The Five-Year-Old Baby Princess Rules the Palace - Chapter 29
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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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#29. Misunderstanding
“How dare you! I saw everything! Didn’t you cover the well!”
Gulp gulp.
While dying, drinking the cold well water that felt like it would burst my chest!
When I struggled to live and looked up at the black, round sky visible above!
This servant was definitely watching my younger brother. Yet how can you continue to lie like this?
Eunhye clenched her small fists tightly and shouted at this servant.
“Your brother! While dying, he kept looking at you and crying for help! Even when you pushed the well cover closed!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Before Eunhye could finish speaking, this servant began screaming.
“Ahhhhh! That cannot be! Those words cannot be true! Then does that mean Seonnam was still alive until then? Seonnam!”
Seeing this servant crying while banging her head on the floor like a mad woman, Eunhye’s heart lurched greatly.
Why is she acting like this?
Could it be that she really didn’t know her brother had fallen into the well when she closed the cover?
Surprised, Eunhye looked up at Gwangjo with eyes as big as plates.
Great-grandfather, could that really be the case?
Then, Seonnam, who had been crying while embracing this servant’s neck, prostrated himself and wailed.
[Princess! It’s my fault. My sister didn’t cause my death! While waiting for sister, I was so hungry… I wanted to drink even well water… Sob.]
Eunhye looked with a dazed expression at this servant writhing and crying face-down on the floor and Seonnam wailing beside her.
[Princess! Our sister did nothing wrong! Because I was small, too short to pull up the well bucket, I fell in. Wah wah! It’s the truth!]
With a confused face, Eunhye’s breathing became labored as she alternately looked at the ghost child named Seonnam and this servant.
Then what on earth did she see?
Eunhye clenched her small fist tightly and spoke in an angry voice.
“Then what did I see! When your sister covered the well, you were alive! Cold and in pain!”
Tears that burst forth without her knowing fell pitter-patter onto the front of Eunhye’s jeogori.
It was a child who died calling for his sister in a deeply sorrowful voice. A child who drank ice-cold water until his chest would burst and grew cold.
And what that child saw last as he died were the stars twinkling in the black night sky and his sister’s sad face…
As Eunhye recalled that night she saw and felt through the eyes of the child named Seonnam, this servant’s anguished cry reached her ears.
“Ah…! Sob sob, Seonnam! Our Seonnam, our Seonnam!”
On that cold winter day, how cold, scared, and painful it must have been for my young brother in that deep well.
Seonnam hurriedly crawled to his sister’s side as she cried, clutching her chest as if her breath would stop, and began shedding tears of blood again.
[It was because the night was deep! The surroundings were dark and the well was too deep, so sister couldn’t see me drowning in the water. Our sister did nothing wrong. Wah wah!]
Eunhye’s eyes, watching Seonnam embrace his sister and wail, churned endlessly like well water in a deep well.
[Princess Eunhye! This cotton clothing was also bought by our sister! I only stayed inside the house, but sister who worked outside in the cold didn’t wear cotton clothes and only bought them for me. Sob, our sister is always like that. Sister did nothing wrong. Wah wah wah!!]
Eunhye looked with sad eyes at the old clothes Seonnam was wearing.
Though worn thin from long use, it was definitely cotton clothing. Having been worn for several years, it was so shabby that there were clear traces of clumsy needlework patching it here and there.
Remembering how the sleeves of those clothes fluttered in the pitch-black well, nausea suddenly rose up.
[Don’t scold our sister. I hate that our sister is sad because of me. That’s why I stay by sister’s side. Because I want to see sister become happy. Wah wah wah!]
This servant, who couldn’t hear her brother’s sad cries, began muttering with a face pale as a ghost.
“I… killed him… Hahaha! I covered the well… I was the one who caused his death.”
Seonnam knelt before this servant with his hands clasped, weeping as he watched his sister’s tears.
[No, sister. No! It happened because I couldn’t wait quietly for sister and went to the well! It’s not sister’s fault. Wah wah!]
Watching the two of them, Eunhye, who couldn’t say anything, looked up at Gwangjo standing beside her.
Grandfather, I was mistaken.
I thought this servant killed her brother, but that wasn’t it.
What should I do now?
From Eunhye’s eyes as she pursed her lips as if holding back tears, crystal-clear teardrops fell pitter-patter.
Did he hear Eunhye’s inner voice?
Gwangjo gently placed his transparent hand on Eunhye’s shoulder.
[You don’t need to do anything, child. This too was a necessary process for that child’s enlightenment. That child will be fine knowing how much his sister thought of and cherished him.]
Gwangjo spoke in a subdued voice, watching the teardrops falling onto Eunhye’s deep red skirt.
[The spirit with wishes and resentment has conveyed all he wanted to say, so now only waiting remains.]
As soon as Gwangjo finished speaking, this servant with a pale face began muttering like a soliloquy.
“The well cover that I always kept closed was open, and I was so frightened.”
Endless tears flowed down this servant’s face, which seemed to have dried up in such a short time.
“With a fearful heart, I looked into the unfathomably deep well, but sob sob, I… couldn’t see Seonnam… Sob sob sob!”
