Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 35

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

Chapter 35. I Shall Not Forgive
The double doors of the chamber slowly swung open.
The moment O-rye turned her gaze away, Suk-jeong’s whisper reached her ears.
“That’s her. That’s the Hwang child. Look carefully.”
‘Here we go again.’
O-rye felt a flicker of irritation at Suk-jeong’s anxious demeanor.
Suk-jeong clung to superstition far more desperately than O-rye herself, despite being a shaman.
Moreover, she was not only excessively emotional in all matters, but also a fragile creature who trembled at every trifle as though it were an omen.
O-rye had long since mastered the art of exploiting Suk-jeong’s vulnerabilities.
To O-rye, Suk-jeong was a lucrative source of income—a golden rope connecting her to the immense power wielded by Jang Hee-bin.
‘What fuss over a mere four-year-old child?’
O-rye found herself in complete agreement with Jang Hee-bin’s sentiment.
It had been the same when Suk-jeong spat and ranted about the “child maid bearing the Hwang surname.”
O-rye had not taken those words seriously.
She had dismissed it as Suk-jeong making a mountain out of a molehill, allowing herself to be frightened by the trivial antics of a small child.
It was true that since the day Suk-jeong had brought the five-colored flags into the palace, yellow and black banners had continued to appear, and strange circumstances had arisen where the spiritual eye remained stubbornly sealed.
Yet O-rye did not believe the child was connected to these occurrences.
Thus, even now as Suk-jeong jabbed at her ribs repeatedly, her conviction remained unchanged.
‘The Hwang child, is it? Let me take a look.’
Though her expectations were modest, she at least wished to make a profound impression upon Jang Hee-bin.
O-rye deliberately widened her eyes in a fearsome manner and slowly lifted her gaze.
Tiny socked feet, a deep emerald skirt, crimson ribbons draped above it, and the jade-colored jeogori visible beyond.
Plump, rather pretty cheeks and….
Large, round eyes that did not flinch from her piercing stare.
‘Gasp!’
In that instant, O-rye shuddered violently.
The spiritual eye, which had remained sealed in darkness.
Within that abyss, an overwhelmingly intense golden radiance was pouring forth—far beyond what she could bear.
Simultaneously, a colossal force pressed down upon O-rye.
Soon she found herself unable even to draw breath.
An invisible power so overwhelming it threatened to crush her entire body.
Beneath it, O-rye’s eyes, helplessly surrendering, widened like lanterns.
Within the dazzling golden radiance, countless volumes of books materialized, and from them cascaded tens of thousands of characters.
Joseon, Historical Records, Founder.
King Sukjong, King Gyeongjon, King Yeongjo.
And the Great Han….
Some words she could partially recognize, but most of the characters were incomprehensible to her.
The characters swirling before O-rye’s eyes soon coalesced into a single mass.
That dark mass was sucked into the child’s small head with a soft whoosh.
Heheheh.
In that instant, the child let out a smirk.
With a confident, triumphant expression that showed no trace of fear whatsoever.
“Gasp…!”
Only then did O-rye notice the massive shadow of a figure looming behind the child.
In that presence’s hand was held a thick tome.
That book was the source of the characters that came swirling down.
In an instant, a lightning-bolt of realization struck O-rye.
“A deity!”
A mighty god.
A towering, insurmountable divine being—one that a mere shaman serving an ordinary child-deity could never dare to handle or approach.
This deity possessed a formidable wisdom that pierced through everything from centuries past to centuries hence.
That deity’s gaze fixed directly upon O-rye.
O-rye barely managed to open her mouth.
“This child… I dare not… must never… touch…”
Thud! O-rye’s body collapsed to the ground.
***
‘What’s wrong with her?’
I was simply standing there.
She stared at me so fiercely that, unwilling to lose, I stared back at her just as intensely—that was all I had done.
She trembled violently and spouted strange things about deities and such, making me wonder if she’d been possessed by a spirit.
I’d harbored a brief hope that she might deliver some grand prophecy.
But O-rye simply fainted dead away.
Still, I heard those words clearly.
The words where she referred to me as ‘this child must never be touched.’
‘Does she really see something?’
Is she not a charlatan shaman?
For instance, could she see my true self dwelling within Hwang Bong-bong’s body…?
‘But even so, there’s nothing to be so shocked about, is there?’
Apart from having slightly above-average athletic ability, I was nothing more than a pitiful graduate student with no remarkable qualities.
