my robes tightly about me lest anyone glimpse me, hastened back to my quarters.
“Gai! Song-bi! Where are you?”
“Ah, Young Lady?”
I roused the sleeping Nain and called for my attendants.
‘I cannot be alone.’
***
Young-won Dae-gun sat turning the pages of a book with an unsettled heart.
Since his brother the Crown Prince’s funeral, he had felt the sudden shift in how others regarded him, and so he avoided company, which left him with nothing but books to occupy his time.
Yet even that had become difficult to focus on since the sudden shock regarding the Hou-gung.
Mew—
“Ah, you’re bored, aren’t you.”
A coral-red kitten pressed its tiny head into his palm, seeking affection.
Concerned that the small creatures were trembling outside as the weather grew colder, he had brought several of them into his room, and unexpectedly, they provided considerable comfort.
The cat that had saved him from nearly being killed by Gyeong-eon Gun in childhood had shamelessly attached itself to him since that day, begging for food, and had eventually entrusted him with her own litter.
‘Perhaps bringing these to Si-ah would offer her some solace.’
Following upon the Crown Prince’s tragedy, and then the successive losses of the Hou-gung and the child in her womb, all manner of inauspicious rumors had reached even his ears as a Dae-gun.
‘How can such misfortunes befall one after another?’
Why did those who revered scholarship so love to speak of spirits and such nonsense?
This notion of a vengeful spirit was baseless fancy. It was clearly nothing more than a tiger following its own scent when those carrying away the bodies it had devoured were traced.
For even scholars—not merely ignorant commoners—to make such a fuss over it was shameful indeed.
He had been considering whether to reread the Analects when an urgent voice called from beyond the door.
“Dae-gun. The Young Lady has come to visit.”
“Si-ah?”
Ordinarily, this was not a child who would visit without notice at such a late hour, but these were not ordinary times.
“Show her in at once.”
Remarkably, the door opened even as he finished speaking, and Si-ah entered.
Something had clearly happened; the child arrived breathless, her face pallid, and he ordered a Nain to bring warm water while taking her small hand in his.
“Why are your hands so cold? And dressed so thinly. Did your attendants send you out clothed thus?”
Now that the Hou-gung was gone, who would look after this child?
When the kittens rushed toward the familiar person, Young-won Dae-gun thought it fortunate and placed them in Si-ah’s arms.
These small creatures, having clung to the heated ondol floor, would surely be warm.
Yet Si-ah seemed distracted; instead of embracing the kittens, she reached out and examined Young-won Dae-gun’s cheek.
“You’re alive.”
“Of course I am alive.”
Had she come rushing here from a nightmare?
In just these few days, his young sister’s face had grown haggard, and the sight of it pierced his heart.
“I am alive, so do not worry.”
“…Yes.”
Si-ah sank down heavily and let out a long breath, then spoke in a rare, quiet voice.
“Can I sleep here tonight?”
“Of course you can.”
It might violate propriety, but she was still so small and young.
With two of her closest kin now lost to her, she had every reason to be frightened and alone.
She soothed her younger sister’s rare, weak voice and tucked her gently into the quilt she’d already spread out, along with the cats.
“Won’t you sleep?”
“I can’t fall asleep, so I thought I’d read a book instead.”
“You’ll ruin your eyes.”
“Ha. You should get some rest too.”
“……Yes.”
As she soothed the child, Si-ah’s eyelids, which had been trembling with unease, began to close gradually. Thinking she would drift off to sleep like this, she turned her attention to her book when she heard a murmur from behind.
“A dried persimmon?”
“Hmm? Oh, a servant brought some earlier as a night snack, but I wasn’t really hungry, so…….”
A Nain had brought them earlier, and she’d simply pushed them into a corner of the room because she didn’t feel like eating them.
Even the cats showed no interest in the food, so she’d left them untouched—but apparently they’d caught her sister’s eye.
“……Can I eat just one of these?”
“Go ahead.”
Normally she would have scolded about eating snacks before bed, but it seemed fine for one night.
Si-ah was, after all, the one who always said that something sweet helped when you were tired.
“Were you studying?”
“……If I just sit still, nothing but dark thoughts come.”
“……Can I have just one more of these?”
“Yes.”
After what happened to her brother, she wished she had visited Si-ah more often, checked on her—but the pain of seeing her had made that impossible.
There were too many memories of the three of them together.
But now it was just the two of them. From now on, she would have to do better by her.
“I’ll have just one more.”
“Go ahead.”
Young-won Dae-gun, who was tidying up a book scattered carelessly before him, nodded absently at her continuing words—and suddenly, a strange thought struck him.
‘Brother, can I eat just one more strawberry?’
The scenario from the ghost story Si-ah had once told when the three of them were having refreshments together seemed hauntingly similar to this moment.
He didn’t believe in such nonsense, but as it overlapped with the rumors now floating through the palace about tigers and vengeful spirits, an inexplicable chill ran down his spine.
“……Si-ah?”
Young-won Dae-gun swallowed hard and turned his head.
And there he met a scene he could never have imagined.
“Si-ah, Si-ah?!”
Si-ah, clutching a half-eaten dried persimmon in her hand, blood trickling from the corners of her mouth, pursued him with clouded eyes.
The sight was more terrifying than any ghost, more dreadful than any tiger.
“Someone, is anyone there?! Bring a physician at once!!”
“……Brother.”
“Yes, it’s your brother. Stay with me!!”
Not knowing what to do, he caught his sister as she swayed and collapsed, straining to make out the words she was murmuring.
“……At least…… become a wise ruler…….”
“……What?”
After leaving those strange words, Si-ah spat out a mouthful of blood and closed her eyes.
That night, the palace was thrown into chaos once more.

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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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