The Five-Year-Old Baby Princess Rules the Palace - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#21. Guseon-wangdogo

The afternoon sunlight streaming through the south-facing window unraveled like golden thread, settling gently throughout the room. Standing in the middle like a doll, Eunhye turned her head toward Lady Park and Lady Han who entered through the door and smiled brightly.

At her cute smile that beamed as if nothing had happened, the two could only blink their eyes and gulp down dry saliva.

“Princess, when did you wake up?”

Lady Han asked, quietly taking the refreshment tray from Lady Park who still seemed to be in a daze.

“Just a little while ago. What is that?”

Eunhye, who had returned to her seat while roughly holding up her skirt with her chubby hands, looked at the refreshment tray Lady Han was setting down.

Then Lady Han spoke teasingly with a smile at the corner of her mouth.

“Haha! Don’t you remember? Didn’t you say before going to sleep, ‘I want to eat more when I wake up later’?”

At Lady Han’s words, Eunhye blinked her eyes and tilted her head, then clapped her chubby hands together and smiled brightly as if she remembered.

“Ah! Apple preserves! Right. I did say that!”

“Yes, do you remember now?”

Lady Han, who answered with her eyes beautifully curved in a smile, quietly tugged at the skirt of Lady Park who was still standing there in a daze.

Then Lady Park, who seemed to come to her senses and shook her head, sat down next to Eunhye and glanced around her sides and behind her.

Could there still be something in this room…?

Eunhye looked at Lady Park as if wondering why she was acting that way, then picked up one of the apple preserves on the table and smiled brightly.

“See, Nanny and Lady Han are the best, right?”

Eunhye took a bite of the apple preserve that had been lightly boiled in sugar and syrup and dried in good sunlight, laughing contentedly with a “puhehe.” Then she closed her eyes as if savoring the chewy, sweet and sour taste, and suddenly opened her round eyes wide to look at Lady Park.

“Nanny.”

“Ah, yes… Yes, Princess, please speak.”

Lady Park, who was still half out of it, looked at Eunhye in surprise.

“You know, um… would that rice cake be available at Grandmother’s place, I mean, at the Jagyeong Palace Confectionery Room?”

“Yes? Which rice cake do you mean…?”

Lady Park blinked her eyes at Eunhye’s question, not understanding what she meant.

“The rice cake that Grandmother likes. It’s slightly yellowish and smells like medicinal herbs…”

Medicinal herbs? A rice cake that smells like medicinal herbs and is favored by the Queen Dowager…

Lady Park, who had been tilting her head for a moment, raised her head to look at Eunhye as if she remembered.

“Ah, are you referring to Guseon-wangdogo?”

“Yes! That one!”

Eunhye nodded her head vigorously as if that was right, sucked the sugar off her fingers, and picked up a silver skewer that was beside her.

“Could you get just a little bit of that?”

“Yes? Guseon-wangdogo?”

When Eunhye poked a white rice cake with the silver skewer she had picked up and nodded as if that was right, Lady Park opened her eyes wide in puzzlement. Hadn’t she shown distaste when she tasted that rice cake during her recent visit to the Queen Dowager’s Palace?

“Yes! That rice cake!”

But Eunhye answered affirmatively as if such a thing had never happened. Then, just as she was about to bring the skewered rice cake to her mouth, she suddenly examined the rice cake she was holding from various angles and asked.

“But this rice cake looks unfamiliar. What is it? I can see something red in the middle – what is this?”

At Eunhye’s words that seemed like both a question and talking to herself, Lady Han nodded and smiled slightly.

“Ah, that is from This Servant from the Queen’s Palace Confectionery Department who came this morning, isn’t there?”

At the mention of This Servant, Eunhye, who was about to bring the rice cake to her mouth, quietly lowered it and pursed her small lips while nodding.

“Mm.”

“This Servant showed off her skills. She boiled cherries and somehow made filling with them – it’s called cherry rice cake.”

