Born As The Daughter of a Lowly Concubine - Chapter 82

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Born as the daughter of a lowborn concubine.
Chapter 82
Seongji held her own against the shouting man, refusing to back down.
“I made it perfectly clear that the medicinal herbs must be decocted in the prescribed amount.”
“Yes, yes! I gave him the medicine exactly as you prepared it!”
“If you’d given it only as I prepared it, there’s no way these symptoms would appear! You doubled the decoction, didn’t you?”
“No, I… I didn’t…”
At Seongji’s words, the man hesitated for a moment.
“And looking at how his entire body has turned red — did you perhaps not just give the medicine to the child, but taste it yourself?”
“How would I know what was in it before giving it to him? You said you used good medicinal herbs! Of course I had to taste it myself to make sure it was safe!”
“This is not a tonic for a healthy person. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“You, you green-faced youngster — how dare you raise your voice to an elder? Fetch a physician! A physician! You’re responsible for putting my child in this state!”
“The child is in grave condition, so I will examine him now. But do not return to this place again.”
“What did you say??”
……
Perhaps because the stretch of peaceful days had been so long, the sight of this true nature — like something drawn from a picture, something I hadn’t seen in ages — crashed over me with a suffocating frustration and dizziness, as if I’d swallowed a hundred sweet potatoes.
Without a word, I tugged at Seong Gyeom-sabock’s sleeve and pointed to the man still shouting. Seeing my face, a mixture of exasperation and exhaustion, Seong Gyeom-sabock silently isolated the child’s guardian from the physician and spirited him away.
“What are you doing!!”
“The Young Miss seems troubled in spirit, so we’ll have our discussion in a quieter place.”
As Seong Gyeom-sabock dragged the man away and disappeared quietly beyond the door, Seongji too seemed to drain of energy. She sighed deeply and slumped onto a wooden platform in the courtyard.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Thank you for your help.”
Seeing Seongji sweating profusely, Ayoung and Jia hurried into the kitchen and returned with water, pressing it into her hands.
“Seongji, have some water.”
“Thank you.”
On the platform where Seongji sat was a boy, burning with fever and breathing heavily. He must have been that man’s son.
“Will he be all right?”
“Fortunately they brought him before it was too late, but that man wouldn’t give me a moment to treat him…”
Speaking thus, Seongji shook her head as if to gather her wits, then rose to her feet. She went inside to retrieve medicinal herbs and set the children to decocting them, then rubbed her hands together several times, drew out her needle case, and inserted needles into the boy’s body.
The children, busy fanning the flame beneath the decoction pot, shuddered at the sight, letting out small gasps of dismay.
‘I suppose needles are a bit much for them to watch.’
After some time, confirming that the boy’s fever had subsided somewhat, Seongji finally released the tension from her shoulders and took a deep breath.
Then, as our eyes met, she seemed to remember something. She smiled awkwardly and bowed her head.
“Thank you for your assistance. You’re the Young Miss from Siyeongwon, aren’t you?”
“Mm.”
Without my knowing, yet another new title for myself had taken root.
At Siyeongwon I was simply called the Young Miss, but outside those walls, it seemed, I was addressed this way.
“The children speak of you every time they see me — you wouldn’t believe how much.”
“What do they say?”
I glanced at the children, and they all avoided my gaze, suddenly absorbed in tending the decoction pot.
“Only good things. That you gave them delicious food. That you gave them beautiful clothes. That you patted their heads and told them they were good.”
Why that last one?
“And I’ve heard you’re teaching them their letters. I said something disrespectful to you long ago — please forgive me for that.”
“…?”
What had she said? It was so long ago that my memory had grown hazy.
The woman, noticing I didn’t remember, laughed softly.
“But what brings you all the way here?”
“Ah.”
I’d been so caught up in that commotion that my mind had wandered completely.
“Actually, I’m planning to teach children at Siyeongwon who will become physicians, so I’ve been searching for someone to instruct them in the Medical Art.”
“The Medical Art, you say?”
I explained my plan adequately — that I intended to teach the Medical Art to talented children willing to learn, regardless of their station.
Seongji fell silent for a moment, lost in thought.
‘Is it difficult for her? If it is, I could ask her to recommend another physician or Medical Woman whose skill and character are trustworthy.’
The woman before me was still young; she seemed better suited to active practice than to teaching.
“I’ve heard that you’re no ordinary person, but I never knew you harbored such deep intentions.”
Saying this, the woman straightened her posture and introduced herself properly.
“I haven’t had the chance to greet you formally until now. I am Seongji.”
Seongji had lost her parents in childhood and was raised by her uncle, who was also the current master of this house and had once served as a physician at the Inner Palace Medical Office.
‘I don’t know why she left the Inner Palace Medical Office, but given that I knew nothing of it, it must have been quite some time ago.’
Either way, there’s plenty stirring at court these days—internal struggles, external ones, power plays everywhere. I imagine there’s no shortage of complications.
“Your uncle would likely take interest, I suspect, if he heard of this.”
Seongji’s uncle had proven his skill long ago and still made house calls to families of standing, so he lived comfortably enough without want.
Especially when performing pulse readings on yangban women—Seongji always accompanied him—word had spread quietly among the wives of the gentry, and he had no shortage of patients because of it.
‘And if he specializes in women’s diseases, he’s exactly the sort of talent I’ve been looking for.’
According to Seongji, her uncle had even read the pulse of the Queen and the concubines when he worked at the Inner Palace Medical Office.
That guaranteed his abilities were sound.
So he didn’t need to take on many patients and could live modestly enough off what he had.
The only thing was that Seongji felt it a waste of the medical knowledge she’d worked so hard to master, so she still tended to the poor as she did before—her uncle disapproved, though he didn’t forbid it outright, only offered the occasional piece of advice.
