Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 37

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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 37. The Ultimatum
“Mm.”
The Sang-gung remained silent.
Thinking she hadn’t heard my question properly, I kindly repeated myself.
“I’m a maid of Chwisuondang. Which lady’s quarters do you serve, Sang-gung?”
“….”
“My name is Hwang Bong-bong. What should I call you? Kim Sang-gung? Park Sang-gung?”
“Mm….”
The Sang-gung, her pallid face continuing its stubborn silence, suddenly rummaged inside her clothes.
What she produced was a large yakgwa wrapped in paper.
“There. You’re quite the talkative and charming little maid, aren’t you? Here, eat this first. It’s absolutely delicious. I brought it directly from the Saeng-gwa Workshop.”
“A Sang-gung who carries yakgwa made fresh from the Saeng-gwa Workshop. I’m grateful and will enjoy it. But I asked earlier too—which Sang-gung are you? Are you Kim? Park? Or perhaps Choi? Hong? Yoon? Cha?”
The face of the Sang-gung whose surname remained unknown grew increasingly ashen.
Yet despite this, she refused to expose her identity.
‘Well, I suppose I should give up here….’
Did you think that’s what I’d do?
“You don’t have to tell me. I can just ask Yong-hee and she’ll spill everything! Right, Yong-hee?”
“Ugh, I, I don’t….”
“What do you mean? Is this a secret meeting? Sneaking around?”
Yong-hee, her lips pressed firmly shut, turned her head away coldly.
Even as I bit into the yakgwa deliciously, I felt it distinctly.
An enormous tension pooling in the small space beneath the wall.
Between them, the Sang-gung and Yong-hee exchanged glances with practiced urgency….
‘I’ll stop trying to extract her name here.’
My intention was to give the Sang-gung a sense of being ‘caught’.
Besides, discovering the Sang-gung’s identity wasn’t really difficult at all.
The moment I mentioned “a plump, rather large Sang-gung in her thirties,” Seol-hyang, who knew all the palace maids’ information, would surely provide the answer.
I was fairly certain she was Bogyeong-dang Sang-gung, but there was no harm in testing the waters once more.
‘In any case, this secret meeting between the two of them ends here.’
I couldn’t allow the Sang-gung and Yong-hee to continue their conversation any longer.
I grabbed the hem of Yong-hee’s skirt forcefully.
“That’s right! Yong-hee! I almost forgot.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“Han Sang-gung says all the young maids should gather.”
“Han Sang-gung…? Why?”
Her voice trembled slightly, which told me she was afraid despite trying to hide it.
If she’s this frightened, why can’t she sever her connection with Suk-bin?
‘What kind of reward could be worth this?’
A slight doubt crossed my mind, but I decided it was a matter I could investigate later.
“I don’t know either. Come quickly.”
I urged Yong-hee forward and quickened my pace.
I caught the Sang-gung flashing a rapid signal to Yong-hee.
Well, it probably meant to keep her identity from being exposed and handle things carefully.
Yong-hee would likely dismiss whatever I said as the fabricated lies of a four-year-old’s imagination.
When fighting a child that age, there was no more effective strategy than that.
‘That’s right. Yong-hee, you have to find a way to survive too.’
But you know what, Yong-hee?
‘I’m exactly like you.’
No—I’m far more desperate and urgent than you are.
Because what’s at stake for me is my actual life.
So…
‘Let’s have a proper match, you and I.’
Come at me, Yong-hee.
***
“Let go of that.”
How long had we been walking?
Yong-hee’s sharp voice cut through the air.
I stared blankly at her, and she roughly yanked my hand away from her skirt.
The motion pinched the back of my hand, and it stung a little.
“Do you think Han Sang-gung will believe what you say? You’re just a four-year-old child. Kids your age babble about anything. Will she believe what you’ve said after being at Chwisuondang for less than a month, or will she believe what I’ve said after being here for three years?”
Just as I’d predicted, not a single deviation.
But I had no intention of exposing Yong-hee’s activities today.
If I’d decided to test the bridge by tapping it, I needed to tap it thoroughly.
First, I had to uncover the identity of the large Sang-gung and confirm Yong-hee’s true purpose.
And above all, I wanted to give Yong-hee one more chance.
I wasn’t trying to play the virtuous one after coming this far…
‘But ten years old is still a young age, after all.’
I’d made countless mistakes around that age myself. Sometimes I’d done things that could be called wrong.
I’d lied, I’d gossiped about friends I didn’t get along with… I had.
I looked directly at Yong-hee.
I had no intention of continuing to babble in a four-year-old’s speech pattern.
“So. You’re going to keep playing spy?”
“…”
Startled by the sudden shift in my tone, Yong-hee’s eyes wavered.
“It seems you’ve been promised something extraordinary in exchange for leaking information about Chwisuondang. Do you really think that promise will be kept?”
“Of course it will be! Suk-bin would never break a promise! She doesn’t fly into rages like Jang Hee-bin or treat the palace maids disrespectfully…”
Her words revealed that Yong-hee’s heart had completely turned toward Suk-bin.
She’d used the respectful title for Suk-bin but not for Jang Hee-bin.
To be honest, Jang Hee-bin was rather indifferent to the palace maids, excluding me.
‘Switching allegiance to Suk-bin like that. She should really reconsider that choice.’
