Three Thousand Court Ladies - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter Thirteen
Following Geum into the inner chamber, Samcheon spotted a wardrobe with its doors slightly misaligned. Geum grasped the handle—worn smooth and shiny from daily use—and turned back to her.
“It’s dark, so please be careful.”
With that warning, Geum slipped entirely inside the wardrobe. After Samcheon hesitated a moment and followed, Geum carefully closed the doors behind them.
“We’ll be all right here. Just don’t make any noise.”
Instead of answering, Samcheon nodded.
It seemed Geum had hidden this way many times before—she took some comfort in that. Besides, they might not even come into the inner chamber at all.
She was praying they would simply pass by when she heard the sound of a door opening and closing.
‘Someone’s come in.’
Samcheon worked to keep her breathing shallow. Her heartbeat quickened steadily. Just as tension reached its peak, the inner chamber door opened again.
“My apologies for the delay.”
A man’s thick voice.
“Never mind that. Haven’t you been making too much of this ghost business?”
The woman’s voice that followed seemed strangely familiar.
“Yeonhwa Palace pulled strings on it. It appears they were trying to bury rumors that Princess Gyesan was being mistreated.”
“In any case, Hae’s not being helpful. We should change locations.”
Samcheon, listening intently, felt a chill.
‘Did she just say Hae?’
That was not a title a palace servant would speak. She strained to discern whose voice it was, but the man spoke again.
“I’ll find another suitable place. More importantly, His Majesty has confirmed the Princess as the bride for the next State Marriage. He’ll announce it soon.”
“Is the groom still the same?”
“He promised when he received the reinforcements.”
“Sending her so far away troubles me enough, but a second wife? That won’t do. And he has a son, I hear?”
“His first wife died during childbirth, so there is a one-year-old son.”
“Ah, but Princess Sohwa has contracted a fever and won’t be permitted to leave the palace for the next three months.”
At last, Samcheon recognized whose voice it was. The Fourth Concubine—Princess Sohwa’s mother.
“I’ll see it’s arranged that way.”
“I’m grateful, as always.”
Having overheard something enormous, Samcheon swallowed hard.
She had believed a princess’s marriage was an inescapable fate. Yet here was someone dodging the match through such means.
‘Our Princess needs to be prepared for this too.’
The thick male voice broke through her thoughts.
“It’s nothing compared to the help you’ve given me.”
“What happened then is long repaid. I won’t forget it. But these rumors about Hae keep growing—that she flogged a palace maid to death, that she poisoned the Lady of Jeongwol Palace. Old gossip from last year is circulating again. Do you know who’s behind it? It seems excessive for mere ghost rumors. Isn’t it strange that last year’s affair is being raised anew?”
“The Ye Family is behind it.”
“The Ye Family?”
“Their daughter, Habin, claims to have a Prophetic Dream. His Majesty has shown interest, so they seem to be trying to preempt her in advance.”
“Surely they’re not trying to push her in as a Concubine.”
“She’s too young for that. They’re selecting suitable relatives to position as Concubines.”
“The Prophetic Dream doesn’t seem to be mere fabrication, then?”
“Didn’t an unexplained plague spread through the southern provinces three months ago? She correctly identified the medicinal herbs needed for treatment. There are other small predictions she’s made as well. She calls herself a Heavenly Observer.”
A scoff was heard. And no wonder—a Heavenly Observer was a figure of legend.
Cold mockery tinged the woman’s voice.
“So the Ye Family thinks they can frame Hae as the culprit?”
“They can’t go that far. The cause was poison, yet we haven’t even discovered how she came into contact with it. His Majesty has ordered that the matter be raised no further.”
Samcheon turned to Geum in alarm.
Geum’s jaw was trembling. She looked ready to burst from the wardrobe at any moment, so Samcheon grabbed her arm.
They couldn’t be caught having overheard. Samcheon shook her head vigorously to say so.
At last Geum regained her composure. She released her grip on the door, letting her hand fall slack.
Click—
The wardrobe door made a sound.
“Who’s there!”
They were discovered.
Footsteps approached the wardrobe. Samcheon, overwhelmed by the mounting dread, swallowed. There was nowhere to run.
If they were caught, they would be silenced. Samcheon felt herself shrinking back when a loud voice rang out from outside.
“A ghost!”
That voice—
The Princess?
“Come here and see. There really does seem to be a ghost.”
A second voice followed.
Though it sounded like she was playing someone else, it too was Gyesan.
Without thinking, Samcheon’s mouth fell open. Confusion could be felt from outside.
“I’ll have to leave through another way.”
The Fourth Concubine beat a hasty retreat. Hurried sounds of slipping out a back door, and then the second figure vanished as well.
With the inner chamber door closing, silence returned.
‘Have they left?’
Samcheon listened for a moment, but heard nothing. She was debating whether it was safe to leave when Gyesan’s voice came from outside.
“They’re gone.”
Relief washed over her. Geum exhaled softly, clearly feeling it too.
“…I’m sorry. Because of me.”
Samcheon shook her head.
“You held on well.”
To have overheard a conversation tied to her mother’s death, yet not to have rushed out—that alone was remarkable restraint.
“It wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to me. I didn’t know His Majesty had halted the investigation, but I did notice the investigators suddenly withdrawing, which seemed odd.”
Geum opened the wardrobe door and slipped out first. Even in the darkness, her sorrow was palpable.
“…The Princess drew their attention away, didn’t she?”
“Our Princess is remarkable, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
Though Geum spoke as though nothing were amiss, she seemed all the more fragile for it.
Samcheon knew she should let the matter rest, but what they’d both heard weighed on her. Against her better judgment, she pressed on.
“Geum, don’t show what you’re feeling like this. Not until you’ve grown strong enough to uncover the truth someday. There’s nothing sadder than a revenge that fails. Lady Kim wouldn’t want that for you.”
A resentful gaze brushed past Samcheon. The truth was always painful, after all. Yet the fragile tension that had threatened to shatter dissolved.
Samcheon, studying Geum’s expression, continued.
“Your chance for vengeance may come sooner than you think. Evil people don’t commit just one wrong deed.”
“I understand.”
Once Geum seemed to have recovered some measure of composure, Samcheon opened the inner chamber door.
In the courtyard stood Gyesan, utterly triumphant.
“I drove them away!”
“Truly, our Princess is the best.”
“I know.”
Gyesan smiled broadly.
Lately, Gyesan laughed more easily than before. Whether it was her newfound peace of mind or something else, her manner and speech seemed somehow less guarded—but Samcheon didn’t mind in the slightest.
“Let’s head back now, Princess.”
“All right. Come again tomorrow.”
When Gyesan spoke with such finality, Geum, just emerging from the inner chamber, bowed instead of answering. Gyesan and Samcheon left Jeongwol Palace, escorted by her.
On the way back, Samcheon explained Geum’s ambiguous position, and Gyesan replied casually that she understood.
It was a night when stars shone thick overhead.
“Walking at night like this does have a certain charm.”
“Want to come again?”
“No. My heart nearly shrank to nothing.”
When Samcheon spoke seriously, Gyesan laughed warmly and freely.
“But why did your brother Hui suddenly leave?”

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