Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 40

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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.
Chapter 40
The Lantern Festival had been a joy—so much so that I would have been content if it ended as nothing but memory.
But with so many people crowding the streets, a child couldn’t help but get jostled about.
“It’s dangerous. Why don’t you ride with me on horseback?”
“Oh? But to share a horse like that… I’m truly sorry to impose.”
“You’re still so young—there’s no need to worry about such things. Jeok Ah can easily carry two small children, can’t you?”
As I stroked the horse’s mane, Jeok Ah shook his head with unmistakable pride. Carrying my change of clothes and light luggage, he seemed hardly bothered by my weight, moving with ease.
While Ji Hwa looked uncomfortable watching me, Su Cheon raised her hand eagerly, saying she would ride.
“I can ride alone, so please don’t worry.”
“You already know how to ride a horse?”
“Of course I do.”
Su Cheon answered the Crown Prince boldly, then hopped nimbly onto the horse by herself.
‘She’s quite skilled.’
Hearing her giggle from behind me stirred an urge to pat her head, but I held back.
While there was still daylight, we were able to ride around freely, but as the sun began to set, the crowds grew larger and more dangerous, so we decided to leave the horse in a safe place and tour on foot.
“Since I’ve seen the sights before, I’ll stay and watch the horse.”
“You look exhausted. You should rest.”
“Yes. My apologies.”
Song Bi and the attendant Song had declared their retirement, looking thoroughly worn out. And small wonder—that structure visible in the distance was the Namdaemun gate.
Ji Hwa’s nursemaid, who had accompanied them, said there was a place nearby where they could leave the horse and rest, a household where Ji Hwa’s family regularly received favors during the Lantern Festival.
Since the other servants knew of it as well, we agreed to rejoin them later.
‘Wow, the Namdaemun. The city walls too—I’ve never seen them before. It’s remarkable.’
Moreover, markets had formed around the area much as they do in modern times, making the surroundings even more vibrant.
Ignoring the Crown Prince’s disapproving look as I munched on street food, I grabbed Su Cheon’s hand and dashed toward another shop, rummaging through its wares while Ga Yi followed behind me.
“What’s that?”
“That’s a Shadow Play—a silhouette theater, they call it.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
I could tell it was shadow theater well enough, but watching those colorful puppet shadows moving across the screen reminded me of cartoons from my past life, and I found myself entranced by the spectacle.
“Does it please you?”
“Hmm? Yes. It really is more beautiful now that night has fallen.”
Though the story seemed to be Buddhist in nature.
“Waaaa!!”
“…?”
A roar of excitement echoed from a distance. The crowd obscured my view, but something was clearly being performed over there.
“What could it be?”
“Let’s go see!”
Su Cheon dragged me forward into the throng of people. Everyone else would probably be worried about us. Children are children, after all.
“Roooar!”
“Kyaaaah!”
Pushing through the crowd, I found a man wearing a tiger mask shoving his face at the spectators to draw reactions.
Children’s screams and cries erupted from all around.
“What’s wrong? Did it scare you badly?”
“…No.”
The moment I’d come face-to-face with the tiger mask, I’d flinched and stopped, and the child had noticed my reaction.
She positioned herself in front of me as if to shield my view, gripping my arm.
“This doesn’t look fun. Let’s go.”
“What? No, it’s fine.”
“…I’m not sure exactly, but you don’t like tigers, do you?”
Contrary to her appearance, her instincts were sharp. From the way she spoke, she didn’t seem to know about the Crown Prince’s incident.
“…Tigers eat people. A little thing like me wouldn’t be able to run away—I’d be swallowed in one bite.”
“Then I’ll protect you.”
Trying to laugh off my worry, the child offered the same assurance with a smile.
How reliable for someone so small.
“All right. I’m counting on you.”
“I’m serious.”
“I know, I know.”
Frightened by a crude tiger mask when there was no real tiger to fear—that day’s incident had clearly left a deeper mark on me than I’d realized.
‘But it’s not as if I’ll ever encounter a real tiger in my lifetime, so it should be fine.’
Holding the child’s soft hand, we turned toward other sights.
It was a shame toward Ga Yi, who was trying so hard not to let us slip away, but since we’d finally come out to see the sights, enjoying ourselves came first.
Still, in the end I had to be caught by Ga Yi and rejoin the group.
