Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 166

It was then that he sighed, watching his horse still thrashing and rolling on the ground, throwing a tantrum.

“-!”

A small voice drifted from somewhere.

The Crown Prince, suppressing a groan, carefully lowered his ear to the ground, moving towards the sound.

‘The Crown Prince crawling on the ground… someone would laugh if they saw this.’

But if the voice he heard was Sehwa’s…

Thinking that, it was okay to look a little unsightly. It’s not like anyone was watching.

And as if the Crown Prince’s efforts were rewarded, the sound gradually became clearer.

“Is there anyone? Is anyone there?”

“?!”

It was Sehwa’s voice.

Following the sound, he found Sehwa had fallen into a pit behind a rock, cleverly concealed by bushes and fallen leaves.

“Sehwa?”

“……Your Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Just a moment…….”

Heeheeing!

Just as the Crown Prince was about to stand and call for someone…

Fortunately, it seemed to have stopped just before the cliff edge, but the Crown Prince’s horse, still rampaging in the distance, suddenly collapsed with a deathly cry and plunged over the cliff.

‘What……?’

If he wasn’t mistaken, the horse was clearly struck by something, panicked, and fell straight down the cliff.

Seeing someone with their face covered approaching the horse’s location with a blunt weapon, the Crown Prince ducked down again. Then, he slipped on the fallen leaves.

“!!”

“?!”

The Crown Prince helplessly tumbled into the pit where Sehwa was.

“Keuk.”

He tried hard to fall feet first to avoid hitting Sehwa, so his feet and legs were numb.

As the dust and fallen leaves settled, the Crown Prince, barely managing to get up, quickly checked on Sehwa’s condition.

“Are you…… alright?”

“I am fine, but Your Highness…….”

“Shh.”

The Crown Prince covered Sehwa’s mouth and listened intently.

Sensing the Crown Prince’s unease, Sehwa also lowered her voice and asked.

“What is it? Is something…… wrong?”

“I’m not sure, but…….”

Outside, the faint sound of someone calling for the Crown Prince could be heard.

“Are they looking for Your Highness?”

“Maybe.”

The Crown Prince sensed that these weren’t people concerned for his safety.

Because the horse he was riding was struck by something they threw and fell off the cliff.

‘If they thought I was riding it, they would never have done that. They were trying to kill…… me too.’

Even if the Crown Prince wasn’t riding, if the horse couldn’t be calmed down, they would have just left it alone.

The horse would calm down eventually, or if not, it would either get hurt or wander off on its own, so there was no need for such drastic measures.

In the first place, a horse that the Crown Prince rode was an existence that couldn’t be easily harmed, considering its material value alone, regardless of anything else.

‘If they notice this place, we’ll be like rats in a trap.’

But since it’s a strangely inconspicuous place, it will be difficult to find. He wouldn’t have been able to find this place if it weren’t for Sehwa’s voice he accidentally heard from the bottom.

After a while, when the surroundings became quiet, the two sorted out the situation in hushed tones in the dark pit.

“This is…… very suspicious.”

“I think so too.”

Everything is too coincidental. The only thing that could be considered a coincidence is that the two of them fell into the same pit.

“When we get out of here, I will strictly interrogate those involved.”

“That is the right thing to do.”

“The physician who called you out separately is also suspicious.”

“It is also very suspicious that the horses suddenly started to rampage.”

“It is possible that my horse suddenly ran wild on its own if it was stung by something, but why did the horses in the barracks run wild?”

Unexpectedly, Sehwa gave an answer to the Crown Prince’s question.

“……It would be possible if tea leaves were mixed in the feed.”

“Tea leaves?”

“Yes. People may not notice it, but it may be possible to make the horses excited because of the stimulating effect (caffeine component) of tea leaves.”

Because horses are delicate creatures.

‘Too delicate, so if they get excited, they might rush into a path where they might die, though.’

The Crown Prince sighed, recalling his horse who had passed away in the underworld.

It wasn’t as much as Sia cherished the enemy, but he cherished the horse in his own way, but it ended up like that.

“It seems better to wait and see what the situation is outside.”

“But at this rate, we have to suspect even the people who come to rescue us.”

Saying that, the Crown Prince slumped down powerlessly.

“By the way, what is this place anyway? They dug such a big pit well.”

“It’s probably a trap for tiger hunting. I heard that tiger attacks have been frequent in this area since a long time ago.”

