Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 65

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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 concubine of the lowest rank.
65
“Listen here. A Poison Drink? What in the world are you talking about?”
Since not only we but everyone else in the tavern had shown interest, the man who’d broached the subject straightened his voice with a self-satisfied air.
“Ahem. Yes.”
“Who received the Poison Drink? Haven’t most of those involved in the treason plot from last time already been punished?”
“Well, but couldn’t someone else have received it? If another crime came to light, perhaps?”
As the man played coy amid the murmuring, those nearby turned to the tavern keeper.
“Keeper! Another cup of wine here!”
“And some pan-fried meat here!”
The unflappable tavern keeper quickly brought wine and appetizers and set them on the man’s table.
“Heh, people are so impatient. Yes.”
“Enough of that. Out with it.”
“Well, the thing is—they say Gyeong Eon Gun, who’s been exiled to Jeolla Province, has been given the Poison Drink.”
“……!”
People all around made faces of confusion.
“Gyeong Eon Gun? You mean that deposed prince under house confinement?”
“Exactly. But didn’t they say he distinguished himself in apprehending those rebels?”
“Still, they say he committed many misdeeds while he was in the palace, didn’t he?”
“Who can know all the rumors.”
The people in the tavern began spouting whatever facts they happened to know here and there.
I set down the spoon with which I’d been eating my rice soup and could only blink vacantly.
‘Gyeong Eon Gun… and a Poison Drink? All of a sudden like this?’
How could I know nothing of such a thing?
“Miss, are you all right?”
“Ah? Yes.”
I gave a listless nod and strained to catch the drift of the people’s talk.
I noticed that some people doubted the rumor, finding it too sudden.
“Good grief, where did you pick up such baseless gossip?”
“Baseless? And what if it’s true, eh?”
“As if groundless talk comes from only one or two people.”
“What of it? Even if I look like this, I know the Royal Physician.”
“If you know the Royal Physician, then I’m acquainted with the Chief State Councillor. So what?”
Between the men about to settle the matter with their fists, a great ladle began to emit steam, wedging itself between them.
“What is this? Are you people causing a disturbance here?”
Before the tavern keeper’s enormous ladle—the same one she’d been stirring the pot with just moments before—both the Royal Physician’s acquaintance and the Chief State Councillor’s friend fell silent.
In the meantime, the other patrons began lowering their voices as they spoke.
“Gyeong Eon Gun, you know… I thought he might be reinstated at one point, but truly, one can never know what will become of a person.”
“Don’t speak foolishness. If Gyeong Eon Gun were reinstated, wouldn’t he become a threat to the Crown Prince again? His Majesty made this decision to protect the Crown Prince.”
“But how could he give the Poison Drink to his own son? It’s heartless.”
“Think about it. His mother—she must be utterly depraved. She killed the concubine who bore his older brother, and she nearly killed the princess as well, didn’t she?”
When they began speaking of me, Ga-i, flustered in a way unlike herself, quickly pulled me into her embrace and tried to cover my ears.
I patted Ga-i’s arm to signal I was all right, but she didn’t seem inclined to let go.
Whether because Ga-i was flustered in such an uncharacteristic way, the surrounding noise still came through clearly to me.
“And worse yet, she tried to poison the current Crown Prince, didn’t she? In a common household, if a concubine committed such an act out of jealousy, she wouldn’t be allowed to live.”
“Gyeong Eon Gun’s mother is so wicked—if Gyeong Eon Gun were to take the Crown Prince’s seat instead… when you think of it that way, should you kill his mother or let her live?”
At the words of a laborer drinking wine, the man beside him slapped him on the back.
“What? Are you mad? The Crown Prince is sitting right here, and you speak such words?”
“Who knows what might happen to the Crown Prince?”
“If you’re dragged off to the Euigeumbu later, don’t expect me to claim I know you.”
“Some people, truly.”
“But isn’t it true? If things came to pass that way, and later Gyeong Eon Gun returned to avenge his mother, what would become of the court? That’s what I’m saying!”
“You certainly know a lot—bet you want to eat everything you see.”
The conversation about Gyeong Eon Gun soon shifted to talk of the current Crown Prince.
“But doesn’t the current Crown Prince have quite a reputation for being… talkative?”
“He hasn’t even taken a Crown Princess yet, and yes, he has quite a reputation, but still, with the Queen standing firm like that, what trouble could there be?”
“But I’ve heard his health has been delicate since before.”
These days, seeing him ride horses and shoot arrows, it didn’t seem to be the case, yet the old rumors lingered.
“Wouldn’t all our worries fade if the Queen simply gave birth to another prince?”
“But isn’t she rather advanced in years now?”
“That dead concubine was carrying a prince, wasn’t she? So he had her killed.”
“Good heavens, how vicious. Now that I think about it, I’ve heard plenty of ugly rumors about Gyeong Eon Gun too.”
“What sort of rumors?”
The people in the tavern were discussing the matter with surprising seriousness.
Gyeong Eon Gun aside—the rumors about the Crown Prince were decidedly mixed. Perhaps I ought to circulate some positive anecdotes about him.
‘His abilities are genuinely impressive. If people just knew the basic facts, his reputation would be far better.’