The sky had darkened without my noticing, but the surroundings were enclosed entirely in lanterns—there was no darkness at all.
‘So this is what Buddha’s Birthday looks like in Joseon.’
The scale of it all, which I’d never imagined, left me gasping with wonder. Even the slopes of Namsan were lit with lanterns, so I understood why everyone was so excited and reveling in the sight.
‘I wish it could just end quietly like this.’
I glanced sideways at the Crown Prince and Ji Hwa. I saw the Crown Prince slip away to the side, pulling Ji Hwa with him as if he had something in mind.
‘It’s nice while it lasts, but…….’
In the original story, while the Crown Prince stepped away briefly to buy a lantern, Ji Hwa gets caught up in some unexpected trouble, and he rescues her. That’s how the two grow closer—but then Ji Hwa’s family servant finds her and informs her of a crisis at home, so she flees.
Even in the original, it was unclear how the servant actually found Ji Hwa, which had always puzzled me, but being here together like this, I think I understand now.
‘So she came to Namdaemun, not that wide stretch of Cheonggyecheon.’
During the Lantern Festival, people climb up the gates and walls of the city to view the lanterns that fill the entire capital.
There’s supposedly a house they always stop by to rest at during the Lantern Festival. To find the young lady who’d gone out to see the festival, the servants would naturally have rushed there, so they’d have found Ji Hwa easily.
Soon the Crown Prince returned with Ji Hwa, and abruptly showed me what he held in his hand.
“I bought a Sky Lantern. Won’t you come up on the city wall and release it with me?”
“We’ll stay here and rest. Why don’t the two of you go?”
“You won’t be sorry?”
Seeing the Crown Prince tilt his head in confusion, I sighed.
‘So he really did come out to play with me, not to seduce Ji Hwa.’
The two of them looked quite good together. They seemed to like each other, their conversation flowed well, and they got along.
But Ji Hwa would not accept the position of Crown Princess.
She wouldn’t give up the dream she’d kept safe for so long just because of affection for someone she’d met twice.
“Su Cheon and I are tired, so we’ll rest here. You two go ahead.”
Of course, they wouldn’t truly be alone.
Ji Hwa’s nursemaid would follow with wide eyes watching, and Song Bi and the Crown Prince’s guards would naturally follow behind him as well.
‘But still, it’ll feel more like a date without a younger sister in tow that needs looking after.’
Leaving us behind, the Crown Prince and Ji Hwa headed up onto the city wall to release the Sky Lantern they’d bought together.
I heard that securing a spot there was fiercely competitive—you had to stake it out early. Innocent people like us, who lived only in the Palace, had snuck out and couldn’t even get a good view.
‘Releasing a Sky Lantern from atop the city wall—that’s the perfect date spot.’
Though the scene had never been filmed, perhaps because I’d seen something similar in some historical drama somewhere, I could vividly picture the two of them gazing into each other’s eyes as they released the lantern.
‘But can you really release Sky Lanterns in Hanyang? If it were a coastal village, maybe, but with buildings densely packed inside and outside the walls, there’d be a fire hazard. Even if you release them from a mountain, there’s still the danger of fire.’
Now that I thought about it, were there any historical records of Sky Lanterns being released in Hanyang?
I’d wondered if it was just a fictional liberty, but seeing them actually do it here, somehow I found myself worrying about it in a different way.
‘It’s a bit like escapism, I suppose.’
The Lantern Festival was delightful. So delightful, yet I couldn’t shake a nagging unease—my body, overwhelmed by tension I couldn’t overcome, felt like it was sagging.
When we arrived at the house that Ji Hwa’s family rented every year, little Su Cheon, seeing my worry, offered me a cup of cool well water.
“Are you alright, sister?”
“Yeah. Thank you. I think I’m just tired from walking this long for the first time.”
The Palace is vast, but whenever I feel a little tired, everyone carries me back to my quarters, so this was my first time walking this long. ……At least since I was poisoned.
After I gulped down the cool water and sighed, Su Cheon spoke to me in a hushed, conspiratorial way.
“But it was fun, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. It was fun. And beautiful too.”
“They say Scholars float boats on the Han River and watch the Fireworks Viewing—that’s supposed to be beautiful as well.”
“There’s that too? I’d like to see it someday.”
These Scholars don’t study but just play for Buddhist festivals?
