Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 167

The Crown Prince and Sehwa had come here for one reason: to cure my illness.

‘But if someone might die because of it, it would be okay not to cure it.’

“They will be safe.”

“Yes.”

“I will definitely bring them back, so please wait in a safe place, Princess. You might catch a cold if you stay in a place like this.”

“…….”

Then, after giving a signal to the Vice-Captain, he hurriedly joined the others.

“It’s a bit frustrating…….”

“Princess.”

Even if I were an adult, I probably wouldn’t have joined the search party, but it wasn’t very comforting.

The Vice-Captain tried to appease me and persuaded me to go down to the village.

I figured I would only be a hindrance if I stayed here, so I nodded.

“Aren’t you going, Vice-Captain?”

“How can I go anywhere when the Princess is here? It’s better for the young ones to go than this old body.”

“Even though you exercise every day.”

“That’s so I can pick you up and run if something happens to you, Princess.”

The Vice-Captain joked and led the reins of my horse.

While holding the reins, I fell into thought again.

Combining all the information so far, I couldn’t stop suspecting that Sehwa and the Crown Prince had fallen into someone’s trap.

‘Still, surely the main couple won’t freeze to death, right?’

Is this too much wishful thinking?

But there’s nothing I can do right now.

“Please don’t worry too much, Princess. Both His Highness the Crown Prince and Doctor Sehwa will be safe.”

“Yes…….”

Originally, they met in the mountains and fell into a tiger trap, so maybe this isn’t because I changed something in the original story…….

“Ah!”

“Princess?”

“Are there any tigers around here?”

“Yes? Well, this forest is so dense, it would be more unusual if there weren’t any.”

The Vice-Captain looked puzzled but answered diligently.

I sorted out my thoughts for a moment and then abruptly gave him a task.

“We need to call the hunters living nearby and have them check the places where traps are set!”

“Yes?”

***

“Hey, didn’t you participate in setting up the tiger trap last time?”

“Yes? If you’re talking about a few years ago, I did participate…… What’s going on?”

“We’re looking for hunters who have set up tiger traps, so you need to come with us.”

“Goodness. What’s this all of a sudden? Wait a moment.”

The man, who was chopping firewood in his yard, put down his axe at the neighbor’s words and went inside.

“Mother, I’ll be back for a bit.”

“What’s wrong?”

A young man peeling potatoes inside asked with a puzzled expression.

A middle-aged woman cooking also appeared.

“Stay here.”

“Oh dear, where are you going?”

“My neighbor called me. I’ll be back soon, so stay here together.”

The woman, whose hair was starting to turn gray, looked uneasy.

“You’re not going anywhere dangerous, are you?”

“It’s nothing like that. I’ll be back to eat, so don’t worry and save some for me.”

“Okay. I understand. You have to come back quickly?”

“Yes.”

The man, receiving the woman’s worried voice gently, smiled and shook his head.

As the woman went back to the kitchen, relieved, the young man grabbed the man.

“Just a moment, Seono, hyung [older brother].”

“Hey, stop calling me hyung.”

“No, you are my hyung, so should I call you ‘younger brother’?”

“Haa.”

“Be careful, you might meet someone you know.”

“I’ll be careful even if you don’t tell me, so you stay here quietly, okay? Don’t skip out and finish peeling the potatoes.”

“Haha. For some reason, I never get better at peeling potatoes.”

“I’ll tell you all about it when I get back, so just watch the house. Okay?”

“Yes. I understand.”

As the young man smiled and went back inside, Yeon Seono sighed and left the house.

As the person waiting gestured, Yeon Seono reluctantly followed, like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

“The weather’s not good, did something happen?”

“I don’t know exactly, but we have to go if a high-ranking person calls, right? By the way, how is your mother?”

“She’s moving around okay, but she still doesn’t recognize people.”

“Haha. Still, it’s fortunate that there are filial sons like you taking care of her.”

As the men gathered, a military officer revealed his identity and ordered them to check the location of the traps set in the mountains to catch tigers.

“Did someone go missing?”

“Yes. We need to find them before it gets dark!”

“Hmph…….”

