Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 73

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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.
Chapter 73
I pressed my palm against my forehead as I listened to the familiar melody drifting from the courtyard—children chasing each other and singing it over and over, an endless loop.
“Young mistress? What troubles you? Has something gone wrong?”
“No. It’s nothing.”
I bit my lip against the creeping sense of self-reproach, but it was already too late.
Far too late.
‘When I was here before, I hummed it without thinking while comforting crying children…….’
The lyrics hadn’t lodged properly in my memory, but that addictive melodic line—once heard, never forgotten—had already spread so widely among the children that containing it was hopeless.
‘And that’s not all that’s spread from me…….’
Let me be clear: in my past life, I never coveted anyone’s intellectual property or patents, never even downloaded anything illegally from some mysterious corner of the internet. I was an ordinary, law-abiding citizen.
But the essence of being Korean, carved deep into the soul…….
Made me hum all manner of songs without even realizing it…….
And melodies so catchy that I couldn’t help but hum them even after dying and being reborn—those same melodies made anyone who chanced to hear them hum along too.
As a result, somewhere along the way, the songs I’d been humming had begun circulating through Siyeongwon in slightly altered variations.
Moreover, without my knowledge, the palace attendants told me that my hummed songs had already spread among the palace women long ago. The only reason I hadn’t noticed was that no one dared sing in front of the queen dowager.
It seemed I must have unconsciously hummed any number of things since childhood.
The saving grace was that I’d listened to so many historical drama soundtracks that most of my songs had an Eastern flavor.
If I’d been walking around singing aggressive idol dance tracks or rock music, people might have whispered that something had poisoned the young mistress when she was small, leaving her odd in the head.
‘Regardless, even if this is a world other than the past, copyright infringement of this sort is…….’
Oh no, I’m sorry!!
While I sat stunned, contemplating the intellectual property violation I’d committed of my own accord, Min Sang-gung brought out a stack of paper she’d prepared. It was heavy enough that when I lowered it onto the table, it made a weighty sound.
“These are the ones, miss.”
“Ah, yes. There’s quite a lot more than I expected.”
I’d previously instructed the women among the servants assigned to Siyeongwon who were skilled at cooking to record all the Cooking Techniques they knew before they forgot them.
It was an order I’d given because even cooking one knows well can be forgotten if left undone for long enough, so it seemed wise to write things down as quickly as possible.
But looking at what Min Sang-gung had just produced, there appeared to be enough paper stacked here to fill several recipe books.
Moreover, the content was detailed, and I could see that illustrations had been included here and there, which told me they’d put considerable care into their writing.
‘Despite becoming servants, they’re far more enthusiastic than I’d expected.’
I’d worried that writing these things might stir up memories of the past, making them melancholy if I pressed too hard.
As I examined the recipes with a puzzled expression, Min Sang-gung, as if reading my thoughts, spoke first.
“They need daylight to write properly, so while they were writing, they could miss some of their work, could they not? This task must have been far easier than manual labor.”
“Ah, I suppose that makes sense.”
“And since you, young mistress, are protecting them, of course they follow your wishes.”
“I am?”
I only remembered assigning them work suited to their talents.
“Since you created Siyeongwon and its people protect them, they are in fact under your protection.”
“I see.”
I’d seen the children protect the younger servants, so I understood dimly what she meant.
‘They didn’t do anything themselves, yet they got caught up in accusations of treason and ended up like this. That’s hardly fair.’
Of course, if the rebellion had succeeded, their family would have shared in wealth and glory. But a life of servitude—rising and falling in fortune depending on someone else’s status—didn’t seem like it would be pleasant.
I reviewed the written documents roughly and asked Min Sang-gung a question.
“Can you call the people who wrote these for me?”
“Of course, young mistress.”
Soon several women were ushered in. Now that I thought about it, they must have been interrupted from their work.
They ranged in age from elderly matrons to young girls still in their youth.
“Did all of you remember these? That’s impressive.”