My curmudgeonly tendencies were sprouting nicely when the little one beside me said something mischievous.
“Let’s go see it together later.”
Was this child trying to seduce me?
‘You don’t even know what kind of person I am.’
You might die today.
In the novel, the child fleeing from the officers who came to arrest the offspring of a traitor dies in an accident while trying to escape—a tragic ending.
But as a reader of the original story, I knew better than anyone that this child was innocent.
Moreover, wasn’t this child far too young to even fall under Guilt by Association?
“Yes, let’s go see it together later.”
If you survive, I can give you that much easily.
‘Ah, but she might harbor a grudge against me later.’
If your household was destroyed and your family members died on charges of Treason, it means the King suspected you of being traitors.
And I am that King’s daughter.
Still, the child is so young that she might forget what happened today.
The child picked up the water cup I’d set down and suddenly grabbed my hand in alarm.
“Your hands are cold. Are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt.”
I forced a smile. If Ga Yi caught on and raised a fuss, it would be trouble.
Boom-boom-boom!! Bang-bang!
“Ooooh!!”
A distant explosion echoed through the air.
Firecrackers.
On the eighth day of the fourth month, people lit pouches filled with charcoal dust and played with firecrackers—and with such a grand scale, the sound carried this far.
“I wish we’d gone to see the fireworks too.”
“I know.”
“Why are your hands shaking like that?”
“……Perhaps I’m not feeling well.”
No. This trembling came from fear and tension.
In the original story, with the firecrackers of the eighth day of the fourth month, Ji Hwa’s household servants flee from the Royal Guards and search frantically for her.
If that scene played out exactly as written, they would find their way here soon enough.
And as if answering my vigil, an urgent voice rang out.
“Young Master! Young Mistress!!!”
It matched the description in the novel perfectly.
Impressive, really—finding us in this chaos.
An elderly servant burst onto the porch, gasping. Su Cheon recognized him at once and jolted to her feet.
“Haengrang Abeom, what’s happened?”
“Young Master! You’re here! Where is the Young Mistress?”
“Elder Sister is upstairs……Why? What’s wrong?”
“You must flee at once. Your father……he’s been accused of treason.”
He glanced at me and lowered his voice, but perhaps thinking I was just a child and letting his guard slip, I heard every word from right beside him. Because of the firecrackers, Ga Yi and Song Bi, who had been resting on the other side, seemed not to have caught what he said.
Su Cheon’s expression went blank at the servant’s words. She shook her head.
“Father would never do such a thing. Something must be wrong. I won’t run.”
The girl who needed to flee was panicking instead.
Even if she were truly innocent, once dragged before the Uigyeongbu, there was no telling what would happen—but she was still young and naive.
I slapped Su Cheon’s back hard enough to make a sound.
“Ow!”
Hmm, perhaps a bit too hard.
“W-why are you—……doing that?”
“Stop talking nonsense and run.”
“Ah, wh—?!”
Only then did her identity dawn on Su Cheon, and her expression grew complicated.
My father’s been accused of treason, and there’s a Princess sitting right next to me. What am I supposed to do?
‘Run, of course. What else?’
We were resting in a rented house near the city walls, our horses tethered outside.
The homeowner, who lived so close to the walls, had taken extra coin as he always did on the eighth day of the fourth month and leisurely gone to watch the festivities—so the house held only us.
Ga Yi and Song Bi would obey anything I said, so they would keep this matter secret.
Moreover, this place was close to Namdaemun, and today was the eighth day of the fourth month, when many people lit lanterns and spent the night awake.
With so many passing through the gates now, escape was entirely possible.
This was precisely why Ji Hwa had managed to flee in the original story.
“You go up and check the city walls. You’d know better than anyone where the Young Mistress might have gone.”
“Eh? Ah, yes, yes!”
At my words, Su Cheon’s maidservant who had come with us sprang up and answered.
“Wait—if you’re going to flee, you’ll head north, right? Better to leave through Namdaemun, take a boat at the Ferry Terminal, go down the Han River, and circle around to escape. Meet us at the Ferry Terminal.”
“Yes, understood!”
The maidservant dashed off without another word.
In the yard remained only the flustered Su Cheon, Haengrang Abeom, and my attendants who hadn’t yet grasped the situation.
For this child to escape safely now……
“Hey, you.”
“Yes?”
I pulled off the outer robe I was wearing and gave my command.

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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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