Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 46

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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 46. After the Storm
The tempest that had swept through Chwisuondang passed, and the situation was swiftly resolved.
Even as it became clear that Yong-hee was Suk-bin’s spy, she refused to reveal the full truth until the very end.
She did admit to setting the fire at Chwisuondang.
Though she insisted the sparks had merely scattered while she was playing with burning straw, nothing more.
Regardless, Yong-hee’s fate was already sealed.
She was undeniably a spy, and a palace maid who had set a fire could not remain at Chwisuondang.
Setting fire to the Royal Palace was an extraordinarily grave crime, even if it had been an accident.
Had Yong-hee been an adult, she might have faced a hundred lashes or even execution.
Yet Jang Hee-bin showed her own form of mercy.
The next day, Yong-hee was banished to the Vegetable Garden that belonged to the Royal Palace.
Labor in the Vegetable Garden was among the most grueling and arduous tasks in the entire palace.
Not only did one have to weed the fields under the relentless sun each day, but also carry human waste to be used as fertilizer.
It was work that could scarcely be called a palace maid’s duty.
“I was wrong. Please, Jang Hee-bin! Just this once, show mercy…. I hate that place. Please…!”
Though she wept and begged for forgiveness too late, Yong-hee ultimately found herself living in a place that even the lowborn servants she had despised refused to go.
Han Sang-gung kept that day’s events in absolute secrecy.
Because of this, most of the palace maids did not know the details of why Yong-hee had left Chwisuondang.
They merely speculated that it was due to the fire she had set, combined with her poor conduct over time.
And that evening, after Yong-hee had struggled and been dragged away by Sun-rye,
Bok-hee came to find me, visibly anxious.
“Bong-bong…. You know, right? About Yong-hee being dragged off to the Vegetable Garden….”
“What about it?”
“Yong-hee…. She was exposed as Suk-bin’s spy, wasn’t she?”
So Bok-hee was this clever after all.
Reassessing her with newfound respect as she stated the facts so precisely, I nodded.
“Yes. Yong-hee did bad things. Really bad things.”
“Then…. What about me? What about me?”
Bok-hee looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
“Why would something happen to you, Bok-hee?”
I widened my eyes and asked back.
My expression was one of genuine confusion.
“Well…. I also….”
“What? You didn’t do anything wrong. You were just a tiny bit, the tiniest bit friendly with Yong-hee, that’s all, right?”
“…What?”
“That’s what I thought. Why? Is there a problem?”
“…Sob!”
There was no broken faucet quite like this one.
Bok-hee’s tears burst forth once more.
“Thank you…. Bong-bong. Really….”
Bok-hee sniffled.
“There’s nothing to thank me for, sister.”
I voiced the words I’d been wanting to say to Bok-hee.
“We’re young, so it’s natural to make mistakes and errors at our age. But what matters is not repeating the same mistake twice.”
As I patted Bok-hee’s shoulder with dignified composure, she suddenly threw her arms around me.
Had hugging Hwang Bong-bong become the latest trend at Chwisuondang?
“I want to do anything for you too… I really do. I want to be helpful to you, Bong-bong.”
“I know. I’ll definitely tell you if I need your help later. But first, could you do me one favor?”
“Yes! Just say the word!”
“Stop crying.”
I wiped away the tears streaming down Bok-hee’s cheeks as I spoke.
“Even I, at four years old, don’t cry, so how can my ten-year-old sister keep doing this? Crying should be rare—only when you’re truly sad. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand!”
Bok-hee answered vibrantly and scrubbed away her tears.
From that day forward…
Bok-hee became Chwisuondang’s official “subordinate of Hwang Bong-bong.”
***
The day after Yong-hee left Chwisuondang.
Taking advantage of a moment when Seol-hyang stepped away, I found myself alone with my thoughts.
It had been an eventful day.
Beginning with the fire at Chwisuondang and ending with Suk-bin’s tears of blood after her defeat at Jang Hee-bin’s slap on Daeboreum.
Through Han Sang-gung’s meticulous care, that day’s events were kept in absolute secrecy.
The palace maids who had witnessed or heard of the commotion, even indirectly, were ordered to remain silent.
What must Suk-bin be thinking now?
The trembling voice of Suk-bin as she begged Jang Hee-bin for forgiveness so abjectly.
Recalling the tears pooled in her bloodshot eyes as she left Chwisuondang sent a slight chill through me.
In any case, Jang Hee-bin had not officially reported Suk-bin’s actions.
It was not a decision born of mercy or weakness of heart.
Rather, it was a shrewd choice.
In an era when jealousy was forbidden to women under the name of one of the Seven Grounds for Divorce.
The Seo-in Faction, which already painted Jang Hee-bin as “the incarnation of jealousy,” held considerable sway.
Without clear physical evidence, raising the matter would likely turn the arrows back upon Jang Hee-bin herself.
Thus, Jang Hee-bin seemed to have decided to bury the matter for now.
Satisfied merely by the fact that she now had leverage to strangle Suk-bin’s breath.
But Suk-bin would think differently.
Naturally, that incident would remain a lifelong grudge for her.
It would not be mere resentment toward Jang Hee-bin.
After all, it was I who had provided the crucial blow that shattered Suk-bin’s cunning scheme involving Yong-hee.
An enemy.
I, Hwang Bong-bong, had made Suk-bin my enemy.
