Surviving as Jang Hee-bin's Child Court Lady - Chapter 70

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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 70. Turned Away at the Gate
“Your Majesty. Jang Hee-bin from Chwisuondang requests an audience.”
Before Queen Min’s Private Chamber.
The wooden door stood firmly shut.
No sound emerged from within—neither movement nor response.
“Please inform her again.”
Jang Hee-bin spoke, but Sang-gung, who guarded the doorway, remained silent.
She merely stared at the wall, her lips sealed.
“I said to inform her again. Do you not hear my words?”
“….”
Sang-gung ignored Jang Hee-bin’s words once more.
A silence as sharp and precarious as a blade’s edge.
Within the tension that threatened to shatter at any moment, Jang Hee-bin closed her eyes briefly.
Then she opened her mouth.
“Your Majesty. It is Jang Hee-bin. I wish to inquire after your health, so please open the door.”
A faint rustling sound came from within.
The soft sound of a throat being cleared accompanied it.
“Your Majesty. I ask again. Please allow me entry.”
The moment Jang Hee-bin spoke a second time.
A response came from within.
“Is it some pretext of propriety you wish to obtain?”
These were Queen Min’s first words.
“Not once did you visit me after I returned to the Palace, yet now you come seeking me out. What scheme lies behind this? Did you dare approach me with your painted face, thinking I would not see through your dark intentions?”
A hoarse voice tinged with illness.
Yet it burned with resentment.
“Leave. I have no pretext to offer you, so do not return again!”
“….”
Jang Hee-bin’s lips trembled slightly.
A cascade of emotions swept across her face.
The position of Queen—once hers.
The chambers—once hers.
Now that all of it had faded away, Jang Hee-bin stood as a mere concubine, receiving the Queen’s rebuke.
A sigh.
A low breath escaped her lips.
“Since you bid me not to return, I shall depart. However.”
Jang Hee-bin, who had been staring intently at the closed door, continued slowly.
“Coming here was not an easy thing for me either. I pray you understand that much.”
“Hush that cunning mouth of yours. I do not wish to hear it. Wretched creature deserving of heavenly punishment! Leave at once!”
The Queen’s voice rang out sharply, trembling with fury.
A Palace Maid of the Inner Palace spoke with a pitying gaze.
“Did you not hear the Queen’s words? Leave at once.”
“….”
Jang Hee-bin did not answer.
She merely fixed a cold stare upon the closed door for a moment.
Eventually, Jang Hee-bin turned away.
The Palace Maids of Chwisuondang and I hurried out of Tongmyeongjeon in her wake.
***
Turned away at the gate.
The Queen had not only dismissed Jang Hee-bin but had laid bare her deep resentment as well.
On the path back to Chwisuondang.
The faces of the Palace Maids following Jang Hee-bin were flushed crimson.
It was the result of intense fury.
For those who believed the Queen had stripped them of everything, it was only natural.
But my feelings were somewhat different from those of the other Palace Maids.
‘This turned out well, actually.’
What mattered was the very fact that Jang Hee-bin had come to pay her respects to the Queen.
Whether they had actually faced each other was irrelevant.
‘If the Queen had accepted the visit, it would have been far more troublesome.’
The Queen and Jang Hee-bin.
One could never predict what emotions might erupt the moment they faced each other.
A single misspoken word could have resulted in accusations of insulting the Queen.
On the surface, it may have appeared as Jang Hee-bin’s defeat in being turned away.
But considering the broader circumstances, this outcome was nothing short of fortunate for her.
Moreover, the Queen’s stern command—”Never return here again”—had been issued.
For Jang Hee-bin, this provided the perfect justification for not paying future visits.
‘How fortunate.’
It would take some time for Jang Hee-bin’s stern expression to soften.
But at least we had overcome another hurdle.
[Jang Hee-bin did not pay a single visit to the Queen during her illness.]
This was the moment when one of the charges against Jang Hee-bin that would be recorded in the royal annals was erased.
***
“Commander of the Naegumwi!”
In the heart of Hanseongbu.
At an early hour when even the lanterns had yet to be lit.
Kim Che-geon sat within the Gisaeng House.
The Head Gisaeng, who had rushed out at the arrival of such an esteemed guest, greeted Kim Che-geon.
“We wondered if you had perhaps journeyed to foreign lands, given how long it has been since your last visit. But tell me, what brings you to the Gisaeng House at such an early hour?”
“Summon the gatekeepers for me. I have questions to ask.”
“The gatekeepers? If you request it, of course they shall be brought at once.”
Shortly after, the two gatekeepers who took turns guarding the entrance of the Gisaeng House entered the room.
Kim Che-geon posed his question directly.
“I am searching for a young boy. He is fourteen years old, though his large frame might make him appear older. He would be looking for his younger sister. Have you seen him?”
One of the gatekeepers pondered for a moment, then nodded slowly.
“Yes. About a month ago, a young man came by searching for his four-year-old sister.”
“What did the boy look like?”
“As you described, he had quite a large build. I would not have thought him fourteen years old. He appeared to be at least seventeen or eighteen….”
“Do you know where he went?”
“I’m afraid not. He had the shabby appearance of a wanderer…. How would I know his whereabouts?”
The gatekeeper, whose words had trailed off, suddenly remembered something and added.
“I heard from another gatekeeper that he seemed to be searching for his sister by visiting all the Gisaeng Houses throughout Hanseong, not just this one.”
“Inform the other gatekeepers at the other Gisaeng Houses. Tell them that the Commander of the Naegumwi is searching for this boy, and that they should contact me immediately if they spot him. I will reward whoever brings me news.”
Kim Che-geon turned to face the Head Gisaeng.
“If you find the boy, I would ask that you protect him.”