But the trouble was, likable anecdotes about him simply didn’t materialize.
The Crown Prince was like that too—locked away studying all day, both of them had become desperately dull people.
‘Though that’s hardly my concern, is it.’
If it was true that Gyeong Eon Gun had been given the Poison Drink, there was nothing left to worry about. Once the Crown Prince himself remained safe, there weren’t many threats left to the sole heir.
Unless the King suddenly reversed course and bled the Crown Prince dry like one of those monarchs from the Joseon history I remembered.
We finished our meal absorbed in the rumors and left the tavern.
“But why didn’t I hear any of this?”
The two attendants who had been watching my expression all the while sighed. Finally, Gyeom-sa-bok opened his mouth.
“There have been discussions about Gyeong Eon Gun for some time, I’ve heard. But it’s merely rumor—the truth hasn’t been confirmed.”
Gyeom-sa-bok admitted he’d caught wind of such talk while going about his duties, but learning about the Poison Drink was news to him as well.
“Hmm…….”
“My lady.”
For a moment it occurred to me that the King might have deliberately kept such news from my ears. I pushed the thought away. It hardly mattered either way.
It wasn’t as if I would throw a celebration over his death.
Only—a small stone seemed to settle in my chest at the thought that perhaps I had killed him.
That my actions might have had far greater consequences than I realized.
‘He was a man I wanted dead, yet this doesn’t feel right.’
And yet, if the rumor about the Poison Drink proved false, I feared I would be disappointed.
I would have preferred he suffered quietly, painfully, and died in obscurity.
Right to the end, tormenting me.
Dark emotions churned within me.
‘Is that why he hid it from me?’
The King could not possibly be pleased either. He had been forced to order the Poison Drink for his own son.
One of the few children he had left.
‘His death brings me no sorrow at all.’
I was sorry the King would suffer.
To hunger for a throne that demanded he issue death sentences against his own blood—what a thing to desire.
Ga-i asked whether I wanted to return to the palace, but I shook my head.
I had no desire to be inside the palace walls just now.
Waiting a few more hours would change nothing.
‘Though the Crown Prince might come looking for me. He’s bound to find out, even if they try to hide it from me.’
If my excursion came to light, so be it.
Right now, I needed something to dispel this strange unease.
***
“It’s been a while. Is everyone doing well?”
“The landlady’s here!”
As I stepped into the residence secured through Gyeom-sa-bok, several children playing about greeted me.
My title among them seemed to have changed.
“Is it true your sister got this place bought through the royal princess?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
That’s how it had come to be.
I couldn’t reveal to the children that I was actually the royal princess, so the story went that I was on good terms with her—a respectable distant relation of the royal house.
In other words, the official account was that I’d received funds from the royal princess and had Gyeom-sa-bok front the purchase of this place.
“My goodness, use proper speech! My apologies, my lady.”
“Aw, sister. I’m being scolded.”
“It’s all right, don’t worry about it.”
The retired Chae-tam-in couple minding the children looked embarrassed as they scolded the child, so I assured them it was fine.
I was torn between wanting to teach them proper forms of address and wanting to leave them be.
Though Ga-i beside me looked more than willing to instruct them.
‘Once Min arrives, she’ll establish discipline on her own. I don’t need to bother.’
The residence was staffed with people of ordinary, unassuming demeanor—though I couldn’t say for certain how many of them Gyeom-sa-bok had brought in or whether they were Chae-tam-in operatives.
Some had apparently come as couples.
Among them were ordinary folk who had married former Chae-tam-in members, and they were teaching the children basic things like cooking, cleaning, and bathing.
People who had never bathed or cleaned before apparently had no idea how to do it, I’d been told.
But here, bathing was a basic requirement, so the children had to learn even if they didn’t like it.
“By the way, where did your leader go?”
“Oh, he went to gather firewood and wild plants.”
Though he probably wasn’t gathering firewood in the literal sense.
I was looking for one of the older children—the kind of leader figure I’d taken to the Hyemin Bureau once before.
Now that they needed to learn how to find provisions for themselves, the older children would go into the mountains to gather wild greens and collect firewood, or so I’d been told.
I supplied grain to a certain extent, but they had to forage for side dishes themselves. And firewood went without saying.
The child was delighted to have someone new to whine to and clung to me without letting go.
“But why do we have to drink hot water? Boiling water is hot and such a pain.”
“It is a pain, you’re right. But that’s how you keep your stomach from hurting.”
In this era, drinking water came mostly from rivers or wells. Of course, water pollution wasn’t severe in this time, so it wasn’t unusual—but there were still any number of precautions to take.
“Let me see. Are you bathing properly?”
“I am! I thought my skin was going to peel right off!”
Being a small child, the adults had to wash him, so his complaints were endless.
I played with the young child who treated me with such easy familiarity, and found it strangely healing. His skin had turned smooth and soft from the bath.
‘Children really are adorable.’
Bang—
Just then the door flew open and several children rushed in noisily.
The children looked disheveled, having rolled around in the mountains. Some of them seemed to have picked up injuries.
And among them, a familiar-looking child was limping forward.

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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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