The Five-Year-Old Baby Princess Rules the Palace - Chapter 9

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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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#9. I’ve Arrived, My Secret Place

“Confess. Where and from whom did you hear this!”

At Queen Dowager Jeong’s sharp voice, Judge Jeong who had been prostrating squeezed his eyes shut tight.

“Did I not tell you to confess quickly!”

Bang!

At his aunt’s fury that even made her strike the tea table forcefully, Judge Jeong’s wife Lady Lee, who had been trembling, suddenly spoke in a voice as small as a mosquito’s.

“We, we just thought we might be able to help Princess Eunhye…”

“What? You think you can help our Princess?”

This is terrible.

Jeong Hyo-eun gritted his teeth and exhaled heavily through his nose at his wife’s slip of the tongue.

Hyo-eun’s wife had already turned pale and was trembling with her forehead pressed to the floor.

“Queen Dowager, I have committed a mortal sin. Please forgive my wife’s transgression.”

“…”

When no sound came from above his head, Jeong Hyo-eun gulped down his saliva.

Then, Queen Dowager Jeong’s low and cold voice was heard.

“No matter that you are my nephew, you must not forget that carelessly speaking about the royal family’s personal matters is an act of impiety tantamount to treason.”

“I will keep this in mind, again and again.”

Jeong Hyo-eun answered in a trembling voice, his eyes squeezed shut as he pressed his forehead to the floor alongside his wife.

“Furthermore! No matter who says what or what you hear, you who have sworn to be the sword and shield of the Crown Prince and Princess must never follow others blindly, do you understand!”

“Yes, Queen Dowager!”

Jeong Hyo-eun and his wife answered loudly in unison and bowed even deeper.

After some time passed, Queen Dowager Jeong picked up the teacup from the tea table.

Clink.

At the sound that rang unusually loud in the quiet room, Judge Jeong and his wife flinched and trembled.

Queen Dowager Jeong, who had taken a sip of the already cold tea, gazed intently at her nephew and his wife prostrating flat before her.

“Remember this. You are my people, and for generations you shall be the shield and spear of my descendants. When I say my descendants here, I mean His Majesty the King’s legitimate lineage, not the wicked collateral branches who covet the throne. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Queen Dowager! We will loyally assist Crown Prince and Princess with all our hearts.”

Queen Dowager’s Palace, where a whirlwind of anger and fear had passed like a fierce battle.

Cold sweat had formed on the foreheads of Judge Jeong and his wife as they looked up at Queen Dowager Jeong, whose dignity was untouchable even in the simple act of drinking cold tea.

“Hyo-eun.”

“Yes, Aunt.”

At the Queen Dowager’s voice calling his name after withdrawing her anger, Judge Jeong unconsciously answered “Aunt” and raised his head.

“Since you will soon become a wedding host and hold your child’s wedding ceremony, I will specially overlook this just this once. However, if you carelessly speak again about the Princess’s illness that even His Majesty has forbidden to discuss, then you will face punishment. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Queen Dowager.”

Queen Dowager Jeong glanced briefly at her nephew Judge Jeong and his wife who prostrated to the floor again with their answer, then pushed forward the mother-of-pearl box containing the dagger and peacock hairpin and spoke again in a stern voice.

“Within the Palace, countless invisible wars are fought every day. Therefore, one must always be cautious and watch one’s behavior.”

“Yes, Queen Dowager. We will keep this in mind, again and again.”

After her nephew and his wife had left, Queen Dowager Jeong sat alone in the pavilion by the pond in Jagyeong Palace, looking up at the rising sun and sighing deeply.

“Grandmama!”

The fluffy little child who would giggle and toddle over to be embraced.

How did the child who was born a noble princess and sparkled like a jewel come to suffer from such an absurd illness?

Queen Dowager Jeong recalled her granddaughter’s frightened eyes when she had come for morning greetings with the Crown Prince early that morning, and closed and opened her eyes that had become dim with moisture, letting out a long sigh.

