Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 69

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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 69. Danham
Jang Hee-bin’s expression was solemn and resolute.
A sense of determination rippled through the Palace Maids of Chwisuondang.
Jang Hee-bin set out to pay her respects at Tongmyeongjeon.
The King spoke of ‘propriety,’ but in truth, this decision could not be expressed in mere words.
In the fifteenth year of King Sukjong’s reign, the Girsa Coup occurred.
Queen Min was deposed, and Jang Hee-bin was elevated to the position of Queen.
And in the twentieth year of King Sukjong’s reign, the Gapseul Coup took place.
The King restored Queen Min to her position and sent Jang Hee-bin back to the rank of a concubine.
The reason was that ‘there cannot be two queens under heaven.’
Jang Hee-bin, once a queen, now in the station of a concubine, came to pay her respects to Queen Min.
‘Paying respects’ did not merely mean exchanging greetings.
It meant bowing respectfully, inquiring after her health, and observing the proper etiquette of a subordinate.
“Hwang Bong-bong. Will you come with me?”
Not a command to ‘come with me,’ but a question: ‘will you come with me?’
Beneath her resolute expression, I could see the fragile fear she was concealing.
“Yes, my lady.”
I followed Jang Hee-bin toward Tongmyeongjeon.
***
The entrance to Tongmyeongjeon was silent.
Jang Hee-bin had sent word in advance that she would come to pay her respects.
Yet despite this, not a single Palace Maid stood at the entrance to Tongmyeongjeon.
‘…This must be intentional.’
I realized it the moment I saw Tongmyeongjeon’s courtyard, devoid of even a soul.
“My lady. What shall we do?”
It was Han Sang-gung’s question.
“We wait.”
Jang Hee-bin’s face was composed.
“Yes, my lady.”
Han Sang-gung answered with a grave expression.
With no Palace Maids present, announcing our visit would require entering Tongmyeongjeon directly.
For an outsider like Jang Hee-bin to enter the Queen’s quarters uninvited would be perfect grounds for criticism.
It was a scorching summer morning.
We could not wait indefinitely under the blazing sun for someone to emerge.
Yet we could not raise our voices loudly before the quarters of an ailing Queen.
Jang Hee-bin found herself in a truly impossible situation.
‘If this is the Queen’s command…it’s quite a clever move.’
The historical records of Queen Inhyeon painted her as anything but a wise figure.
After Queen Inhyeon’s death, the Noron faction, having emerged as the political victors, portrayed her as an ‘innocent victim’…but.
‘The records showed her as quite emotional and reckless.’
They say Jang Hee-bin is the reincarnation of a beast that King shot dead, harboring a grudge. They claim she gave birth to a daughter but switched her for a son….
Queen Inhyeon had indeed left behind quite a few absurd remarks, no matter how many times I recalled them.
As I pondered such things, time slipped away.
I could not read Jang Hee-bin’s expression.
Though the sunlight was scorching, she remained motionless, her gaze fixed upon the firmly closed doors of Tongmyeongjeon.
After a considerable span of time had passed.
A sound of footsteps reached my ears.
Step, step.
A man who had emerged from within Tongmyeongjeon came to an abrupt halt.
He appeared to be in his mid-thirties.
He was dressed in the robes of a high-ranking official.
His appearance was utterly unremarkable, yet his gaze was extraordinarily sharp.
‘Who is he?’
It was not easily permitted for a young man to come and go from the quarters of an ailing queen.
There was but one exception.
‘The Queen’s family.’
The man was surely one of Queen Min’s brothers.
‘If that is so, could it be….’
Min Jin-won…?
Queen Inhyeon’s second brother, Min Jin-won, who would later rise to become a political colossus as the leader of the Noron.
Min Jin-won was a man who had rendered great service to Min’s reinstatement, and he was also one who had vehemently called for Jang Hee-bin’s death.
In his later years, he would leave behind a work called the ‘Danam Manrok’, written entirely from the perspective of the Noron.
“Heh heh. What brings about such a situation.”
Could this truly be that Min Jin-won.
As I stole glances at the man while observing him carefully.
He approached Jang Hee-bin with a hearty smile.
Yet from the moment she noticed him, Jang Hee-bin’s face had grown cold.
“It would be quite the miracle if the sun rose in the west. For you to visit the Inner Palace, my lady.”
In other words, her words meant: ‘You, who have never once come to pay respects, what is this about?’
“The sun would never rise in the west. I merely heard that Your Majesty’s condition had grown grave, and came to inquire after your health.”
Jang Hee-bin’s words meant: ‘Spare me the nonsense. You came because you heard the Queen was on her deathbed.’
‘Jang Hee-bin is certainly formidable in actual combat.’
Particularly before those who displayed malice, her composure only grew—that was Jang Hee-bin’s strength.
“Indeed. It is only natural for a concubine to pay respects to the Queen, so there is no reason to be surprised. Thanks to your concern, Her Majesty’s prognosis has been quite favorable of late.”
This meant: ‘Now that you are a concubine, know your place. And above all, our Queen is still very much alive.’
“How fortunate that is. With the great Minister Danam here, I confess my heart grew anxious—wondering if we ought to establish a medical bureau.”
