Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 132

Born as the Daughter of a Lowly Concubine 132

“I will take it.”

“Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

Sungji asked, her voice filled with concern, double-checking Maehyang’s statement.

“I heard that Youngwon Agassi [Youngwon, a respectful title for a young lady] said it was okay and that she’s having the Youngwon children get it too.”

“She even insisted on getting it done herself right away, so we had to stop her.”

Maehyang couldn’t hide her amusement at Sungji’s sighing words, giggling.

“If that person wasn’t sure, she wouldn’t have said so.”

“Agassi tells the children not to trust her blindly, even in such matters.”

“Isn’t that what makes her even more trustworthy?”

It was hard to argue with that.

“Actually, I once thought that if I got smallpox and became disfigured with pockmarks, Agassi might take pity on me and take me in.”

“…….”

“Even famous courtesans must have similar thoughts—wishing there was someone who would see them for who they are, no matter what their face becomes.”

“Maehyang.”

“But I won’t do that.”

Before Sungji’s face could fill with pity, Maehyang’s eyes crinkled into a charming smile.

“Because I have no doubt that Agassi will take me in someday. Agassi likes my singing the most. And wouldn’t she prefer a beautiful face? There’s no need to become pockmarked.”

“You are very confident.”

“Yes, of course. I am Maehyang, after all. Are you not confident, Doctor Heo?”

Like a crane among chickens [an idiom meaning standing out from the crowd], Maehyang was confident that she was the best, no matter how many singers there were in the world.

“It’s not that I’m not confident. How could a doctor practice medicine without confidence? It’s just that one must always be cautious.”

“Hehehe. So, I don’t want anyone other than Doctor Heo to administer that variolation [an early method of vaccination using live virus] to someone like me.”

“Me? Why?”

Sungji blinked, surprised by the unexpected words. Seeing this, Maehyang spoke with a haughty expression.

“Because you are the doctor Agassi trusts the most—the one she can truly rely on.”

“……If that’s the case, I have no choice.”

The two women looked at each other and smiled.

“Hoo. The progress doesn’t seem bad. Maehyang and the other courtesans who received the variolation are doing well?”

“Yes. Please don’t worry too much.”

But how could I not worry, knowing that several people had contracted smallpox here and there during that time?

Still, if I showed too much concern, it would only worry the palace staff, so it was better for me to just try to relax a little to break this cycle of worry.

That day, after meticulously checking the doctors’ requests and issuing the necessary instructions, I returned to the palace and was, in effect, confined to my residence.

The person who requested the confinement was Soi, and the ones who supported it were Gai and Songbi. The final approver was, of course, the Crown Prince.

There was no need to go as far as the King.

The reason was, ‘We don’t know what Ongju jaga [a princess’s personal residence] might do.’

‘Am I some kind of time bomb……?’

Contrary to my thoughts, many people unfortunately agreed with Soi’s idea, so I had to live a life of leisure, confined to my residence and only looking at letters for a while.

‘I guess I’m not exactly unemployed.’

To be an unemployed person receiving so many reports.

Moreover, a significant portion of the money spent on smallpox treatment was coming out of my own pocket.

‘The production of disinfectant alcohol seems to be stabilizing to some extent.’

Of course, the production tools were handled by experts, and since there were several experienced brewers from running the restaurant, the staff in charge surprisingly quickly grasped the principles after hearing the explanation.

I heard that it was a bit difficult to produce alcohol with the desired proof, but they said they could handle it, so I thought that was fine.

Since it was additional work outside of their existing duties, I was going to give them a bonus, but when they said it would be used to prevent the spread of smallpox and for treatment, they said they didn’t need extra pay, so I told them to give each person a few bars of soap.

Considering the price of soap, it was all the same.

‘I wish we could establish a mass production system to some extent.’

It seems like the clinic will be using it a lot.

Of course, mass production in this era is not the same as mass production by modern standards, so it’s more modest than you might think.

‘In the first place, the population isn’t that large, and it’s technically impossible.’

However, since alcohol is alcohol, there were some guys who secretly stole it, diluted it, and drank it, saying they were going to die.

Those who were caught were all ordered to do mandatory free service as caregivers for smallpox patients.

Yeah. The alcohol you drank was originally intended to be used by patients and medical staff for disinfection.

