Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 5

“Why is my sister crying?”

“The Crown Prince has deceived me.”

“How could I deceive you, Father? There, don’t cry. All better?”

“Heuuu?”

Ah, my savior.

I lifted my head at the Crown Prince’s voice, which stirred memories of our intense first encounter yesterday, and saw a handsome boy with a kind smile looking down at me.

He must have been making his rounds to greet the King, one of his main duties.

‘The King arrived at the perfect time yesterday, thanks to the Crown Prince, right?’

He said he would tell the King about me back then, so even if I don’t know what lie he’s talking about now, he definitely told the King about me.

Come to think of it, I’ve been helped twice in one day.

I can’t mistreat my savior, so I stopped crying as if by magic and crawled towards him.

The Crown Prince’s eyes curved prettily as he watched the sobbing child approach him, seemingly pleased.

‘Oh, he must be popular with the palace women.’

Thinking unchildlike thoughts, I settled into the Crown Prince’s arms, and he hugged me happily. Judging by his practiced way of holding a child, he must have other younger siblings.

‘Well, that jerk I saw yesterday is technically my half-sibling.’

At the same time, he’s another half-brother to me.

Ugh… I want to refuse.

I tried to stay still in his arms with a tired face, but I couldn’t help but notice the betrayed expression on the face of the person who had been trying so hard to comfort me. I decided to ignore it.

However, the Crown Prince, who couldn’t do that, forced a smile and tried to appease the King.

“Seeing how my sister welcomes me, it seems she remembers my face.”

“Then why did she burst into tears when she saw your face?”

The Crown Prince carefully opened his mouth, looking embarrassed at the King’s sulky tone.

A middle-aged man with a sulky tone… seriously… it made me frown.

“Oh dear, now she’s frowning again. Is something else bothering her?”

“Buuu!”

This space! This air!

As I struggled, the Crown Prince patted me soothingly.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here, your brother.”

Feeling a pang of conscience as the much younger pretty boy smiled and comforted me, I couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Besides, he was my savior.

‘Okay. Let’s calm down.’

Even if I was reborn as a baby, I was still an adult.

As I seemed to calm down a bit, the Crown Prince’s gaze returned to the King.

“Was she crying when you brought her yesterday, Father?”

“No, yesterday… she stopped crying as soon as I held her and fell asleep.”

“Perhaps she was startled by the unfamiliar environment after waking up.”

“Is that so?”

The King leaned in close to my face and spoke to me, who was barely stabilizing.

“Eeng!”

I buried my face in the Crown Prince’s arms, facing the King’s face up close.

The two were diligently searching for a reason, but the reason I burst into tears as soon as I woke up was simple.

The first reason was simply because I woke up in the arms of a strange man.

Strange!! Man!! Arms!!

Isn’t that a reason to be horrified???

And the second reason was that I remembered what happened yesterday and immediately realized that the man was my biological father.

‘A man!!’

If I’m a Princess, and my mother… not my sister, but my biological mother is a former palace maid, now a concubine, then my biological father is the King.

And the bearded man in front of me must be the current King. So, I was born between the two of them.

‘I hope this man doesn’t have the same face as my brother-in-law.’

The possibility of my brother-in-law, whom I haven’t even seen, being a man is…

‘There is…!’

What if the reason my sister didn’t show me his face for years was because he was too much of a man?

Besides, it’s not just that he’s a man that’s the problem.

Of course, his personality and background couldn’t be the same, but the person in front of me had a decent appearance, wealth, and power, but his relationships with women were complicated, and decisively…

‘He’s too old for my sister!!’

This can’t be happening!!

Thud!

Thinking about it made me sad again, and I hit the floor and cried.

“Hwaaa!”

“…Why are you crying again?”

“Perhaps it’s because there are only unfamiliar people here.”

“She’s quiet when she sees the Crown Prince, but she cries when she sees this father’s face.”

“How would a child who hasn’t even started walking know anything? Ah. Perhaps she was surprised to see your Majesty’s beard for the first time.”

Even in the midst of crying, I felt sorry for the young Crown Prince, who was trying to ease the atmosphere.

After all, it’s never good to displease a powerful person. Isn’t that an immutable truth?

‘Okay, there’s no guarantee that my brother-in-law is that man.’

