Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 110

Born as the Daughter of a Lowly Concubine 110

And I felt even more ashamed for mistakenly thinking that he was desperately trying not to give me some strange book.

‘Reconciliation requires a bit of sincerity.’

“Haa.”

I should get a new book.

The Crown Prince asked about Sia’s well-being through Eunuch Song the next day.

“She has been refraining from going out lately, and I heard that Seong Gyeom-sabok [a royal guard] occasionally visits to ask about her well-being and have conversations. Other than that, she takes care of the concubines and palace people as always, and there is nothing different from usual.”

It seems Sia is staying put these days.

From the start, he entrusted her with matters concerning the medical officials, so she shouldn’t be so free to wander around.

Since she was young, she has been bustling around the palace, taking care of things here and there, and I heard that she always takes care of the concubines.

His Majesty doesn’t pay much attention to the concubines, and they are all childless, so I feel sorry for them, but I have never thought about taking care of them myself. No one would have taught or ordered her to do that, but Sia always took good care of those around her.

‘Sia has been mature and considerate in strange ways since she was a child.’

Even though she must be the most distressed by not growing up, she never showed it and always made those around her feel comfortable with her cheerful and smiling face.

She always brought food to her older brother, who became the Crown Prince, nagged him to sleep early, and sometimes really helped him with his work.

Listening to her chattering about interesting stories from time to time allowed him to forget his headaches for a while.

She is such a child, so wasn’t he too harsh?

“…I should go out.”

“Yes?”

Using his younger sister as an excuse, the Crown Prince decided on a sudden secret excursion.

It wasn’t the first time for the Crown Prince to sneak out of the palace.

Not as much as Sia, but he had occasionally come out like this.

He had even secretly come to see when Sia’s palace was completed.

Sia calls her house a private residence, but it was truly a palace that showed his favor at a glance.

Perhaps the King is thinking of handing over the throne early and spending his old age in Sia’s palace.

‘It’s a useless thought, though.’

Coming out after a long time naturally brought back old memories.

The brief memory of spending that Buddha’s Birthday with the girl who might become the Crown Princess remained in his heart for a long time.

What happened to her? Did she escape safely?

So much time has passed that he wouldn’t recognize her even if they met again, but is there any chance they might accidentally pass by each other?

“Where did they say they sell that book?”

“It would be best to go to the Jongno secondhand bookstore.”

While indulging in sentimentality was good, he had only come out with Eunuch Song and a trusted guard, so he had to take care of the most important business first.

However, the Crown Prince could not achieve what he wanted at the first secondhand bookstore he visited.

When he showed the book he had brought and asked for the same book, the owner of the secondhand bookstore started complaining about the torn book.

“Oh my, how could this precious book be torn like this… I’m sorry, but this book is a reserved copy, so there are no other stocks.”

“I just saw someone buying it. I can pay any amount. Can’t you just print a new one?”

“But this book is a first edition with the author’s signature, so it will be difficult to find it again.”

“I really need to find it. Is there no way?”

“That’s…”

While the secondhand bookstore owner was hesitating to answer, another person briefly interrupted.

“Excuse me, I came to pick up the book. Is it okay?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. Just a moment. Here’s the book… Ah.”

The secondhand bookstore owner looked back and forth between the woman who had just spoken and the Crown Prince, who was dressed as a nobleman, and then called the woman and whispered something as if he had remembered something.

“How is it?”

“I’m not in a hurry for money, so I have no intention of doing that.”

“They say they can give you any amount of money. Isn’t it okay? The number of signed copies is limited, but…”

The Crown Prince couldn’t hear the conversation properly, but he could somehow tell from the atmosphere.

That woman has the signed copy of the book he was looking for and needs money.

And she is refusing it.

“I’ve received the book, so I’ll be on my way.”

“Yes, please come again next time.”

Having given up on clinging to the owner for nothing, the Crown Prince cautiously spoke to the woman who was leaving the secondhand bookstore.

“Excuse me, do you have a moment?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Um, if you happen to have the signed copy of ‘Flower Shadow,’ would you be willing to give it to me?”

“Yes?”

Waaaaah.

My precious new book…….

I ran into my room and flopped onto the floor in frustration, trying to soothe my anger, while Soi, who had blocked the other palace maids from entering, followed me in and comforted me.

“Ongju [Princess], please calm down.”

“I can’t calm down! I can’t calm down!!”

I screamed, hitting the floor.

Ugh! It’s a waste! My book! It even had the author’s autograph! Just because he’s the Crown Prince, does he think he can do anything??

That guy… I’m running around trying to prevent a rebellion, but he doesn’t understand how I feel!

He should get married soon and have an heir!

I should just make up a Go X story!

‘……I should withdraw the romance novel request and commission a novel about the Crown Prince falling in love with a man.’

For a moment, I had such a twisted thought that deviated from the genre, but I immediately erased it because the author could be dragged away for royal defamation the moment it was distributed.

So, if I were to write it, I should set the background as a Crown Prince, no, a king, in a virtual oriental country, not Joseon [Korean Dynasty]… No, that’s not the point right now.

Thanks to the stream of consciousness, I regained my composure for a moment and organized my thoughts.

‘Maybe this is a good thing?’