Then, she saw a court lady running up to the pavilion and whispering something in the ear of Lady Lee, her confidant.

Following this, Lady Lee, with a startled expression, hurriedly climbed the pavilion steps and bowed her head before her.

“Queen Dowager.”

“What is the matter?”

“Most regrettably…”

“Speak.”

To Lady Lee who could not bring herself to continue, Queen Dowager Jeong spoke coldly.

“Well, the matter is… Lady Gyeongbin, to Princess Eunhye who was going to Crown Prince’s Palace…”

At the mention of Lady Gyeongbin, the Queen Dowager’s eyes widened sharply, and Lady Lee swallowed dryly before speaking in a trembling voice.

“I do not know the details, but Princess Eunhye, who was going toward Crown Prince’s Palace, encountered Lady Gyeongbin…”

Queen Dowager Jeong’s graying eyebrows twitched thickly.

“And then?”

“Well… after seeing something that Lady Gyeongbin showed her, she was startled and fell, then shed tears.”

“What! How dare a mere concubine startle a princess of the nation into falling and shedding tears?”

Queen Dowager Jeong rose abruptly from her seat with fierce anger, glaring with savage eyes as if Lady Gyeongbin were right before her.

“The Princess! How is the Princess doing!”

“Yes, well… a young lord who was passing by comforted Princess Eunhye who was crying in shock… and after speaking with that young lord, she ran alone to Crown Prince’s Palace.”

Queen Dowager Jeong looked at the rambling Lady Lee as if she were absurd.

“Lady Lee, have you grown senile with age? Some young lord comforting the Princess within the Palace? What on earth! What nonsense are you speaking!”

When a loud, deep voice that didn’t seem to belong to a woman burst forth, Lady Lee and all the court ladies prostrated flat on the ground.

“We are deeply sorry!”

Above their heads, a voice like frost was heard again.

“Have Lady Seo who told Lady Lee repeat clearly. Where did Lady Gyeongbin meet the Princess and what did she do! And whom did the Princess meet and where did she go!”

A court lady who had risen trembling began to stammer out the story she had heard, not daring to raise her head.

“I do not know the reason, but Princess Eunhye, who had left Hyesin Palace alone and was going to Crown Prince’s Palace, encountered Lady Gyeongbin. And… Lady Gyeongbin showed her something, and the tragic incident occurred where Princess Eunhye, startled and falling, shed tears…”

“Enough! This wicked… I see that Lady Gyeongbin’s insolence has gone too far!”

Her eyes looked as if she would tear Lady Gyeongbin apart immediately if she were before her.

“But who comforted our Princess? A passing young lord? What young lord is there within the solemn Palace!”

At Queen Dowager Jeong’s thunderous questioning, the court lady who had been gaping shook her head as if she didn’t know and answered trembling.

“We are deeply sorry, Queen Dowager! It was someone never seen in the Palace before. Just a young lord who appeared to be around Crown Prince’s age who comforted the crying Princess.”

“Ha! How strange. A young lord of the Crown Prince’s age wandering about the Palace!”

Queen Dowager Jeong, who had swayed at the end of her outcry, gripped a pavilion pillar with one hand.

“Queen Dowager.”

As Lady Lee hurried to support her, Lady Seo tilted her head strangely and added.

“However, from what I heard, Lord Jipyeong seemed to know that young lord.”

“Jipyeong?”

Queen Dowager Jeong, who had asked back, furrowed her brow deeply.

“By Jipyeong, do you mean Kim Gyo-hyeon of Saheonbu who serves as the Princess’s writing teacher?”

“Yes, Queen Dowager.”

“Hah, how strange.”

Queen Dowager Jeong, who had clicked her tongue saying it was strange, descended the pavilion steps with Lady Lee’s support.

