Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 66

“Why are you coming back hurt? What happened!”

“Huh? Uh? What, how did you get here…?”

The child seemed flustered to see me and shrank back, trying to hide the injury.

Of course, it was too late to hide it now.

The formal speech was still awkward, but along with the embarrassment in their eyes, there was an unconcealed light of joy.

“What do you mean, how? I arranged this place.”

“Ah, that’s right… you did.”

The children who saw me for the first time were watching our conversation with curiosity, but that wasn’t important right now.

“Come here. Why are you so hurt?”

“It’s nothing…”

The kid clamped their mouth shut like a clam, and another child next to them tattled.

“It’s not nothing. They got caught by some weirdos and got hurt.”

“Hey, shut your mouth.”

At the threatening voice, the tattling child shrank back and ran inside.

No, to be exact, they were caught by the gentle-faced couple on the way in and dragged off to take a bath against their will.

The other children also seemed to have mostly given up and were going to wash up, which made me feel pleased that the rules I had set were being followed well.

Anyway, that’s that. I grabbed the child again and pressed them.

“Who hit you? Why can’t you tell me?”

“It was those noblemen, who else,” another child answered, peeking out from behind the bear-like uncle.

The uncle, who seemed to have taken the children to the mountain, bowed to me, and I awkwardly returned the greeting.

“So you are the young miss who employs us. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Mauri. I’m taking care of the children here on Seong Hyung’s recommendation.”

“‘Employer’… that sounds awkward. Nice to meet you. Do you know what happened to the children?”

The bear-like uncle spoke cautiously, unlike his large appearance.

I heard that the Chetamin [outcast group] working here know about my status, and if the spouse who came with them is a commoner, the spouse doesn’t know. Which one is this uncle?

He looks strong, but if he’s too conspicuous, wouldn’t that be bad for a Chetamin?

“I was taking the children to gather firewood and pick mushrooms when it got noisy near the valley, as if some noblemen had come.”

The children took over the uncle’s words.

“There were women wearing pretty clothes.”

“It smelled delicious, and they were drinking, dancing, and singing.”

It was disjointed, but I roughly understood.

‘It’s that time of year again when they go on autumn picnics for fun.’

Now that I think about it, if Grand Prince Gyeong-eon really received the poison, everyone will be ruined for this year’s Double Ninth Festival (September 9th in the lunar calendar, a day when royal women such as the Queen or concubines can go on picnics outside the palace). There’s no point in incurring the Dowager Queen’s displeasure.

I heard that last year, the concubines quietly went out for some fresh air and came back. Of course, I couldn’t go out because I was too weak and shouldn’t be exposed to the wind.

‘I’ll be able to live independently outside the palace when I get older, but the concubines don’t have many days to go outside, so it’s a pity.’

I’m even secretly out here like this.

The children continued.

“We were watching from afar, but they chased us away for ruining their mood, so we ran away. But they kept bullying us because it was fun to run away, and when we told them to stop, they hit us.”

“They hit you? Those guys hit you?”

The child who was being held and having water poured on their wound trembled and answered instead.

But soon another child added.

“There was also a guy who deliberately chased us because he thought it was fun to see us run away. That’s how he fell and got hurt while running away from that guy.”

“Hey!”

“What’s the point of lying? That ol’… nobleman seems to be waiting for us to come on purpose.”

The child changed their words, noticing my expression as they were about to swear. I’m royalty rather than a nobleman, but even if I were royalty, I wouldn’t care if they cursed at those guys.

“We see them often on the street, too. Aren’t they chasing us?”

The children who had already washed up were neatly separating, washing, and trimming the vegetables they had brought.

“Is this how you do it?”

“Yes. Good job.”

The older children seemed to have given up and started doing housework. They seemed very used to working.

But the other children, happy that I was listening to them, flocked around me and complained about their grievances.

“It’s not the first time. They keep chasing and harassing us in the mountains.”

“Even if you didn’t do anything?”

“No!”

The children screamed all at once as if they were wronged, and it was deafening.

Thanks to that, the injured child got angry instead.

“Ah, shut up! Go work, you damn brats!”

“Fighting is forbidden here, so yelling is not allowed either!”

“No, those guys…!”

The children seemed very familiar with the rules.

I had to check the facts, but I couldn’t help but sigh.

Come to think of it, there were more noblemen who took their places early on the fortress walls during Buddha’s Birthday. There was also talk that the Confucian scholars were floating boats on the Han River and having fun.

But Buddha’s Birthday is an event that happens once a year, and they play at night, but what about those scholars who don’t study and just go out to play every day?

It was an old man’s mindset, but I couldn’t help it.

The scholars of the Joseon Dynasty were mostly students preparing for the civil service examination.

To put it in modern terms… they are public service exam takers. And most of them are long-term exam takers.

Whether they have money at home or not, the noblemen are draining their families dry and living as a group of long-term students for the rest of their lives, so I can’t help but worry.

But imagine those long-term students drinking with women in public places, hanging out, and bullying neighborhood kids.

It’s even more absurd.