Since I got so angry, the Crown Prince probably won’t look for me for a while. He’s surprisingly timid, so he’s the type who can’t bring himself to come to me first after fighting with me since we were young.

So, now that things have turned out this way, it would be good to finish this matter for sure in the meantime.

“…Ongju, please don’t suddenly calm down like that.”

“Get used to it.”

Soi, who had been trying to calm me down without any effect, handed me a bowl of cold water with a tired face after seeing me suddenly calm down on my own.

I got angry again when I thought of the Crown Prince, so I took the cold water that Soi handed me and gulped it down, and then organized my thoughts again.

‘I’m angry that the book is torn, but I bought several copies for collection besides that.’

It’s a good thing I’m a gold spoon [born into wealth].

And Soi, who knew that fact from the beginning, asked with a puzzled look.

“You bought several copies of this book on purpose to commemorate it since it’s the first one, didn’t you? You said you would keep some in the palace and some in your private residence. So why are you so angry that one copy is torn?”

“Of course I’m angry. Does Soi think it’s okay to break one out of ten jade rings?”

“…No.”

“Right?”

Soi made a face as if something was wrong, but soon agreed.

She might have argued that it wasn’t okay if it was a modern society with a mass production system. But in this era, books were also precious items.

“Soi, go and rest now. But if you get a call from Seong Gyeom-sabok, come to me right away.”

“I understand. Is Gyeom-sabok okay?”

“He’ll be fine.”

If he’s not okay, I’ll have to start searching right away.

In fact, Seong Gyeom-sabok was a person who had experience in such dangerous matters just by looking at his career as a Chetamin [police officer], and he had many connections here and there while working as a Gyeom-sabok for several years, so he would take care of it himself if it was dangerous.

Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t worried.

I couldn’t fall asleep easily that night for various reasons, but I still couldn’t hold out for long and fell asleep.

And the news of Seong Gyeom-sabok arrived early the next morning.

It was a message that he would visit to deliver something about the Siyoungwon [a government agency] today.

It seemed that he had deliberately made it about Siyoungwon because the news was delivered through another person.

I was relieved that there was nothing wrong for now and made snacks while waiting for Seong Gyeom-sabok.

“Ongju, were you well yesterday?”

“Yeah. So-so.”

Saying that, I scanned Seong Gyeom-sabok here and there. He doesn’t seem to have any injuries on the outside.

“I was fine, so please don’t worry too much.”

“That’s a relief, then.”

“Yes. But Ongju, those guys seemed to be more dangerous than I thought. It would be best if Ongju didn’t get involved in this matter anymore.”

“…What happened?”

“I can’t tell you without anything definite revealed yet, but they were people who took human lives lightly.”

“?”

What on earth did he overhear there? This person.

I asked cautiously.

“Um. Is it perhaps something like treason?”

“Yes?”

But Seong Gyeom-sabok looked puzzled at my question.

Judging from that reaction, it’s not treason?

‘Come to think of it, they did mention the Crown Prince at the gibang [traditional Korean house of entertainment], but they didn’t say they would do anything to the Crown Prince. Could it be that I’m barking up the wrong tree?’

But the fact that those guys are bad guys is a well-known fact.

“I didn’t hear anything about that… but I’ll check it out further.”

“If it seems dangerous, I don’t think it’s a good idea to get too involved.”

“What power do I have to get deeply involved? However… it seems they will have a more accurate conversation when they meet next time, so I’m thinking of asking for help from my old colleagues this time.”

“Um. It’s better than being alone. Are they people in Siyoungwon? I’ll let Madam Min know in advance, so don’t worry about that.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll give you a hazard pay too.”

“Yes. Ongju.”

Seong Gyeom-sabok chuckled at my joke-like words.

Yes, it was reassuring that he wasn’t alone if he was going to do it anyway.

Frankly, I didn’t quite trust mobilizing public power haphazardly until I found a clearer situation.

“If it’s dangerous, just give up and run away quickly. Got it? No one should get hurt or anything. Got it?”

“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”

In that way, some of the former Chetamin were suddenly put on additional duty.

And after a while, he told me something scary.

“Illegal human trafficking?”

“Y-yes……”

Seong Gyeom-sabok had a face that said he wasn’t sure if he should tell me this.

“So you’re saying they’re secretly buying and selling people by making them slaves.”

“Yes. It’s originally prohibited, but selling one’s wife and children due to debt or selling orphans with nowhere to go as slaves is happening secretly.”

“It’s punishable by death if caught. They must be doing it because they’re confident they won’t get caught.”

Um, it seems like there’s something behind this.

“Even the slave market itself was prohibited by His Majesty.”

“Thanks to that, trading slaves like goods in the market is prohibited.”

It was said to be because of a rebellion that was discovered before I was born.

Of course, there was also the reason that it was excessively inhumane. Individual transactions themselves are not prohibited, though.

It also meant that they would no longer increase the slave population.

Power holders wanted to increase the number of slaves, so the Sadaebu [aristocrats] were not very happy either, but there were those who plotted a rebellion by gathering private slaves, so they could not stop the king from setting various regulations on slave ownership.

Is that why so many people strangely wanted to offer slaves to me, or rather, to Siyoungwon?

After much deliberation, I decided to just accept them. I thought it would be better for me to take care of them than to have them go elsewhere.

‘Geez. What are they going to use them for, making so many…….’