Unable to finish her words, hot tears flowed ceaselessly from this servant’s tightly closed eyes.
“How scared and painful it must have been for our Seonnam alone in that pitch-black place where nothing could be seen. Sob sob sob.”
Eunhye had clearly seen this servant’s terrified face covering the well through dying Seonnam’s eyes, and felt pain as if her heart would split.
It was the moment Eunhye swallowed empty air, recalling Seonnam’s flailing arms as he died and the burning pain in his chest.
Seonnam suddenly stood up, bowed toward Eunhye, and prostrated himself.
[Princess Eunhye, I want to see our sister happy. I hope sister won’t be sad thinking of me anymore. Please convey this message.]
Instead of answering, Eunhye slowly and deeply inhaled. Then she took out a handkerchief from one of the desk drawers, held it in her hand, and nodded toward Seonnam.
“I understand. I’ll convey it for you.”
This servant, pale as a ghost, was looking at Eunhye with unfocused eyes.
“This servant, stop crying and wipe your tears with this. Your brother keeps crying because you keep crying.”
“What? Princess, what did you just say? You said my brother, our Seonnam is crying?”
This servant raised her head as if struck by lightning.
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? Your brother is beside you.”
How scared I was because of that!
Swallowing her latter words, Eunhye waved the hand she had extended to this servant, who still looked disbelieving.
“My arm hurts, so take it quickly. And stop crying now and listen to your brother’s words.”
This servant extended both hands with a dazed expression and received the handkerchief. Then she hurriedly looked alternately to her right and left before looking at Eunhye.
“Princess, can you really see our Seonnam!”
“I told you so! Otherwise, how would I have known your brother fell into the well and died?”
This servant, who had briefly inhaled sharply, bit her lower lip and asked in a tearful voice.
“Sob sob, Princess, I’m sorry but what does my brother look like? How did he fall into the well? No one saw it, so we couldn’t know. Perhaps someone deliberately pushed our Seonnam.”
“No.”
Eunhye looked at this servant, sighed, then answered with a sad face.
“I misunderstood. Your brother says…”
This servant stared intently at Eunhye’s mouth as she couldn’t continue her words.
Eunhye looked at Seonnam’s completely dark blue face and sighed softly.
“To tell the truth, your sister’s heart will ache greatly, but will that be alright?”
This servant looked with fearful eyes at Eunhye, who was speaking toward her empty side.
What people had been saying was both true and not true.
The rumor that Princess Eunhye was frightened seeing something was correct, and all the talk about her being dim-witted or half-wit was complete lies.
How could they call such a dignified and wise princess a half-wit!
It was a moment when she felt endlessly guilty and ashamed for even slightly agreeing with their rumors.
This servant looked around her side once, then bowed her head toward Eunhye and spoke.
“Princess, I am fine, so please tell me. I still don’t know why my brother died in the well. Sob sob.”
Eunhye looked at Seonnam, who was still sitting in front of his sister shedding tears, then slowly opened her mouth.
“He said he was hungry. When night came and you didn’t come, he was so hungry that he tried to drink even well water, and that’s how it happened.”
“Sob! Seonnam… Ahhh! Seonnam!”
Eunhye looked at Seonnam, who was crying with his head down beside the sorrowfully weeping servant, and asked in a stern voice.
“But why didn’t you achieve enlightenment and instead rode on your sister’s back like that?”
Waiting for Seonnam’s hesitant answer, Eunhye looked at this servant’s surprised eyes and smiled mischievously.
“This servant, don’t your shoulders and back usually feel uncomfortable?”
At Eunhye’s sudden question, this servant’s eyes widened.
“How did you know?”
She had strangely suffered from frequent shoulder and back pain since childhood.
She had only thought it was because her muscles and bones were weaker than others! But the reason was because of her younger brother’s soul that had always been carried on her back?
“No matter how much of a spirit he is, your younger brother has always been carried on your back, so wouldn’t it hurt?”
This Servant, her eyes wide with disbelief, hurriedly looked around her surroundings.
Then Seonnam, who had been looking at his sister with sad eyes, opened his mouth with a sobbing voice.
[I wanted to protect my sister. So I stayed together as a guardian spirit, but even as a ghost, my legs were still inconvenient, so I had no choice but to be carried like that.]
“Ah, I see….”
Eunhye nodded at Seonnam’s words and then looked at This Servant, who still had a shocked expression.
“He said he stayed with you like that to protect you because his sister looked too troubled. This Servant is always so sad that Seonnam can’t achieve Enlightenment. You know?”
“Sniff sniff….”
Eunhye looked at the crying This Servant with a serious expression and asked.
“This Servant, do you perhaps wish for your younger brother to stay by your side like now, even in the form of a ghost?”
This Servant, who seemed surprised by her words, raised her head, and Eunhye glanced at her side once before continuing.
“At first, I thought your brother had resentment toward you and that’s why he wouldn’t achieve Enlightenment and kept being carried by you. But after hearing the story, it was because he was worried about his sister, right?”
When Eunhye finished speaking, This Servant looked to her side and asked.
“Princess, is our Seonnam still by my side right now?”
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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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