Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 17

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

Chapter 17. Red Flower
Gwi-in Kim, who had been staring intently at Hee-bin, finally opened her mouth.
“It has been quite some time, Hee-bin.”
“Indeed, it has.”
At least, Gwi-in’s opening greeting was utterly mundane.
…Which meant the bomb detonated immediately after.
“The journey to Aeryeonji Pond must not have been easy for someone of Hee-bin’s years. Yet it seems you arrived without incident.”
Gasp.
I nearly cried out in genuine shock.
‘Did she just…attack her age?’
In truth, Hee-bin was in her early forties—roughly a decade older than Gwi-in.
It was certainly a cutting remark that brought Gwi-in’s criminal history to mind.
Yet Hee-bin remained remarkably composed.
“Is Gwi-in concerned for me? How delightful that you’ve ventured out from your quarters to stroll through the Back Garden.”
Hee-bin continued with a radiant smile.
“Your quarters are situated in such a remote corner, with so little sunlight reaching them. I thought perhaps the fresh air and sunshine here would do wonders for your health.”
Gwi-in’s face flushed crimson in an instant.
“Who says such things? My quarters receive plenty of sunlight. I lack for nothing and live quite contentedly!”
“Ah, is that so? Though I don’t recall ever saying you lived in want…. In any case, I’m relieved to hear it.”
“Tch…!”
Gwi-in made no attempt to conceal her emotions.
Hee-bin regarded Gwi-in with obvious, deliberate scrutiny from head to toe.
Only then did I notice the stark difference between them.
While Hee-bin wore resplendent robes embroidered with gold and silver leaf, adorned with countless ornaments, Gwi-in’s attire was so plain that without her rank insignia, one would scarcely recognize her as a concubine of the palace.
It was then that Gwi-in’s fierce gaze, which had been fixed on Hee-bin, turned toward the Crown Prince.
“Your Highness, you must bear such burdens every day.”
“No, that is not so, my lady.”
“But it is. I am well aware that you attend to the Queen’s recovery with such devoted care each day.”
“….”
Both the Crown Prince and Hee-bin fell silent simultaneously.
Gwi-in continued undeterred.
“The Queen cherishes you so dearly despite her illness—her maternal love for her son is so profound it moves my heart. She speaks endlessly of your filial devotion.”
…This was truly too much.
‘Unable to best Hee-bin, she’s turning her arrows toward the Crown Prince instead.’
A cunning stratagem to wound Hee-bin by drawing the Crown Prince into the fray.
“…I merely act according to my duty.”
The Crown Prince’s voice grew heavy.
“Of course. What duty could be more important than serving one’s only mother in this world?”
Gwi-in’s indifference to the Crown Prince’s position infuriated even me.
Hee-bin’s expression had already turned cold.
A crooked smile played at the corners of Gwi-in Kim’s lips. She turned her gaze toward Hee-bin with unmistakable satisfaction before addressing her attendants.
“Aeryeonji Pond has lost its former beauty. Its bloom has faded with the season, and it no longer holds any appeal. Let us depart.”
…Her words carried the edge of a blade, not mere bone.
After bowing to the Crown Prince, Gwi-in Kim turned to leave Aeryeonji Pond.
As she and her attendants retreated, a cloud of dust rose beneath their feet.
‘A woman bound entirely by malice toward Hee-bin….’
I knew better than to judge someone by first impressions, yet Gwi-in Kim was undeniably repellent to me.
‘And there were even suspicions that she later conspired to harm the Crown Prince.’
Even if I were reborn a thousand times over, I could never bring myself to like you, Gwi-in Kim….
“…Mother.”
The Crown Prince’s voice reached my ears. I glanced sideways, and what caught my eye was his hand.
Poor Crown Prince.
His fingertips were trembling ever so slightly.
“Yes, Your Highness. What is it?”
“Do not take Gwi-in Kim’s words to heart. She has never been one to measure her speech, has she?”
For such words to come from the Crown Prince—officially certified as a paragon of virtue by Hwang Bong-bong herself—spoke volumes.
I could only imagine how turbulent the relationship between Hee-bin and Gwi-in Kim must have been all this time.
‘On the other hand…. You truly are remarkable, Crown Prince.’
Even after the Crown Prince became King, Gwi-in Kim was repeatedly implicated as the architect of countless conspiracies. Yet he shielded her every time.
‘I cannot decide whether to call that kindness or indecision.’
Certainly, our Crown Prince is no refreshingly straightforward character.
“Yes. I am untroubled, Your Highness. Gwi-in Kim has always been this way—it is nothing new.”
Ah…. Such magnanimity from Hee-bin.
“But…. Crown Prince.”
The voice of the Hee-bin I had believed to be so generous trembled faintly.
“Under heaven, I alone am your mother. No matter how dire our circumstances become, you must never forget that undeniable truth.”
