Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 93

I was born as the daughter of a low-ranking concubine. (93)

For the past few years, I’ve constantly thought that my daily life would become easier.

But that was always a huge miscalculation on my part.

Like my friend from my past life, whose face I can barely remember, used to say.

“Brothers must have been enemies with their sisters in a past life.”

Of course, I, who didn’t have a brother, insisted that younger brothers were the real enemies, and similarly, friends who had male siblings joined in one by one, engaging in a futile debate about whether older brothers were more useless or younger brothers were more useless.

“Aren’t younger brothers at least a little cute?” That ended when they were newborns.

“Don’t older brothers at least give you allowance?” What kind of mythical creature is that? What kind of oral tradition is that? I’m just glad they don’t take my allowance, etc.

We listed sad examples of our experiences one by one, and after reaching the conclusion that male siblings, whether older or younger, are of no help in life, we decided to just go eat chicken together. Looking back now, it was a pretty good memory…….

That chicken place was really delicious back then.

Thinking about it suddenly makes me want to eat chicken.

Should I coat seasoned chicken with flour and then breadcrumbs and fry it? That sounds amazing.

Anyway, even thinking about it again after being reborn, what that friend said back then was correct.

“Why are you calling me for this……?”

“Your senses are reliable.”

It’s been five years since the Dowager Queen passed away.

The mourning period was already over, and now banquets could be held.

And this year, the twenty-two-year-old Crown Prince was holding court banquets. Quite often, too.

If I only said this, you might think it’s a revival of extravagance, but it’s not like that.

Royal banquets are also a tool to strengthen royal authority.

I mean, why, you might ask?

In a Confucian country like Joseon, upholding etiquette and music (禮樂) [a system of rituals and music that embodies social harmony and order] and holding banquets centered around the king was a way to enhance the king’s status.

It was also a method used by Crown Prince Hyomyeong, the son of Sunjo.

Moreover, the scale of banquets that ordinary noble families could not hold drew a line between ordinary nobles and the royal family, thus establishing the authority of the royal family.

Actually, it’s not like the royal authority is weak now, but the only thing that was a target of attack was that the Crown Prince was still unmarried.

The mourning period is over. So, in this situation, bringing in a Crown Princess would be a priority, but the Crown Prince chose to strengthen royal authority instead of bringing in a Crown Princess.

No, wouldn’t bringing in a Crown Princess and having a grandson be more helpful for stabilizing power?

However, the Crown Prince was very cautious about bringing in a Crown Princess.

Of course, there were no other Grand Princes or Princes who could threaten the Crown Prince’s position, the Crown Prince’s legitimacy was sufficient, and his academic ability was also recognized by all. Moreover, as he had been assisting in state affairs as Crown Prince, he was now the undisputed power of the next generation.

So now, unlike before, there would be those who would aim for the position of Crown Princess.

You might think, how could there still be unmarried virgins? But if a three-year mourning period overlaps, there are rare cases where things get pushed back.

However, the changed atmosphere now seemed to fuel the Crown Prince’s distrust of people.

‘Everyone ignored him when he was having a hard time, but now that they’re acting friendly and trying to push their daughters into the position of Crown Princess, it’s understandable that he wouldn’t like it.’

Who would like it if everyone ignored you when you were having a hard time and then acted friendly now?

Even if you can’t show that you dislike it, you wouldn’t want to keep them close.

So, it seemed like he was thinking of solidifying his own power so that no one could say anything, and then he would choose a Crown Princess or not.

Of course, from my point of view, it seems like the correct male lead’s unconscious desire to clean up the surroundings before meeting the female lead, but putting aside my romance novel ego and as a historical drama mania and current princess’s honest impression, it’s ridiculous that the Crown Prince hasn’t brought in a Crown Princess even at his age, and it’s just a headache…….

Are you serious……?

Yeah, well, you wouldn’t be the male lead for nothing. It’s none of my business as an extra. The main characters will take care of it.

Actually, even the king isn’t saying anything, so I feel like I’m saying too much.

But why on earth…….

“Why do you keep giving me work? Why?!”

My bitter cry, which had begun to be often caught in the Gyujanggak [Royal Library] to work, echoed emptily.

But no one here understood my resentment.

“Hahaha. But it is an undeniable fact that Princess Consort’s ability to organize banquets is outstanding.”

“The idea of creating a small waterway and floating lanterns that you came up with this time was also excellent.”

The young scholars who passed the civil service examination at a young age and rose rapidly, and then caught the eye of the Crown Prince and ended up working at the Gyujanggak, were owners of a groundbreaking mindset that if their work was reduced, what’s wrong with the princess doing some work.

“Can’t you deny it?”

“How can we deny the truth!”

You were originally a Ministry of Rites official! You have to deny it!

Coming to bring snacks and adding a few words that came to mind led to this kind of labor. After all, the mouth is the source of disaster (禍) [a Chinese character that means misfortune or disaster].

But the Crown Prince nodded as if he was pleased with his subjects’ loyalty, though not entirely sincere.

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“Waaah, deny it for me!”

“Oh my. Does our Sia seem sleepy? Should your older brother carry you on his back?”

“Ah, I don’t need it!”

Cough!!

