The Five-Year-Old Baby Princess Rules the Palace - Chapter 5

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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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#5. Do You Want to Die?

She was furious.

Though she was terribly angry and indignant, Lady Gyeongbin was the daughter of the Left State Councilor, a first-rank concubine of His Majesty who had even produced two princes.

And she herself was merely a young princess known as a half-wit.

Eunhye glared at Lady Gyeongbin’s retreating figure and gritted her teeth.

Lady Gyeongbin, I will never forget today’s humiliation.

Perhaps sensing Eunhye’s glaring eyes, Lady Gyeongbin, who had been walking a few steps away, suddenly whirled around.

Then she smiled mockingly at Eunhye and slightly lowered her head.

Eunhye’s small fists clenched tightly again above her skirt, soaked and stained with sticky water.

* * *

“Lady Seo.”

“Yes, Lady Gyeongbin.”

At Lady Gyeongbin’s call, Lady Seo, who had been following half a step behind, quickly approached and bowed her head.

“Find out exactly why that half-wit keeps going in and out of the Library of the Crown Prince’s Palace. And if she shows any suspicious behavior, you must inform me immediately!”

“Yes.”

Lady Gyeongbin’s expression was sharp as she walked toward her quarters, Yeonghun Hall.

Near the Crown Prince was a spy planted by her father, the Left State Councilor.

The Library of the Crown Prince’s Palace was where the secret messages exchanged with that spy were hidden.

But for some time now, that half-wit princess had been frequently entering and leaving that library.

When she first received reports that the princess was visiting that place, she didn’t think much of it.

After all, the princess was a half-wit known even to the mice in the palace. Since her illness, she was known to be unable to make proper eye contact with people and couldn’t speak properly either, so she hadn’t paid much attention. But recently, the princess’s visits to the Library of the Crown Prince’s Palace had become noticeably frequent.

The day when the Crown Prince would be deposed and her eldest son, Prince Chung-in, would take his place to become king of this nation was not far off, yet that half-wit’s frequent movements made Lady Gyeongbin feel uneasy.

So she had been on her way to Hyesin Palace to personally observe the princess’s condition. But to encounter the princess so directly in the middle of the road!

Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times, they say.

But having come to see for herself, it was clearly needless worry. Though she might not be such a half-wit that she couldn’t make eye contact with people as the palace rumors suggested, she certainly didn’t possess any intelligence beyond that of a five-year-old.

However, she couldn’t ignore the fact that this young child frequently visited the Crown Prince’s library, as the secret messages exchanged with the spy might be discovered even by accident.

Lady Gyeongbin wore a cold expression as she recalled the princess she had just met.

“I don’t like that look in her eyes that I occasionally saw.”

Lady Seo carefully observed Lady Gyeongbin, who shook her head with a displeased expression.

“Watch that half-wit’s actions even more closely. As they say, caution is better than cure, so we must be thorough!”

“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”

At her mistress’s frosty command, Lady Seo bowed deeply.

Lady Gyeongbin had produced a prince a full year before the Queen Mother. Though he was called a prince rather than crown prince because he wasn’t of legitimate birth, only heaven knew who would ascend the throne after His Majesty the King.

Her mistress, Lady Gyeongbin, was surely someone who would seize the opportunity even if it meant glimpsing heaven’s decision.

Lady Seo hurried after Lady Gyeongbin with quick steps and glanced back.

She could see Princess Eunhye wiping her tear-soaked face with her sleeve.

She was the first princess born in the palace after three consecutive princes: the Crown Prince, Prince Chung-in, and Prince Ju-an.

Particularly, at the moment the princess was born, the fox star attached to the North Star called Taeul-seong shone very brightly and added its light to Taeul-seong.

Therefore, His Majesty the King was very pleased, saying that the newborn princess would grow up to greatly help the Crown Prince who would inherit the throne.

The officials of the Bureau of Astronomy also reported that the princess’s birth was a great fortune for Taeshin Kingdom, but how did that princess become such a half-wit?

Before suffering from smallpox, Princess Eunhye had been so clever that she was compared to the Crown Prince’s intelligence, but now she had become a burden that no one treated with respect.

Lady Seo squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head vigorously at the pity she felt for the five-year-old princess.

But her mistress was Lady Gyeongbin, who had produced two princes. To serve her mistress faithfully until the day she entered Gyotaejeon, she had to throw away such petty sympathy.

A rich floral fragrance entered Lady Seo’s nostrils as she nodded with a determined expression.

It seemed they had arrived at Yeonghun Hall.

Lady Seo, who had been walking while looking only at Lady Gyeongbin’s feet, quietly raised her head to look at the pavilion.

Yeonghun Hall .

It was Lady Gyeongbin’s pavilion bestowed by the King, meaning “fragrance that continues forever.”

A concubine’s quarters that couldn’t even compare in status to Gyotaejeon, which contained the meaning of Cheonji-gyotae—heaven and earth harmonizing their energies in communion.

After becoming a selected concubine and entering the palace, how much her mistress had gritted her teeth upon seeing the plaque of this pavilion bestowed upon her after spending the first night with His Majesty the King!

She was a woman born as the Left State Councilor’s daughter and had lived only in nobility. For such a mistress, merely “eternally continuing fragrance”!

Lady Seo glanced toward Gyotaejeon, which wasn’t even visible from here, then looked up at her mistress with a stern expression.

