Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 1

I Was Born as the Daughter of a Lowly Concubine (1)

I lived for a little over 20 years without knowing it, but I recently realized something new.

Short, chubby arms and dainty hands.

The only time you can smile contentedly at these and think they’re cute is when they belong to someone else.

“Haa.”

“Does our little princess have some worries that she keeps sighing?”

As if hearing my sigh, the hand of the woman beside me reached out. I tried to crawl forward to avoid her touch, but it was a futile attempt.

‘Put me down…’

Contrary to my wishes, my light body was effortlessly lifted into the woman’s arms in an instant.

My tiny, fern-like hands could barely grasp one of her fingers, so resistance was indeed meaningless.

“Oh my, she’s so composed. Even as a daughter of a concubine, she’s still royalty, I suppose.”

The sound from above made me groan inwardly, but I endured it.

Slap! Slap!

“Woo! Ooo!”

“Oh my, oh my, little princess. You have so much energy.”

Of course, my hands didn’t stay still.

I knew how little it would hurt to be hit by my fern-like baby hands, but I needed to vent my frustration.

‘Even if they’re baby hands, they’ll still sting a bit.’

‘This is all I can do for now, but I’ll get you later.’

There are things you can and cannot say in front of a child.

That woman, no, the nanny, was unfit as a caregiver.

And as I could tell from the nanny’s level, my situation wasn’t great.

It had been several months since I was born as a baby here.

From the moment I first looked around, I couldn’t help but realize my situation.

I was still a baby who couldn’t even walk, but based on my observations, I had a rough idea.

‘I don’t know if this is the Joseon Dynasty [Korean kingdom from 1392 to 1897] I know or some other world, but judging from the way people dress and talk, it’s the royal court. If people who seem to be palace maids are calling me “Little Princess,” there’s only one conclusion.’

A baby who can legally exist in the royal court = the son or daughter of the king or crown prince.

But there aren’t many people attending to the mother who just gave birth, and her condition isn’t good?

‘She’s the daughter of a concubine or a *musuri*-born [water maid] concubine who isn’t favored and has no backing.’

That’s why the nanny is acting like this.

Moreover, the woman sitting in the back, who seemed to be a court lady, was condoning the nanny’s behavior.

It was a clear dereliction of duty, but those attitudes alone were enough to tell me that my position wasn’t very positive.

And that situation had been continuing since I came to my senses.

‘I didn’t want to feel the reward of watching historical dramas so diligently in this way.’

In fact, whether you’re a princess or an *ongju* [King’s daughter born to a concubine], life isn’t that great if you’re not the king’s favorite daughter.

Moreover, if your full-blooded brother is involved in treason, you could die together.

Of course, judging from the atmosphere, the possibility of having a full-blooded sibling seemed low.

‘Ugh. Why did I have to be an *ongju* who isn’t favored? Still, I don’t have to worry about making a living, so should I be thankful?’

In fact, rather than worrying about the distant future, which I couldn’t know, I was more concerned about the infant mortality rate if this was really the Joseon Dynasty.

I remembered being shocked when I found out that the second child of the main couple died early after watching a historical drama based on real history and looking up the actual history out of interest.

In the old days, many children in the royal family died so early.

‘Can my weak self survive with the medical technology of this era, which doesn’t even have vaccinations?’

I died unfairly and was reborn, so shouldn’t I live a long life this time?

The nanny patted my back as she saw me frowning while thinking such thoughts.

“Why is our little princess angry? Are you hungry?”

“Ooo.”

I lifted my head at the nanny’s words, but shook my head with all my might when I saw her fumbling with her clothes.

‘No! Just give me baby food!!’

It wasn’t that I particularly disliked breast milk, and I was a little hungry, but I didn’t want to eat what the nanny was giving me.

No, rather than not wanting to eat it, I couldn’t bring myself to eat it.

“Why does she keep refusing the milk?”

I glared at the nanny with a mix of annoyance as she sighed, but there was no way my intentions would be conveyed.

