The Five-Year-Old Baby Princess Rules the Palace - Chapter 7

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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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#7. Just You Wait

Jihoo’s eyes shook mercilessly as he stood between his father hurriedly approaching from afar and Princess Eunhye standing before him.

“Hmm, you don’t resemble your father at all.”

At Eunhye’s teasing tone as if she had finally gained the upper hand, Jihoo’s face turned red all the way to his ears.

“Re, re, really, are you, no, is Princess truly the, the Princess?”

Jihoo stammered, standing in confusion, unable to either stand properly or prostrate himself.

Eunhye narrowed her eyes mischievously and nodded her head with a smile.

“Your name is Jihoo, right? Where did that spirit from earlier go? Are you still curious about who my father is?”

“Huh…! Princess Eunhye!”

Jihoo’s face turned pale in an instant as he collapsed flat onto the ground.

Eunhye looked at Kim Gyo-hyeon running toward them with a surprised expression from afar and frowned slightly as if troubled.

Not only had she met Lady Gyeongbin, but now meeting this son of the Chief Justice had delayed her too much.

If she met the Chief Justice here too, she would have no choice but to return to her quarters. Eunhye looked down at Jihoo still prostrated on the ground and spoke.

“Listen well.”

“Yes! Princess Eunhye.”

Unlike before, Jihoo answered quickly, thoroughly frightened, and the corners of Eunhye’s mouth curved up slightly.

“I’m very busy right now so I’ll just go! But no matter how much you are my teacher’s son, I will definitely remember your insolence! Do you understand?”

“Ah…!”

Jihoo’s eyes shook wildly, at a loss for words.

“And I asked before, but that handkerchief seems to be a very precious item, so don’t use it carelessly like before and keep it well. Do you understand? Well then, I’m busy right now, so I’ll be going.”

Having finished what she wanted to say, Eunhye glared sharply at Jihoo who had cautiously raised his head.

Flinch.

Jihoo’s shoulders shrank at Eunhye’s fierce gaze as he closed his eyes again.

“Hmph! You rascal, you should know how lucky you are today!”

Eunhye even snorted through her nose, then seeing Kim Gyo-hyeon who had nearly reached them, began running swiftly toward the Crown Prince’s Palace.

Thud thud thud thud thud, at the sound of small feet hurriedly striking the dry ground, Jihoo raised his head with a dazed expression.

Ah… what on earth did I do.

I should have thought more carefully and observed. In this solemn Palace of Taeshin Kingdom, what girl other than Princess Eunhye could run around freely?

As Jihoo watched the crimson skirt disappearing with a face about to burst into tears, his father’s shoes covered in dust appeared before his eyes.

“Jihoo!”

As if he had wandered quite a bit looking for Jihoo, his neatly pressed blue robe and shoes were covered with considerable dirt and dust.

Kim Gyo-hyeon looked back and forth between Jihoo, who was prostrated on the dirt ground looking up at him with a dazed expression, and Princess Eunhye who was already far away, running swiftly.

“What in the… what kind of bizarre scene is this? Can’t you get up quickly!”

At Kim Gyo-hyeon’s low and stern rebuke, Jihoo finally got up unsteadily, his complexion pale.

“That person is Princess Eunhye, isn’t she? What on earth happened?”

At Kim Gyo-hyeon’s words as if he couldn’t understand the situation, Jihoo also answered with an unfocused gaze.

“That is… I’m not sure either. What just happened to me…”

“Oh my… I clearly told you to wait quietly in that spot earlier, so how did you end up here, and how did you come to meet Princess Eunhye!”

While he had briefly gone to the Office of the Censors on business, his son had disappeared somewhere.

Although his son was only eleven years old, he was very mature and adult-like, so he had left without a doubt after telling him to wait.

A child is still a child, I suppose…

Kim Gyo-hyeon looked at Princess Eunhye, now so far away she appeared only as a colorful dot, and let out a heavy sigh.

Has the Princess’s condition flared up again? There must be another commotion at the Princess’s Quarters in the Inner Palace.

Then, Jihoo, with tears filling his eyes, called to his father in a sobbing voice.

“Father, what should I do now?”

Kim Gyo-hyeon’s head quickly turned toward his son from watching Eunhye still running toward the Crown Prince’s Palace.

Jihoo, who had been so mature and adult-like, was looking up at him with a face about to burst into tears.

Kim Gyo-hyeon let out a heavy sigh through his teeth and gently grasped young Jihoo’s shoulders with both hands.

“It’s alright. I don’t know what happened, but let’s go home first and talk about it.”

Jihoo looked up at his father who was turning him around by the shoulders with a troubled expression, then stared blankly at Eunhye’s retreating figure, already far away.

By the way, where has Princess Eunhye been heading alone like that since earlier? She runs quite well on those short little legs.

“I will definitely remember your insolence! Do you understand?”

“Hmph, you rascal, you should know how lucky you are today!”

At Princess Eunhye’s voice that seemed to suddenly echo, Jihoo sighed deeply enough to make the ground cave in.

And then another sharp voice that followed,

“Do you want to die!”

