Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 293

Born as the daughter of a low-ranking concubine. (293)

‘Why aren’t you reading what your employer publishes!’

Cheonho, strangely enough, was also quite busy.

Anyone who could read would pick it up, but I knew better than anyone how occupied Cheonho was.

And I was the reason for it.

Though the schedule varied slightly, Cheonho always woke up early to train, received updates from my businesses like Saga or Siyoungwon and reported them to me, escorted me on outings or walks, and then was usually dragged off for more training, or he’d be delivering the replies I’d written the day before.

By the time he returned to the palace, it was already dark, leaving him little time to read anything.

Especially on days like today when he escorted me, he usually returned quite late.

‘I went out because I had a headache, but my body feels a bit heavy.’

I sighed softly atop Red Wind.

‘Come to think of it, isn’t Cheonho going to forget how to read at this rate? He might even forget Chinese characters, not just Hangul [Korean alphabet].’

To Ji-hwa, now an orphan, Su-cheon was practically her only blood relative.

Later, if Se-hwa married the Crown Prince… or whatever, and had a grandson, he would be a powerful figure to support that child.

Since the family was ruined, they couldn’t even be considered as potential in-laws right now.

But I couldn’t just tell him to quit working and study.

Forcing him to study hard when he wasn’t even planning to take the civil service exam would make me a far crueler employer than any black company [exploitative company].

At least these days, living in the palace meant less time spent commuting home or doing housework, right?

‘I can’t help it. I have no choice but to force him to read.’

It would be better if they brought it up themselves, rather than me having to say something.

But what excuse should I use…?

Without realizing it, I frowned, and Soi’s hand lightly adjusted Red Wind’s reins.

“Has the Princess arrived?”

“Huh?”

“We have arrived.”

“Ah.”

Cheonho and Soi were looking at me with puzzled expressions.

Apparently, I had arrived at Siyoungwon while lost in thought.

‘Come to think of it, Red Wind is stopped, too.’

I must have been overthinking things.

“Ah.”

I sighed and dismounted Red Wind, but something went wrong. The moment I stepped down, my foot slipped, and my body tilted.

Whether the floor was slippery or my foot was twisted.

And Cheonho, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, supported me as if embracing me.

“Are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m fine.”

I regained my balance and straightened up, gently pushing Cheonho away. Fortunately, nothing seemed to hurt.

‘Come to think of it, I misunderstood because he kept doing this.’

I sighed deeply and headed into Siyoungwon.

“Let’s go.”

“……Yes.”

Cheonho’s voice, following behind, sounded somewhat listless, but I pretended not to notice, feeling guilty for retrieving the jade ring without a word.

‘Hmm. I wonder if he already noticed.’

It would be nice if he just thought I lost it and forgot about it.

‘I got my stuff back, but is it weird that I’m being so cautious?’

It would have been better if Cheonho had been honest from the beginning.

Was I that untrustworthy?

I was the one who helped him escape.

Thinking that way, a part of me still felt resentful, despite understanding his situation.

“Oh? Young Miss!”

“It’s been a while, Ah-young?”

“Ehehehe.”

As if to soothe my uncomfortable feelings, the familiar faces of Siyoungwon greeted me.

“You’ve been so busy lately that it’s hard to catch a glimpse of you. What brings you here today?”

“I had an exam today. Finished a bit early because of it. Hehe.”

Ah-young, still bigger than me, suddenly hugged me.

Soi looked anxious, but I didn’t resist and let Ah-young embrace me. I guess she’s strong because she’s well-fed.

“So, did you do well on the exam?”

“I may look like this, but my grades are pretty good, you know?”

Giggle.

Laughter spread around at Ah-young’s words.

‘It’s comforting to be here.’

Of course, Siyoungwon also had a lot of work, so coming here didn’t necessarily make me feel better, but seeing the children growing up made me feel good naturally.

“I’ll bring Court Lady Min!”

“No. I’ll go. I have something to talk about anyway.”

I had to talk about meeting the court ladies who served Crown Prince Seongwon.

I should also talk about Un-yeong while I’m here.

While Soi and I went inside, Cheonho was surrounded by the children.

“Why does Cheonho oppa [term for older brother used by young girls] look so down?”

“Huh? No, just… a little.”

He seemed to be trying hard to avoid them today, so I said a word.

“You came all this way, so why don’t you play with the kids a bit?”

“Yes…….”

He seemed a bit down today. Is it because of the jade ring after all?

Court Lady Min rushed out when she heard I had come, so I grabbed her again and went inside.

“Are you saying that the court ladies who served Crown Prince Seongwon showed such rude behavior to the Princess?”

“Yeah. It’s a bit strange, right?”

“That’s impossible. It’s as if they are still court ladies of the East Palace [residence of the Crown Prince]. No, even if they were court ladies of the East Palace, how could they be so rude to the Princess…….”

“It’s okay. Such a thing can’t happen anyway. They don’t seem to be in good shape, so maybe they’re trying to cope that way.”