This meant: ‘Even if her condition improves for a moment, I know full well it will worsen again soon.’
But setting that aside.
‘She just called him Minister Danam, did she not.’
Danam was the pen name of Min Jin-won.
That was precisely why Min Jin-won’s surviving work bore the title “Danam Manrok.”
In other words….
‘So this man really is Min Jin-won.’
I watched Min Jin-won, whose gaze locked with Jang Hee-bin’s in a tense standoff.
In Danam Manrok, Jang Hee-bin and those around her were depicted through an overwhelmingly biased lens.
She was portrayed as a villainess of legendary infamy, while her son, King Gyeongjon, was rendered as an incompetent madman….
“Yet, I find something rather peculiar.”
Jang Hee-bin spoke.
“Is this not the Inner Palace where the Queen resides? And yet there is not a single Palace Maid to receive visitors, nor anyone to bid farewell to the departing Minister.”
Jang Hee-bin added softly.
“Could it be that the Palace Maids are shirking their duties under the pretense of the Queen’s illness?”
It was a clever question.
The emptiness before Tongmyeongjeon was surely intended as a slight against Jang Hee-bin.
Yet rather than ask “Why am I not being properly received?” she had instead asked “Are the Inner Palace Maids being lazy?”
If Min Jin-won took the side of the Inner Palace Maids, he would be admitting they had deliberately slighted Jang Hee-bin.
But if he blamed the Palace Maids, it would diminish the Queen’s dignity.
Faced with Jang Hee-bin’s counterattack, Min Jin-won seemed somewhat flustered.
“That could hardly be the case. The Palace Maids are simply occupied at the moment….”
“Yet I have already announced my visit. That no one comes to receive me despite this—surely…. You don’t mean to suggest they deliberately absented themselves?”
“….”
“Of course not. A Queen of the realm would hardly conduct herself with such pettiness.”
Jang Hee-bin smiled sweetly.
“….”
Min Jin-won stared at Jang Hee-bin for a long moment.
A gaze that was somewhat rudely prolonged and insistent.
And then that gaze….
shifted to me, standing beside Han Sang-gung behind Jang Hee-bin.
‘…Why?’
What are you looking at?
Some inexplicable defiance rose within me, so I met Min Jin-won’s eyes without flinching.
He narrowed his eyes noticeably, as if finding me intriguing.
“Ah, so it’s this child.”
Min Jin-won spoke abruptly.
“It seems the Jang Hee-bin has grown quite lonely. Bringing such a young child all this way. Well, given the circumstances….”
Not a veiled insinuation, but a direct blow.
Due to the Gapseul Coup, most of those close to Jang Hee-bin had been exiled or purged.
Her brother Jang Hee-jae, whom she trusted and relied upon, had been banished to Jeju Island, and the Namin Faction, with whom she had shared fortune, had effectively collapsed.
So Min Jin-won’s words meant—
‘The Queen has a brother like me, but you are alone.’
It was then.
Jang Hee-bin took a step back.
Seamlessly, as if unintentional, she positioned herself in front of me.
It was as though she were shielding me from Min Jin-won’s gaze.
“How thoughtful of you to concern yourself with my loneliness. You possess a generous heart indeed.”
Jang Hee-bin continued speaking without taking her eyes off Min Jin-won.
“But fear not. Just as the Queen was restored to her position, my people shall surely return to me one day as well.”
Words laden with unmistakable intent and meaning.
It was nothing short of a declaration: ‘Just as the deposed Queen was reinstated, I too shall reclaim my rightful place.’
Min Jin-won’s expression hardened.
Yet Jang Hee-bin continued to smile radiantly.
“Minister Dan-am. Grant me one request, won’t you?”
“…A request?”
“Would you go inside and inform the busy Palace Maids that Jang Hee-bin has come to pay her respects?”
“….”
“While you’re at it, if you happen to spot any Palace Maids shirking their duties, do scold them as well.”
The corner of Min Jin-won’s mouth twitched.
After glaring at Jang Hee-bin for a moment, Min Jin-won finally turned away.
‘A cunning fox.’
A shrewd and calculating fox.
That was precisely my first impression of Min Jin-won.
***
After Min Jin-won returned to Tongmyeongjeon.
Only after a considerable time had passed did the Inner Palace Maids emerge.
The Inner Palace’s head attendant did not even offer a bow of courtesy to Jang Hee-bin.
For someone of the Queen’s rank, it was shockingly arrogant behavior to display toward a First-Rank Consort.
“What brings you to this place, Consort Jang?”
“I sent word that I would have my people pay respects. Did Heo Sang-gung not hear of it?”
“Yes. It seems there was a misunderstanding in the middle.”
“A misunderstanding.”
Jang Hee-bin’s demeanor toward Heo Sang-gung, the Inner Palace’s confidante, differed markedly from how she had addressed Min Jin-won.
Jang Hee-bin chose not to engage in a quarrel.
It was an act of clean dismissal.
“I see. I shall go inside myself. Tell the Queen that I have come.”
Jang Hee-bin moved forward immediately.
“W-wait, now is not…!”
Heo Sang-gung hastily spoke up.
But Jang Hee-bin had already entered Tongmyeongjeon.

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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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