Three Thousand Court Ladies - Chapter 50

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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 50
Realizing that no one would know about Jongamsa, Hui opened his mouth.
“Exiles are divided into two categories. Places where convicts are sent that might be recalled depending on circumstances, and places where convicts are sent never to be recalled.”
Gyesan and Geum’s attention turned toward Hui.
“Among them, Jongamsa is where the condemned are sent to be forgotten forever. It’s a small hermitage attached to a temple built atop strange, jagged cliffs. I’ve heard they only receive food if they perform 108 Prostrations each morning. They must wash their own clothes and clean themselves. If nothing ails them, they must work the fields to earn even a side dish.”
“They do all that work themselves?”
Samcheon expressed his doubt.
“The Naenggung has palace attendants who go with the exile, but there—it’s solitude. With no family support, Hae-ssi won’t last even a season.”
“Serves her right.”
At Gyesan’s words, Samcheon flinched. He’d thought Gyesan had let a stray thought slip out unintentionally.
Samcheon, who had inwardly questioned whether the punishment was too light, felt a strange relief wash over him. If anyone was Hae-ssi, she would find this way of living far more torturous than execution.
Gyesan spoke with a noticeably lighter tone.
“Now let’s go eat. Deuksim will have prepared something delicious.”
Unlike Hui, who turned his steps as if it were obvious, Geum remained watching Hae-ssi.
“Geum, would you like to stay longer?”
As Geum slowly turned her body, her face bore not relief but a heavy burden of worry.
“Go ahead. I need to gather my thoughts a little.”
“Come with us to Mokseogung instead.”
Gyesan urged again, but Geum shook her head.
“I’ll return to Dongyeongung.”
Having turned away decisively, Geum walked with slumped shoulders, each step heavy.
Dongyeongung, located at the far edge of the eastern quarters, revealed its entrance only after circling around the fruit tree garden.
‘It means to live without drawing notice.’
Before, she hadn’t even understood the hidden implications of this layout.
While coming and going from Mokseogung, Geum had learned far more than Swordsmanship alone. She gradually gained knowledge of how to survive within the palace and the nature of relationships between people.
And so her worries deepened. How long could a relationship that relied on one-sided kindness possibly endure?
‘I’m useless, after all…….’
Geum dragged her feet through the gate of Dongyeongung and stepped inside.
Of late, she rushed toward Mokseogung upon waking and returned only at sundown to sleep. Encountering Dongyeongung in daylight for the first time in ages, she found it so silent she could scarcely believe anyone lived here.
Passing through the long corridor into her room, her body went limp. Geum crawled under the blanket and closed her eyes. Sleep wouldn’t come, but neither could she muster the strength to move.
She had thought seeing Hae-ssi’s fall would loosen the knot in her chest, yet her heart grew only heavier.
She had ridden atop some stranger’s revenge and done nothing for her mother. She had only doubted and harbored hatred until the end.
As time passed, the hole that had opened in the center of her chest grew more insistent. It was only after that hollow dream of becoming a powerful adult and taking revenge had vanished that she realized how empty she truly was inside.
Geum pulled the blanket over her head. It felt as though she were sinking down and down into dark water.
“Geum, it’s Samcheon.”
Then a gentle voice drew her back up to the surface.
“……Samcheon?”
“Are you in?”
“Yes, please come in.”
As Geum scrambled to sit up, Samcheon entered carrying a basket in one hand.
“I’ll just leave this and go.”
Samcheon removed rice and side dishes from the basket, setting them neatly on the table.
Geum’s room was sparse. Nothing but a bed and a table, yet it felt cramped and suffocating even so.
Samcheon arranged the food he’d brought in order, then picked up the basket again. She had said she wanted to be alone, so he meant to leave at once.
As he stepped back to take his leave, Geum murmured in a way that seemed not to understand.
“Why…….”
“I was afraid you might skip a meal. When you’re sad and hungry, the sadness doubles, you know.”
“I’m not sad now or anything like that.”
“No?”
“Am I even worth receiving such kindness?”
Samcheon’s eyes widened. He’d thought she was simply organizing her own complex feelings, yet she looked as though she wanted to crawl into the earth and disappear on the spot.
“Why do you speak such words.”
“I have no reason to live, no usefulness, and……. I think it would have been better if I’d never been born. Then Mother wouldn’t have been confined to Jeongyeongung.”
“I don’t think that way. You’re a victim, nothing more. If your mother knew you were thinking such thoughts, it would break her heart.”
“……Yes. You’re right.”
She answered, but it clearly wasn’t reaching her.
“Your mother would wish for you to be happy.”
“……Yes.”
This too wasn’t landing.
Geum now was like a waterlogged blanket. Left alone, she might grow heavier still. He had to lighten her somehow, redirect her thoughts elsewhere.
Considering Geum’s situation and position, Samcheon spoke as brightly as he could manage.
“You were born with such a pure, flower-like beauty, Geum. It seems like three generations of ancestors would need to have accumulated merit to produce such a result. Will you squander their efforts so carelessly?”
“……Me?”
For the first time, their eyes met.
“You look in mirrors, don’t you? Even now you’re so lovely, but how striking you’ll become as you mature. You’re not like other princes and princesses—your future hasn’t been mortgaged. You need only endure until Coming of Age, and you’ll be free. You can marry for love. You’ll build a new family.”
“Leave the palace and build a new family…….”
Geum fingered her sleeve. It was something she’d never once imagined.
“When you come of age, the palace will provide a house within Sabiseong. It won’t be grand, but I’ve heard you’ll receive a Royal Stipend. You’ll have no worries about your livelihood—a first-rate marriage prospect indeed. Besides, once you’re outside, ordinary people won’t dare treat you carelessly. A royal child is a difficult, distant figure to those beyond the palace walls. The palace is rather peculiar—some palace attendants mistake their master’s authority for their own, you see.”
“But I was never acknowledged.”
“Because you weren’t acknowledged, you’re free.”
“……Mother also told me to leave the palace and live freely.”
“Then there you have it.”
“But what can I do, even if I’m free?”
For a moment his words faltered, yet he succeeded in drawing the conversation from past to future.
“Let’s think about it together from now on. Since you love the sword, you could pursue something related to it, or perhaps just live as a Reclusive Master, training in Swordsmanship alone.”
“……A Reclusive Master?”
“By day a scholar in white, by night punishing bandits who trouble the common folk.”
Geum’s expression grew subtle. She seemed to be imagining herself as such a figure.
“If you don’t wish to leave the palace, you could also aim to become a Guard to the Crown Princess. You’d be part of the Mokseogung household.”
“Wasn’t the Crown Princess’s Guard position filled this time?”
“One is sufficient for now, but when the Crown Princess comes of age, we’ll need to recruit at least one more. I’d trust you for that.”
“Could I actually be of help……?”
“Of course. Finding a Guard you can truly trust is difficult work.”
Geum’s eyes grew clearer.
“……Guard to the Crown Princess.”
“You’d need to practice Swordsmanship without a day’s rest, but think it over slowly. Get proper sleep tonight.”
After Samcheon left, Geum sat alone for a moment, dazed, then picked up her spoon.
The rice and soup had grown cold, yet they tasted of something. Every side dish was one of her favorites.
It was strange. Simply by eating, the hole that had gaped open in her chest seemed to fill slightly.
After eating her fill, Geum slept deeply for the first time in long while and woke refreshed.
Yet as morning came, her mind grew complicated again. If she went to Mokseogung this way, the warm people there would welcome her. But was it right to become accustomed to that warmth?
As she wavered over whether it was mere greed, an unfamiliar voice came from beyond the door.
“Hey, you in there?”

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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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