Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 122

“Oh my. If it weren’t for you, teacher, I would have lost my land without even knowing it. I’m so grateful. I wish you could stay longer, but you say you’re returning to Hanyang [the capital city of Joseon dynasty].”

“The other teachers will remain here, so don’t worry too much. And there will be new people coming as well.”

The children sent from Siyoungwon [a special educational institution] to other regions were generally highly educated and had some basic legal knowledge.

Jia had become interested in the jade ring incident, which was the reason she first met Sia, and studied it more than others, but it wasn’t very useful in Hanyang.

No one would dare to argue with someone from Siyoungwon, and even if problems arose, other adults would step in.

But unexpectedly, after coming down to the provinces, that seemingly useless knowledge occasionally shone.

At first, there was a strong atmosphere of exclusion as a stranger from Hanyang, but as she gradually intervened and helped when disputes arose, people began to rely on her quite a bit.

‘Studying law… might not be a bad idea.’

In fact, she didn’t dislike someone relying on her like this. Perhaps Princess Jaga felt this way when she looked at the children of Siyoungwon.

“Just a moment. You’ve given us this, so it would be good to eat it together.”

The children of Siyoungwon never went alone for safety reasons, so Jia was naturally not living alone.

The young lady and the teachers of Siyoungwon asked the children to travel in mixed-gender groups of at least five or six people.

This was a policy to prevent them from being taken lightly or even encountering bandits, as they were going to unfamiliar areas and were young, even childish, people.

‘They didn’t send anyone who hadn’t learned martial arts, but they still worry so much.’

They weren’t very aware of it themselves, but the children sent out as ‘teachers’ from Siyoungwon were among the best outputs from Siyoungwon, combining both literary and martial skills.

Thus, the other ‘teachers’ who came out at Jia’s call also welcomed the snacks they had received.

They shared light conversation while drinking the jijimi [Korean pancake] and alcohol that the couple had brought.

“Any news these days?”

“Teachers always ask about that.”

“It’s no fun just reading books; the stories of people’s lives are the most interesting.”

“Hahahaha. You’re right, teacher.”

“Do you know that everyone is pricking up their ears for interesting rumors because the teachers like them?”

“Yes? Hahahaha.”

She had collected so many stories that now everyone was asking for new stories or rumors on their own.

It was a little embarrassing, but also grateful. Frankly, it was comfortable.

“Ah, come to think of it, I heard a rather unusual rumor recently.”

“Ooh.”

In fact, she wasn’t sure if this was for Princess Jaga or just their hobby.

***

The Siyoungwon she returned to after a long time was the same as ever.

“There are still so many people.”

“Doesn’t it seem like there are more?”

The number of people who returned this time, including Jia, was not small.

Everyone seemed to be suffering from homesickness, which was unexpected. Funnily enough, they laughed as they watched each other go to wash up as soon as they arrived at Siyoungwon, as if it were a habit.

“Wow, Jia unnie [older sister], it’s been a while!”

“Ayoung has grown again. So, has everything been alright?”

After greeting the adults, including Court Lady Min, and washing up, she entered the room she used to share with the children after a long time, and her body naturally stretched out like taffy.

Jia, who was sprawled out on the floor, greeted her younger siblings whom she was meeting after a long time.

Ayoung, who had grown taller in the meantime, dried Jia’s hair and told her about what had been happening.

‘Actually, I heard most of the rumors on the way here.’

After all, the tavern is where rumors spread the fastest.

Moreover, people from Siyoungwon tended to use Princess Jaga’s franchise taverns as much as possible, even if they were a bit more expensive.

There was a possibility that they would know someone, and it was reassuring in many ways, and they also wanted to spend money at their own company if possible.

But the most important reason was hygiene!

‘It’s good to be clean.’

It was so difficult to instill hygiene habits in the children, even more so than studying.

Everyone could deeply feel Princess Jaga’s desire to supply soap.

“There are many things happening.”

“Ah… I also heard about the Princess Jaga kidnapping incident and the events that followed.”

“Our young lady just looks like a small child if you don’t know her. To kidnap such a small child.”

The rumor that Princess Jaga was kidnapped while going to Hyeminseo [a government-run clinic] in plain clothes to check the working attitude of the Hyeminseo medical officers was rampant in every tavern she stopped by on the way from Jeolla-do [a province in Korea].

“Maybe she was just out for a stroll.”

“People who don’t know wouldn’t know that she frequents Hyeminseo.”

And even those who knew the fact didn’t really deny or correct it.

What did it matter? As long as the impression that Princess Jaga was a good person didn’t change, the details didn’t matter.

And in fact,

“We spread that rumor.”

“Ah, really?”

“Yeah. They said it was better than strange rumors spreading.”

“Hahahaha. Is the young lady safe?”

“Of course. She visited a few days ago.”

You could tell just by looking at the expressions of the Siyoungwon people.

“Everyone is returning these days, so she’ll come to see you again soon.”

“…Has she changed?”

“No. She hasn’t changed even a little bit from when you left Siyoungwon.”

Ayoung shook her head, holding her index finger and thumb close together.

“I see…”

“Ah, and you probably don’t know this rumor.”

“?”

“The young lady has a new man.”

“What?”

There was only one reaction I could give to Ayoung’s absurd nonsense.