“Cherry rice cake?”

Eunhye looked down at the rice cake skewered in her hand and muttered as if to herself.

“Yes, please try it once. They say she put sugar-boiled cherries inside the glutinous rice cake.”

Even while explaining to Eunhye, Lady Han seemed to be salivating and swallowed her dry saliva.

“Mm… I see.”

But for some reason, Eunhye didn’t readily bring it to her mouth, and Lady Han and Lady Park looked at her with puzzled eyes.

“Well then.”

Eventually, Eunhye put down the skewer she was holding on the table and looked up at Lady Park as she spoke.

“Nanny, could you get me some of that rice cake I mentioned earlier?”

“Pardon?”

Lady Park found herself asking again without realizing it. The rice cake called ‘Guseon-wangdogo’ that the Princess asked her to get – wasn’t that a steamed rice cake made with glutinous rice flour, Job’s tears flour, dried persimmons, sugar, and various medicinal herbs mixed together?

It wasn’t the kind of snack that a young Princess would enjoy, so why was she suddenly looking for it?

Toward Lady Park who was tilting her head, Eunhye raised her short, white, chubby index finger and smiled cutely.

“Nanny, please get me just one plate of that rice cake now. I’ll eat this one a little later.”

Lady Park glanced at Lady Han, whose eyes had become as round as hers, then bowed her head.

“Yes, Princess. Then I shall go to the Queen Dowager’s Kitchen.”

Though she didn’t understand the reason, it was food that Princess Eunhye was requesting. Lady Park stood up to carry out her master’s command.

“Mm. Thank you, Nanny.”

Lady Park bowed her head slightly toward Eunhye, who was waving her maple leaf-like hands, and hurriedly stepped through the gently opened door.

Lady Han, who had been watching her, soon turned her head and asked as if puzzled.

“But Princess, why are you suddenly looking for Guseon-wangdogo? Isn’t it a rice cake you don’t usually eat?”

At Lady Han’s question, Eunhye, who was picking up an apple preserve to put in her mouth, smiled broadly.

“Yes, that’s a secret.”

“Pardon?”

Where else could there be such a cute Princess? A secret – she says it’s a secret with those lips as cute as wild strawberries.

Lady Han curved her eyes beautifully toward Eunhye who was smiling cutely.

“Yes, I understand. Since the Princess says it’s a secret, I won’t ask any more.”

“Mm, when the time comes later, I’ll definitely tell you. If I tell you now, you won’t believe it. Or you might fall over in surprise, hehe.”

Eunhye swallowed the preserve she had been chewing and picked up another apple preserve.

When Grandfather Gwangjo comes back from his brief errand, I should offer it to him!

Grandfather Gwangjo might like medicinal rice cakes like our Grandmother does.

As Eunhye was smiling to herself at the thought of offering Guseon-wangdogo to Gwangjo, Lady Han’s voice reached her ears.

“Princess, why aren’t you eating the cherry rice cake? They said This Servant made it specially?”

The white glutinous rice cake with its subtle sweet and sour fragrance looked quite appetizing.

“Mm… that is… I’m just going to eat it later.”

Eunhye looked back and forth between the apple preserve she was holding and the cherry rice cake on the refreshment table and answered with an awkward smile.

As soon as she heard that This Servant had made it, the image of the ghost boy clinging to her back came to mind.

Thinking that she must have made this rice cake while carrying that ghost child on her back, Eunhye absolutely could not bring the cherry rice cake to her mouth.

Those pitch-black eyes that had glared at her this morning and that spine-chilling voice!

Grandfather Gwangjo had said he would drive them all away, but still, what could she do about being scared?

Eunhye quietly pushed the cherry rice cake in front of her to the other side and sucked the sugar off her other hand’s fingers.

“Lady Han, you can eat this if you want.”

“Pardon?”

Lady Han’s round eyes became as big as plates at Princess Eunhye’s strange behavior no matter how she looked at it.