Lady Gyeongbin was truly suited for the position of queen mother of Taeshin Kingdom. She would serve with utmost loyalty until the day Lady Gyeongbin ascended to the position of queen mother.

It was an afternoon when a foolish woman’s absurd greed drifted through the palace like acrid flower scent.

* * *

While Lady Gyeongbin and her court ladies moved away, Eunhye remained standing in that spot without moving, only wiping away her flowing tears with her sleeve.

Salty tears were seeping between her lips as she stared at Lady Gyeongbin’s retreating figure with wide eyes.

A fishy smell seemed to rise from her skirt, thoroughly soaked with sticky, slippery water.

Just as tears that flowed again from her increasingly angry thoughts were about to enter her lips along with the mucus gathered in her philtrum, suddenly! A white cotton cloth was thrust before Eunhye’s eyes.

“Wipe it.”

Startled, Eunhye raised her head and saw an unfamiliar boy who had offered her the cloth.

Wipe it? Was he really talking to me?

Confused, Eunhye looked around.

Since there was no one else besides this boy and herself, it seemed he was definitely talking to her, but not “please wipe” but daringly “wipe it”?

Who is this boy?

Since she didn’t feel any chill, he didn’t seem to be a ghost, but what was a boy dressed as a young lord doing in the palace?

He appeared to be roughly the same age as Crown Prince, her older brother, and from his blue vest and black cap decorated with gold leaf, he seemed to be a young lord from a noble family.

Instead of taking the cloth offered to her, Eunhye looked around. Surely there should be an adult who brought this boy, but there was no one around.

As Eunhye frowned slightly and turned her head to ask “who are you,” the young lord who had lowered his body spoke first.

“At this rate, you’ll end up eating all that dirty snot.”

Then he dared to bring the cloth in his hand to her nose!

Ah, what is this boy daring to do!

Before she could scold him, a hand gently grasped her nostril.

This… have I ever seen such a crazy person?

How dare he, when he doesn’t even know who I am!

Just as Eunhye opened her mouth with wide eyes, the young lord smiled gently with curved eyes and said,

“Are you also lost while wandering alone like me? I saw you being scolded by a lady who lives in the palace earlier.”

What?

Who got scolded by whom?

You brat! I am a princess of this nation!

As she shook her head to brush away the young lord’s hand holding her nose with the cloth, a clear fragrance from the cloth flowed into her nostrils.

And a faint spiritual energy emanating from it.

“Ah…?”

This cloth didn’t seem ordinary!

When Eunhye suddenly became docile with her mouth open after shaking her head, the young lord nodded as if it was fine and gently pinched her nostril to wipe away the mucus that had flowed out.

And then!

“You got in trouble for running around like a squirrel. Didn’t the adults teach you not to run like that in the palace? Now, blow your nose.”

Ha! Really, this boy, I should just!

The young lord chuckled as if the sight of the small girl glaring at him was cute and gently shook the hand holding her nostril.

Huh?

Eunhye’s eyes grew even rounder as her face swayed left and right against her will.

But this young lord folded the cloth he had removed from her nose in half and proceeded to wipe even Eunhye’s tear-soaked eyes and face.

So utterly flabbergasted that she forgot what to say, Eunhye looked up at the young lord with her mouth still agape.

You rascal, who are you!

It was a face that didn’t seem entirely unfamiliar, as if someone might come to mind. But toward this unidentifiable, insolent Young Lord whose identity she couldn’t figure out at all, Eunhye scowled fiercely.

Just who are you to wander around the Palace so recklessly, and what is that mysterious spiritual energy emanating from the cotton you’re holding!

The Young Lord, as if finding Eunhye cute as she glared up at him with a deeply furrowed brow, patted her head and stood up.

“I saw on my way here that you seemed to be getting quite a scolding from someone who appeared to be a lady of the Palace. Were you very frightened? Is that why you were here crying alone?”

What? This is getting more and more ridiculous.

Just as she was about to shout ‘How impudent!’, the Young Lord grabbed Eunhye’s hand with his other hand that wasn’t holding the cotton.

“Wh… what are you doing…!”

To Eunhye, who was so startled she even stammered, the Young Lord even smiled brightly.

“What am I doing? Let’s go. Though I’m also lost for a moment, I’ll find your parents for you first.”

Have you ever seen such a crazy person!

The Young Lord who had grabbed her hand that had gone stiff from utter bewilderment was now even shaking it lightly.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you still shocked from earlier? Don’t worry. From now on, let’s stay together. Wouldn’t two be better than one alone?”

My goodness?

They say when you’re too flabbergasted, words won’t come out. Finding Eunhye’s appearance amusing as she just blinked her eyes in exactly that manner, the Young Lord laughed again.

“Hahahaha. Actually, I came to tour the Palace following my father. But while father went to attend to some business, I saw you running off somewhere.”

Eunhye looked down with incredulous eyes at the Young Lord’s hand that was firmly holding hers and shaking it back and forth.

No one except the Palace adults, her nanny, and Lady Han could dare to carelessly touch her body, so just what is this fellow that he would grab my hand and even shake it like this.

Perhaps misunderstanding Eunhye’s expression as fear, the Young Lord smiled reassuringly and continued speaking.

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely find your parents for you first. Little one, what are your father’s name and position?”

Little one? My father’s name and position?

Is he really crazy!

Finally snapping to her senses, Eunhye forcefully shook off the Boy’s hand that was holding hers and scowled deeply.

“Do you want to die!”

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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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