I couldn’t help but shake my head as I recalled the image of Suk-bin beating her palms until they bled.
“So you’re saying you want to be transferred to Bogyeong Hall?”
At that moment, Yong-hee let out a faint scoff.
Oh, so it wasn’t Bogyeong Hall?
Yong-hee glared at me as she spoke.
“Don’t spout nonsense about things you don’t understand. What difference does it make to go to Bogyeong Hall? We’re all just palace maids anyway! I won’t settle for being a mere palace maid. Someday, I will definitely….”
Definitely what?
Why did she stop there?
Watching Yong-hee seal her lips as if she’d realized she’d said too much, I pondered the meaning behind her words.
“I won’t settle for being a mere palace maid.”
There was only one meaning to those words.
‘Could she possibly want to become a royal concubine…?’
Wait a moment.
King Sukjong is currently forty years old….
My stomach churned slightly, but I quickly regained my composure.
No matter how ambitious she was, it made no sense for a ten-year-old child to harbor the goal of becoming the king’s concubine.
Though it was certain she was dreaming far beyond her years.
Looking at Yong-hee’s triumphant expression, I began to piece together the clues I’d been given.
The price she’d agreed to receive from Suk-bin.
Her words that she wouldn’t settle for being a mere palace maid.
‘If it’s a dream that Suk-bin’s power could make come true….’
The scattered clues converged into one place.
I soon found my answer.
“I understand now.”
“What do you understand?”
“You were promised that Prince Yeonning would take you into his service?”
A meaningful smile flashed across Yong-hee’s lips as she’d been glaring at me as if to kill.
As I thought. My guess had been correct.
‘Well, it’s certainly possible with Suk-bin’s power.’
Even more so compared to the promise Suk-bin had made to Bok-hee.
To be honest, the promise to send Bok-hee to the Crown Prince’s residence was an absurdly baseless lie.
With Jang Hee-bin watching with wide eyes, how could Suk-bin, her sworn enemy, interfere in the Crown Prince’s affairs?
Even a four-year-old wouldn’t believe such nonsense.
…Well, except for Bok-hee, of course.
‘But if it’s Prince Yeonning’s residence, that’s a different story.’
Currently, Prince Yeonning resided in Jaeduk-dang, located just beside Bogyeong Hall, but as was customary for princes, he would soon leave the Royal Palace to live outside its walls.
‘It seems she was promised that she would serve as a maid in Prince Yeonning’s residence and be sent out with him when he departed.’
She might have felt that being a servant in a prince’s residence was better than living confined as a palace maid.
At least they had something called freedom.
‘Perhaps…. Suk-bin might have promised her something even greater.’
For instance, perhaps a concubine position for Prince Yeonning in the future.
I didn’t relish entertaining such thoughts about ten-year-old Yong-hee, but since royal princes typically married around that age anyway, it wasn’t entirely baseless speculation.
‘Regardless, I’ve secured a rather substantial reward.’
I felt confident enough to wager my own fingers that Suk-bin wouldn’t keep that promise.
Yet ultimately, the choice belonged to Yong-hee alone.
Just as I, living as Hwang Bong-bong, struggled for my own future, Yong-hee had her own life to lead.
Since I hadn’t received such tremendous favor from her that I needed to seize her by the collar and reform her.
So this was the final opportunity I was extending to Yong-hee.
“Just tell the truth.”
“What? What truth?”
“Tell Han Sang-gung everything about what’s happened so far. If you do that, I won’t say another word.”
“That’s absurd! How could I trust you? Besides, Han Sang-gung is….”
I cut off Yong-hee’s words.
“Even though Han Sang-gung is strict, you know she truly cares for the Palace Maids of Chwisuondang. Most of all, she despises Chwisuondang affairs leaking outside.”
“So what are you saying I should do!”
“Come clean and apologize. It’s true you were coerced by Bogyeong-dang Sang-gung into spreading rumors, but tell her you regret your mistake. Han Sang-gung will surely forgive you once.”
“….”
“Yong-hee. I’ll help you too.”
“…How could someone like you possibly help.”
Watching the wavering in Yong-hee’s eyes, I spoke quietly.
“I don’t lie. Those who trust me—I always protect them.”
“….”
“Suk-bin will absolutely break her promise. So don’t regret it later….”
“Don’t speak of things you don’t understand!”
Right. Honestly, I was finding it increasingly difficult to keep talking.
My body was exhausted, my mouth ached.
My tongue had twisted from deliberately speaking in such a mature manner.
“By tomorrow night. If you tell Han Sang-gung the truth by tomorrow night, I’ll stand by you without saying a word. But from the day after….”
Yong-hee glared at me, unable to hide her anxious expression.
“I’ll do what I must do. Remember that.”
Listening to Yong-hee’s ragged breathing, I turned away.
This was an ultimatum.
A final proposal thrown out to avoid declaring Yong-hee an ‘enemy’.
‘Don’t miss this chance.’
Holding onto a small hope, I turned my steps toward Chwisuondang.

***
One day.
And then another day passed.
Yong-hee remained locked in her room under the pretense of illness, silent for two whole days.
Now, as promised, it was my turn to do what I had to do.

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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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