She must have definitely seen something frightening from This Servant who came today. Come to think of it, hadn’t she left the room as if fleeing through the window frame this morning right after seeing This Servant?

Lady Han narrowed her eyes as she recalled This Servant from the Confectionery Department who had been present when Lady Kang was speaking ill of the Princess this morning.

Hmm… I should keep that wench from getting close to the Princess if possible!

Meanwhile, Lady Park, who had hurried to the Palace Kitchens, bowed her head before Lady Han, the head court lady.

“My, what brings Lady Park all the way here?”

On the stern face of Lady Han, who was in charge of the Palace Kitchens, the years of over thirty years in the palace remained as deep wrinkles.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”

Lady Park had brought a wrapped package of cherry rice cake that This Servant had newly made, feeling it would be improper to come empty-handed.

“Yes, it has been a long time. What is this?”

Lady Han asked curiously, looking at the wooden box Lady Park had brought.

“Yes, this is called cherry rice cake, and the skills of the child who newly came to our Confectionery Department are quite impressive. So I brought it for you to taste.”

Lady Han, who had only slightly raised one corner of her mouth without saying anything, opened the lid of the wooden box.

Several red and translucent cherry fruits were placed on one side of a white plate along with small green leaves as decoration, and glutinous rice cakes about half the size of a child’s fist were neatly arranged in the center. Moreover, the fresh and sweet fragrance that wafted out as soon as the lid was opened was quite mouth-watering.

“This isn’t just glutinous rice cake brought for casual tasting.”

The corners of Lady No’s eyes gently folded as she smiled warmly at Lady Park.

“Not at all. I truly brought this for you to taste. They say the cherry blossoms that bloomed in Hye-shin Palace Gardens have fallen and borne well-ripened cherries, which were picked, pitted, pickled in sugar, and used as coating for glutinous rice cakes. Please try some.”

At Lady Park’s recommendation, Lady Han shook her head as if to refuse and sent a gentle gaze while covering the lid of the wooden box.

“How could I taste this precious thing first without even offering it to Her Majesty above? I shall present it to the Queen Dowager and convey your thoughtfulness.”

At Lady Han’s words, Lady Park shook her head with a very flustered expression.

“Not at all. Truly, I did not bring this with such intentions. I just…”

“Just?”

Perhaps finding Lady Park’s manner of speaking amusing, Lady Han, whose entire face was filled with laughter, asked again.

“What is it? Please speak.”

Then Lady Park smiled bashfully in an uncharacteristic way and began to speak.

“Perhaps… does the Jagyeong Palace Confectionery Room have Guseon-wangdogo? If so, I was wondering if I could obtain just a little…”

At Lady Park’s words, Lady Han showed a puzzled expression.

No matter that she was the wet nurse court lady who served Princess Eunhye closely, how dare she ask for Guseon-wangdogo that the Queen Dowager enjoys, saying she wants to eat it? From any perspective, it was truly an audacious request.

“Perhaps you want to let your elderly mother at Saga taste it?”

At Lady Han’s question, whose brow now bore subtle anger unlike before, Lady Park was startled and shook her head.

“Absolutely not! An elderly mother at Saga, you say.”

“Then why would a court lady from Princess Eunhye’s quarters seek Guseon-wangdogo that the senior ladies occasionally request?”

Looking at Lady Han’s head tilted as if finding it even stranger, Lady Park also nodded her head and opened her mouth.

“I too find it somewhat strange, but Princess Eunhye commanded me to… obtain just a little Guseon-wangdogo.”

“Princess Eunhye did?”

Lady Han widened her wrinkled eyes as if she couldn’t believe it.

Wasn’t Guseon-wangdogo a rice cake that elderly people had enjoyed since ancient times?

If it were the young Princess Eunhye, she would naturally enjoy sweet snacks like yakgwa, maejakgwa, or jeonggwa, yet she suddenly seeks rice cakes with deep medicinal herb fragrance.

It was truly a strange matter.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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