“Lady Lee! Go to Lady Gyeongbin now and tell her to come to Jagyeong Palace immediately!”

“Yes, Queen Dowager.”

“And Lady Seo, go to Saheonbu right now and tell Judge Kim to come to my quarters after the seventh hour today.”

“Yes! Queen Dowager.”

Lady Lee and Lady Seo, having received their orders, hurried off to deliver the Queen Dowager’s stern commands, while the remaining court ladies followed behind the enraged Queen Dowager with their heads deeply bowed.

“What on earth is happening and how… I will not let this wicked Lady Gyeongbin be today!”

The hot and rough breath of the aged tiger moving toward her quarters was ominously heating up the front yard of Jagyeong Palace.

* * *

Inside the library where even the floating dust sparkled beautifully silver in the soft sunlight streaming through the high windows.

A small head poked through the slightly opened secret entrance that made a small, creaking sound.

It was Eunhye, who had just encountered Lady Gyeongbin and Judge Kim Gyo-hyeon’s son Jihoo in succession and had finally arrived at the Crown Prince’s Library.

Unaware that the news delivered to the Queen Dowager had caused a commotion throughout the palace, Eunhye looked at the dim interior of the library and squeezed her eyes shut before opening them. Then, nodding her head as her vision gradually brightened, she stepped forward with one foot.

“Is anyone (people) here?”

As she entered while making unnecessary sounds due to the creeping fear, the door closed with a creaking sound and perfect silence returned once again.

Then the calm atmosphere created by the subtle scent of wood and the smell of old paper gently embraced Eunhye’s small body.

The scholar ghosts standing here and there in the library reading books glanced briefly at Eunhye as she entered, then turned their heads back to the books they were reading.

That’s why Eunhye liked this place.

The Library of the Crown Prince’s Palace was a bit far from Byeolgung, but it was a peaceful place without any ghosts that would frighten her.

Eunhye walked with careful steps so that her footsteps wouldn’t be heard by the soldiers guarding the main entrance of the library, heading toward her favorite spot.

Because if they found out that a princess of the nation had come alone without any court ladies or nains, it would surely cause another commotion.

A month ago, on the day she came to the Crown Prince’s Library with Crown Prince, Eunhye had been terrified by the sight of the pitch-black ghosts standing here and there among the bookshelves and bookcases.

Eunhye, frightened, had tightly grasped Crown Prince’s blue dragon robe as he looked at her pitiful state with sympathetic eyes, and squeezed her eyes shut.

But strangely, when she quietly opened her eyes at the peaceful feeling around her, Eunhye was surprised once again.

Unlike the other ghosts she had encountered before, the scholar-dressed ghosts in the library were silently reading books without showing any interest in her.

Eunhye stared at such ghosts with her heart pounding and her eyes wide open.

It was the first time. Ghosts that neither approached her nor spoke to her…!

In her amazement, with fear not yet subsided, she tightened her grip on Crown Prince’s robe. Then came a worried voice from above her head.

“Are you scared of this place too? Shall we leave now?”

Eunhye looked up at Crown Prince and shook her head vigorously.

“No! Brother, the ghosts here strangely only look at books. They don’t frighten me!”

Though her eyes were still filled with fear, Eunhye smiled as if relieved, and that day the two siblings stayed here for quite a while.

After that, Crown Prince Lee-hwan ordered the guards to create a secret entrance at the back of the library so that his young sister could freely come and go to the library anytime.

Step, step, step.

With each step, her skirt soaked with fishy water clung to her legs with a wet sound, but Eunhye just silently proceeded toward her favorite space.

The ghosts standing in the passages between the bookshelves and bookcases turned their heads to look at Eunhye, then lowered their gaze to the books with a strange attitude.

Finally, Eunhye arrived at the bookshelf filled with ancient books and entered the secluded space next to the large bookcase filled with old books. Then she lifted her head high to look above and smiled with satisfaction.

“I’m here, my secret place.”

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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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