Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 61

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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 61. Spring Passes
The King set me down only after crossing the threshold of Changgyeong Palace.
Honestly, I couldn’t fathom what possessed me to let him carry me all this way.
My mind still felt oddly adrift.
“Kim Sang-gung.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Prepare an abundance of confections and send them to Chwisuondang. Three or four times the usual amount should suffice.”
“Yes. I shall carry out your orders at once.”
The King, having issued his command to Sang-gung, smiled at me with amusement.
“I shall send enough confections for you to eat your fill without restraint. So put thoughts of sweets aside.”
“I am most grateful, Your Majesty.”
I couldn’t shake the thought that even the King now saw me as a confection-obsessed girl, but in any case, the prospect of an abundance of sweets was certainly welcome.
‘Though that’s hardly the real issue here….’
I bowed respectfully and turned to leave.
After a few steps, I glanced back surreptitiously at the King’s receding procession.
I was curious about his intentions.
The way he deliberately lifted me into his arms before Suk-bin and Gwi-in Kim was unmistakably a calculated gesture.
The King was not a man who acted without purpose.
But that action….
‘It was like a display—or a warning.’
A display that he regarded a mere junior maid so specially that he would lift her into his arms without hesitation.
Therefore, a warning: do not dare lay a hand on this girl.
The problem was the target of that warning.
It would be reasonable to interpret it as directed at Suk-bin and Gwi-in Kim, but another question trailed behind like a shadow.
‘Which means the King believes they might try to harm me….’
Sigh.
A deep, involuntary sigh escaped me.
I could understand Suk-bin’s animosity, but I couldn’t fathom why Gwi-in Kim despised me so intensely.
It seemed Chwisuondang felt to her like a den crawling with vipers.
‘But there’s no reason to harbor such resentment toward a four-year-old child.’
Hmm.
I took another deep breath.
Chwisuondang was already in sight.
“Ah, eh, ee, oh, oo!”
I loosened my tense facial muscles and practiced smiling brightly.
It was time to return to being Hwang Bong-bong, the little blessing.
Time to return to the home where warm and affectionate people awaited—far from any vipers.
***
The King turned and made his way toward the Private Chamber.
The atmosphere among the palace attendants following him was starkly different from usual.
Shock. Confusion. Bewilderment.
With these emotions intertwined, even the wind that swept through the King’s procession felt desolate.
The King himself understood well.
What kind of storm his actions today would create.
One who receives the King’s protection becomes either an object of reverence or an object of envy.
There was no denying it.
It had been uncharacteristic of him.
Yet toward Gwi-in Kim, who gazed at the child with an unusually sharp gaze,
And toward Suk-bin, who concealed her true feelings behind an expressionless mask, he wanted to demonstrate it.
Do not touch.
Do not dare to lay a hand on her.
That was all the King wished to say.
Of course, there were far wiser and far less public methods available.
Yet in that moment, I could not restrain my impulse.
‘Is it guilt that drives me?’
The King posed the question to himself.
As the question surfaced, a face naturally came to mind.
There had been an old friend.
Cheok U-myeong.
The ‘Heavenly Blade’ who inherited the swordsmanship of the Sword Saint Cheok Jun-gyeong—a man called the Warrior sent by Heaven.
He had been the King’s friend, his bodyguard, and the ten thousand soldiers the King had gained.
Cheok U-myeong stood on the opposite side during the upheaval.
It was not betrayal. He had merely acted upon his own righteous convictions.
As a man, Cheok U-myeong remained the King’s friend even then.
Only their intentions had diverged.
Yet the King soon realized.
The moment one who was mine came to differ in purpose from me, the enemy’s fear would become my own fear.
There had been no need to kill him.
There had been no need to punish a former friend so cruelly.
Yet fear seized the King by the ankles.
Cheok U-myeong’s extraordinary swordsmanship, his overwhelming talent that had never known defeat.
The fear that such things might become a blade turned against me.
And so the King killed his friend.
And for a very long time.
The King could not escape the shadow of regret.
‘We link our pinky fingers to make a promise. It means we will never break our oath!’
The face of the small child, babbling while extending her pinky finger, came to mind.
The child did not resemble Cheok U-myeong.
Only Cheok U-myeong’s younger sister, Cheok Yu-hwa.
A face bearing that beautiful girl’s delicate features.
Cheok U-myeong and Cheok Yu-hwa.
The clan I destroyed with my own hands.
The friend I killed with my own hands.
And the girl I pushed into the abyss with my own hands, whose tender heart had once begun to bloom for me.
