Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 192

“Let me down now.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah. I’m not hurt or anything. I need to get used to this anyway. And they said not moving around too much isn’t good either.”

I stretched my arms and legs and walked slowly.

Today, the Crown Prince said he had something to do, so I came out this way.

‘What’s going on this time?’

I don’t remember ever having a good experience when the Crown Prince called me.

In the first place, if it were an official matter, he would have come himself or sent someone, but he specifically asked to meet in the back garden, so I was very suspicious of his intentions.

‘Well… as long as he doesn’t ask me to help him elope with Se-hwa, I’m fine.’

Fortunately, the Crown Prince wasn’t crazy enough to do that, so he wouldn’t say such nonsense.

But there was always a possibility of him saying other nonsense.

After a while, the Crown Prince, who appeared a little later than me, whispered in a small voice, so that others couldn’t hear.

“I was thinking of going to see the Lantern Festival on the eighth day of the fourth month. Would you like to go with me?”

“The Lantern Festival? Why all of a sudden…?”

Perhaps because the impact of the first and last time I went to see the Lantern Festival was so great, neither the Crown Prince nor I had ever mentioned the Lantern Festival until now.

‘Is it because of Se-hwa?’

The reason for the Crown Prince’s recent behavior was mostly one thing.

Besides, both then and now, in modern times, a splendid religious event was somehow also an event for lovers, so it wasn’t strange.

‘In modern times, Buddha’s Birthday is just a day to play, and Christmas feels like an event for lovers.’

When I think about it, the Lantern Festival is also about decorating with lanterns, having fireworks, and playing, so it might not be that different from putting up Christmas decorations and going to see the illuminations on Christmas…?

Whether I was thinking about something else or not, the Crown Prince grabbed me and started making obvious advances.

“But wouldn’t it be better to see the Lantern Festival at night? Fireworks also start at night. If you’re going to be out late at night, I think it would be reassuring and good to have a doctor with you. What do you think?”

If you interpret that long sentence, it means, ‘Ask Se-hwa to go with you.’

I want to smack him on the back.

“…Brother.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s just be honest.”

“Huh?”

“Who do you want to go with?”

“…No, I was just purely thinking that it would be nice to go out with you for the first time in a while…”

“Okay. Then shall we call Seong-ji and go together?”

“…No.”

After a moment of silence, the Crown Prince finally blurted out his true feelings.

“So, wouldn’t it be possible for you to ask Se-hwa to go with us?”

“You should have just said that honestly from the beginning.”

“Don’t you think you should save this brother’s face a little?”

“Don’t you think you should refrain from doing things for Se-hwa’s sake and her social standing?”

“…”

It’s easy to think that people already know about the relationship between the Crown Prince and Se-hwa, but in reality, only the closest aides who wouldn’t open their mouths even if a knife was held to their throats knew about it.

The exception would be Cheon-ho? But surprisingly, Cheon-ho was also tight-lipped and never talked about what he saw in the palace.

If other people find out and rumors spread, Se-hwa will be the one who gets talked about and pointed fingers at.

Fortunately, her contribution to curing my illness means that her medical skills won’t be disparaged, but if rumors spread that her behavior isn’t proper, it could negatively affect the evaluation of the entire medical staff.

So, we need to be more careful, but I don’t know how well a man in love will be able to hide it.

‘Judging from the fact that rumors haven’t spread, he must be being careful.’

There are so many eyes watching in the palace.

“…Okay. Fine. I’ll tell Se-hwa that we’re going to the Lantern Festival on the eighth day of the fourth month and ask her to come with us.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ll let it slide since you’ve been working hard these days.”

I said, patting the Crown Prince on the shoulder.

It was the Lantern Festival after 8 years, no, 9 years.

“Se-hwa, are you going to the Lantern Festival on the eighth day of the fourth month?”

“Are you talking about the Lantern Festival?”

Se-hwa, who had been caught drinking tea after finishing all the work she had to do, from herbal medicine to acupuncture and pulse diagnosis, widened her eyes as if my words were unexpected.

I had granted the Crown Prince’s request, but you never know. She might have other plans.

‘I should respect that if she has a prior engagement.’

Se-hwa might want to see the Crown Prince too.

No matter what, if Se-hwa asks to go first, the Crown Prince would be so happy he’d die.

‘But didn’t he tell Se-hwa?’

A surprise date?

While I was wondering, Se-hwa, who had been thinking about something for a while, soon smiled calmly and replied.

“That day is the day I examine Princess Ongju. I’m not on duty, so I’m thinking of going back early.”

“Aren’t you going to see it?”

“They’ll be lighting lanterns near Si-yeongwon [a residence for royal family members], so I think it’ll be enough to see them on the way back… But is Princess Ongju planning to go out?”

“Yeah.”

Se-hwa seemed to have settled in Si-yeongwon after returning from Gangwon-do.

Well, it would be more reassuring to have more people around than to leave her sick mother alone while she’s working.

“If you don’t have any other plans, can’t Se-hwa come with us?”

“Yes? Me?”

Se-hwa widened her eyes as if it was unexpected.