If someone gets smallpox because there isn’t enough disinfectant because of you, you might end up like the patients lying there.

After seeing the smallpox patients with their own eyes and directly caring for them, they all shed tears of repentance, saying they were wrong and declaring that they would never drink alcohol again.

There was no need to go that far…… but it’s not good to drink anyway, so that’s good.

‘It’s important to know the consequences of your actions.’

The visuals of smallpox patients must have been shocking, so I wondered if it was too much…… but thanks to that, no one has touched medical alcohol since then.

Several people who had already been infected with smallpox and showed symptoms appeared in the brothel after the first day, and everyone else was vaccinated with cowpox and recovered from mild symptoms.

Maehyang also suffered for a few days, but fortunately, I heard that she recovered without any aftereffects.

After that, she said she was fine because she wouldn’t get smallpox anymore, and she helped with nursing for a while.

And seeing Maehyang, even the doctors who had been reluctant to get vaccinated while giving the vaccinations decided to try it once.

‘That’s a good thing.’

After all, many people are reluctant to put cow pus into their bodies.

It’s like they think it’s rabies.

“How is Youngwon doing?”

“Doctors Heo Yeon-tae and Heo Sung-ji are vaccinating mainly healthy people first. Since there are so many people, they can’t do it all at once, so they’re doing it in order.”

“They’ll be sick for a while after the vaccination, so if they vaccinate everyone at once, there won’t be anyone to work, and it’ll be difficult in many ways.”

I heard that the children are afraid of getting pricked with needles, but they follow relatively obediently, while the chetamins [servants or lower class people] are surprisingly more reluctant and hate it. I wonder if they’ll be okay.

“Come to think of it, Officer Sung. You said you were investigating Doctor Heo. Is there anything unusual?”

Officer Sung, who had been summoned to report on Youngwon’s affairs, looked strangely surprised but soon shook his head.

“There was nothing special. However…….”

“However?”

Officer Sung checked to see if there was anyone else around and whispered in a small voice.

“It seems that Doctor Heo Sung-ji is not related to Doctor Heo Sung-tae by blood.”

“Hmm. I see.”

“You’re not even surprised.”

“Every family has a novel-like story.”

To be honest, my family was the family in a makjang chaebol drama [over-the-top Korean drama about wealthy families] itself, right? Brothers killing each other.

Of course, I decided to just keep these honest thoughts to myself, as I didn’t know how much more pity I would receive if I said them out loud.

“Don’t bother the busy people.”

“I have a conscience, so I don’t do such things to doctors.”

The report was roughly finished, and after neatly emptying the snacks, Officer Sung withdrew.

‘So Sungji isn’t a close relative. I wonder if it’ll be difficult to find out why she’s so overreacting to me.’

To be honest, whether they were related by blood or not, it would be a good thing if the family got along well, and it wasn’t important to me.

However, what bothers me is still bothering me.

I called the royal physician who knew Doctor Heo Yeon-tae to talk about smallpox.

When I first told them about the variolation, they were bewildered, saying, ‘Cow pus……?’, but lately, seeing patients suspected of having smallpox showing improvement with the variolation, it was honestly a bit amusing to see them confused.

“I heard that something called variolation is showing efficacy against smallpox these days. What do the royal physicians of the royal hospital think?”

“I am sorry, Ongju jaga.”

Knowing that the variolation was something I had ordered, the physician avoided answering.

Of course, that wasn’t what I was going to ask now.

“Come to think of it. Did Doctor Heo Yeon-tae ever treat smallpox when he was in the palace before?”

“Yes? That is…… maybe…… but…….”

Maybe? But?

It was a strange answer. When I demanded a proper answer, the physician had no choice but to open his mouth again.

“When Doctor Heo was in the royal hospital…… Doctor Heo Yeon-tae was in charge of the princess Agassi, the daughter of Queen Seonghyeon, who was the mistress of the Junggungjeon [the Queen’s residence] at the time. The princess Agassi was also not very healthy, so Doctor Heo took great care of her, but she eventually contracted smallpox and passed away.”

“Ah…….”

This was the first time I had heard about this. That ajusshi [a respectful term for an older man] seems to be surprisingly active in this smallpox treatment. I guess that’s why.

I wonder if the reason why he kept a medical book about smallpox without ignoring it as the book of a mere female doctor was the same reason?