‘That’s because you’re trying to feed me honey every time you breastfeed me!’

Thanks to that, I had to break a sweat every time the nanny tried to feed me.

Don’t you know how dangerous honey is for babies?

‘I guess she doesn’t know.’

I’m not a prince, and there’s no real reason to kill an *ongju* born to an unfavored concubine.

They don’t seem to know here, but honey is a food that babies shouldn’t eat.

If I hadn’t had the memories of my past life and refused, I might have had to get a new life again in the worst case scenario.

‘The knowledge I gained from raising my sister and my 8-year-old younger brother is finally paying off.’

But the younger brother I raised died early in a car accident on the way back from a trip with my parents.

At that time, my younger brother died instantly, and my parents spent a long time in the intensive care unit.

My sister gave up going to college and jumped into the job market because of the hospital bills, but both of them eventually passed away without regaining consciousness.

‘My sister suffered a lot.’

The funeral arrangements and aftercare, as well as taking care of me, who was still in middle school, were all the responsibility of my sister, who had just become an adult.

My sister seemed like an adult at the time, but when I became the same age as her, I was not an adult at all.

‘She even postponed her wedding because of me. I fought with her a lot, telling her to get married because I would become independent.’

I found out about my sister’s boyfriend because of an oven that suddenly arrived on her birthday.

My sister’s boyfriend, who had given her a surprise gift to his girlfriend who had become interested in baking, and was scolded instead, sent me a gift every time he gave my sister a gift after that, wondering what he was thinking.

‘I even received a drama script, but I couldn’t even watch it properly.’

, a novel that was scheduled to be made into a drama. My future brother-in-law sent me the script, wondering how he got it. I had been a fan since the original web serialization, so I was looking forward to it, but unfortunately, I couldn’t read much of it because I was busy with part-time jobs and assignments.

‘I was going to go back and read more of it after work that day.’

While waiting for the signal at the crosswalk, a car suddenly rushed onto the sidewalk. Of course, I had no ability to avoid it, so the life of college student Yoon Si-ah ended there.

‘Why another car accident? What will my sister do now that she’s left alone?’

Still, I thought it was fortunate that I had a future brother-in-law as I lost consciousness.

After that, I had no proper memories.

When my body was sick, tired, and stuffy, I could hear my sister’s voice whispering softly.

‘I need to get better soon…’

A voice that wiped and cared for my body, which I couldn’t see properly and couldn’t move as I pleased.

‘I thought my sister was taking care of me.’

When I sobbed, thinking that I was making my sister do something she couldn’t do again, my sister comforted me and wiped away my tears.

‘Why are you so sad?’

‘Sister, I’ll be sure to repay you later.’

I thought so until I realized that I had been reborn as a baby.

Even when my blurry vision gradually became clear and I realized that I was in a Korean-style house, I only thought it was delirium or something like that caused by being too badly injured.

‘Reincarnation.’

But I could understand the words roughly. Shouldn’t the language be different, whether it’s a different era or a different world?

I was ignoring the nanny, who was busy alone, comforting me as I kept my mouth shut and turned my head, when a weak voice called me.

“Little Princess.”

When I turned my head in the opposite direction, a woman with a haggard complexion smiled and made eye contact.

It was my biological mother, with a very familiar face.

“Awoo.”

“Would you like to come here?”

“Woo.”

I stretched out my short arms and nestled quietly in my biological mother’s arms.

I’m sorry for making you suffer even though the nanny is here, but I had no choice but to ask my biological mother for breast milk in order to live.

‘The more I look at her, the more she resembles her.’

My biological mother, who always had a bad complexion due to the aftereffects of childbirth, looked exactly like my sister, who must have heard the sudden news of her only younger sister’s death.

‘The voice I thought was my sister’s was my biological mother’s voice.’

It can’t really be my sister, but is it because of this familiar face and voice that I feel comfortable, as if I’m with my sister?