My sister is definitely living well with a capable, handsome, kind, and faithful brother-in-law of her age over there.

Even if my sister resembles my current biological mother, there’s no reason for them to live the same life.

This is clearly illogical anger and sadness.

‘I have a long life ahead of me, so I shouldn’t ruin it with this.’

Wiping away my tears, I slowly reached out to my biological father from the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince wiped my eyes and smiled brightly, as if relieved.

Okay, everything is for the sake of living. If the other person is the King, I can’t help it…

“Come to Father, then.”

…Did you think I would say that!

“Bbaeee!”

“Ah?”

“Oh?”

I shook off the King’s hand, turned my body with all my might, and clung to the Crown Prince again.

Even if he’s a powerful person, he wouldn’t think he can do whatever he wants with a baby who can’t understand him!

‘Leaving me neglected until now! How dare you try to hear me call you Dad so easily!’

The King, with his hand outstretched and frozen, and the Crown Prince with a troubled face, created a chilly silence in the room.

The Crown Prince broke the silence and spoke as if he had suddenly remembered something.

“The Princess doesn’t have a name yet, so how about your Majesty gives her a childhood name?”

“Hmm. That’s true.”

The King, looking down at my face in the Crown Prince’s arms, frowned and muttered.

“…They say a childhood name should be lowly to live long,”

“Kkiawoo!”

What kind of name are you trying to give me!!

Remembering that Emperor Gojong’s childhood name was Dog Poop, I flailed my short arms and legs to show my fierce rejection, and my biological father stopped speaking, startled.

“She doesn’t like it, it seems.”

“Could it be that she already understands… words?”

“How could that be?”

The Crown Prince laughed and denied it, then picked up a book next to him with a playful face and held it out to me.

“Here. Then, why don’t you pick a letter you like from this?”

“Uu!”

The book that the Crown Prince opened was filled with Chinese characters, so I couldn’t read any of it, but I turned the pages roughly with a clear goal.

‘My grades in Chinese characters weren’t too bad when I was in school, so why can’t I understand them?’

Come to think of it, do I have to learn Chinese characters here?

I had no intention of being treated like an idiot for not knowing Chinese characters.

While struggling with a book I couldn’t even read while thinking about that, I found the character I was aiming for.

“Uuu!”

“Hmm? Where… To bestow (施)? Do you like this character?”

“Uueuh!”

“Does she like the way the character Shi (施) looks?”

“You really like this? Are you joking, Crown Prince?”

Slap! Slap!

Annoyed that he kept checking several times, I hit his hand a few times and pointed to the same character again, and only then did the King nod with a bewildered face.

“Okay. It’s a coincidence, but the meaning is good and it seems fine.”

“Father, I think my sister is a genius.”

“The Crown Prince’s doting is worse than mine, who is your father. The Crown Prince was also bright from a young age…”

Even if you don’t know Chinese characters well, you remember your own name.

While the King and the Crown Prince suddenly went into a reminiscence, I repeated the same action one more time and managed to settle on my original name as my childhood name.

‘The surname has changed, though.’

My biological mother here has the same Yun surname as my sister in my previous life, but only I have been changed to Lee, so I feel like I’ve been forcibly adopted.

‘Well, it’s similar since my mom and dad have changed.’

I’ve been reborn, so my parents in heaven will understand. Probably.

“Si-a.”

“Uu?”

Turning my head at the sound of my name, the Crown Prince smiled and hugged me tightly.

“I’ll come see you again, so don’t cry and wait, okay?”

“Uu?”

Then he gently placed me in my biological father’s arms, paid his respects to the King, and disappeared.

Savior, where are you going!!

“Heuaaang…?”

“The Crown Prince is busy with Seoyeon (書筵) [royal lectures], so he can’t take care of you forever.”

“Awoo?”

Was Seoyeon where the Crown Prince studied?

Then why are you still keeping me with you?

Of course, I know you’re working. When I opened my eyes in the morning, you were working in a state that made me doubt you had slept.

But you don’t have to go that far to keep me with you!

‘Send me back to my original caregiver!’

The image of my sister crying when I last saw her was vivid in my mind. She must be worried.

My savior has left, and I was left alone with a strange man, so depression washed over me.

The court ladies brought baby food, but I had no appetite and pushed it away.

“You haven’t eaten anything, so you must be hungry, but why aren’t you fussing?”