Everyone grumbled that even if they searched, they wouldn’t find them, and they must have fallen somewhere and died, but at the word of a reward, they all quickly disappeared.

While everyone was hurrying to prepare to go up the mountain, Yeon Seono still hesitated.

‘I don’t really need the money. And I don’t want to stand out.’

But the fact that they’re going this far means that a pretty important person has disappeared. Should I help? As he was contemplating, an unexpected voice was heard.

“Huh? Jwasema [royal guard]? Isn’t that Jwasema? Why are you here?”

“Ah, Little Miss……? No. Princess.”

It was the little Princess, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

‘Why is she here?’

The Princess, approaching the stiff Yeon Seono, clung to him as if she was glad to see him.

“How have you been?”

“Are you really the Princess? Why are you in a place like this?”

“Hmm. I guess my arrival wasn’t as widely known as I thought.”

“I apologize. I haven’t been staying here long, so I’m a bit ignorant of the rumors.”

“Oh, so you’re not living here.”

“Yes. But…….”

“Oh, ah.”

Seeing Yeon Seono’s gaze wandering, the Princess smiled awkwardly as if she had just remembered.

“Oh, you’re surprised. You haven’t heard this rumor either?”

“I heard it, but I thought I misheard…….”

“Oh, hahaha. Well, I guess so.”

Yeon Seono was speechless, seeing the Princess who looked no different from the child he had last seen eight years ago before leaving the palace.

“I apologize. I should have visited you before I left, but I left without a word because I thought seeing me would only bring back bad memories.”

“I was bedridden for a long time back then, so it couldn’t be helped. Still, I’m glad to see you like this.”

“I’m glad you seem to be in good health. However…….”

Seeing Seono unable to make eye contact with her, the Princess smiled brightly instead.

“Oh. It’s okay. Don’t worry too much. A doctor who can cure me appeared recently.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Then she soon looked embarrassed.

“But he’s currently missing in the mountains.”

“!”

“He went in to find the necessary medicinal herbs and has now disappeared.”

It seemed the matter had grown serious because the doctor who could cure the Princess’s illness had gone missing.

“So that’s why you gathered people like this?”

“Uh-huh. That too.”

Seono’s face hardened as he noticed that it wasn’t just that from the Princess’s lowered voice.

“His Highness the Crown Prince…… led people to find the missing doctor, but suddenly his horse went wild and he disappeared alone, and they haven’t been able to find him.”

“That……!”

Seono’s face turned pale.

So the real problem was this.

“I, I will look for him too.”

“I would appreciate it if you did. I can’t move if I go into the mountains, I’ll just be baggage.”

“Yes. Please stay in a safe place, Princess.”

“Jwasema [royal guard]…… I shouldn’t call you that anymore. Well, anyway, I’m counting on you. Don’t do anything too dangerous.”

“I understand.”

Yeon Seono greeted the Princess and hurriedly ran to prepare to enter the mountain like the others.

***

The Vice-Captain, who had been watching the unfamiliar man talking to me from behind, looked uneasy.

“Is it okay to tell him even that?”

“He was His Highness Crown Prince Seonghyeon’s Jwasema [royal guard]. From the Tiger Hunt Unit.”

“Ah…….”

The Vice-Captain swallowed, knowing something about Crown Prince Seonghyeon’s affairs.

It seemed he had heard some rumors while working in the palace.

‘He’s more sociable than he looks.’

I quietly closed my mouth, as the Vice-Captain would have been hurt if he had heard that.

Well, you need to be friendly to work as a spy.

“Could that scar on his face be…….”

“He was injured by a tiger a long time ago, and I think that’s the scar from then.”

I had only seen him wrapped in bandages the last time I saw him, but it was quite a big scar.

I was a little worried about whether he had received proper treatment before leaving, but I was relieved to see that he looked okay.

“……So is that the very person who caught a tiger alone?”

“Hmm. It sounds very reassuring when you say it like that.”

He couldn’t boast about his exploits since he failed to save the Crown Prince, but he was a great person.

Was it because I met a familiar face after a long time? I was feeling a little relieved when someone called out to me.