At Kim Che-geon’s words, the Head Gisaeng readily agreed.
“Of course. If the Commander of the Naegumwi asks it, I shall gladly comply. But…. what manner of child is he that you search for him with such diligence?”
The Head Gisaeng smiled with the alluring charm befitting her station.
“Could he be a young master you have hidden away?”
“Heh.”
Kim Che-geon deflected the question with a light laugh.
“Sir, since you have come, shall I bring you a cup of wine?”
“Just water. It is still early in the day.”
Kim Che-geon fell into quiet contemplation.
He was not one who favored Gisaeng Houses.
The reason he now sat in one during broad daylight was because of information he had extracted from the woman who lived next door to Hwang Bong-bong.
The woman had trembled upon seeing Kim Che-geon return.
Kim Che-geon had not bothered to reveal his identity.
Frightened by the sight of his sword, the woman had readily confessed everything.
“Tell me truthfully. You have never seen Hwang Bong-mok’s brother?”
“P-please spare me, sir. Her brother did come by once.”
“When?”
“A few days before you came looking, and before Hwang Bong-mok came as well.”
“Did you find out what happened to Hwang Bong-mok? What did she say?”
“The child…. She, she was sold to a gisaeng house….”
The woman saw Kim Che-geon’s eyebrows shoot upward and hurried to continue.
“I, I had no choice. Sang-gung, who took Bong-mok away, insisted that no one must discover that a yangban’s daughter had become a palace maid….”
“That may be so, but.”
Kim Che-geon fixed the woman with a cold, penetrating gaze.
“Why did you say her brother was dead?”
“That was….”
She could not bring herself to admit that she had wanted the house for herself, so the woman lowered her head.
Kim Che-geon spoke with icy precision.
“To separate children forever for the sake of your own greed—you are truly a wicked person.”
“P, please spare me. My lord. This ignorant woman made a terrible mistake without thinking. Please forgive me….”
“Forgiveness must be sought not from me, but from Bong-mok and her brother, Hwang Jin-gi.”
Kim Che-geon continued, his eyes boring into her.
“If her brother comes looking, you must give him this without fail.”
Kim Che-geon pressed a neatly folded letter into the woman’s hands.
“If you attempt any further deception, know that you will pay dearly for it.”
“D, deception? I will remember! I will surely deliver it!”
The woman bowed and scraped obsequiously.
Kim Che-geon turned and left without looking back.
The letter he left behind read as follows:
[Seek out Kim Che-geon, Commander of the Naegumwi.
I know the whereabouts of Hwang Bong-mok.]
***
“Sigh….”
The sun was sinking below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of amber and gold.
Outskirts of Hanseong.
A young boy sat at the entrance of a small, shabby village where a handful of gisaeng houses clustered together.
The worn shoes on his feet were tattered, their soles completely frayed.
His heart was just as threadbare and tattered as those shoes.
‘There’s no child like that here.’
‘A four-year-old gisaeng? I’ve never heard of such a thing.’
‘I don’t know. We don’t have anyone like that.’
He’d been turned away at least ten times today alone.
His stomach growled from hunger after fasting all day, yet he felt no desire to eat anything.
He didn’t know what his younger sister was enduring.
That small child might be desperately searching for him, tears streaming down her face….
“Bong-mok….”
Patter. Patter.
Teardrops fell onto his dusty shoes, leaving small marks in the grime.
Tears he’d held back for so long.
Once they began to fall, they poured forth unstoppably.
The young boy hunched over, his shoulders trembling as he wept.
His younger sister, that tiny child.
His only blood relative.
He missed her so desperately.
“Bong-mok…!”
He was in the midst of releasing rough, ragged sobs.
Whoosh.
A young nobleman suddenly appeared and sat down beside him, pressing his hip against the boy’s.
“….”
The boy stared blankly at the cotton cloth being thrust toward him.
“I know not what troubles you, but how can a man show tears in the middle of the street? Brother, please dry your tears at once.”
“….”
The boy, somewhat taken aback, stared at the young nobleman.
His verbose manner of speech, his demeanor like that of a precocious child, and eyes that shone with an almost excessive clarity.
Yet the young nobleman wearing silk robes appeared to be no more than ten years old.
“…Never mind.”
The boy turned away from the cloth.
“Please accept it. I was merely passing by and could not bear to ignore someone weeping alone. I possess some compassion, you see.”
The young nobleman nodded as if he understood what the boy was feeling.
“But brother, what troubles you so deeply that you weep?”
“…It’s nothing you need to know.”
“Have you not heard that sorrow diminishes by half when shared with others? If you have worries, it would not be amiss to share them. Who knows? You might receive an unexpected answer.”
The Young Nobleman chattered on without pause.
By the time my ears began to burn.
The exhausted Young Boy finally opened his mouth.
“I’m looking for my lost younger sister. She’s four years old, and I heard she was sold to a Gisaeng House….”
“Is that so? My maternal uncle frequents the Gisaeng Houses from time to time. Tell me the child’s name. I shall pass word to my uncle.”
“….”
The Young Boy, regarding the Young Nobleman with skepticism, blurted it out as if resigned to fate.
Well, there was nothing to lose.
“My sister’s name is Hwang Bong-mok. Hwang Bong-mok.”
“Hwang Bong…. Hwang Bong-bong?!”
“No. Hwang. Bong. Mok.”
“Ah….”
How strange…?
A deep suspicion flickered across the Young Nobleman’s face.
“…Why do you ask?”
The Young Boy questioned him.
Park Moon-soo, who had been furrowing his brow seriously, answered.
“I know nothing of Hwang Bong-mok. However, if you speak of a girl named Hwang Bong-bong, I know her well….”

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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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