Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 45

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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 45. A Person with Nothing to Lose
A sudden silence fell over the room.
Jang Hee-bin and Han Sang-gung could not possibly misunderstand the meaning of the words “full moon night.”
Yong-hee’s face, already pallid, turned completely ashen.
And finally, Suk-bin….
“….”
She fixed her gaze upon me.
A benevolent countenance.
Those refined eyes, which moments before seemed ready to extend a tender hand to anyone, turned glacial in an instant.
She neither hesitated nor showed alarm.
“When did I?”
She merely posed the question in return.
Immediately after, Suk-bin let out a small, incredulous laugh.
“Jang Hee-bin. It seems this child has been dreaming. To utter such nonsense.”
Suk-bin continued at once.
“Well, that child is said to be four years old. At that age, one often mistakes fantasy for reality….”
“It wasn’t a fantasy.”
I rose abruptly from my seat.
“It was that day. The day I went to Hee-jeong Hall. That day, when I was stopped by the Palace Maids in front of Bogyeong-dang, you rescued me, did you not?”
Anxious that Suk-bin might escape, I pressed on urgently.
“You struck the Palace Maids of Bogyeong-dang on their palms with a cane. And then you told me in secret to relay ‘full moon night’ to Yong-hee.”
I deliberately wove truth and falsehood together.
In fact, Suk-bin had instructed me to relay “full moon day,” not “full moon night.”
And the person Suk-bin had told me to relay the message to was not Yong-hee, but Bok-hee.
I reconstructed the situation to seal off any escape route for both Suk-bin and Yong-hee in one stroke.
“…Ha.”
Suk-bin burst into laughter without a moment’s hesitation.
“For a child’s delusion, this is excessive. What nonsense about me rescuing you, and what impossible talk of a cane? I have no idea what you’re saying. I don’t even understand why I should be listening to such words….”
“I have proof!”
So she was going to play dumb, was she?
I cried out without backing down.
“Bring the Palace Maids who said they saw Yong-hee. They will still bear the scars of the cane marks on their palms.”
“….”
Suk-bin’s mouth snapped shut.
Though Suk-bin was known for her meticulous planning, this one fact was clearly something she had not calculated.
“Check their palms. Now!”
Before Jang Hee-bin could even finish her command, Han Sang-gung rushed out ahead.
Han Sang-gung returned shortly. She spoke in a commanding voice.
“Confirmed. The cane marks on the palms of the Palace Maids of Bogyeong-dang were quite distinct.”
The moment Han Sang-gung finished speaking, Suk-bin opened her mouth.
“I have wielded a cane to discipline the Palace Maids of my quarters. How does that constitute evidence? All this commotion over the senseless prattling of a four-year-old child….”
“However.”
Jang Hee-bin, who had remained silent until now, spoke.
“Two things strike me as peculiar.”
“….”
The light in Suk-bin’s eyes dimmed.
Suk-bin seemed unaware that she was gnawing at her own lips.
“One is that Suk-bin, who rarely speaks at length, is being so verbose. And the other is….”
Jang Hee-bin’s gaze turned toward Yong-hee.
Yong-hee was trembling pitifully, her face already streaked with tears and mucus.
Yet even now, Yong-hee kept stealing sidelong glances at Suk-bin, gauging her reaction.
“Yong-hee. This child must be the second answer.”
Jang Hee-bin’s voice was terrifyingly cold.
Suk-bin fell silent.
As her silence stretched on, I drove in the final nail.
“Suk-bin herself ordered Yong-hee to watch the West Side of Chwisuondang. To find evidence every time the young lady visits on the full moon!”
“Enough!”
Suk-bin let out a sharp cry.
It was a violent reaction I had never witnessed from her before.
Suk-bin glared at me. She had apparently decided to stop concealing her emotions and pretending to be virtuous.
“That is a lie!”
Suk-bin cried out.
In the end, I resolved to unleash my final trump card.
After all, Suk-bin and I were now enemies.
It was an unavoidable truth, so all the facts had to be laid bare here and now.
“Young Lady Yong-hee. Do you know why the Palace Maids from Bogyeong-dang are out here?”
“…Ah, no. Why?”
“Suk-bin brought them! The Palace Maids from Bogyeong-dang saw you carrying a flame into Chwisuondang!”
Yong-hee’s eyes, which had been streaming with tears and mucus, widened to nearly twice their size.
‘Oh my. She still knew nothing about this.’
She must have believed that if she only admitted to accidentally starting the fire, Suk-bin would protect her.
The fact that Suk-bin herself had personally exposed her arson seemed to deliver an enormous shock to Yong-hee.
“I know nothing of this. What sort of bizarre prank is this? I shall take my leave….”
Just as Suk-bin attempted to slip away again.
“Ah, no, wait. My lady?”
It was Yong-hee’s voice.
“What Bong-bong said—that’s not true, is it? That you brought the Palace Maids? That’s a lie, isn’t it?”
“I said I know nothing of it!”
Suk-bin replied coldly, her eyes boring into Yong-hee with force.
A silent, overwhelming pressure.
Yet Yong-hee had already lost all reason, her composure shattered beyond recovery.
“Suk-bin, please… don’t leave me like this. Help me. You promised, didn’t you?”
“Enough of your nonsense!”
Suk-bin spoke through gritted teeth, her words directed at Yong-hee.
“I do not know you.”
“Suk-bin, how can you do this to me…?”
Yong-hee collapsed to her knees, weeping.