As I watched the situation unfold with fascination, Han Sang-gung rushed in.
Suk-jeong was shaking O-rye’s body in near panic.
“Step aside.”
Han Sang-gung quickly grasped the situation, grabbed a water pitcher, and poured it directly over O-rye’s face.
…Han Sang-gung is quite the straightforward woman.
At the same moment, O-rye regained consciousness.
“I-I beg your forgiveness! Please pardon this wretched and foolish one!”
O-rye cried out, her head pressed to the ground, trembling.
But there was something oddly strange about it…
‘Why does it sound like she’s speaking to me, not to Jang Hee-bin?’
A nagging unease settled over me.
Han Sang-gung pushed me inside the room from where I’d been standing beyond the threshold and shut the door with a sharp click.
“Close that mouth of yours. How dare you let your voice carry outside like that?”
Han Sang-gung intimidated O-rye with a menacing tone.
I stole a glance at Jang Hee-bin’s face.
Jang Hee-bin was glaring at Suk-jeong. Her delicate brows were deeply furrowed, and she appeared quite displeased.
Jang Hee-bin opened her mouth.
“Suk-jeong.”
“Yes. Yes, my lady….”
“Did you not promise to prove yourself to me?”
“….”
“Yet instead of proving anything, what is all this commotion?”
“That is…. My lady! O-rye seems to have been feeling unwell for a moment….”
Suk-jeong began poking and pinching O-rye with urgent, frantic hands.
‘That must hurt….’
Yet O-rye did not utter a single word. Her tightly sealed lips trembled visibly.
Watching her, Jang Hee-bin’s gaze turned back to Suk-jeong.
“I told you before. If you humiliate my people, you will pay the price for wagging that three-inch tongue of yours.”
At those words, Suk-jeong’s eyes went wild.
Suk-jeong half-rose, flailing both arms, and cried out as if screaming.
“Jang Hee-bin! That child is a demon….”
That was when it happened.
Crack! Suk-jeong’s face snapped to the side.
Jang Hee-bin had slapped Suk-jeong across the cheek.
“I trusted you for the sole reason that you are my brother’s concubine. Thus I have always turned a blind eye when you displayed such arrogance! Yet you, wretch, forget your place and dare crawl toward me.”
“My lady…. I, I am…. I am….”
“Out of affection for my brother, I closed my eyes to your frivolousness even when I saw it clearly. I was careless.”
Immediately after, Jang Hee-bin’s stern command fell.
“Han Sang-gung.”
“Yes, my lady!”
“Cast out Suk-jeong and that wench O-rye from the Palace at once.”
“Yes. I shall obey your command.”
“One more thing.”
Jang Hee-bin continued coldly.
“Confiscate Suk-jeong’s entry pass. She shall not set foot in the Palace of her own accord until I summon her again.”
“My lady. Please, just once more, show mercy…!”
Suk-jeong began pleading with clasped hands.
Yet Jang Hee-bin was merciless.
“Han Sang-gung. Did you not hear me tell you to cast them out?”
“Yes!”
O-rye left willingly on her own feet, but Suk-jeong thrashed about, calling out to Jang Hee-bin.
“Go fetch Sun-rye at once!”
At Han Sang-gung’s command, Sun-rye burst through the door with heavy footsteps that matched her sturdy frame.
Sun-rye dragged Suk-jeong out in an instant.
Suk-jeong’s screams echoed down the corridor and faded into the distance.
“….”
Seizing the chaos as my opportunity, I slipped quietly out of Jang Hee-bin’s Private Chamber.
There was something I needed to verify.
O-rye.
O-rye was trembling as she walked down the corridor.
I approached her silently from behind.
The moment she noticed me, O-rye collapsed to the floor with a thud.
Yes. With a reaction like that….
‘It wouldn’t be a bad idea to test the waters.’
I swallowed hard and opened my mouth.
“Did you see it?”
I asked in the most ominous tone I could muster, speaking with an adult’s gravitas rather than a child’s innocence.
O-rye nodded, her face pale with fear.
I was curious about what she had witnessed, but I felt no need to press the matter.
It was time to deliver the real message.
“Do not set foot in the Royal Palace again. Do not interfere in the Queen’s affairs.”
“….”
“Should you proceed with such actions….”
I whispered the final words into O-rye’s ear.
“Heaven itself will not forgive you.”
“Yes! Yes! I understand, my lady!”
O-rye cried out, her forehead striking the ground repeatedly.
All that remained was to return to being Hwang Bong-bong, the child.
By then, the courtyard of Chwisuondang was filled with Palace Maids who had rushed over, startled by the commotion Suk-jeong had caused.
Wearing the innocent yet frightened expression befitting a four-year-old, I scurried over to Seol-hyang and hid behind her skirts.
‘Phew….’
I’d accomplished something significant today.

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