But what if those guys aren’t long-term students but officials? Civil servants??

Civil servants… don’t go to work and go out to drink and play, chasing after kids and bullying them?

‘I heard rumors that those who are absent without permission don’t come out even if they are beaten, but it might be true.’

It’s hard to pass the civil service exam, so there are quite a few who are absent without permission, perhaps as compensation. If they cut off the absentees right away, the vacancies would be filled quickly, but they don’t. It doesn’t make sense.

The people who were taking care of the children were more angry at the story, which they had been hiding from the adults until now.

“No, which family’s guys are doing that? I won’t let them get away with it!!”

“What are you going to do to the noblemen if you don’t let them get away with it?”

The children calmly stopped the adults with resigned faces, but I felt like I knew the reason for that reaction.

‘Hmm, those people used to be Chetamin.’

They are skilled in martial arts and have been involved in life-threatening infiltration and espionage activities…

Those noblemen should be careful on the night road.

Even if legal sanctions are impossible, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to secretly break a leg on the night road.

Everyone was looking at me because of the violent remarks, so I pretended not to hear and pretended to play with the young child who was playing with me, covering each other’s ears.

When the atmosphere calmed down a bit, I called the people who had been angry until just now and asked.

“Come to think of it, how about teaching the kids some martial arts?”

“Yes? What do you mean?”

These people are shamelessly playing dumb.

“It would be good to learn some self-defense in this harsh world.”

“Self… defense?”

Is that a word that doesn’t exist in this era? But they seemed to think my words weren’t bad, and they were lost in thought for a moment.

“It would be a big deal to harm a nobleman, but they should be able to run away. If the opponent is a servant, they can fight.”

“Hmm…”

“And you never know where a person’s talent might be. Oh, that’s good. Someone will come to teach you how to read and write. Learn to read and write, and learn how to protect yourself.”

“Huh?”

The children were shocked by the unexpected news, and some even dropped the pot lids they were holding.

I didn’t care and said everything I wanted to say.

“It’ll be hard to get food when winter comes anyway, so it’ll be a great time to get intensive lessons.”

“Why do we have to learn that?”

I didn’t think everyone would like it, and as expected, some children were resisting.

“Do you remember stamping your seal when you came here?”

“There weren’t any strange contents.”

“Do you remember it?”

I tilted my head, and the little leader with the injured leg confidently nodded.

“Of course.”

Then, unexpectedly, they rattled off the conditions I had set.

Ga-i, who had been frowning next to me, looked a little surprised to see that.

“You remember that, but why did you forget the clause that you would learn what you were taught here without complaint? Huh?”

“No, we just thought we’d be taught how to tend the fire and pick vegetables.”

“Of course, that’s important too. But you have to learn other things if you don’t want to get hit in the future.”

“What other things?”

“That even if they are noblemen, they shouldn’t hit you commoners arbitrarily.”

They were beggars, but they weren’t exactly commoners in terms of status, and even if they were commoners, it wasn’t legal to mistreat them.

“But they wouldn’t listen even if we said that.”

“We have to make them listen. And you know that the noble families’ servants can beat you because they have the noblemen behind them, right?”

“…We don’t have anyone behind us.”

“Do you know who bought this house or not?”

“Uh… you said the Princess… bought it for us.”

The children stammered out the title of Princess.

Oh. It’s a bit refreshing to hear Princess instead of Princess?

“That’s right. So, if anyone tries to harm you in the future, tell them you’ll tell Princess Jaga.”

“Really? Then will the Princess scold them?”

“This is Princess Jaga’s private residence, and you live and work here, so you can say that you are Princess Jaga’s people.”

I’m not their owner or anything, but it’s okay to insist on this.

It seems that the rumor has spread throughout the capital that I am the owner here and that I am taking care of the children with my own money.

‘No, come to think of it, it’s not exactly wrong.’

If you consider this place a nursery or a school, I’m the director or principal, so I have the right and obligation to protect these children.

Others may think that I have increased the number of slaves in a unique way.

“But Princess Jaga can’t just believe your words, and you need proper evidence.”

“Then what should we do?”

“You can learn to write and petition Princess Jaga about your grievances.”

“Petition?”

“Um. Then a letter… so you write a letter to let her know that you are hurt because of unfair… bad guys.”

“Will you send it to the Princess?”

“Yes.”

There is no stronger motivation than resentment and injustice in the world.

I coaxed the children to ignite their desire for learning.

‘Those kids probably don’t know that Princess Jaga is eight years old.’

But in this era, there is a tendency to think that royalty, or high-ranking people, are something special and great, so it might not matter even if they knew.

The little child who had been playing with me clenched their small fist and shouted with determination.

“I’m going to learn to write and write about… unfair things!”

“Yes, yes.”

Oh, my. Did you learn the word unfair?

And I turned my head and asked the children.

“And do you remember the faces of the guys who bullied you? Find out some information about them.”

“…Why…?”

“There’s something I need to find out.”

I don’t know if those guys are officials or not, but their behavior is terrible, so there’s no way they’re okay otherwise.

‘We have to let those who want to play, play.’