Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 20

“I only ran to save my sister when I saw her fall into the water. It’s clear that Grand Prince Gyeongwon is trying to slander me again, just like last time.”

“Your Majesty! This is not something we can just overlook! First, he framed me as the culprit of a heinous act, and now he’s even resorting to violence.”

Ah, so noisy.

Young Consort’s voice, defending her son and slandering Grand Prince Gyeongwon, echoed loudly in my ears.

“Your Majesty, Grand Prince Gyeongwon cherishes the young princess very much. How could he stand idly by after witnessing such a terrible scene?”

“Consort Seon, what are you saying? It sounds as if you’re suggesting that Grand Prince Gyeongeon deliberately harmed the princess?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. Young Consort knows better than anyone how Grand Prince Gyeongeon treats his younger sibling, doesn’t she?”

“Are you slandering the princes in front of His Majesty? You must be prepared to take responsibility for your words.”

This is the first time I’ve heard Consort Seon raise her voice like this.

It seemed Consort Seon couldn’t stand by, as Grand Prince Gyeongwon’s safety was at risk.

But… why are they still fighting like this?

“Hau.”

“Princess?”

“Ung……”

When I opened my eyes, my sister was looking down at me with a worried expression.

‘I must have fallen asleep because I relaxed just like before.’

I barely opened my sleepy eyes and buried my face in my sister’s arms again.

Sorry, you must have been worried.

“I’m glad you’re unharmed.”

“Ung.”

As I rubbed my eyes and looked around, a court eunuch who had been waiting quickly ran to the king and reported.

“Your Majesty, the princess has regained consciousness.”

“Sia! Are you alright?”

“Ah… Hoo.”

I nodded.

I tried to get up from my sister’s embrace, but unlike what I thought, I had no strength in my body.

‘Oh.’

I must have overestimated my body. I thought I would be fine.

As I couldn’t move and just blinked in my sister’s arms, the king, who had rushed over, took me from my sister and held me in his arms.

Hey, mister?

“What happened? Didn’t they say there was nothing wrong!”

“The princess seems to be very startled by the sudden event. She needs to rest for a while.”

The familiar-faced doctor who had been by my side quickly ran over and bowed his head.

That’s right. It seems my body is tired from being startled, so resting is the answer.

They say children don’t get seriously injured even if they fall from a high place because their bodies don’t tense up, but I wonder if the fact that my soul isn’t a baby’s has become a disadvantage.

“Sia?”

“Kkeueung.”

But I struggled to get up.

I was hoping it would be resolved when I woke up, but they’re still arguing.

It seemed everyone missed the crucial scene.

‘I went through all that trouble, but the timing was off.’

Naturally, everyone’s attention was focused on me.

When I raised my head, I saw Grand Prince Gyeongwon and Grand Prince Gyeongeon kneeling on the ground. Behind them, Consort Seon and Young Consort were standing with anxious faces, looking at me.

I raised my finger and pointed at Young Consort and Grand Prince Gyeongeon. And I chose my words.

“Bad……”

“Sia is talking……?!”

Focus on the content.

Yeah, but that’s impossible.

My biological father, hearing my voice, hugged me tightly as if he was deeply moved.

“So, I was right that you called me earlier. Yes. It’s your father.”

“Ah…… Ba……”

I was about to add more emotion and try to say a new title for the first time in a while, but Grand Prince Gyeongeon didn’t miss this opportunity and poured cold water on it.

“A-Are you sure? She clearly said insulting words to me and Young Consort earlier.”

“This child?”

Everyone looked doubtful, as if they couldn’t believe that a child who could barely say ‘Dad’ and ‘bad’ had said insulting words.

At that time, an unexpected person opened his mouth.

“I have also heard Sia speak before.”

Hey, you don’t mean……?

“Is that true, Grand Prince Gyeongwon?”

“Yes. She kept calling me ‘you,’ so I told her that she shouldn’t do that to her older brother and tried to teach her the word ‘older brother,’ but it seems it was still too difficult for her, and she couldn’t follow along and closed her mouth.”

The surroundings froze.

Oh, not bad?

Thanks to his testimony, the hypothesis that a young child who could barely say a few words threw a child into the pond because she called him ‘you’ was being established.

“No, no, Your Majesty! That child said insulting words to me and Young Consort! So, I was just scolding her!”

“What insulting words could a young child who has just started speaking say!”

I quietly closed my mouth.

“And you threw that young child into the pond because she offended you?”

“I didn’t throw her!”

“Can you take responsibility for that statement?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

At the confident answer, the king, who was holding me, turned his gaze to an unexpected place.