Seeing that we were both using informal language even though it wasn’t a private setting, it was clear that we weren’t in our right minds.

Exhausted from lack of sleep, I launched the most damaging attack on the Crown Prince.

“If you want to play with babies so much, make some nephews and nieces!”

Nephews and nieces! Let’s see nephews and nieces!

“Hahaha, the baby keeps wanting to see babies. Ga-i will be coming to pick up the princess soon, saying not to overwork her, so you should go and sleep today, right?”

And now the Crown Prince’s evasion skills were maxed out. After working in the position of Crown Prince for many years, he only got better at the ability to ignore words he didn’t want to hear.

“Ah, why aren’t you getting married!”

“Hahaha. I don’t know why Sia is so eager to get her older brother married off quickly. There are even sisters who say they want to live with their older brother without getting married.”

“What, who’s saying such strange things? That’s something that can’t happen even if dirt gets in my eyes?? You said you don’t read novels, so what strange things did you see?”

Or is that just a way of saying that the marriage prospects are so terrible that they just want to stay home without getting married?

A young civil official who was examining the order of events quietly raised his head.

“I have heard rumors that such novels are popular these days…….”

You, you read that kind of thing?

The Crown Prince, realizing the hidden meaning in those words, shuddered and hurriedly made excuses.

“No, I was just telling a story I heard from Mu-yeong.”

“Mu-yeong is…… Song-an unni’s [older sister] older brother said that?”

Mu-yeong was the son of Hwacheon-gun and Song-an unni’s older brother. He was famous for grabbing the collar of his prospective brother-in-law, who was supposed to marry his younger sister, when he saw him entering a gibang [traditional Korean house of entertainment].

Since it was something done by someone who usually had a reputation for being quiet and gentle, there were rumors that he must have said something he shouldn’t have, rather than just entering a gibang.

‘He himself said that he just made a mistake because he was angry and went into self-restraint for a while, though.’

And the Crown Prince’s arrow, avoiding an embarrassing misunderstanding, turned to his easygoing subjects.

“But why do you all seem to be on the Princess’s side?”

The Crown Prince looked back at his loyal aides, but they all avoided his gaze and lowered their heads, pretending to work.

“On this matter alone, we are on the Princess Consort’s side, so we cannot do that.”

“I’ve lived my life in vain…….”

These days, it seems like my subjects enjoy exchanging nonsense with me.

Why did the Crown Prince, who seemed like he would grow up to be very sensitive and prickly, grow up like this? Of course, there was no change in the fact that he was still extremely sensitive and prickly, but he was a little more lenient to those who entered his boundary.

It seems like excessive workload contributed to the child becoming like that.

Among that excessive workload, there was the court banquet that he brought upon himself.

Perhaps because they had been through so much together, the young officials who became the Crown Prince’s aides followed most of the Crown Prince’s actions with blank eyes.

It was actually a strange sight that I was here with them, but no one seemed to have the mind to find fault with it.

Originally, it was not right for an unmarried (!) princess to encounter such young subjects, but because my appearance was young and it was difficult to get married, everyone was not strict about me meeting people.

Thanks to that, I can’t escape and I’m suffering.

Let me out! I’m going to leave the palace!

“Okay. Before you go, let’s check the order of the gisaengs [female entertainers] who will appear at this banquet first. I heard you’re putting in a new song this time, too.”

“Ughhh.”

Black, black company……!

Since this also has the meaning of conveying the lives of the people to the king, folk songs are also included at the end.

This is not a procedure I put in, it was originally there…….

Since the king is only in the deep palace, he has no way of knowing the lives of the people, so this kind of system is always included. I don’t know if it has any meaning.

Among those who are coming up to this court banquet, there was also Maehyang.

I listened to what song she was going to sing in advance, and it already had a modern song style.

After finding out a few songs I used to sing in Siyeongwon, she started making and singing similar songs on her own, and it was just…… too well made.

‘I have no complaints except that the lyrics of the song contain content about wanting to ride the rides in Siyeongwon.’

But as I said earlier, popular songs reflect the times.

Besides, Siyeongwon was made by the princess, so there was no problem singing it at the court banquet. Unfortunately.

***

And some time later, the king, who heard Maehyang singing at the court banquet, even chuckled at the lyrics. Perhaps it was because he naturally knew that I had made the rides.

I heard rumors that the rides I made these days are considered a local landmark.

No, well, if you just look at them, they’re unique sculptures, but how did this happen?

For reference, those rides are inspected by experts every month to ensure safety and carry people.

And at the request of the Crown Prince, I also made a merry-go-round in the capital, and this one was made with a lot of money to make it look flashy.

It seems like it was made for people passing by to see, but in fact, the purpose was not that side but the other side.

It was made for foreign envoys to see when they came to the capital.

‘What…… are you trying to show off.’

Anyway, now that the banquet was over safely, there were no more events that could be called banquets for a while.

‘I can rest now, right? The aftermath is not my responsibility.’

But the next day, for some reason, I was in the Central Palace.

“The Princess Consort knows a lot about matters related to the medical office. The Princess Consort is now sixteen years old, so it would be good to have her help me manage the female doctors.”

The moment I heard those words, I doubted my ears.

What? No, what about my work-life balance??