“…Yes, Mother.”
The Crown Prince’s eyes grew dull and heavy.
I understood Hee-bin’s position, yet I could not accept even this manner of expression.
‘Please, think of the Crown Prince’s heart. Stop confusing him like this….’
King Sukjong, who was the original cause of this catastrophe, Gwi-in Kim, who wielded the Crown Prince as a weapon, and the Crown Princess, who instilled guilt in him—all were culpable….
‘No matter how difficult things are, surely you, his own mother, should offer him some comfort.’
Yet contrary to my thoughts, Hee-bin’s voice grew increasingly heated.
“Crown Prince. You must never forget this. The humiliation I have endured because of Min, the insults I have suffered at Gwi-in’s hands….”
Please, stop tormenting the child!
Tears are welling up in the Crown Prince’s eyes!
By any means necessary, I wanted to silence Hee-bin’s words.
And so I….
Though I truly despised doing it, I resolved to deploy my ultimate technique.
“Ahhhhh!”
Splash!
With the resolve of Sim-cheong casting herself into the Indestructible River.
I am certain it was an action that could only be described as truly magnificent and sublime sacrifice.
I slipped as though losing my balance and threw myself into Aeryeonji Pond.
“Bong-bong!”
The Crown Prince’s cry, Hee-bin’s panicked voice, and the screams of the Palace Maids echoed around me.
But then….
‘I must have lost my mind.’
I had overlooked two critical facts.
First, Aeryeonji Pond was not particularly deep. Only—
‘I forgot I’m in a four-year-old’s body.’
The second was….
‘This water is absolutely freezing!’
I had forgotten that despite the mild weather, it was still winter.
In short, I was doomed.
I sank rapidly beneath the surface. The numbing cold of the water engulfed my entire body.
Though I thrashed and struggled, my feet could not touch the bottom. The more I flailed, the more lily stems wound around my small frame.
Thick, slimy mud rushed into my mouth in waves.
As though a water spirit were dragging me down, I could not escape the current’s pull.
‘Ah…. I can’t breathe….’
Suddenly, commotion erupted around me.
I thought I heard a man’s voice faintly in the chaos.
Abruptly, a massive wave surged through the pond.
My body, which had been tossing in the turbulence, was thrust above the water’s surface in an instant.
“Gasp!”
I coughed violently, spitting out mud-laden water.
“I have rescued her!”
A man holding me spoke.
This young man looked familiar. Ah, the Crown Prince’s Eunuch whom Seol-hyang fancied….
I gazed at the wet fabric dripping before my eyes, then turned my gaze toward the pond’s edge.
‘…A dragon robe?’
Why is that garment here?
What caught my eye was unmistakably the brilliant golden five-clawed dragon emblem gleaming at the center of a crimson gonryongpo robe.
…Which meant King Sukjong was present here now.
“Cough! Your Majesty, I merely fell while playing, cough! I am quite alright….”
…I was not alright.
After stammering a few words, I promptly lost consciousness.
***
The King’s presence at that location was purely coincidental.
His visit to Aeryeonji Pond at the very moment Hee-bin and Gwi-in were locked in their confrontation was also chance.
So too was his instinct to turn away with a displeased expression, unsettled by the sharp tension between the two concubines.
And it was in that precise instant that he spotted a small palace maid peeking out from behind Hee-bin’s skirts, her face barely visible.
‘That child.’
The King’s eyesight was poor. Yet he recognized her immediately.
The small maid who handled Geum-deok with such remarkable skill.
He, who had been about to leave, changed his mind.
There was something captivating about the child.
It was her unguarded demeanor that stirred memories of the past, but more than that, this child…
‘She resembles someone.’
Even knowing the thought was absurd.
A face from his faded memories—hazy and worn by time—overlapped with the child’s rosy cheeks.
Then it happened.
Splash!
“Bong-bong!”
The Crown Prince’s voice shattered the silence of Aeryeonji Pond.
The King, lost in thought, jerked his head up. He strode rapidly toward the pond.
Before he could command the royal guards, the Crown Prince’s Eunuch dove into the pond and pulled the child to safety.
“Cough! Your Majesty, I was just playing and fell in, cough! I’m fine—”
Though she had nearly drowned, the child neither wept nor threw a tantrum. She only insisted repeatedly that her fall was her own fault, not Hee-bin’s.
But the King was not listening to her words.
‘…That is…’
His gaze fixed upon the child’s arm.
In the center of her exposed skin, below the sleeve that had risen to her elbow, lay a crimson mark shaped like a plum blossom.
The King stared at that mark with wide, unblinking eyes.
Step by step.
As the King moved toward the child—
The child’s body suddenly went limp.
The red mark fell away.

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