It was an undeniable truth.
Given the meticulous and cunning demeanor Suk-bin had displayed thus far, it was a chilling prospect to contemplate.
The only consolation was that I heard nothing of Suk-jeong, my other ‘enemy’.
‘Do I have some karmic debt with anyone whose name begins with the character for ‘suk’?’
Suk-jeong. Suk-bin. Suk—
Never mind.
In any case, Suk-bin would never retreat like this.
For now, she appeared to lower her guard, but she was coiled and waiting, biding her time slowly….
‘The moment she spots a weakness in me or Jang Hee-bin, she’ll be ready to strike.’
Speaking of ‘weaknesses’, there was one matter that nagged at me.
Officially missing, but almost certainly stolen by Yong-hee—the whereabouts of Bom-bomi.
Yong-hee had taken nothing but a few changes of clothes and undergarments.
Thanks to that, I was able to examine the items that came from Yong-hee’s room.
Honestly, I’d expected Bom-bomi to turn up somewhere.
‘…It wasn’t there.’
Where in the world had that wretched eyesore gone?
Suk-bin’s face suddenly flashed through my mind, unsettling me….
‘What’s done is done. I shouldn’t worry over what can’t be undone.’
I steadied myself and rose from my seat.
***
In the days that followed, I was being treated as a hero who had saved the realm at Chwisuondang.
‘The brave child who rescued Jang Hee-bin from the raging flames of disaster’—or so they said.
And so I found myself exempt from duties, loafing about in what amounted to a peculiar form of punishment.
Why was this a punishment, you ask?
Because this was the Joseon Dynasty.
There was precious little for a child to do in this era.
I was still maintaining my illiterate facade, so I couldn’t openly read books.
And I certainly wasn’t about to play with dolls.
Bok-hee seemed to hope I’d engage in pretend play with her, but I couldn’t squander such a critical time on such trivial diversions.
Moreover, the Royal Chambers had sent a medicinal broth that the Royal Physician himself had personally prepared.
‘My throat is a bit raw from inhaling smoke, but otherwise I’m perfectly fine.’
Eventually, exhausted by ‘doing nothing’, I sought out Jang Hee-bin, the absolute authority of Chwisuondang.
“Little one. What brings you here? How is your body?”
Jang Hee-bin’s voice fluttered like butterfly wings, soft and soothing.
‘I’m melting, melting away.’
How does my Jang Hee-bin manage to make even her voice sound like a dream?
Now Jang Hee-bin calls me ‘little one’.
It’s a title that feels rather unfamiliar to me.
But it wasn’t just the title that changed. She treated me with the tenderness of a daughter.
Whenever I saw her caressing my cheeks and hair, feeding me delicious treats, and taking me on walks, I felt a strange emotion stir within me.
It was a thought I kept locked away in my heart alone.
But sometimes… she felt like my real family.
Not just Jang Hee-bin, but Seol-hyang, Bok-hee, Sun-rye, and even the stern Han Sang-gung felt that way too.
Anyway, I broached the subject with Jang Hee-bin.
“Jang Hee-bin. I want to work again too. I’ll run errands to Jeoseungjeon and help the Palace Maids with their tasks.”
“Already? My dear. You should rest a bit longer. You’re still taking medicinal broth, aren’t you?”
“But I’m really quite strong. Would you like to see?”
Hiyah!
Hah!
With a spirited cry, I flaunted my exceptional athletic prowess with punches and kicks.
It was taekwondo skill I’d picked up by watching in my past life.
Jang Hee-bin burst into laughter at the sight of my short little limbs working so earnestly, and pinched my cheek.
“Do as you wish. Just don’t overexert yourself.”
“Yes, Jang Hee-bin. Thank you.”
At last, I’d escaped the “punishment of confinement”!
Cheering inwardly, I headed toward the courtyard, glancing about for errands to run, and soon encountered a familiar face.
It was the Crown Prince.
Thanks to Han Sang-gung’s thorough discretion, the Crown Prince knew only that a fire had occurred.
And I had become, as expected, the exemplary child who had saved Jang Hee-bin’s life.
“Bong-bong…”
There it was again. Those eyes.
Eyes brimming with sorrow, glistening with moisture, as though the slightest touch would send tears rolling down like jade pearls.
‘Your Highness, I’d like to confiscate those eyes… but I suppose that won’t do. Those eyes are forbidden.’
Stop looking at me with those eyes in front of me.
“Your Highness. I’m perfectly fine.”
I was deliberating whether I should demonstrate taekwondo in front of the Crown Prince as well.
“You’re quite the peculiar child, Bong-bong. I wonder if you simply fell from the heavens.”
The Crown Prince spoke tenderly.
“To save my mother… She is someone I could not exchange for anything in this world.”
“…”
The weight of those words struck me anew.
Jang Hee-bin’s fated end recorded in history—executed by the King’s order.
I recalled the story of how the Crown Prince himself had begged to be put to death alongside her at the moment of his mother’s death.
I could feel the Crown Prince’s tender affection for Jang Hee-bin in its entirety.
“I owe you a debt so great that I could never repay it with anything. Bong-bong.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Someday, in the future. Should the day come when you need great assistance.”
The Crown Prince spoke with utmost gravity.
“I shall surely help you. This is a promise I make as the Crown Prince of this nation.”

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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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