Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 102

‘The Crown Prince doesn’t seem to know more about what happened that day.’

He seems to have received a proper report, though.

But he doesn’t seem to know that I was the one who was kidnapped.

‘If the Crown Prince doesn’t know, the King won’t either. That’s a relief.’

Both the King and the Crown Prince probably know that I sometimes sneak out of the palace, but they’ve been turning a blind eye to it. But if I get caught up in something dangerous, they wouldn’t just stand by and watch.

‘They’d either forbid me from going out, or make me ride in a palanquin [a covered sedan chair carried on poles] with several people like a real royal.’

That kind of thing is necessary when going on a trip or when visiting the palace after living outside, but it’s just a nuisance when I’m just hanging out like now.

Of course, my going out isn’t just for fun.

‘Ugh. Do I have to uncover a rebellion?’

I’m getting tired of playing the part of a Princess.

To be honest, a sudden rebellion seems like a bit of a stretch, but considering that this world is following the original timeline quite closely, it’s a plausible deduction.

‘Ugh, damn it. I want to reject this plausibility…….’

Of course, even if a rebellion does happen, it won’t be right now, and it’s likely to be a few years from now.

As far as I remember, it’s not yet time for a rebellion to occur.

Besides, in most cases, a rebellion isn’t something that can be prepared in a day or two.

Of course, there are cases where it’s done more impulsively, but those cases are only possible if the person is a military officer leading troops, and appointments are made very carefully because of the risk.

So, if someone with power or ambition is plotting a rebellion, there’s bound to be signs.

‘They need money, soldiers, and weapons.’

And justification.

Because of the justification, regime change revolutions rarely happen.

Since there’s no justification or benefit to overthrowing the Joseon dynasty [the last Korean dynasty, ruling from 1392 to 1910] itself, it’s common to enthrone one of the royals as king.

‘Since Grand Prince Suyang [later King Sejo], there haven’t been many cases where a royal himself led the rebellion.’

Because of the precedent of Grand Prince Suyang himself causing a rebellion, royals were no longer allowed to have power.

Here, too, there’s a precedent of a royal with power causing a rebellion, so it’s forbidden.

Still, when it comes to rebellion, the usual method is to enthrone a royal.

‘The Crown Prince doesn’t have any living male siblings right now.’

During the reign of Yeonsangun [a Joseon dynasty king known for his tyranny], Grand Prince Jinseong, later King Jungjong, was the only direct line Grand Prince, so he was forcibly enthroned as king.

But what if a rebellion were to happen now?

‘The people…… don’t have any major complaints about the royal family right now.’

The fact that the Crown Prince isn’t married is an unsettling factor, but he’s still young and healthy, so it’s not a big problem.

If there are no descendants, it’s not difficult to adopt one of the royal children as an heir.

So, if you want to seize power, it’s easier and safer to build relationships with influential royals.

Rebellion? It’s something that usually happens at least once in historical dramas, but it’s not an easy thing to do.

‘But it’s not a rare occurrence either.’

Plots to assassinate the Crown Prince are also included in the category of rebellion.

When evidence was found that the deposed Hong cursed Crown Prince Seongwon, he was immediately arrested for treason.

So, even now, there may be people somewhere who resent the King or the Crown Prince and are planning a rebellion.

In addition, recently, the King and the Crown Prince have been subtly acting as if there are differences of opinion between them.

Probably, once the King officially declares the regency, they will pretend to be at odds and address the issue of the slave system.

In these cases, the King is usually the conservative and the Crown Prince is the reformer.

Thanks to this, there are many influential people who own many slaves who are uncomfortable with the Crown Prince.

In fact, I am the royal who owns the most slaves right now, but I don’t have any complaints.

‘It still seems like it’s just the Crown Prince’s idea.’

They were planning to lead the state affairs as they wanted while pretending to be in conflict.

In the process, my father told me in advance that he would soon have the Crown Prince act as regent, so that I wouldn’t be surprised or anxious.

Of course, I wasn’t surprised about the regency.

Because in the original story, the Crown Prince had been acting as regent since his early twenties.

Besides, to be honest, looking at the King, I couldn’t tell him not to.

‘His health isn’t severely bad, but he seems tired.’

He tries not to show it in front of me as much as possible, but my father still looked quite tired after the incident with Crown Prince Seongwon.

Even though he’s not at an age where he should be thinking about retirement, he seemed to want to hand everything over to the Crown Prince as soon as possible.

‘So, he’s just handing over the Crown Princess issue too.’

The person who should be urging the Crown Prince more than anyone else is the quietest, so the Crown Prince is acting like that.

Anyway, looking at the situation, there might be some guys who want to try a rebellion, but it seemed too early.

After all, isn’t it too much of a sudden development in the current situation?

‘Well, it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.’

Even if it’s not a rebellion, those guys were criminals who committed high-value fraud, and they were heinous criminals who kidnapped a child like me.

‘I won’t let them get away with it……!’

After escaping safely, I was filled with regret, wondering if I should have done this back then? Should I have done that? Wasn’t there another way?

Thinking coldly, I was treated preciously and lived peacefully, although I experienced some dangerous things when I was young, but there’s no way I could have done something more active in that situation with these short arms and legs!

It was an immutable fact that I was uncomfortable.

And the solution in this case was to eliminate the root cause directly.

