Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 56

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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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I was born the daughter of a lowborn concubine.
Chapter 56
Just as I’d anticipated, the Castella I sent caused a stir throughout the Capital City in less than a day.
I’d felt a twinge of guilt about sending nothing to those who opposed me, so I’d sent only Castella without the dried persimmons—making my meaning unmistakably clear.
“Princess, His Majesty may well fall into a terrible rage.”
“Is Father going to have me executed for his anger?”
Of course he wouldn’t execute me, but there was one concern gnawing at me.
“More than that, he might blame you all for not serving me properly. But I’ll do whatever I can to shield you from that, so don’t worry yourselves too much.”
“Princess, when you speak that way, it frightens us even more. It would be better if I simply took a beating.”
“Ah, I’m not going to die. I’m telling you I won’t die. But if you take a beating, you really might, so don’t say such things.”
“Princess!”
When I’d gone to find the Crown Prince, Ga-i had accompanied me, but Song Bi had baked the Castella—making them both accomplices.
And who else could have delivered the box of sweets I sent?
No one would believe that the Crown Prince had nothing to do with it, but I couldn’t very well send his own people on such an errand, so my attendants made the deliveries themselves.
Naturally, they made it known that it came from the Princess.
The two who had joined me without protest at the time were now clutching at me, pouring out worried reproaches.
‘I really ought to work on this impulsive nature of mine,’ I thought.
After dying once and being reborn, then nearly dying again, this temperament had only grown stronger, not weaker.
I was serious about it, though.
If he came back—if that wretched enemy I’d barely managed to calm myself with the knowledge was living a worse-than-death existence returned alive—
‘I have no idea what I might do.’
That man would surely try to kill me.
As he’d pushed me into the pond.
As he’d had my sister and my mother put to death.
As he’d tried to poison Prince Yeongwon.
If I released him and his mother, they would certainly threaten me and everyone around me.
Some might say he could truly have reflected and repented.
But if he came back having repented, was I obliged to forgive him?
When the dead wouldn’t come back to life?
I gazed up blankly at the darkening sky. Rain seemed imminent again.
“Before this matter grows any larger, I should find out what’s become of the task I entrusted to Seong Yoon the Gyeom-sa-bok.”
If things went poorly, I might not see him for quite some time, so I needed to check now while I could.
Not that I thought I’d necessarily die—though I might face confinement to my Residence for a while.
***
Everyone was all talk with their reproaches but diligent in carrying out orders, so Seong Yoon found me that very day.
After I’d asked about the task I’d entrusted to him and received his report, Seong Yoon hesitantly ventured to ask if he might pose a question to me first, his eyes troubled. He’d clearly heard the rumors.
Unlike me, he was in a position to hear both the gossip circulating within the palace and that spreading throughout the Capital City directly.
“Princess, is the rumor recently circulating through the Capital City true?”
“Which one?”
“It’s widely said that the now-Deposed Prince once attempted to harm you when you were still very young.”
“Oh. That one. Has it spread far?”
In truth, I’d been the one to stoke that rumor through my attendants.
There were no shortage of people commuting to and from the palace, and it wasn’t a difficult task.
I simply couldn’t bear to see the Deposed Prince Yi Su getting unnecessarily good press these days.
And naturally, this sort of scandalous, unsavory rumor spreads far more quickly than any positive tale.
What’s more, this rumor had circulated once before.
It had apparently been smoothed over at the time, but when people began saying, “Oh, I’ve heard that story before! So it was true after all,” the credibility grew stronger.
“Yes.”
“It’s true.”
Seong Yoon wore the expression of someone hearing of an impossibility—shock written plainly across his face.
He must have been somewhere in the Northern Region at the time, so he’d been unaware of the shocking events that had occurred within the palace.
“Then the rumor that you consumed poisoned dried persimmons…”
“That’s true too.”
It seemed many people knew of it, yet he’d been ignorant.
Though the deaths of the concubine and the cyst in her womb were more sensational material, and rumors surely circulated that the future Crown Prince had nearly been poisoned, the fact that it was I who’d consumed them and nearly lost my life had apparently remained rather obscure—known to those who knew, but overlooked by those who didn’t care. It was that sort of thing.
I’d suffered back-to-back losses with the Crown Prince’s and my mother’s deaths, and my spirit had flagged with fever anyway, so there was nothing strange about it. Besides, people generally didn’t concern themselves much with a princess rather than a prince.
And Seong Yoon also mentioned the latest rumor.
“The rumor that you sent food boxes containing dried persimmons and Egg Honey Cake to the homes of the ministers is likewise…”
“Also true.”
At my flat tone, Seong Yoon’s eyes trembled slightly as if in bewilderment, and I found myself feeling almost apologetic.
‘That look in her eyes… I’ve been seeing it a lot lately.’
It was the same expression my long-serving attendants—those like Ga-i and Song Bi who had stayed by my side for years—wore when they looked at me.
It surprised me.
After seeing me only a handful of times, she regarded me with that very gaze.
‘Am I really so weak toward children?’
There was the matter of helping her when we first met. How could someone with such a tender heart have served as a Mil-jeong?
“How could a Princess of such noble station have endured such hardship?”
Seong Yoon hadn’t even touched the pastries I’d brought, his voice tight with anguish as he fought to contain his emotion.
It was better than what I’d sent to the ministers too—a shame to waste it.
Not that I’d intended it that way. The quality had simply suffered somewhat in this sudden mass production; there was no helping it.
“I’m hardly regarded as precious. What could a small child like me possibly do? My biological mother came from a lowly station and had no backing to protect me, so I was never treated with particular favor.”
“I had heard that the Soi held Royal Favor from the Crown Prince.”