‘Though it doesn’t pay, of course.’
When work didn’t bring in money and cases like this cropped up, it seemed it would be quite a burden for just the two of them in this small house.
Even now Seongji alone looked rushed, sorting and drying medicinal herbs, brewing decoctions.
“But surely your uncle helps sometimes, doesn’t he?”
“He’s often away. And he enjoys his drink.”
“Hmm.”
A physician who enjoyed drinking seemed rather questionable.
Seongji must have sensed my disapproval, for she quickly waved her hand in protest.
“He does enjoy it, but one cup is enough to make him drowsy, so he doesn’t drink much. He sobers quickly too. There’s never been a case where he’d visit a patient while intoxicated.”
“Well, that’s a relief then.”
“He’s away at the moment, but I’ll pass along word when he returns. I doubt he’ll object.”
“He doesn’t dislike treating patients, does he?”
“If that were so, why would he still practice medicine? But I think… he may be more suited to teaching than to seeing patients.”
Her voice grew increasingly uncertain as she spoke, and Ayoung, sprawling cheerfully across Seongji’s lap, asked a question.
“Did you learn medicine from your uncle, Seongji?”
“Of course! He taught me.”
“Did he force you to learn?”
“No, I asked to learn. It was the only work I could do here, so I was desperate about it. Fortunately, I had an aptitude for it and some talent too, it seems. Would you like to learn as well, Ayoung?”
“But you said it was difficult.”
“It is difficult, certainly. But it’s rewarding work.”
“But your uncle doesn’t seem to want to teach, does he?”
“Ah, haha.”
Ayoung’s words had struck home—Seongji’s voice grew evasive.
“When you go on house calls, you’re the one who cures people, aren’t you? So you cure them better than your uncle, right?”
“That’s not quite true—I do the pulse reading. Men physicians reading women’s pulses goes against propriety, so women prefer it that way. Though… I suppose you could say I’m better at reading women’s pulses than he is?”
“Then could you read the Young Miss’s pulse too?”
‘Young Miss, what now, Ayoung…?’
At the mention of me, silence fell over the courtyard.
From the way she seemed to remember me, she’d likely noticed I hadn’t grown. The children might have mentioned it.
“Would it be acceptable if I were to read your pulse, Young Miss?”
“Yes.”
As soon as I nodded readily, So-i, who’d barely registered until now, stepped in to stop me.
“Young Miss!”
“It’s fine. It’s just a pulse reading, not medicine. And she’s a woman too. Isn’t she?”
“But, Young Miss…”
Ga-i was strict, but So-i was easy to persuade.
Once I decided to do something, So-i couldn’t hold out to the end. There was nothing remarkable about a simple pulse reading anyway.
Seongji asked me various questions about my health, then pressed her fingers to the pulse at my wrist. She frowned in concentration and fell silent for a long while before finally shaking her head.
“I can tell your condition is different from others, Young Miss, but there are no other symptoms at all. I’m afraid I cannot determine how to treat it.”
“In all the people I’ve had examined, not one physician has known how to treat it, so don’t be troubled. I’m not inconvenienced, so there’s no need to worry so much about it.”
“…”
Those around me all wore faces that said ‘How could you possibly not worry?’—but this wasn’t something that would be solved by simply deciding not to think about it.
Of course, it wasn’t without its difficulties to have a body that hasn’t grown since childhood, but fortunately I had wealth and attendants enough that my life lacked for nothing material.
Besides, I knew the cure existed, and there was every reason to believe someone capable of providing it would appear one day.
And since nothing actually hurt, compared to the countless rare and incurable diseases afflicting people in the world, my situation was quite favorable indeed.
“Worrying over every little thing like that isn’t good for your health anyway.”
“Psychological distress can indeed bring about real physical pain, so your words are wise.”
Even the children nodded, seeming to trust the physician’s authority on the matter.
‘If only I could find psychological stability as well.’
But my household was hardly an environment conducive to such peace of mind…
And I couldn’t even become independent.
‘Well, darn.’
In any case, I’d already put forth my thoughts on establishing a women’s medical clinic, and Seongji was delighted.
“If a medical facility under Lady Ongju’s care were to be established as you’ve suggested, both the women and the physicians would have nothing to worry about.”
“I was thinking of making it a hospital focused on children and women. Rather than trying to cover too many fields, I think specialization would serve us better.”
“Then Lady Ongju intends to gather physicians and medical women for this purpose?”
“Yes, that’s the idea.”
Since the Young Miss of Siyeongwon was merely Lady Ongju’s representative in external matters, I kept my answer measured.
“That’s admirable.”
“Well…….”
Everyone seemed to think I harbored such grand ambitions, but the truth was far simpler — this was all a desperate scramble for survival.
This era was rife with deadly plagues, and the medical knowledge to treat them was sorely lacking.
‘It’s no coincidence that inoculation is standard practice in alternate histories!’
If I contracted smallpox in this time, I might well leave this world before ever witnessing what became of the Crown Prince and Jihwa.
‘The moment I hear whispers of someone catching smallpox, I’ll have to go, no matter what.’
The Crown Prince? He’s the protagonist — surely he wouldn’t catch something like smallpox.
‘Even if he did, I suspect he’d survive…….’
Not that it wouldn’t be catastrophic in multiple ways if he did.
But I, a mere extra who’d nearly died once already, had to survive first.
“Speaking of which, I heard something about you when I went to the medicine shop to procure herbs.”
About me?
The moment I showed interest, Seongji continued with an amused smile.
“The medical women of the Inner Palace Medical Office are all in a stir because of you, Lady Ongju.”
“……?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————