“It’s unfair that she has a new man when she doesn’t even have an old one…”

It wouldn’t be so unfair if there was something.

“Isn’t Seong-ssi ajusshi [Mr. Seong, an honorific title] the old man?”

“Seong-ssi ajusshi wasn’t sent anywhere. He came with us today.”

Seong Gyumsa-bok, the epitome of ruthlessness, who was famous in the palace for mercilessly exploiting Gyumsa-bok, was just a Seong-ssi ajusshi to these children.

Anyway, the children were more interested in the new face than the ajusshi they were tired of seeing.

“So, who is this new bodyguard attached to the young lady?”

“Over there, over there, there’s a big person.”

At Jia’s words, Ayoung excitedly pointed to the playground equipment in the Siyoungwon yard.

I naturally turned my gaze to where Ayoung was pointing.

The playground was closed at night, but the playground equipment looked particularly weathered, perhaps because the children were riding and spinning it day and night in Siyoungwon.

‘Are they checking that properly?’

I hope there are no accidents where they only care about the customer’s equipment and don’t do safety checks on the playground equipment actually used here.

While I was distracted, Jia frowned and asked back. It seemed that some new people had come in while the children who had left as teachers were away from Siyoungwon, so they couldn’t distinguish them well yet.

“Oh, the person turning the playground equipment over there?”

“No, the person riding it.”

At Ayoung’s words, Jia and the children looked puzzled.

“?”

“Riding it?”

That’s too much. The Chetam people all had fun when they first rode it. It was discrimination.

Of course, I understood why the children were puzzled.

“He’s fifteen years old; he’s at the age where he wants to ride it.”

“Ah…?”

At the unexpectedly young age, the children, whom I call children but are actually young people around twenty years old, looked dumbfounded, but it couldn’t be helped. It was the truth.

Knowing that I was looking at him, Cheonho, who had been dragged away by the children as soon as he arrived here, looked at me with a face asking what was going on.

I just waved my hand blandly.

There was no need to guard me even inside Siyoungwon, so I was letting him play appropriately, but he seemed to be mixing in well unexpectedly.

Come to think of it, on the day I first brought Cheonho to Siyoungwon, the children dragged him away saying he had to pass some kind of test, and after a while, only Cheonho returned with a strangely triumphant face.

‘It seemed like something happened between the children, but I didn’t pretend to know.’

On the day I called Cheonho to the palace, the Crown Prince, who had called him to praise him but ended up immediately moving on to the interview, liked Cheonho but decided to postpone formally hiring him as a guard for now.

It seemed that the fact that he was too young was a big reason.

In fact, fifteen was still too young to be hired as a princess’s guard.

So, although he gave him a separate reward, the Crown Prince, who said that he didn’t really know what the child was thinking, made a promise to always take the boy with me when I went out.

Of course, the Crown Prince decided to take care of the stipend separately.

From my point of view, I thought it was unnecessary interference, but if I insisted, the anger might go to Soi or Gai, or Songbi, who served me, so I decided to follow along obediently for now.

I had caused a lot of worry. It wasn’t my intention.

And after that, the Crown Prince called Cheonho and Cheonho’s uncle separately in a place where I wasn’t present and had an interview.

I don’t know the details, but I could imagine it to some extent.

Regarding this matter, Seong Gyumsa-bok and his colleagues were busy with their main job, but he would have been interested in the ability of Cheonho’s uncle, who had found out about the illegal slave trade before them.

Of course, there were many other complicated and troublesome things that happened, but I decided to focus on the children in front of me for now.

It had been a long time since I had met these children like this. Unlike what I had worried about, everyone looked healthy and seemed to have been doing well.

“So, what are your impressions of living in other places?”

But the answers were different again.

“Home is the best…?”

“Oh dear…”

The children must have been living too well in Siyoungwon.

Come to think of it, among the children who were sent, those who were suited to that area said they would stay longer, so we left them there, and only some of those who wanted to return came back.

Of course, we sent other children back, more than the number of children who returned. The first children had settled down to some extent, so it would be easier for those children to live there.

In fact, I was firmly cracking down on the idea that some of the children who went to other places might set up a household there, but of course, the children who returned didn’t fall under that category, and none of the remaining children had caused any trouble yet. In fact, the girls were close to being disgusted by it.

“After living only in Siyoungwon and going to other areas, I definitely felt the difference.”

“Besides, we don’t have the ability to start a family yet. We don’t have any money saved up because we’ve only been studying.”

“That’s… true.”

I wondered if I had ever criticized scholars who only studied for the past without any economic ability in front of the children, but the children were very negative about getting married without economic ability.

Of course, I could give them some money, but there were so many children, how could I take care of them all?

Maybe just a congratulatory gift.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t given the children any salary at all, but it seemed that they had spent a lot of it on living expenses.

And an unexpected word came out.

“I want to study more, so I don’t like marriage.”

“That’s right. It’s hard enough to take turns taking care of the children in Siyoungwon; how can you study after giving birth?”

“Your body gets damaged after giving birth too.”

“That’s right.”

The children are so realistic. Well, that’s a relief.

It’s better than being blinded by love, having children recklessly, and regretting it.

“It must have been hard to live away from home.”

“Haha. It was hard, but it was rewarding in its own way. Teaching was also fun.”