Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 23

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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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Chapter 23. What Weighs Upon Your Heart?
The King’s voice, speaking of regret, carried the heavy burden of profound sorrow.
He turned his gaze toward me.
“It suffices that I have heard an honest answer.”
At his gentler tone, I cautiously lifted my head.
King Sukjong smiled at me with warmth, as if to say there was no need for tension. His expression was kind and reassuring.
The atmosphere had eased considerably, so I ventured to ask carefully.
I hadn’t wanted to be tactless, but my stomach had been in turmoil since earlier.
“If it pleases Your Majesty, might I have something to eat?”
A soft chuckle escaped from the King’s lips.
“By all means. Eat as much as you wish.”
At last, I could taste the magnificent array of delicacies laid before me.
Nom, nom.
“Does it taste good?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. It is truly delicious.”
I devoured all six of the rice cakes placed before me with gusto.
Not a single one remained—I had consumed them all.
While I was indeed hungry, I had never intended to put on such a display of eating before the King…
‘I simply could not help myself.’
The tension had been so great that I had fallen into hypoglycemia; cold sweat broke out and my mind simply would not function properly.
Fortunately, after eating something sweet, my condition returned to normal.
But then…
“Your Majesty, why do you look at me with such eyes?”
I simply could not refrain from asking.
The King’s gaze as he watched me eat the rice cakes was far too wistful.
It was an expression I would never have expected to find in him—the sovereign I had believed to be calculating, merciless, and inscrutable.
‘Surely it is not because I ate all the rice cakes…?’
…Even so, he is the King. He would not wear such an expression over a single rice cake.
And so, suddenly, I wished to ask.
“Your Majesty. Does your heart still ache?”
‘Only… it is a matter that weighs upon my heart.’
‘It is something I regret.’
I posed the question, recalling the words he had spoken.
What past was he remembering?
What caused him to wear such a distant gaze, as though drowning in the depths of sorrow?
Instead of answering, the King smiled bitterly.
“What weighs upon your heart?”
To my question asked again, this time came a response.
“That I can never see those I long for again. That is what weighs upon my heart.”
“Then… what of the regret you mentioned?”
“What I regret is….”
King Sukjong repeated the words over and over, then finally fell silent.
“Let us end here for today. You may withdraw.”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
I hesitated, gauging his mood carefully, before adding one more thing.
“However, you will keep your promise to visit Jang Hee-bin, will you not?”
He laughed softly.
No answer was needed. That was enough.
He was a man who kept his promises.
I bowed in farewell and carefully backed away from the Royal Chambers.
***
The young concubine had departed.
Heavy silence settled into the space where her cheerful voice had been.
King Lee Soon closed his eyes quietly.
From within that darkness, a memory buried beneath mountains of years lifted its head.
‘Your Highness the Crown Prince. These are dasik. The young lady made them herself.’
A scene from long ago.
A girl with unusually large eyes laughs brightly.
The heart of young Lee Soon, then thirteen and Crown Prince, stirred strangely.
‘You made these? Then taste one first.’
‘Taste first? Are you worried poison might be mixed in? I understand nothing of poisons—I know swords and bows, but not such things.’
Lee Soon smiled silently and held out the dasik, and the girl took it and placed it in her mouth.
Their fingertips brushed, and his heart stirred again….
Her puffed cheeks looked like a cute squirrel, and Lee Soon’s lips curved slightly upward.
Then came the sound—a creak of the gate opening.
Through the gap of that memory’s door, another recollection peeked out.
‘Your Highness. Forgive my lateness. My training ran long and delayed me.’
A tall boy entering with a sword bore a face strikingly similar to the girl’s.
‘No matter. Between friends, why fault someone for being a little late?’
‘Friends with Your Highness? I am merely a guard—such words are too great an honor.’
‘Friends you are. Both you and your younger sister. You are both precious friends to me.’
Crown Prince Lee Soon gestured to the boy.
‘Come, sit. Cheok Jun-gyeong.’
The King, now recalling those days as Crown Prince, had become a monarch of forty years.
With a heavy sigh, the scene of memory closed.
***
“Head Sang-gung, might we take a brief tour of Changdeok Palace before returning?”
“There’s no reason we couldn’t… but you must return to Chwisuondang within half a shicheon. Do you understand?”
“Yes! I understand!”
Head Sang-gung handed me a small bundle.
“His Majesty has graciously bestowed this upon you. Those dasik pastries you ate earlier.”
Safflower powder dasik was not only made from rare ingredients but also required considerable labor—a precious delicacy.
In other words, it was extraordinarily expensive.
“Thank you so much!”
Clutching the bundle, I slipped out of Hee-jeong Hall and deliberately sought out the quieter passages.
I needed to organize the information I’d gathered today, and besides, I might as well see more of Changdeok Palace.
Today’s encounter with King Sukjong was, in a word…
‘It only raised more questions.’
That was the only way to describe it.
He never did tell me who he meant when he said I resembled someone.
‘Could your mother’s family name perhaps be Cheok?’
When he posed that question, the King seemed strangely tense—utterly unlike himself.
Because of that, I could piece together what had happened.
That upon seeing me, he had recalled a woman bearing the Cheok surname.
That perhaps this woman also bore the same crimson mark as I did.
If King Sukjong’s suspicion was correct, then the woman with the Cheok surname would be my deceased birth mother.
‘Your Majesty, what troubles your heart?’
‘That I can never see those I long for again. That is what troubles me.’
The moment I realized his tenderness was directed toward Hwang Bong-bong’s mother, my feelings became complicated.
‘There’s something about my origins.’
