Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 121

“Councilor Heo, actually, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

Seongji, who had come to the Hyeminseo [Joseon Dynasty medical institution] to discuss medical texts, stopped in her tracks, puzzled by Sehwa’s quiet approach and request, as Sehwa checked their surroundings.

They had promised to humbly learn from each other if there were areas they didn’t understand, so it wasn’t strange for her to be stopped, but it wasn’t something that needed to be done so secretly.

“Sehwa? What’s wrong? Is it about medical practice?”

“It’s not that. It’s about the Ongju’s [Princess’s] health.”

“Is there something wrong with the Ongju?”

“It’s not that something is wrong. It’s just….”

Sehwa recalled the time she had examined the Ongju’s pulse a while ago.

‘That unique pulse, it must be….’

She had thought about it since she heard the story of the Ongju not growing. Maybe it was a disease she could cure.

Among the medical skills taught by her eccentric but incredibly skilled teacher, there was also a treatment for a disease that matched the Ongju’s current symptoms.

However, she had never performed it on anyone before.

“I… might be able to cure it.”

“Really?”

Seongji’s eyes widened in surprise.

No one had ever found a clue to cure the Ongju’s disease of not growing.

But could this young female doctor really cure the disease?

“Why are you only saying this now? His Majesty and the Crown Prince have both worked so hard to cure the Ongju’s illness.”

“But I am just a medical woman, and I only know the method of treatment in my head. I have never treated anyone with that method, so how can I speak with certainty?”

“That’s… true.”

The Ongju’s illness was known to be caused by poison. However, no one knew what the poison was, and there were no patients with the same symptoms.

So, she had to be grateful for barely escaping the crisis of death and thought she had no choice but to live with the aftereffects of the poison.

“Would you trust me and receive my treatment?”

“…And if it fails, you can’t take responsibility for the consequences.”

“There is only one life at stake.”

The Ongju’s life, and her own life as well.

If even a slight problem arises that does not match the knowledge she has, what will happen to the Ongju?

She hadn’t seen her many times, but she knew enough about what kind of person the Ongju was.

Even at a young age, she was saving many people.

If she had a disease, she wanted to cure her if she could.

But what if she failed, what would happen to such an Ongju?

“Let’s study a little more. There might be similar cases somewhere.”

“Yes.”

“If I could, I would like to cure you. The Ongju is a really good person.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

When Sehwa ate the sweet rice pancake that the Ongju had brought a while ago, she felt like she was going to cry.

Childhood, that unforgettable day.

It was exactly the same taste as when she had escaped from the capital with her nanny and walked along the mountain path, melting in her mouth.

***

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to eat this?”

“Yes. I asked Songbi to make it especially.”

The Ongju, with her round and cute face, was smiling brightly, as if she was so happy to be able to go out and play again.

Cheonho stared at the delicious-looking treat in front of him with happy eyes and brought it to his mouth.

“It’s delicious.”

“Right?”

The young Ongju mumbled happily, saying that Songbi’s creations were the most delicious.

‘Cute.’

When he saw the little miss guiding her young siblings in front of the Hyeminseo, he doubted his eyes and his memory.

Of course, he knew the rumor that the Ongju wasn’t growing, but the thought that it couldn’t be true was greater.

He begged the child holding the snack he received from the miss, giving him money, and was able to get half of the snack the child was holding.

It was the same taste as the day he first met the Ongju.

A sweet taste that could not be found anywhere else.

Really, the Ongju hadn’t grown.

When he was young, he had expected that one day when he met his first love again, he would surely meet a beautiful girl.

And as he got older, he realized that he would never meet that precious miss again.

But surprisingly, the girl of his first love, whom he met again so easily, hadn’t changed at all from the day he last met her.

She was exactly as he had seen her that day.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t heard the rumor that the Ongju wasn’t growing.

But he never thought that such an absurd thing would really happen. He just thought it was a strange rumor.

He hoped that such an unfortunate thing hadn’t happened to the Ongju.

Reality is as it seems.

‘But if that were the case, I wouldn’t be sitting here eating snacks with her.’

In a way, this wasn’t so bad either.

The snack given by his first love was still sweet, the child was still cute, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her because he didn’t know what dangerous things she might do.

Cheonho thought that if he could protect the child who had protected him that day in this way, it wouldn’t be so bad.

When Jia first went down to Jeolla-do [province in southwestern Korea], she secretly conspired with the children who were going to other regions as well.

“They said that even if we go now, we can return to Hanyang [old name for Seoul] every year if we want to.”

“That’s right.”

“Then, whenever we come back, shouldn’t we bring something that the miss would be happy about?”

“Something that the miss would be happy about?”

The children were confused by those words.

Even if you didn’t know that Siyoungwon’s miss, Sia, was an Ongju, she was obviously a miss from a wealthy family.