“We have only retained what we remember from cooking we have done for many years, miss.”
“Is that so?”
Looking at the women kneeling before me, I recalled the Gyuhap Chongseo of Byeong Heo-gak Yi.
‘Records left by women are rare.’
Yet among those gathered here, there were some who could leave behind records of their own.
“Have this properly compiled and bound into a book.”
“Pardon?”
My words seemed to shock them; several of the women forgot their station and lifted their heads.
“And beyond the food itself, if any of you remember the customs of your former households, or stories about alcohol, or anything else—write down whatever you recall before it fades.”
“B-but we are of the Yeokdang…….”
“You’re merely recording the food culture passed down through an old family. It’s simply a personal hobby. Who would object to that?”
“Yes, yes.”
They seemed startled at the mention of leaving records about the Yeokdang family, but if their mistress ordered it, what choice did they have?
“Oh, and write down their names too.”
“Pardon?”
“The name of whoever wrote the book. Even though they’ve become servants now, they all have perfectly good names, don’t they?”
“Forgive us, but how could we presume to have our names appear in a book?”
“Why not, when the owner says it’s fine?”
……
The women’s faces betrayed that they’d never considered such a thing.
And in truth, it wasn’t common for a woman to have her name recorded anywhere.
“Very well. Make sure to distinguish between primary and secondary authors. Of course, you’ll also note which household it belonged to, and since it’s the Yeokdang household and has fallen, we’ll record that too—so don’t worry. And do write down where you all came from.”
They all still wore the expression of people hearing such strange words for the first time.
“Does the young lady not seem like such a poor master?”
For the record, I haven’t yet openly declared myself to be of the royal household.
“Oh? No, of course not. How could we speak such outrageous words?”
“No, naturally the actual author should be listed separately. Of course I wouldn’t steal that—what use would it be even if I did?”
“Yes, yes indeed.”
I’ll probably go down in history as a rather peculiar princess, but that’s hardly the worst reputation one could earn.
The attendants who had followed me in watched the confused servants with sympathetic eyes.
“And please set aside some recipes—focus on chicken dishes and vegetable preparations, things that aren’t too complicated to make. Dishes that work well as drinking accompaniments, that sort of thing.”
As I gave Min the list of a few I’d already noted, she nodded and asked:
“Yes, young lady. We heard recently that you’ve established a poultry farm—might this be connected to that?”
“Yes. I’m thinking of acquiring a tavern.”
“…??”
At my words, the expressions of everyone present shifted into something bewildered.
“You know I’ve been managing the vegetable fields, don’t you?”
“Yes. We’ve brought several children from Siyeongwon to work there, and you’ve sent us vegetables for their meals.”
“And you know I’ve established the poultry farm?”
“Yes.”
“With a stable supply of vegetables and meat, and skilled labor who know how to cook—why wouldn’t running a restaurant work out?”
“But why acquire a tavern specifically?”
“There’s no one at Siyeongwon with business experience.”
“Ah.”
We needed people with the right skills. Experienced hands.
‘Selling vegetables at the market is hardly the same as running a proper service establishment.’
The tavern business, especially one that serves alcohol, attracts a different caliber of difficult customer.
Even an ordinary troublesome patron becomes something altogether worse with drink in them.
And when those difficult patrons are yangban with official posts, waving their status around, there’s little one can do to manage them unless someone of even higher standing intervenes.
Which is why tavern keepers with long years of experience were true veterans of their craft.
‘The children who grew up on the streets might be able to handle it, but I’m still a bit worried.’
As it happened, the vegetable trade was already proceeding smoothly, I’d heard. My involvement in it had apparently become common knowledge, and for whatever reason, people simply bought without question or haggling.
In any case, tavern keepers running their own establishments faced considerable hardship.
Some had husbands or families to share the burden, but those without faced various threats and pressures.
We decided to approach the older tavern keepers first. Thanks to the children diligently gathering information, finding a tavern that met our requirements proved easy.
***
And I accompanied them on the first transaction myself.