“No. From what I’ve heard, my biological mother never cared much for Royal Favor to begin with. It was the constant torment from the Deposed Prince Yi Su and his mother that made her strive for the King’s affection to protect me… or so I’ve heard.”
As I spoke, I stole a glance at Song Bi beside me.
She looked pained that I knew even such things.
I smoothed my brow and tried to soothe her.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve already heard all the rumors circulating in the palace.”
“But, Princess…”
“Don’t try to hide what people are saying out of concern for me. It’s better to know than to be caught unprepared later. Besides, there aren’t enough people in the Inner Palace these days for such talk to spread far, so honestly I find it refreshing.”
Though I couldn’t celebrate the fact that the palace had so few people and no royal family—that seemed to be Hong’s doing as the Deposed Prince.
“In any case, it doesn’t matter to me what people whisper about sending dried persimmons and egg honey cakes to the ministers’ homes. I need to survive. If that Deposed Prince is released from House Confinement and returns, he’ll surely try to kill me first.”
The moment I finished speaking, sparks seemed to ignite in Seong Yoon’s eyes.
‘Was I imagining that?’
Well, objectively speaking, the man was wretched enough that anger wasn’t unreasonable.
“So don’t worry too much about yourself, Gyeom-sa-bok. Just do as I asked—look after the children for me, that’s enough. If the King becomes furious over this matter, I won’t be able to give you proper attention for a while, and I wanted to ask you to handle things then. This business isn’t connected to you, so there’s no need to be anxious about it.”
“Princess…”
“Oh, that’s right. After I marry, I’d hoped you’d follow me as I enjoy life as a lady of leisure. But this might complicate those plans a bit.”
“…Indeed, my lady. Is not my peaceful retirement bound up with yours?”
Seong played along with my jest, though his stern expression seemed forced.
Even so, until he left, his eyes remained shadowed, and I felt somewhat sorry.
I was asking him to do something difficult—would he carry it out without faltering or running away? He seemed genuinely concerned for me.
I worried that sympathy and practical interest were different things, yet still hoped he would do what was needed and make his escape.
‘It’s hard to trust people.’
Truly. The Crown Prince’s distrust of others seemed less unusual now.
‘I’m fine, but the Crown Prince must govern—shouldn’t he have more loyal followers?’
The best way for a king or crown prince without backing to cultivate loyalists was to infuse fresh blood untainted by existing political factions, but this was difficult in more ways than one.
First, the civil service exams were grueling. Rising from nothing was no simple feat.
And even if they did enter, the existing powers would hound them relentlessly, making survival difficult.
‘There’s no point in my thinking about this now.’
The Crown Prince was still young, after all.
If the King truly intended to support his sole heir properly, he would naturally nurture connections through the Crown Prince Lecture Hall, the Ickwisa, and other institutions, and guide him carefully.
‘Unless the King’s lingering attachment to that criminal Yi Su makes him careless with the Crown Prince’s safety.’
That was the crux of it.
I hated Yi Su enough to wish him dead, but to the King, he would always be a son—loved or not.
With the death of Crown Prince Seongwon still so recent, I couldn’t fault the King for wanting to save his child.
Of course, I could denounce him when reading history books someday in the distant future. But it would be impossible to condemn a father who had already made his worthless son a Deposed Prince and confined him to his house, asking why he hadn’t gone further.
“But a choice must be made.”
I was pushing him toward making that choice.
Now that treason had been mentioned and talk of the Deposed Prince Yi Su had surfaced in the Great Hall, there was a high likelihood the King would need to decide Yi Su’s fate once more.
The scenario didn’t seem bad enough that this rebellion might even be a setup for his benefit.
For now, we’d succeeded in preventing the current Crown Prince from marrying into a powerful family, cutting off his expansion of power.
Next would be crafting a beautiful narrative of the Deposed Prince protecting his father even while suffering in House Confinement, shaping public opinion.
If he were reinstated as a prince, he might be planning to use his strengthened position to overthrow the weak Crown Prince who lacked proper backing.
‘Though of course, this might all be my paranoia.’
I wished it were. But reality seemed grim.
***
Not long after, I found myself sitting in the Great Hall, exactly as I’d anticipated.
The King had summoned me, but he sat in silence for a long while without saying a word.
If summoned by the King, I’d planned to speak boldly, claiming I’d had no choice—but facing my weary father’s gaze, I found my voice wouldn’t come.
Though I sensed he wouldn’t be angry regardless of what I said, it seemed less from favor toward me and more from simple, profound exhaustion.
The King regarded me with a steady gaze, his voice calm as he asked after my wellbeing. After a moment, he proceeded to the heart of the matter.
“It seems food boxes containing dried persimmons and egg honey cakes were sent to the ministers’ homes under your name.”
“……Yes, Father.”
His weary eyes looked not at me, but into the teacup before him.
Cold sweat gathered at my back, but I steadied myself so my voice would not tremble.
“Did you truly send those boxes?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Why would you undertake such a thing?”
“……Even in a girl’s ears, certain things are heard.”
I spoke indirectly, though there was no chance the King had misunderstood.
“Do you believe your father cannot protect you?”
“If the ministers oppose it, both you and the Crown Prince would face difficulties. This much even I understand.”
The King’s face showed shock at my words.
Until now he had worn brightness before me, but since the Crown Prince’s death he had aged rapidly, become worn and weary.
“The sins they committed are not small. How can those who have never endured such suffering dismiss it as a matter of the past?”
“Hong did not poison him, did she not?”
This was what the ministers claimed, and what the deposed Hong herself maintained.
But how could I not know?
“Your Majesty himself knows this—it was not Hong who ordered the palace servants to administer the poison that day.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“When the deposed prince was still free, there were always corpses of dead animals in the Inner Palace. Among them were many intact bodies that had merely coughed up blood.”

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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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