Her skin was fair and her complexion was good, and her black hair with colorful hair ties was always shiny. Her clothes were always neat, pretty, and sparkling, and her small hands were soft, white, and clean.

She smelled good when you were near her, and her behavior was somehow elegant.

She was knowledgeable and knew everything you asked, and she always had amazing ideas.

Thanks to that, even the fact that she hadn’t grown for several years sometimes felt mysterious.

Of course, if you spend a lot of time with her, you’ll know that she has a personality that throws mystery into the chicken coop as feed.

Anyway, what kind of gift would make a wealthy person who guarantees the food, clothing, and shelter of the Siyoungwon children happy?

When the children were all tilting their heads, Jia opened her mouth.

Among the Siyoungwon children, the person with the deepest connection with the miss was naturally Jia.

So, everyone would consult Jia about things related to the miss.

And that day was the same.

The person who knew better than anyone what would make the miss happy was also Jia.

“The miss wants to record everything.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Flowers, trees, and animals.”

“She even draws them, names them, and adds annotations.”

“She drew our faces one by one and named us too.”

“She added annotations too.”

The Siyoungwon’s list of people had the children’s face drawings, names, and simple characteristics, and everyone liked it.

It felt like a special record that only they had.

And the person who made such a unique thing was Siyoungwon’s miss.

“Anyway, the miss likes to record things.”

“That’s right.”

“So, we’re going to record everything we can in the provinces we go to. It would be even better if we could classify them. How about that?”

At Jia’s words, the children all opened their eyes wide and nodded.

“Ah, that’s good.”

“The miss liked the picture map we made too.”

“She also liked the old stories we heard from the grandmothers in the neighborhood.”

“She likes old things too.”

“She’ll like how to make delicious food too. She made a cookbook too.”

“We have to find plants that only grow in that region.”

Jia’s opinion was unanimously approved.

The Siyoungwon’s miss, who seemed to have everything, uniquely liked to record and collect such trivial things, so the children had to sell their labor instead of money to give the miss something that would make her happy.

In fact, everyone was happy about that. After all, the miss had more money.

Of course, there were many children who were worried about the operation of Siyoungwon and wanted to earn money to help.

But that was different from a gift.

Everyone liked the miss, so they wanted to give her a gift that the person they liked would be happy about.

And so, Jia, who left Siyoungwon and went down to the Jeolla-do region, taught people to read and write as originally planned, while recording all sorts of things.

Among the children who accompanied Jia, there was a child who was good at drawing, so he drew pictures and added them.

“So, that’s how much you’ve collected.”

It felt like she hadn’t stayed that long, but she sighed as she saw the luggage that had become heavy before she knew it.

If she said she was a book merchant (a book broker, with the image of carrying books around), wouldn’t people believe her?

‘But I wrote down things that the Ongju would like, so there’s a lot.’

She wondered if it would have been better to send it back then, as letters were exchanged from time to time to check if she was doing well, but honestly, she wasn’t sure if it wouldn’t get lost, and she didn’t want to because she wanted to see the face that received it in person.

‘She’ll like it, right?’

Old stories that all the locals here know, and all kinds of superstitions and rumors.

Recipes for foods that I’ve never heard of in Hanyang.

Birds and fish that only live here.

If there was even a slightly unique farming method, she wrote it down too.

Reading, recording, collecting.

Are all Ongjus like that? Anyway, her taste is unique.

Thanks to that, people who saw her running around here and there recording things didn’t know exactly what she was doing, but they treated her well, saying that she was working hard.

‘They said I could rest for a while after I go back this time, but I’ve been thinking about what I should do, but nothing really comes to mind.’

She wanted to study more, but she couldn’t just keep studying without working.

Teaching writing here and monitoring whether the stewards were exploiting the tenants was ultimately like receiving money from the Ongju.

Of course, teaching children at Siyoungwon was rewarding, but she wanted to find another job that she could do with her own strength.

She had studied medicine a little, but it didn’t seem to suit her.

While she was packing her luggage and worrying, she heard a voice calling her from outside.

“Teacher! Teacher, are you inside?”

“What’s wrong?”

Thanks to teaching writing, the people in the neighborhood all called the people from Siyoungwon teachers.

Thinking about it, the word teacher seemed to have started when they used it to call the adults who taught writing and martial arts at Siyoungwon, but when they taught the children that way here, the title of the people from Siyoungwon just became teachers for everyone, children and adults alike.

When she went out, it was the children she usually taught writing to.

“The uncle said he brought something to thank the teacher for helping him with the lawsuit last time.”

The middle-aged couple who followed the children bowed deeply to Jia.

“I made jijimi [Korean pancake], so I brought it for you to taste.”

“And this is dried corvina [type of fish], so take it and eat it.”

“You gave me a reward last time too. Why did you bring all this again?”