‘If that was the reason he quit the royal hospital, it’s not a good thing, so he probably wouldn’t have bothered to talk about it.’

The princess Agassi, the daughter of Queen Seonghyeon, meant that she was the full-blooded sister of Crown Prince Seongwon.

I don’t know the exact timing, but it must have been when Crown Prince Seongwon was still young, so even the current Crown Prince probably doesn’t know about this.

“Even if she was a princess Agassi, His Majesty and the Queen could not stay close to a patient with smallpox, could they? The young Agassi must have been very tired and lonely.”

Well, royal protocol is important, but it’s too strict. Separating a young child from her parents.

Moreover, if the child’s illness is contagious, the parents could not nurse the child by their side because they had to be more thoroughly isolated to prevent the king and queen from being infected. The parents, too, had no choice but to suffer.

“Perhaps that’s why the Agassi was very fond of Doctor Heo, who had taken care of her with sincerity from a young age.”

“It seems they were quite close?”

“That’s what I know. Perhaps that’s why His Majesty did not blame Doctor Heo for not saving the princess Agassi. However, after the princess Agassi passed away, Doctor Heo could not bear it and quit the royal hospital, I heard.”

“I see…….”

So that’s why he was so oversensitive to children.

‘It’s unfortunate, but no one can do anything about it. But it seems like he’s getting along well with the children now.’

I felt a bit uneasy as if I had dug up someone else’s unhappy past for no reason, but I decided to just accept it appropriately and send the physician away, but unexpectedly, the physician was staring at me as if something had come to mind.

“……Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?”

“I, I am sorry.”

Anyway, in this era, they don’t explain properly and just say they’re sorry or honored, so that’s it.

The physician withdrew like that.

Officer Sung also seemed to think it was someone else’s privacy, so he didn’t say anything about Doctor Heo Yeon-tae after that day.

‘I want to find out more about that medical book…….’

Even at a glance, it was a book that had been studying smallpox in detail for a long time.

If he had that book when the princess had smallpox, he might have succeeded in treating the princess. Seeing that he failed, it was more likely that he obtained the book afterward.

Because the source itself is unclear.

However, the fact remains that it was quite a useful book in terms of content.

It even described how to treat early smallpox patients who were already ill.

I heard that the courtesan who first contracted smallpox was treated according to the contents of that medical book, so she avoided pockmarks on her face.

‘I think I heard that even if you know the method, it seems like a difficult manual labor job to actually carry it out.’

The important thing was that civilian doctors like Heo Yeon-tae and Heo Sung-ji were treating smallpox and even found out how to prevent it.

Since there were several people infected in the brothel, those who had smallpox or might have contracted it heard the rumors and voluntarily requested variolation.

After it was confirmed that Maehyang was not infected even after contacting patients, she came to the Youngwon playground as if to show off that she was fine, and not just that, she even promoted ‘Maehyang is singing’ on a large scale and sang on the stage originally made for theater promotion.

Since there were still smallpox patients in the brothel, Maehyang disinfected and burned her clothes, then came out to Youngwon with only her new clothes and stayed there, so it wasn’t a difficult trip.

Anyway, thanks to that, those who came to ride the rides also unexpectedly listened to Maehyang’s songs and had their ears pampered.

Of course, there were also guys who shouted that Maehyang’s voice was like a cow’s moo in order to mock her for getting the cowpox vaccination.

And Maehyang, who had gone through thick and thin, laughed, saying, ‘If you can’t distinguish this Maehyang’s voice from a cow’s moo, you can go to the cowshed instead of the brothel from now on, so you’ll be comfortable.’

I heard that the guys who made rude remarks were dragged away by Maehyang’s core fans after becoming the laughing stock of the people.

Thanks to Maehyang’s fame, rumors about variolation were gradually spreading within the capital.

At first, when they heard that Youngwon was vaccinating with cowpox, rumors spread that Ongju was eventually conducting strange experiments with the children, but when they heard that Maehyang had also been vaccinated and was walking around singing with a healthy face, everyone started to wonder if it was okay.

And at this point, the matter had become quite large, so the court could not have been unaware.

“I heard that Ongju jaga has started some strange thing again. Have you heard about it?”

“I have heard about it too. I wonder if the shock of being kidnapped last time was too great…….”

“Ahem, be careful what you say.”