Well, it’s understandable. It’s like a distant boss suddenly telling you to work overtime.

It’s closer to forcing a company dinner than overtime. Anyway.

‘This is too much of an abuse of power… No, it is an abuse of power.’

But I can’t help it. I’m the one who was asked by the boss.

“Yeah. There’s someone who doesn’t like me going out at night. I’d feel relieved if Se-hwa went with me… Can’t you?”

I felt sorry for her, so I looked up with a sulky face and tried to act cute.

‘Hmm… Am I too old for this now?’

Even if I’m old, it’s only at the level of an elementary school student who has become a first grader.

“Of course I can.”

“Really? You’re going with us?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, that’s great.”

I succeeded in easily coaxing her and was laughing gleefully when I felt a stinging gaze, so I looked and saw So-i and Cheon-ho looking at me with disrespectful eyes.

“…”

“…”

Ah, what, why, what.

I hadn’t told them the real reason why I had to take Se-hwa with me.

If I’m not careful, I’ll be badmouthing the Crown Prince…

I felt a little guilty, so I offered compensation for the abuse of power(?).

“I’m giving you extra pay because you’re working until night because of me.”

“No. I’ll just go.”

“No, you should get what you deserve.”

I’m going to get it from the Crown Prince anyway, so I should get it.

“Then let’s start by measuring Se-hwa’s clothes size.”

“Yes?”

At my words, two palace maids who had been waiting led Se-hwa away, who didn’t know what was going on.

Then So-i asked with a puzzled face.

“Princess Ongju. Why did you suddenly ask Se-hwa to go to the Lantern Festival with you?”

“There’s a reason…”

“You haven’t said anything about going out on the eighth day of the fourth month, so I thought you weren’t interested in the Lantern Festival.”

“Did I?”

Come to think of it, that seems to be the case.

Perhaps I didn’t feel like going out because I had bad memories.

I don’t know about the Crown Prince, but wouldn’t it be similar?

‘But I guess he wanted to go on a date with her since he has a girl he likes.’

So-i looked excited, as if she didn’t dislike going out.

“Cheon-ho, is this your first time spending the eighth day of the fourth month in the capital?”

“Yes? Yes. That’s right.”

“It’ll be worth seeing, so you can look forward to it. Of course, we have to take care of Princess Ongju, so we can’t just go around sightseeing.”

“Yes.”

“You can take turns playing…”

“There will be a lot of people and it will be crowded. How can I handle Princess Ongju alone?”

“Am I going to run away or something?”

It’s not uncommon for children to get lost when they come out to play, both now and in the past.

‘These days, children who have lost their parents are sent to Si-yeongwon first, so…’

Thanks to that, families who accidentally lost their children are able to find them fairly well.

Everyone has become sensitive to kidnappers because of me…

“So-i, measure your clothes size next after Se-hwa.”

“Are you making new clothes for us?”

“Yeah.”

I’ll tell So-i before we go out.

If I tell her in advance, she’ll stare at Se-hwa a lot.

‘If Se-hwa knows that the Crown Prince even mobilized his sister to go on a date with her, she’ll be embarrassed, so let’s pretend we don’t know.’

Shame is Se-hwa’s responsibility instead of the Crown Prince, who doesn’t know shame, but it’ll be better if that period is a little shorter.

“Cheon-ho, I’m going to make new clothes for you too.”

“Yes? For me too?”

“Yeah. I’m going to make new clothes for myself too.”

In fact, this year’s Lantern Festival was going to be more splendid than usual.

Because… after Siwolgak [a popular clothing store] popularized the Goryeo style [a traditional Korean fashion], the number of people who had Goryeo-era clothes increased, and it was suggested that it would be a good idea to wear Goryeo-era clothes on that day for the Lantern Festival.

Siwolgak didn’t see anything wrong with it, so they put up a promotional notice in the store.

People who wanted to try on Goryeo-era clothes but didn’t have the courage saw the promotional notice and decided to participate, increasing the number of participants.

It wasn’t quite a masquerade, but everyone seemed to be enjoying it.

It’s a Buddhist event, so everyone thought it would be a good fit, and there was no resistance.

Siwolgak was planning to perform anyway, so it would be appreciated if people spent money extravagantly at Siwolgak.

Perhaps because of that, the atmosphere was more excited than usual.

‘That’s good, well…’

Actually, I’m a little worried that Se-hwa might have bad memories of the Lantern Festival… but if she says she’ll go with me, I think it’ll be okay.

Still, I hope she has good memories instead of bad ones.

I’m making her a date look under the guise of making her Goryeo-era clothes, so I hope she changes her mood a little.

‘I was going to make the Crown Prince a matching couple look, but, hmm.’

I’m going to make the Crown Prince’s clothes under the guise of making Cheon-ho’s clothes. He’s a person who has no connection with this kind of cosplay, so when else would he wear such clothes if not for this?

‘Cheon-ho is still growing, so he said he’s taller, so I’ll make two sets.’

And surprisingly, this excuse became a reality.

“No, Cheon-ho, you’ve grown taller?”