Perhaps not some grandiose secret of birth, but in any case, I was clearly not of entirely humble stock.
For the first time, I felt genuine curiosity about myself—about Hwang Bong-bong.
‘And the Cheok surname, no less…’
The strongest clue the King had offered regarding my maternal bloodline.
The Cheok surname had long since vanished and its line broken, but that wasn’t the crux of the matter.
‘The Cheok line descends from Cheok Jun-gyeong.’
Cheok Jun-gyeong was an extraordinary figure.
A Goryeo general—a man of monstrous strength and prowess, a ‘Sword Master’ whose name was etched into history as a warrior of legendary ability.
But…
‘Even if that were true, what difference would it make?’
I was an orphan.
With my only blood relative, my brother, dead as well, what did it matter whether I bore the Cheok name or the Hwang name?
‘It’s not as though I possess monstrous strength myself.’
…Right?
Just then, I noticed a decorative stone beneath the garden wall—about the size of my head.
As for me, I’ve always been one to act rather than deliberate.
I immediately rolled up my sleeves.
“Huff!”
…There was no way.
The moment I confirmed there was no ability proving I was a descendant of Cheok Jun-gyeong, I brushed the dirt from my hands.
‘I should head back now.’
It seemed the half hour I had promised Head Sang-gung had already passed.
‘I got lost in thought and just wandered aimlessly.’
Seeing the blue-tiled roof of Seonjeongjeon Hall in the distance, it appeared I had been circling around Hee-jeong Hall, but.
That was when it happened.
“A young maid we’ve never seen before?”
“Right. Was there such a small child here?”
I had no idea where they came from.
Four maids had surrounded me without warning.
“Which quarters do you serve? How old are you?”
“I’m four years old, and I’m a young maid of Chwisuondang.”
“….”
The atmosphere turned cold as if ice water had been poured over us.
I instinctively realized something.
The words “young maid of Chwisuondang” that had become habitual on my lips and I had carelessly uttered.
I should never have spoken those words.
“Chwisuondang…. Tch.”
A scoffing laugh as if to say how absurd.
“How dare a Chwisuondang girl show her face here?”
The maid at the front of the group glared at me menacingly.
“Wait, isn’t that the young maid Seol-hyang keeps around?”
“Ah…. That one? She’s this small?”
I was now surrounded by Palace Maids.
‘I need to escape.’
Warning bells flashed in my mind, sensing danger.
“Then I’ll just….”
I bowed ninety degrees and was about to flee quickly.
When my collar was grabbed from behind!
“Where do you think you’re running? There’s no reason a Chwisuondang maid would be here—are you a spy?”
“That’s not it!”
“Shut that mouth. Loitering in front of someone else’s quarters without even a proper greeting—just as expected from Chwisuondang!”
As I struggled while held by my collar, the plaque on the hall directly before me caught my eye.
Bogyeong Hall.
Now I understood why the maids had suddenly appeared.
And this Bogyeong Hall belonged to….
‘Suk-bin Choi….’
In other words, the ones holding me back are the palace maids from Suk-bin Choi’s quarters.
‘This is bad.’
When Suk-bin first received the King’s favor, stories came flooding back about how Jang Hee-bin had tormented her with all manner of cruelty.
In short, these maids were people who trembled at the mere mention of Jang Hee-bin.
“That girl Seol-hyang brought with her? No wonder she’s uneducated—even the training of a child maid is done carelessly.”
Ugh.
That remark was difficult to endure.
“It’s my fault for not greeting you properly, so please scold me. But please don’t insult Seol-hyang.”
“What?”
The palace maids staring at me as I spoke each word distinctly burst into hollow laughter.
But my resolve was firm.
“Seol-hyang taught me well. She even told me never to grovel when I’ve done nothing wrong.”
I bit my lip hard and stared directly at the maid.
“This won’t do. Go fetch the cane.”
At the command of the maid acting as leader, another maid scurried off and quickly returned with the cane.
‘They’re going to beat a maid from another household? Does this even make sense?’
That’s what I thought, but reconsidering it…
‘Actually, it does make sense.’
If I returned to Chwisuondang beaten by the Bogyeong Hall maids, Chwisuondang would naturally be thrown into chaos.
Given the relationship between Jang Hee-bin and Suk-bin, the entire Royal Harem Administration might even be stirred up immediately.
But regardless, that was a concern for later.
Besides, the maids before me didn’t seem intelligent enough to worry about such future consequences.
In other words, the truth remained unchanged: I was about to suffer child abuse disguised as discipline from adults.
The maid swung the cane back and forth. The wooden branches bent like a whip, creating a sinister whistling sound.
“Do you want it on your calves or your palms?”
The cane the maid wielded grazed dangerously close to my cheek.
I clenched my teeth and said nothing.
“Not answering? Wow. For something so tiny, you’re just like your master—so spiteful. If you won’t answer, I have no choice. Then I’ll just hit wherever I feel like?”
Whoosh!
The cane was raised high into the air.
Even as I tried to remain composed, my eyes squeezed shut in that moment.
…But why isn’t the cane coming down?
“Gasp!”
At the maid’s startled voice, I opened my closed eyes.
The hand holding the cane was being grasped by a face I knew all too well.
“…”
The maid whose hand was seized, the other maids, and I myself.
All of us held our breath in shock.
“Y-Your Highness, Suk-bin.”
The maids’ faces drained of all color.
My expression probably mirrored hers.
As if Suk-bin’s Palace Maids weren’t enough—now the woman herself had arrived.
…I should have just taken a beating and gotten it over with.

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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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