“Is that truly so?”
“It is. The children from Siyeongwon will grow up needing to fend for themselves—what experience could they possibly have?”
“Goodness. But what could I possibly teach them? I’m barely scraping by here, day to day, selling drinks and food.”
“Isn’t maintaining this tavern alone becoming too much for you?”
At Min’s words, the bent-backed tavern keeper hesitated before answering.
“It is hard keeping the tavern running alone—the work is exhausting. So why not take on some children, teach them the business, and then sell us the tavern later?”
“Pardon?”
Seeing her startled face, I felt a bit bad—as if I were bullying an old woman—but that wasn’t my intention at all.
“Don’t worry. I’m not trying to take it from you. Of course we’ll pay fair price, and if you wish to continue after you sell, we can keep you on.”
“You… truly mean that?”
“You are the heart of this tavern—I wouldn’t dream of casting you out.”
Besides, there were regular customers.
For now she managed somehow, but as she aged, she’d naturally need to pass the place on or sell it to someone.
I was simply proposing to make that transition smooth.
After that, things moved swiftly.
The tavern keepers, seduced by the sweet promise of security in their old age as much as by the payment, signed the contracts.
Perhaps it was because there were many widows without children or who had lost them—at any rate, she had no objection to young people coming to work.
If the Tavern Keeper had good cooking skills, she would create recipes, share them, and refine them accordingly; if the skills were lacking, she would bring recipes from Siyeongwon or elsewhere.
In this manner, she had gradually acquired several taverns inside and around the Capital City.
And concurrent with each acquisition came renovation work—larger, cleaner establishments.
“It’s a place where many people come and go. It needs to be clean.”
Moreover, the children who had been force-fed cleanliness since childhood at Siyeongwon for several years made efforts to maintain a pristine environment—much like foreigners conditioned by Korean culture who recoil at the thought of wearing shoes inside a room.
“We have to wash here too, don’t we?”
“The kitchen comes first—cleanliness above all.”
Of course, some of these standards I had insisted upon myself.
Having gone to the trouble of educating them, it was somewhat regrettable that a few of the children preferred working to studying.
Though a bit disappointing, watching them meticulously record sales in ledgers gave me some consolation for the teaching effort.
The arithmetic itself had been taught at Siyeongwon as well. Arabic numerals and the decimal system made calculations far more convenient, so they picked it up quickly. Later, no matter what they ended up doing, they needed to know how to reckon—so we all ground our teeth and taught it to them.
In any case, even people accustomed to filthy conditions had no aversion to cleanliness, so the guests naturally welcomed the taverns’ improved appearance.
Moreover, the food naturally gained favor.
The original offerings remained, of course, but she also began selling new dishes selected from the Recipe Book that had been compiled to her specifications.
It was not merely a matter of taste—upon learning that these were foods prepared in Yangban households, people came rushing in droves, eager to taste them themselves.
The Nobi who were the original owners of the recipes were, for the sake of protecting their persons, kept inside Siyeongwon as much as possible and focused on teaching the children.
I had said they were free to go out if they wished, but they had no desire to encounter anyone they knew, and the truth was that being of Nobi status made it difficult to receive fair treatment.
Of course, no one would dare mistreat them once they knew they were my property.
Thus the business grew quietly, step by step.
‘It’s modest in scale now, but if I keep expanding the taverns, won’t it become like a Franchise?’
Seeing how ingredients, Cooking Techniques, and labor were supplied from Siyeongwon while revenues were collected back seemed to confirm it.
In my past life, I had never been particularly interested in business, yet somehow things had grown to this extent.
I was unknowingly running a franchise operation…….
Even now, a portion of the profits earned from the taverns was collected and used to fund Siyeongwon.
Some of the children might eventually grow dissatisfied, but for now they seemed content with the system of fixed salaries plus incentives based on performance.
And as I began producing chicken dishes in large quantities, I noticed something about the fat rendered in the process.
That—I could recycle it and make soap.

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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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