Regret for those two lives lost to death overlaid itself upon Hwang Bong-bong’s bright face.
***
“Have you heard the rumors? Yesterday in front of Hee-jeong Hall, the King apparently did something to a Palace Maid from Chwisuondang….”
Whispers spread among the Palace Maids’ gossip, drifting across the walls of the Inner Palace.
“For the King to behave in such a manner. This is conduct befitting only the royal grandchildren.”
“What exactly is that girl? What could possibly compel the King to commit such an extraordinary act?”
The murmuring of officials set the Private Chamber’s floor astir all day long.
It was not only the Palace Maids and officials.
Servants, concubines, and even outsiders who frequented the Royal Palace.
Stories of the “Palace Maid favored by the King” were carried far and wide on the spring breeze.
***
“Prince Yeonning.”
Bogyeong Hall.
Suk-bin, facing Prince Yeonning, wore an expression of calm composure.
Her eyes, which had wavered throughout the day unlike her usual self, had grown quiet once more.
She had returned to her inscrutable, benevolent countenance.
“Yes. Please speak.”
Prince Yeonning, sitting with a visibly tense expression, replied.
Suk-bin then opened her mouth.
“I hear you have been spending time with the Palace Maid from Chwisuondang lately?”
He had not expected such words to come from his mother’s lips.
Prince Yeonning spoke, taken aback.
“It was nothing of importance. I merely happened to encounter her several times when visiting the Crown Prince’s quarters….”
“What do you hope to gain by associating with the Crown Prince?”
“…Well, he is my elder brother, after all.”
“Yes. The Crown Prince is indeed Prince Yeonning’s elder brother. However, my son.”
Suk-bin fixed her gaze upon Prince Yeonning’s eyes.
“When that elder brother ascends the throne in the future…. Have you given thought to how he might treat this mother of his, who stands as a rival to Jang Hee-bin?”
“Mother….”
Words far too heavy and difficult for a seven-year-old prince.
Yet Suk-bin’s tone in response to Prince Yeonning’s words was as cold as ice.
“Do not call me mother. The only person you may call mother is the Queen Consort. Do not diminish your own standing by using such unauthorized titles. Do you understand?”
“…Yes. Suk-bin.”
Prince Yeonning’s shoulders shrank inward.
He was particularly tense in front of his biological mother, Suk-bin.
Observing his demeanor, Suk-bin softened her tone.
“Let us return to the matter of that maid from Chwisuondang. I am not faulting you for being well-suited to her.”
“Then what is it…?”
“You are well-suited to each other. There is no need to deliberately distance yourself or push her away.”
“….”
It was no simple task to discern a mother’s true intentions.
Prince Yeonning waited in silence for Suk-bin to continue.
“Since the King regards that young maid with particular favor, no harm shall befall you through her. However….”
At that point, Suk-bin paused.
She straightened the collar of Prince Yeonning’s robe, which had become slightly askew, and continued.
“However, should that child ever fall out of the King’s favor, then without hesitation, sever your ties. You must not remain close to one from whom there is nothing to gain. Do you understand?”
“…Yes, Suk-bin.”
Suk-bin nodded quietly.
It was not an unfavorable choice.
For Prince Yeonning to remain at the side of the young child favored by the King.
Through Prince Yeonning, she had gained justification to monitor that dreadful creature who had witnessed all of her shameful secrets.
***
Spring dyed in blossoms.
Gwi-in Kim was confined to her quarters in Geonggeuk Hall.
The cold, merciless face of the King that had brought her ruin.
The face of Suk-bin, drawing lines with innocent composure.
The treacherous face of Jang Hee-bin, whose memory set her teeth on edge whenever recalled.
And….
The face of that four-year-old maid, the very architect of the cruel hundred-day confinement she now endured.
Each time their visages surfaced in her mind, Gwi-in ground her teeth.
“Aaaahhh!”
Gwi-in hurled her teacup.
With a deafening crash, the cup shattered into fragments.
Grind. Grind.
Yet still, many days remained before the hundred days would pass.
***
The seasons advanced one step forward.
Spring, which had begun with the fragrance of plum blossoms, faded silently away with falling petals.
Soon, early summer arrived, with crimson cherries ripening on the branches.
Changdeok Palace. Changgyeong Palace.
Both stood at the threshold of summer, drenched entirely in verdant green.
And so, having weathered a tumultuous spring, my days as I entered summer remained unchanged….
“Ahhh! Save me!”
Chaos and pandemonium, as always.

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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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