“Ah…….”

“What is it?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

He didn’t tell Sia on purpose, but the place where his older brother was attacked by a tiger 8 years ago was also beyond this mountain.

It’s a long distance for people, but it wouldn’t be that far for tigers, so it wasn’t strange.

‘Brother…….’

***

“I, I am innocent!”

The guy who woke up from his drunken stupor denied what he had said, but there were too many witnesses.

What’s the point of him denying it? He was even insulting Princess Ongju while I was watching….

Besides, he even tried to harm me, so there was no room for excuses.

“I am the one who is innocent!”

And those who usually associated with that scholar were also dragged to the government office for the crime of associating with the loose-tongued offender.

Because they used to brag about their status to the courtesans at the drinking party, their identities were exposed.

Of course, some of them gave false identities, so some weren’t caught.

‘Those guys are the most suspicious.’

The captured guys knew the route through which information about them was leaked and resented the cause.

“This, this crazy bastard, if you were going to go crazy, why did you drag us in too?!”

“I, I just repeated what you guys were saying!”

“Who said what!!”

Thus, a beautiful scene of each other passing the blame continued.

‘It doesn’t seem like these guys know anything properly.’

Even if they cooperated.

I watched them being interrogated and got up. It seemed like a waste of time to be here.

“Princess Ongju. Where are you going?”

“It’s time for Cheonho to come back, but he’s not here.”

“Don’t you want to hear the results of the interrogation?”

“If they targeted the Crown Prince, it’s treason. Even if I don’t supervise, someone who is thirsty for promotion will interrogate them enthusiastically, right?”

The King is also here, and this happened, and Princess Ongju heard it directly?

If they don’t root it out, their heads will roll, and if they catch them well, they can be praised for uncovering a rebellion.

Since Jeokah wasn’t there, I had no choice but to have another horse brought out.

Seong Gyeom-sabok tried to stop me, but I shook my head.

“I will go and come back. Princess Ongju, please wait here.”

“No, it’s faster for me to go.”

I felt like I had to check it myself to feel at ease.

The sky was getting cloudier and cloudier.

The news I received when I went to find the Crown Prince on horseback was very confusing.

“The Crown Prince, who went into the mountain to find the missing Sehwa, is also missing?”

“That is correct.”

“I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Hmm.”

I swallowed a groan. This is the Crown Prince’s mistake, but it’s very suspicious.

“Are the places where Sehwa and the Crown Prince went missing in similar locations?”

“I can’t be sure.”

Hmm.

‘Could they be together?’

No. In novels, the male and female protagonists are always isolated somewhere because of assassins or unusual weather.

And if young men and women are together in such a situation, there is a high probability that they will fall in love.

I thought about it coldly for some reason, but soon returned to realistic worries.

“The weather seems too cloudy, will it be okay like this?”

“Th, that’s…….”

Even from here, the weather didn’t look very good.

“Where is Cheonho?”

“Ah, the words that Princess Ongju conveyed…… His Majesty said he would listen to them directly, so he was briefly summoned to the royal court.”

“Ah…… um, I feel a little sorry.”

“Isn’t it an honor?”

“That’s only when you’ve done something meritorious.”

It was a terrible thing for a guy who wouldn’t even go under the Crown Prince to have a face-to-face meeting with the King.

Anyway, it seemed like Cheonho would be back soon, so I told him it was okay and sent the official back to do his job.

The familiar Iwi-sa [Royal Guard] official who explained the situation to me now was, so to speak, a young man from a prestigious family with a lack of field experience. He was assigned to the rear because he was not very helpful.

“Princess Ongju?”

“Cheonho. Oh, it looks like you’ve changed your clothes.”

When I turned around at the familiar voice, I saw Cheonho wearing a thicker winter coat than before.

“Ah. I have also decided to participate in finding His Highness the Crown Prince and Physician Sehwa. I borrowed a winter coat because it will be cold in the mountains.”

“……Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. I’m familiar with the mountain paths, and I’ve learned a lot from my uncle.”

Cheonho lowered himself to meet my gaze and smiled as if to reassure me.

“Don’t worry. His Highness the Crown Prince and Physician Sehwa will be safe.”

“Yeah…….”

“……It’s not Princess Ongju’s fault.”

“…….”

I was speechless at the unexpected words that seemed to see through my heart.