Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 50

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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 50
“What?”
It was Seong Yoon who had abruptly inserted himself into the conversation.
With a soft clink, the bundle of coins from before now rested in Seong Yoon’s palm.
‘Ah, so he must have bumped into that man earlier…?’
Quite versatile, isn’t he. I found myself oddly curious about the Gyeoksa Corps curriculum.
Though it did seem like a useful skill to have.
At any rate, watching the child’s eyes light up at the sight of the money in Seong Yoon’s hand felt like a good thing.
But I shook my head.
“It’s dangerous for you to keep this money.”
“What?!”
“I’m not taking it back. I’m just going to give it to you another way.”
“An-another way?”
“What do you want most with money?”
“Food, of course.”
Fortunately, my instinct had been correct.
“You know that Jumak where I was earlier? I’ll give money to the owner and explain the situation, so while you’re searching for the object, go there and ask for a meal. Once a day—that’s something no one can take from you.”
“Really? Truly?”
“Yes. Now I need to leave, so listen well to what the physician says and stay still for treatment.”
“Wait, just a moment!”
“You mustn’t get up yet.”
“Ah, um, well, that is to say….”
“…?”
The child bit their lip and seemed to be wrestling with something before finally finding their voice.
“When… when will you come back…?”
“I’ll come again later. Well….”
I glanced at Song Bi, but she shook her head with a stern expression.
“Still, I’ll need to verify that object myself to be certain it’s the right one.”
Song Bi, too, was unyielding. She was mindful of the people from Hyemin-seo and found it awkward to speak informally to me, so she simply kept her expression stern without saying much.
“Then would it not suffice if I delivered it in your stead?”
Unable to stand it any longer, Seong Yoon stepped forward.
“Would that be all right?”
“Don’t worry.”
I seemed to be accumulating quite a debt to this man.
But feeling somewhat relieved because of his help, I turned to the child lying in bed for a final farewell.
“Take care of yourself.”
“Huh? Oh… does that mean we might not see each other again?”
Hmm?
Unexpectedly, the child’s face—which I’d assumed would be brazen—was flushed with a mixture of disappointment and gratitude.
“Well, possibly. Maybe I’ll come out again next time. It’s just that my household is… quite strict.”
“Oh… I see….”
Seeing them hesitate like that, it seemed they felt at a loss.
I had nothing to gain from them, and if they were grateful, that was enough.
“See you next time.”
“Yeah! I mean, yes!”
We had lingered at Hyemin-seo far longer than expected, so we had to hurry back.
And on the way back, I received quite the scolding from both of them.
“How could you engage in something so reckless?”
“If any misfortune befell the Princess, we would not escape blame either.”
Well, that was fair.
“I’m sorry. But it wasn’t my fault—Jeok-a bolted ahead on her own. How was I supposed to stop her?”
“Miss.”
“But the people are shameless. No matter that the child is a beggar, they were beating a child and no one stepped in.”
“Those men likely have backers, so the people feared them and kept their distance.”
“Backers?”
So they have someone looking out for them, which is why they swagger around causing trouble.
As my brow furrowed, I heard a faint laugh from Seong Yoon beside me.
“Why are you laughing at me like that?”
“Forgive me. It’s just that seeing the Princess reminds me of a childhood friend of mine.”
“Friend?”
“Good-natured, but fearless.”
Was that an insult or a compliment?
Behind me, Song Bi let out a stifled laugh.
“Though I may appear thus, I was small and frail in my childhood.”
“That’s a lie.”
Among the guards, where appearance was a baseline requirement, he might not quite measure up as exceptionally robust, but he was certainly taller than average. More tellingly, the way he’d subdued those men earlier made it abundantly clear he was anything but frail.
“I too had my childhood. The village dogs would pester me so much that a friend living nearby once grabbed a fire poker from the hearth and wielded it to chase them off for me.”
A fire poker—someone who understood weapons proper, the kind that could inflict real harm.
Seong Yoon’s lips curved into a bittersweet smile, as though lost in old memories.
“Though I can never see him again now, seeing you reminds me of him, and for that I am grateful.”
“Then visit often.”
Looking at his face, the phrase “never see him again” didn’t sound particularly hopeful, but as long as seeing my face wasn’t a burden to him, it would be fine.
Seong Yoon seemed pleased by my words, responding brightly.
“Is that truly acceptable?”
“If you don’t retire from your post? Perhaps.”
“Ha ha. Your Highness is truly compassionate and generous. Yet please refrain from such perilous actions in the future. Should any harm befall you in my absence, I would be most grieved.”
So the remark about resembling my friend was groundwork for all this.
As someone burdened by guilt, I could only nod along to their words, so I decided to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“There seem to be far more beggars in the Capital City than I expected.”
“Their numbers have grown since the Transplanting Method was implemented, or so I’ve heard.”
“Ah. The Transplanting Method.”
Here, the Transplanting Method—transplanting seedlings—was already in practice.
The Transplanting Method enabled double cropping, simultaneously raising agricultural and labor productivity, but in doing so created a surplus of labor. The culprit, in a sense.
‘With the surplus labor flowing into the Capital City, and the number of needed workers being fixed, those unable to find work inevitably swell the ranks of beggars living by alms.’
The excess population needed work, but concentrating solely on agriculture couldn’t possibly solve the problem.
“Is there no way to reduce the number of beggars?”
“Pardon?”
Seong Yoon looked perplexed at my murmur.
“How would one reduce beggars?”
“Give them work.”
“What sort of work?”
“Well, figuring that out is supposed to be the officials’ job.”
