Three Thousand Court Ladies - Chapter 58

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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 Fifty-Eight
“Take this.”
Sam-cheon accepted the wooden tablet that Deok-sim held out. On the piece of wood, small as a palm, news of her father—someone she had almost forgotten existed—was written out in meticulous detail.
As Sam-cheon finished reading the last sentence, she released a long breath and turned her gaze away. She lifted her head just as Gye-san, who had been leaning forward to read the tablet, met her eyes.
“I should send someone.”
“Don’t do that. Go yourself. I’ll give you leave.”
“Even if I move quickly, it will take three or four days. Just send the treatment fees.”
“Don’t regret it later. I’ll assign you an escort. Go at your own pace.”
“There’s a vetting process for new recruits, and there’s so much work at the Military Camp. We still need to move supplies from Mokseo-gung.”
Sam-cheon rattled off reason after reason why she couldn’t go, but Gye-san remained firm.
“The supplies can be moved slowly. Once word of the Amnesty Right spreads beyond the palace walls, things will get quite noisy. Think of it as taking a rest until it settles.”
Sam-cheon didn’t need rest, but she was worried about the commotion. People might flock in wanting to see the palace maid who had used the Amnesty Right.
But……
As Sam-cheon hesitated, Gye-san added, “Don’t give up on your relationship with your father. I’ve let mine go, but yours is different. You’ve simply been apart a long time.”
“Do you think I’m the only one who’s given up? Buyeo Hui and I have both given up.”
“That’s right.”
When Buyeo Hui and even the wavering Geumyi chimed in, Sam-cheon found herself without words. Looking at Gye-san’s clear eyes, Sam-cheon reluctantly gave her answer.
“Please assign just one escort. I’ll go quietly.”
As a child, Sam-cheon had waited for her father to come find her. She didn’t even dare hope that he would take her back. She simply longed for word—any word—from him.
That modest wish had long since weathered away and vanished with time.
And so, what dominated Sam-cheon’s mind now was a single question.
Must we meet?
Standing before a shabby wooden gate, Sam-cheon wavered. A powerful premonition washed over her—that crossing this threshold would wound her.
Whether she went or stayed away, regret would follow. But perhaps not being wounded was the better choice.
If she simply left the treatment fees and returned, Gye-san would press her no further.
Yet Geumyi, Deok-sim, and even Kkot-nim had all urged her to go. Hearing them speak with one voice made her wonder if meeting him truly was the right thing to do.
Had it been a matter of filial duty, she would have bristled. But they were all concerned that Sam-cheon might regret this moment in years to come.
Yes. I’ve come this far. Let me go in.
She had resolved to do it, but her feet felt rooted to the earth. She stared down at her leather shoes for no reason, when a gentle hand pressed against her back.
What?
Before she knew it, Sam-cheon had crossed the threshold.
Startled, she turned to find a beautiful man with fox-like features laughing. His mouth curved up in a way that might have seemed mocking, but the angle of his brows suggested concern.
It was Buyeo Hui, who had followed her all the way here, who spoke.
“You looked like you might stand there till daybreak. I helped you a little. Now that you’re inside, why not keep going forward?”
“……I was just about to go in.”
“I’m standing here, so what’s there to worry about? If things go awry, you can always turn back.”
His cajoling tone carried an undertone of concern, and somehow it made her want to smile.
Buyeo Hui was right. There might be no need to hesitate like this.
She wasn’t the person she had been before—when she had nothing. She had the household of Mokseo-gung, the people of the Military Camp, and even Buyeo Hui at her side.
Beyond Buyeo Hui’s shoulder, she could see Ju-hong with bright eyes, A-rang who had come as escort, and San-cho as well.
How reassuring.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Sam-cheon spoke with sudden confidence and strode forward.
As she crossed the yard, she called out, “Is anyone here?” A man wearing a head covering poked his head out from inside the building. With a head covering and an apron, he appeared to be a physician.
“How may I help you?”
“I am Sam-cheon, a palace maid of Mokseo-gung.”
When she calmly stated her affiliation and name, the physician’s face brightened.
“A palace maid! I’ve been waiting for you. Please come this way.”
Sam-cheon followed the physician into the building.
In a space like a warehouse, dozens of patients lay arranged in rows. The mingled reek of blood and rot made her nose numb.
As she passed beside patients with exposed wounds, the physician spoke, embarrassed.
“We’re short-handed. Surely this must seem rather harsh to you?”
“It’s fine.”
These were not mere courtesies—she meant them truly.
Over the past few years, she had spent more time wandering battlefields than staying in Mokseo-gung. She had never wielded a sword in combat, but she had stood in the very heart of war.
“Your father is over there,” the physician said, pointing the way.
Sam-cheon turned down the corridor he indicated. But she couldn’t tell where to stop.
The last memory she held was of him walking away with ten years’ worth of her wages. Before that, he had rarely come home, so his face had grown hazy.
As Sam-cheon moved forward, she came to a halt before a man who resembled the father in her memory. His build had filled out somewhat, but given the years that had passed, such change was to be expected.
‘I thought I wouldn’t recognize him, but somehow he’s still there in my eyes.’
The problem was that he was asleep.
‘Should I wake him? What will I say if he wakes?’
It occurred to her that since his face was unfamiliar to her, perhaps his would be unfamiliar to him as well. She might need to introduce herself first: ‘I am Sam-cheon.’
Sam-cheon sighed silently. This was why she hadn’t wanted to come. She had nothing to say and nothing she wanted to hear. She wanted nothing more than to return to Mokseo-gung as quickly as possible.
The physician who had shown her the way returned with cotton cloth and noticed Sam-cheon standing motionless.
“Why are you standing there? Come sit beside your father.”
“……What?”
Sam-cheon’s gaze shifted to the sleeping man, then awkwardly turned away.
So it wasn’t that man.
As she moved uncertainly, the physician spoke to a shabby-looking man.
“Your daughter has come to visit.”
The man’s empty eyes slowly turned toward Sam-cheon.
Sam-cheon braced herself, wondering if tears might pour out. She thought she might feel longing and tenderness, worry and affection. At the very least, she expected some bitterness, some resentment.
But she felt nothing at all.
Surprised by her own composure, she felt instead a strange bitterness.
Perhaps it was because the man before her looked so different from the father in her memory. He was gaunt, his eyes empty of light—nothing but a stranger.
Sam-cheon opened her mouth with effort.
“I am Sam-cheon.”
Her father looked at Sam-cheon for a long moment before finally speaking.
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
And then silence fell between them.
There was nothing left to say between them. Had no message come from the palace, they would never have met again.
“……How did you come?”
“The physician contacted Mokseo-gung about the treatment fees.”
“So that’s…… how it was.”
Silence again.
Sam-cheon realized that her father was as uncomfortable with this situation as she was. In him too, she could find no trace of joy or longing, no apology—none of the universal emotions one was supposed to feel in such a moment.
The only feeling that emanated from him was awkwardness.
“I should go now.”
Sam-cheon turned away. Moving away was not difficult.
On her third step, her father spoke to her retreating back.
“At home……”
“Yes?”
At her father’s voice, Sam-cheon turned back to look at him.

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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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