‘Kidnapping a child is a serious crime in any neighborhood.’

Moreover, if it becomes known that the kidnapped person is a royal, how many levels will the punishment increase…….

Of course, I have no intention of letting it be known.

The King and the Crown Prince are busy people, and I don’t want to make them worry unnecessarily.

Above all, I didn’t know what kind of things Soi and Vice-Captain Seong, who accompanied me, would hear.

I had to keep telling them not to tell the superiors the truth because they felt guilty.

‘It’s not like I was targeted; I was just kidnapped because I happened to be there, so I told them not to make a big deal out of it.’

And first of all, I omitted the story that they were trying to harm me.

However, everyone agreed that they were fraudsters and dangerous guys, so everyone was cooperative in finding their whereabouts.

‘Hmm. I hope Siyeongwon [a palace guard unit] doesn’t know. Fortunately, I silenced the kids at the tavern before the news reached Siyeongwon.’

I know that my influence on the Siyeongwon kids is quite large.

But to be honest, the children are closer to and more afraid of Court Lady Min than me. If Court Lady Min grills them, will the children be able to keep their mouths shut?

‘I’m a little scared to go to Siyeongwon.’

Court Lady Min, at least, was likely to suspect something…….

First, I decided to move under the pretext that I was almost scammed.

***

Inside the palace, information was exchanged at my private residence in case words might leak out.

Vice-Captain Seong, who knew the truth, was more active than anyone else.

“Is everything you said about the situation when Princess woke up all you know?”

“Yeah. I don’t know the exact location either.”

I was blindfolded and carried around, so how could I know?

But it was definitely a mountain road, so even if I hadn’t been blindfolded, I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to remember it.

In any case, to sum it up, I wanted to find the place where I was kidnapped, but it was difficult to find the exact location.

“I think the person who saved me that day might know something.”

“Why didn’t you hold him back?”

“He said his uncle was waiting for him and he had to leave quickly. I was a little out of it at the time…….”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be sorry.”

He was a lifesaver, so I felt a little bad that I couldn’t properly thank him.

He was definitely a boy who still had a youthful look…… He was quite big, so I couldn’t guarantee whether he was really a boy or just young-looking.

‘He had a cool impression and seemed a bit handsome…….’

But he left quickly that day, so I couldn’t hear about his identity properly.

I heard from the tavern that he was a face I had never seen in the neighborhood.

“You said he was handsome.”

“Yeah.”

“If a handsome boy that Princess said was so handsome lived in the neighborhood, there’s no way people wouldn’t know.”

“Is that so?”

Vice-Captain Seong chuckled as I tilted my head.

“Crown Prince is so handsome and refined that ordinary men wouldn’t catch Princess’s eye, but you said he was handsome.”

“Did I?”

I asked Soi, who was the closest to my external age, for an objective judgment.

“Princess doesn’t say that someone is handsome very often.”

“I…… don’t see many men.”

“You went to Gyujanggak [Royal Library] often.”

“No, most of them are old men…… married men.”

Besides, they are said to be young talents, but except for a very few geniuses, the age at which they pass the civil service examination is…….

Of course, it’s also a place where a very few geniuses gather.

“Besides, it’s not really appropriate for me to evaluate appearances there.”

Most of them were still low-ranking officials, but they were marked as close aides to the Crown Prince.

They were people who had to maintain a good relationship with me.

I was unintentionally busy working together…… Ah, so I didn’t notice their faces.

Facing the unhappy reality, I decided to turn the story back to the original topic.

“So, it’s hard to find that boy.”

“Yes. Didn’t you have any other conversations?”

“Um…… He was near the scene where I was kidnapped, and he said he followed me after hearing that a child had been kidnapped and found me.”

“That’s…… a wonderful young man.”

“A handsome boy has a great personality.”

Vice-Captain Seong and Soi nodded in admiration.

‘If that’s all…… it’s really appreciated.’

First, Vice-Captain Seong decided to inquire around the tavern where I was found, referring to the description I heard.

And after a while, Vice-Captain Seong found out that there was a small cottage in the mountains where I was found that woodcutters sometimes used.

“But when I went, it was already empty.”

“Are you sure that’s the place?”

“As Princess said, there was a window in the shed that a child could pass through.”

It would be certain if I went to see it, but everyone opposed it because it was dangerous.

Even Vice-Captain Seong didn’t go alone but took his old colleagues from Siyeongwon with him.

It was a waste of time because there was no one there, but it was fortunate that no one was hurt.

“What were those guys?”

“Wouldn’t it be a place where counterfeit sellers used temporarily?”

“I wish it was just that.”

This time, I gathered at my private residence to hear the results of the inquiry. There was no gain.

Only four people knew exactly about what happened that day: me, Soi, Vice-Captain Seong, and Youngseon, so I was keeping my mouth shut to the others for now.

Vice-Captain Seong seemed to be very heartbroken about what happened that day, so he didn’t try to leave my side, which made me worried.

Well, that’s Soi’s job.

‘I was surprised too, but is it too much…….’

It would be different if they were aiming for me, but it was just an accident.

‘That man definitely said it was the nineteenth. That day was the twenty-fifth, so if he wasn’t talking about the past, he’s talking about the nineteenth of next month—no, this month.’

Now I have to look for the Dabanggol gibang [a traditional Korean house of entertainment] that they were talking about……