“……Indeed.”
“Hmm. What about professional soldiers? Everyone avoids military service anyway, and we could raise the skill level too.”
I expected him to laugh it off, but surprisingly, Seong Yoon backed me up.
“With so many already employing substitute military service, that wouldn’t be a bad option.”
Substitute military service meant those obligated to serve paid others to go in their place.
‘There was even a historical drama film made about substitute military service once.’
Funny how those who won’t pay to hire professional soldiers somehow find money when they have to go themselves.
‘Wonder if there’s a way to squeeze money out of them.’
The nobles and aristocrats of this era were always lecturing the king about frugality, yet most had the audacity to believe they themselves deserved luxury—it was obvious this wouldn’t be easy.
“Huh?”
“Why do you ask?”
And then I realized something important.
“Actually, wait—this isn’t even my problem to solve, is it?”
“Pardon?”
Was this some story arc where the male lead comes into the market pining for the female lead, awakens to compassion for the common people, and thus discovers his purpose? Surely not.
‘Just because I’ve had a moment of compassion doesn’t mean I can influence policy. Why am I even worrying about this?’
I wasn’t about to steal the male lead’s role.
Besides, this world was a romance novel, not an alternate history. It shouldn’t have such complex systems.
‘Most of all, I can’t let the Crown Prince become incompetent. Though in Korean romance novels, the male lead becoming incompetent is something that could never happen and should never happen.’
Already, this world differed from the historical Joseon I knew in many ways.
The Imjin War had never occurred, yet the Transplanting Method was already widespread and the monetary economy was flourishing—wasn’t society already moving in a better direction without my help?
Once I safely returned to my quarters and endured Ga-i’s nagging, I indulged in these reassuring thoughts.
***
But it wasn’t long before I was forced to realize how naive I’d been.
I’d kept Seong Yoon quiet about leaving the palace, but perhaps I hadn’t kept him quiet about what I’d said.
‘As if I’d thought he’d tell anyone about such things.’
And the person he’d told it to was none other than the King himself.
After the principal figures in the treason case had been revealed, the royal mood remained unsettled, yet a measure of ease had begun to return.
“It seems Si-a has grown rather intimate with Seong Yoon.”
“He is the benefactor who saved the child, so we have merely shared refreshments on occasion.”
The truth was, a sense of complicity had drawn them emotionally closer, and since Seong Yoon conveyed news of the children, she would occasionally summon him to her quarters for tea and conversation—that much was fact.
‘Besides, that gentleman always seems to have time on his hands.’
From what he said, he appeared to serve less as someone with fixed duties than as a practical instructor, teaching others.
It felt as though he’d been barely persuaded to stay on after wanting to retire in the first place.
“Seong Yoon mentioned that you offered an opinion on the Substitute Military Service.”
It wasn’t such a professional discussion.
Still, it was surprising that the two of them conversed about such things. Though admittedly, it was good that the king had a channel through which to hear the voices of his people.
‘But why did he drag me into it.’
At a tea gathering with the king after so long, hearing unexpected words, she shot a sidelong glance at Seong Yoon standing at a distance.
Ever since that day, I’ve done nothing but offer him good things to eat and shared idle talk, yet he’s betrayed me!
‘If he speaks as if it’s his own thought, then he gets the credit—is he a man without ambition.’
From what she could gather, the king viewed it quite favorably. But the real problem lay with those who had grievances and wouldn’t speak them. Apparently, even this rebellion had been sparked by those discontented when the king proposed changing the law to collect higher taxes from the yangban.
Of course, when plotting rebellion, one dressed it up with more impressive rhetoric, but that was the essence of it.
‘But there would be many who resisted paying higher taxes, so it would have been convenient to entangle them in treason charges as well.’
Unpleasant as it was to say, given how many had been dragged into it, for some time it seemed there wouldn’t be many bold enough to contradict the king’s words.
And the king, naturally, had thought the same.
“The rebels’ estates have been confiscated, and I found a location with a suitable position among them. I mean to purchase the surrounding houses and build a private residence for you. What do you think?”
“A private residence?”
You mean to build me a house when I’m not yet eight years old?
Wow. So this is the life of the privileged.
“It may yet be premature for the child, but I wish to secure the land as soon as possible. Lately there have been only unfortunate matters—surely we should have something auspicious as well.”
At eight years old, my dream of home ownership had been realized. I fought the urge to squeal with delight and politely declined with composure, but the moment the words left the king’s lips, the building of my house became a foregone conclusion.
Moreover, judging by his tone, it seemed he wanted a change of mood since there had been nothing but trouble of late.
‘It sounds almost like he’s doing retail therapy to relieve stress.’
The scale of spending simply differs when one is a king.
“You will also need to arrange a son-in-law.”
“The child does not wish to leave her father’s side just yet.”
“Indeed. The Princess is still young, and the Crown Prince has not yet taken a Crown Princess. It is too early to speak of such things.”
In the modern age, one doesn’t worry about the order of marriages, but here it was rare for a younger sibling to be wed before an elder brother still remained unmarried.
Once the treason case was concluded, families with daughters would likely enter a state of nervous tension again. Some would rush to betroth their daughters to other houses while there was opportunity.
‘But a house, after all.’
Thinking of the homeless children I’d seen on the streets not long ago, my feelings grew complicated.
Not that I intended to refuse what was being offered. But faced with such a grave disparity between rich and poor, I couldn’t help feeling unsettled.
‘I’m among the privileged class now, so why does it feel like picking up a pitchfork.’
Perhaps because I’d spent a longer life as an ordinary person?

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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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