She seems to be about the same age as my sister, so rather than a mother, she seems like a sister, so I keep calling her sister.

‘I wonder if my sister is doing well.’

I closed my eyes, clinging to the cozy touch.

I couldn’t help but feel disturbed when I saw my biological mother, who was already in poor health, exhausted from taking care of this young body that had been sick for a while after birth. But there was nothing I could do as a baby.

Just eating hard, sleeping well, and not crying and smiling well?

That was the best I could do as a baby.

“Giggle.”

“Are you full now?”

“Woo.”

I wanted to cheer up my mother, whose face looked particularly dark, but as soon as I was full, I quickly became sleepy.

“You’re still so young and weak…”

I’m not sick anymore, so I’ll grow up quickly.

‘Surely I won’t die easily after dying like that and being reborn?’

I patted my sister’s, no, my biological mother’s arm with my fern-like hand and fell asleep.

And the reason why my biological mother was so worried was naturally revealed before long.

***

“Court Lady Yoon. This has already been approved by His Majesty.”

“But she is still so frail, how can you send her to an unfamiliar environment? Please, give me a little more time.”

I opened my eyes to find the surroundings noisy.

‘I was sleeping so well for once.’

Who is making such a fuss where there is a baby?

I struggled to open my eyes.

“How can we continue to entrust the precious princess to a Royal Noble Consort who has not even received a rank? I will take good care of the princess, so you should take care of your postpartum recovery.”

“Please, the princess is weak. Please let me take care of her a little longer.”

As I turned my head towards the familiar, desperate voice, the hand holding me became even tighter.

‘What’s going on?’

The one holding me was a strange woman I had never seen before.

She was a glamorous beauty, and judging from her clothes and accessories, she didn’t seem to be of ordinary status.

“I heard that you also suffered from puerperal fever [infection of the reproductive organs following childbirth]? How can you take good care of a frail princess with such a body? Don’t worry, I will take good care of her and raise her.”

It sounded like a loving voice, but it was a masterpiece of nonsense.

‘It seems like the most difficult and sleepless period has passed, so why are you talking nonsense now?’

I haven’t seen almost anyone coming and going for the past few months, except for the nanny and the derelict court lady, no, I haven’t even heard their voices properly, so why are you suddenly pretending to care?

It’s been a while since I died in an accident and was reborn… I honestly don’t know how long it’s been, but it’s probably been a few months.

Anyway, it was an absurd statement even from a baby’s point of view.

“So don’t cause unnecessary trouble and go inside and take care of yourself.”

“Little Princess!”

“Hwaa!!”

Feeling my sister’s tearing voice getting farther and farther away, I struggled with all my might.

Unfortunately, my opinion was not reflected at all in this commotion centered around me.

Even though I’m resisting so hard.

“Hwaaeng!!”

“Oh my, didn’t you wake up the princess because of you?”

The strange woman, who was scolding my biological mother, called the nanny court lady as if it wasn’t her fault and tried to entrust me to her.

‘I don’t want to!!’

It would be refreshing if I could at least say that I didn’t want to, but that was a distant dream.

I resented my short, chubby limbs and my tongue that couldn’t even pronounce properly, but all I could do was struggle.

‘Don’t make my sister cry!!’

As I twisted and struggled, the woman kneeling and crying came into view.

“Kyaaak!!”

And at the same time, my head tilted downwards with a scream.

By the time I realized that the woman had dropped me, my body was already falling to the floor.

‘No, how can this life be even shorter?!’

It was unfair that I died young in an accident after only studying and working part-time at a young age, but how could it be worse than that?

The sister who was kneeling on the floor was reaching out to me with surprised eyes.

You shouldn’t look.

‘Ah, but if I die like this, will that person who was trying to drag me away be responsible?’

I hope I can get some sympathy with this and my sister can live well.

Many thoughts flashed through my mind in that short moment.

“Kyaaaak!!!”

I guess this is the end.

I let go of my strength and closed my eyes tightly, quickly organizing my thoughts.

Thud-