Han Sang-gung, gripping Yong-hee’s shoulders, posed a question.
“Answer truthfully if you wish to live. Is everything that Hwang Bong-bong just said the truth?”
“I… I…”
Yong-hee clung to that threadbare hope.
Yong-hee, her gaze fixed on Suk-bin, spoke.
“Suk-bin, I don’t know how I should answer…”
A confession.
Those words from Yong-hee’s lips—a Palace Maid of Chwisuondang—amounted to nothing less than an admission that she was Suk-bin’s spy.
“Don’t make me repeat myself. I know no such woman as you.”
Suk-bin turned swiftly away.
In that very moment, her hand reached for the paper door.
“Stop, Suk-bin.”
Jang Hee-bin’s voice cut through the air, glacial and sharp.
“Han Sang-gung.”
“Yes, Jang Hee-bin.”
“Take Yong-hee with you and clear the surrounding area.”
“Yes. I shall obey your command.”
Han Sang-gung dragged Yong-hee away.
Even as she was pulled from the room, Yong-hee desperately called out Suk-bin’s name.
Now only three of us remained in the chamber: Jang Hee-bin, Suk-bin, and myself, the Crown Prince.
Suk-bin refused to acknowledge the truth, even in this final moment.
“Jang Hee-bin, what meaning can the words of a four-year-old child and a ten-year-old child possibly hold? A spy? No matter how young they are, shouldn’t I demand accountability for such an insult…?”
In that instant.
Jang Hee-bin’s palm cleaved through the air with terrifying speed.
Crack!
Thud!
Struck across the face by Jang Hee-bin, Suk-bin lost her footing and crashed to the floor.
The moment everything about Suk-bin shattered into pieces.
The virtuous, innocent face.
The compassionate, benevolent expression.
The refined and dignified bearing.
All that she had labored so long to maintain crumbled away with a thunderous sound.
Suk-bin, clutching her cheek and gasping for breath, abruptly rose to her feet.
Her eyes blazed with the wild madness of a lunatic.
“Jang Hee-bin!”
Suk-bin cried out as if screaming.
“Did you truly believe you could commit such an act and escape unscathed? Striking me with your hand? I am a First Rank Consort, no different from Jang Hee-bin in status! Do you still labor under the delusion that this is ten years ago, when you dared strike my calves? How dare you presume—”
“How dare I?”
With a voice like thunder, Jang Hee-bin hurled the words back at her.
“You were caught planting a spy in Chwisuondang, and yet you stand before me with shameless audacity, attempting to deceive me!”
“It is a lie. I know nothing of any spy!”
“Silence!”
A sharp rebuke erupted from Jang Hee-bin’s lips.
“Go ahead and report it. Go to the Queen or the Royal Chambers and confess it yourself. Tell them that Jang Hee-bin, a First Rank Consort like yourself, struck your cheek. Don a mourning robe and wail your grievance.”
“…”
“The moment you speak those words, I shall go before the Royal Chambers and report your crime. That you dared plant a spy in my residence and set fire to it.”
“Who would believe such words? Merely the testimony of a four-year-old child…”
In that instant, Jang Hee-bin let out a scoff.
“You think he would not believe it?”
“…”
“Do you take His Majesty for a fool incapable of discerning truth?”
“…”
“Or perhaps you truly believe your pitiful performance could deceive even the King’s eyes?”
Jang Hee-bin took a step closer to Suk-bin.
Suk-bin’s body flinched and shrank back.
Jang Hee-bin, fixing her with a piercing gaze, finally spoke.
“Suk-bin. Tell me. Do I appear to you as someone who still has much to lose?”
“…”
“I have nothing left to lose. I climbed to the highest station, only to fall and lose everything, tumbling to this place. But you…”
A venomous smile played across Jang Hee-bin’s lips.
“You have far too much to lose.”
“…”
“You must learn to be content. Having risen from such lowly origins to the rank of First Rank Consort, you should know when to stop.”
By then, I too was completely overwhelmed by Jang Hee-bin’s presence.
Holding my breath, barely managing to swallow, I studied Suk-bin’s expression.
I could see her tightly clenched lips trembling.
“In some distant future, after the Crown Prince ascends to the throne…”
With a deadly gaze, Jang Hee-bin stared at Suk-bin.
“Do you truly wish to know what punishment he will mete out to the woman who shamed his mother?”
It was a truly chilling prophecy.
Suk-bin’s body began to tremble like an aspen leaf.
“So then, will you still report that I struck your cheek?”
“…”
“Even now, you dare to spy on me and think to challenge me?” I demanded.
At last.
Suk-bin’s tightly sealed lips parted.
“…I have overstepped my place. Your Highness Jang Hee-bin.”
Suk-bin’s words came out as if wrung from her throat.
“I swear upon my life that I shall never again cross Your Highness’s will. This I pledge with utmost sincerity.”
“You would do well to remember those words.”
Jang Hee-bin glanced sideways at me.
“Never lay a hand on my people again. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I understand, Your Highness.”
Jang Hee-bin, who had been glaring at Suk-bin, slowly nodded her head.
“Then you may withdraw.”
Jang Hee-bin, lifting her chin with arrogance, gestured toward the door with a tilt of her head.
Suk-bin bowed with a depth of respect she had never shown before, then departed from the private chamber.
As she left, tears glistened at the corners of Suk-bin’s eyes.
They were not tears born of sorrow or humiliation.
They were tears of rage.

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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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