Compared to Court Lady Min in front of me, it was like heaven and earth.

This side was now a seasoned entrepreneur, and that side looked like someone who had gone bankrupt and retired.

However, there were things that bothered me.

“I don’t really know Court Lady Im.”

“Well, the Princess wouldn’t know her well since she left the palace when she was still young.”

I just had the impression that she was a mean and nasty person, but I didn’t know anything else.

And that she cherished Crown Prince Seongwon terribly? It didn’t seem like that was what Crown Prince Seongwon wanted….

‘Crown Prince Seongwon was too soft on his people.’

Even if the court ladies dared to be subtly rude to me, the Princess, he would be angry, but he couldn’t bring himself to punish or dismiss them.

Thinking about it now, if Crown Prince Seongwon had been a bit firmer at the time, Court Lady Im wouldn’t have dared to give us hints through our palace maids in that way.

On the other hand, the current Crown Prince seemed to have a bit more temper… a more resolute side.

Whether that was due to his innate personality or because he grew up in a very different environment.

“Court Lady Im raised Crown Prince Seongwon, so Crown Prince Seongwon did not treat her carelessly.”

“So her personality became so arrogant.”

“I can’t deny that.”

She was like that even when she was a court lady of the East Palace, so how much more would she have been if she had become a court lady of the Great Hall [main palace] later?

‘If Crown Prince Seongwon had lived a little longer, we might have fought to the point where he had to choose between me and Court Lady Im.’

I can’t imagine it.

“She must have thought that she would become a court lady of the Great Hall in the future. In many ways… she was not an ordinary person.”

Court Lady Min muttered softly, ‘Her personality…….’, but I heard it quite clearly.

And that was why I came to see Court Lady Min.

“Um. But, you know.”

“?”

“Would such a person meet a man after leaving the palace?”

“Yes?”

Court Lady Min frowned as if she had heard something absurd. It was a face rarely seen on Court Lady Min, who always tried to manage her expression in front of me.

“In the first place, a court lady shouldn’t do that, but there’s no way that person would do that. Ah, I could understand if the other person was a powerful person…….”

“It wasn’t.”

“That can’t be.”

Court Lady Min shook her head firmly.

“She would have known that if the current Crown Prince held a wedding and even took a concubine, they might be called back, so there’s no way she would have acted carelessly. It’s ambiguous for us to return to the palace.”

“Um. Sorry. It’s a bit like that.”

It wasn’t that the court ladies in Siyoungwon lacked qualifications or anything like that.

It meant that if they were gone, Siyoungwon wouldn’t function, so everyone wouldn’t call them even out of consideration for me.

It wasn’t a bad look since it was under the Princess, not someone else.

When I apologized, Court Lady Min smiled faintly and shook her head.

“Don’t say that. We are satisfied with living in Siyoungwon. Serving nobles in the palace was also an honor, but seeking and nurturing people according to the Princess’s will here is also considered an honorable thing.”

“I’m grateful if you think so.”

I also felt sorry for making them work excessively.

“Has there been anything special lately? The reports that came in the mail didn’t seem to have any major problems.”

“Yes. There are no major problems with the operation of Siyoungwon itself, but…….”

“Why?”

“……It doesn’t seem appropriate for me to say……. Why don’t you go see Jia while you’re here?”

“Jia? She’s always busy and not in Siyoungwon.”

It wasn’t that I was cold-hearted and didn’t see her.

I heard she was so famous as a local attorney (lawyer) that she wasn’t often at Siyoungwon during the day.

‘I don’t think she needs a scholarship…….’

Besides, girls who studied a bit and were good at speaking followed Jia around, and those girls started taking on work instead of Jia and became local attorneys.

The perception wasn’t good in the first place, but now, because of Jia and the children, it seemed like people were saying that local attorneys were a lowly job that only women did.

I should tell her to get paid a lot.

‘Anyway, if it becomes a high-paying job, noble men who have studied a bit will flock to it, so it might be better for our kids to preempt it quickly.’

“There are many people looking for Jia, so she doesn’t have time to rest, but these days, other children are also working as local attorneys. Thanks to that, she sometimes rests these days and helps with Siyoungwon work.”

“It’s unsettling that she’s working at Siyoungwon even on her days off, but it’s a relief that she’s resting anyway. By the way, is there anything dangerous?”

“I heard that there are sometimes people who cause trouble after losing a trial, but fortunately, there is the name of Siyoungwon, so I heard that no one dares to make dangerous gestures.”

“She has also learned martial arts, so she should be okay to some extent…….”

If several men rushed at her with a plan, learning self-defense wouldn’t be enough. Of course, it wasn’t like she was alone either.

After all, it was fortunate that the name value of Siyoungwon was useful above all else.

There was a rumor, believe it or not, that a man who tried to do something terrible to a child living in Siyoungwon was found with a broken leg the next day, but well… I don’t know anything about it.