“Eueung!”

I crawled diligently on the floor, trying to escape the red dragon robe to show my resistance.

In my mind, I would have burst out of the room already, but in reality, I was just flailing.

Soon, I was caught again and had to eat baby food in the arms of my man, no, my biological father.

I’m hungry and it’s annoying that you keep catching me, so I eat it, but even if he’s my biological father, it’s still a strange man feeding me.

“Bbaeee!”

Annoying!

“Why are you suddenly crying and fussing like this again?”

“Heeing!”

The middle-aged woman who came in with the meal watched me, who seemed to be eating well but often suddenly went on a rampage, with a kind smile. Is she a new nanny court lady? Or just one of the Jimil court ladies [ladies-in-waiting] belonging to the main hall?

“What do you think, Court Lady Han?”

“It is common for babies of the Princess’s age to cry and get angry for no reason. From now on, I will serve the Princess, so please don’t worry.”

“Hmph. But I’m worried because the child seems to be very wary of strangers.”

“She will get used to it soon.”

That’s right.

That’s right, but I, who had recently experienced extreme distrust of people, quickly turned away from the strange woman.

“Awoo!!”

“……”

Turning my back on the woman who was kindly reaching out to me and rushing to the King, the King looked vaguely worried but also had a strangely bright complexion.

“It seems the Princess recognizes your Majesty.”

“Yes. The Crown Prince’s insight was right after all.”

What. What’s so fun about it.

Puck! Puck!

I hit my biological father’s shoulder with all my might, but the man smiled happily as if he was pleased, so I decided to stop because I felt bad.

‘I thought he was a cold man who didn’t even come to see his baby’s face, but he’s surprisingly ordinary.’

It’s already been several days since I moved here, but my life hasn’t changed much.

However, the only additions are a boring biological father who plays with me without enthusiasm and a handsome savior who can’t take his eyes off me even when he comes to greet me?

‘But when can I go back to my sister?’

I can’t do anything but eat, sleep, and roll around, so something might have been decided while I was sleeping, but I don’t know what will happen right now.

“Yes. It seems you’re getting sleepy now that you’ve eaten baby food.”

“Uueuh.”

My biological father carefully patted my back, perhaps because he was proud of me for gradually adapting to the baby food he fed me, although I still suddenly went on rampages.

‘Let me down now.’

I wanted to resist, but I was full and my back was warm, so I felt sleepy.

But since I’m still a young baby, I couldn’t control it.

As my head drooped, I faintly heard the laughter of my biological father, who was watching me.

“Heeing.”

Don’t laugh. I’ll get attached.

I didn’t want to fall asleep, but it seemed that I couldn’t help but be sleepy because I was still a young child.

“It’s okay. Sleep peacefully.”

I can’t rest easy.

I was still anxious when I saw the court ladies, thinking that someone might harm me again. You never know. There might be someone among the main hall’s Jimil court ladies who is in league with Consort Yeong.

‘Consort Yeong wouldn’t do anything that dangerous, but.’

Even as I thought that coldly, I couldn’t shake the anxiety in one corner of my heart.

But that’s that.

“Hau.”

A baby’s body gets sleepy really quickly.

At the same time as my head fell, I felt a familiar large hand supporting my head, and I lost consciousness.

That means I fell asleep.

And when I woke up again, unfamiliar voices were whispering by my head.

“Oh my, why is she so picky with people? Thanks to her, his Majesty can’t leave his seat for a moment.”

Umm. Hearing that makes me feel a little embarrassed.

‘Let’s sleep quietly like this. I’m still sleepy.’

While I was thinking that, another court lady raised a fact-based suspicion.

“I heard she used to be so docile, so could something have really happened at Chwiyeongdang [Consort Yeong’s residence]?”

“Th, that can’t be? There must have been some misunderstanding.”

“Hmph. You’ve been strangely protective since before. Aren’t you a little close to the Chwiyeongdang ladies? Did you get something?”

“Shh. Be quiet. What if the Princess wakes up?”

Chwiyeongdang is definitely referring to Consort Yeong’s residence, right?

The remaining sleepiness disappeared in an instant, and my eyes widened. All I could see were unfamiliar court ladies.

Realizing once again that there was no one I could trust, my spine tingled.

“Bbaeeaaeng!”

“Aaaah……”