Ah…! I’m really dead now.

Not only did I spout nonsense without knowing she was Princess Eunhye, but I also carelessly held her hand and wiped her nose and face with the handkerchief – how can I atone for this sin?

Could our family be destroyed because of me?

Jihoo quietly looked down at his mother’s keepsake handkerchief that he had been clutching in one hand all this time. It was his mother’s keepsake that Princess Eunhye had shown interest in.

Although it’s a keepsake left by mother, if I offer this to Princess Eunhye, might she forgive me?

“That handkerchief seems to be a very precious item, so don’t use it carelessly like before and keep it well. Do you understand?”

Jihoo, who kept remembering today’s rudeness and Princess Eunhye’s angry voice, squeezed his eyes shut then opened them, looking up at his father who was walking silently without a word.

“Father.”

Instead of answering, his father looked down at him with deepened eyes. Jihoo swallowed hard and held up his mother’s keepsake that he had been clutching in one hand, opening his mouth.

“Princess Eunhye seemed to like this handkerchief very much…”

At his son’s question with ‘why might that be’ omitted, Kim Gyo-hyeon looked at Jihoo with even deeper eyes.

“Husband, please protect Jihoo. Since I can no longer protect him, you must definitely protect our Jihoo.”

His wife Heeran, who had once been a priestess of Taeshin Kingdom, gave up her position as priestess for the sin of loving him and bore a son.

Was it because she incurred the wrath of the gods?

His wife, who had been ailing after giving birth to their son, gathered all her remaining divine power to create that handkerchief when Jihoo turned six, then left this world.

A protective charm, or an amulet. That handkerchief was like a talisman to protect her son.

A handkerchief with red thread that became even redder after drinking plenty of Heeran’s blood, mixed with golden thread pulled from a shaman’s robe, with the four characters (protect), (guard), (repel), (ghost) symmetrically embroidered at each of the four corners.

His wife Heeran said she had breathed all her divine power into the characters embroidered at the four directions of the handkerchief. Therefore, she left a dying wish that after her death, it must be kept close to Jihoo’s heart.

Was it because he inherited the priestess’s blood?

From a young age, Jihoo received visits from many spirits.

Baby Jihoo, who cried day and night as if having seizures, his wife had to use all her strength without rest even after childbirth to drive away the spirits that gathered around their son.

His wife suffered, saying that the karma of abandoning her position as priestess should not be passed on to the child, and constantly tried to remove the divine energy that had been placed upon Jihoo.

But heaven never answered his wife’s prayers, and when their son turned six, she poured out all her remaining divine power to leave a protective charm and departed this world.

But now, Jihoo was holding out that handkerchief that he treasured as much as his own life.

What on earth had happened between Princess Eunhye and Jihoo?

Kim Gyo-hyeon sighed heavily at Jihoo’s dazed appearance.

And another thought occurred to him – perhaps Princess Eunhye’s condition all this time wasn’t actually aftereffects from smallpox, but the same kind of divine energy as his son…

The father and son, having lost their words to different worries and thoughts, left the Palace’s heavy gates with steps worth their weight in gold.

* * *

Meanwhile, Eunhye, who had been running hard through a shortcut rarely used by palace servants, stopped with labored breathing at the sight of the Library of the Crown Prince’s Palace visible in the distance.

Ah, I finally arrived.

I wasted half an hour because of Lady Gyeongbin and the Chief Justice’s son.

Lady Park said she would come to wake me up after about one hour, so she probably doesn’t know I’m missing yet, right?

Eunhye wiped away the beads of sweat on her forehead with her tiny hand and sniffed her nose.

Earlier, that guy named Jihoo seemed to have a faint fragrance coming from the cotton cloth he had grabbed her nose with.

I want it, that cotton cloth!

Though he was an insolent fellow who dared to pinch the nose of a princess like herself, the cotton cloth that guy had was special.

The subtle fragrance it gave off and that elegant spiritual energy that seemed to purify the surroundings!

The comfort and warmth she felt when that cotton cloth touched her face kept coming back to her mind.

Ah, I really want it.

Somehow it felt like with that cotton cloth, the ghosts would be much less frightening.

Eunhye glanced back at the distant place where that now-invisible guy named Jihoo had been, wrinkling her nose and pouting her lips.

Since Master is Jihoo’s father, couldn’t he get another one of those cotton cloths? Should I ask him to get me one of those cotton cloths too?

Eunhye looked down at her right hand that Jihoo had suddenly grabbed, then clenched her fist tightly and made a resolution.

Just wait and see, Kim Jihoo. I will definitely get that cotton cloth.

Having firmly made up her mind, Eunhye grabbed her skirt that had been soaked with that sticky, fishy water with both hands and began running toward the library again.

First, let me get into the library.

There I’ll think about what to do with Lady Gyeongbin and that guy named Jihoo who were rude and outrageous to me today.

Oh right, I also need to think about This Servant from the Royal Kitchen that Mother sent!

She couldn’t possibly keep a nain who was carrying such a horrifying ghost boy in her palace.

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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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