At the end of that gaze, a court eunuch was standing with a nervous face.

‘That face is definitely……’

It was the court eunuch who had followed me earlier.

Could it be that he deliberately pretended not to know and started questioning me, even though there was a witness?

“Court Eunuch So, repeat what you reported earlier here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. When this humble servant followed the princess to the pond, the princess was with Grand Prince Gyeongeon. I was relieved that they were together and was going to watch from afar, but I was surprised to see Grand Prince Gyeongeon grabbing the princess’s…… I am afraid to say, grabbing her by the collar and lifting her up, so I returned to report to Your Majesty. Because of my foolishness in not expecting such a terrible thing to happen in the meantime, the princess suffered such a great ordeal, so please kill this disloyal body, Your Majesty!”

With those words, the court eunuch knelt down.

To interpret those words roughly, it’s like this:

No, who would have known that he would throw a child into the pond in the meantime?

Honestly, I don’t think this is my fault? Right? Huh? Please save me.

“Court Eunuch So’s testimony is no different from what was recorded in advance. And Grand Prince Gyeongwon’s testimony just now matches Court Eunuch So’s testimony, are you still going to deny it?”

It was Grand Prince Gyeongeon and Young Consort who turned pale at the court eunuch’s testimony.

Grand Prince Gyeongeon stammered out excuses.

“H-However, Your Majesty, I am a prince, and no one can insult me. How can I tolerate a princess born of a lowly palace maid insulting me?”

Perhaps realizing that he could no longer deny it, Grand Prince Gyeongeon’s voice trembled, but he did not stop speaking until the end.

However, Grand Prince Gyeongeon’s attitude seemed to provoke the king’s anger.

“Who told you to say such a thing!”

He said that, but doesn’t everyone know the answer?

The eyes of the audience naturally turned to Young Consort behind Grand Prince Gyeongeon.

‘Okay.’

The aftermath was swift.

Grand Prince Gyeongeon is a prince, so he can’t go any lower in rank, but as I predicted, he can’t even dream of becoming a grand prince.

And with this incident, the position of the queen, which had been vacant for a long time, was finally filled.

“Brother will also be called by a different title from now on, not Grand Prince Gyeongwon.”

“Uh.”

I know.

I heard that Consort Seon would become the queen, and therefore Grand Prince Gyeongwon would also be ennobled as a grand prince and receive a new title.

The punishment for Young Consort was temporarily suspended, and the right to punish her was transferred to Consort Seon after she was officially appointed as queen, in order to establish the dignity of the Queen’s Palace.

We had a good relationship with her even before she became the queen, and since there were incidents involving me in the process of her becoming the queen, the queen is friendly to me, so it was a good result in many ways.

Of course, I can’t guarantee what will happen with the concubines, but at least the crown prince and Grand Prince Gyeongwon cherish me, so there’s not much to worry about.

And some time later, I visited the Queen’s Palace.

“Grand Prince Yeongwon truly adores the princess.”

“How could he not love his only younger sister?”

I toddled over to pay my respects to the queen, and as I was with Grand Prince Gyeongwon, the relatives who had come to pay their respects also approached and subtly made their presence known.

Grand Prince Yeongwon was Grand Prince Gyeongwon’s new title.

‘But Grand Prince Yeongwon… I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before……’

Did something similar come out in a novel I read in my previous life? I tried to recall, but I had read so many novels that my memory was hazy.

Well, anyway, the names are all similar.

“I can rest assured now.”

“Ung.”

“……I’m saying this now, but do you know how dangerous you were that day?”

“Uu?”

I tilted my head as if I didn’t understand.

“The people who were following you couldn’t find you, so you were almost in danger. If I and my brother had been just a little later, who knows what would have happened……!”

“Uuang?”

“……I don’t know if you know anything or not. Ugh.”

I have to pretend I don’t know even if I do. Baby.

‘Still, it’s admirable that he’s worried about me.’

I patted Grand Prince Gyeongwon, no, Grand Prince Yeongwon’s shoulder.

“Goo, job!”

“……You really…….”

In contrast to our peacefulness, Young Consort’s residence, Chwiyeongdang, was as silent as walking on thin ice.

The place, which had been bustling in the past, became quiet as if it were a lie, and then became noisy again some time after the Queen’s investiture ceremony.

It wasn’t a good meaning for them.

Those who thought that Young Consort and Grand Prince Gyeongeon had lost their power because of this incident did not stay still.

“Young Consort and Grand Prince Gyeongeon have often acted impertinently in the palace, trusting in their power, so the fault does not lie solely with the two of them.”

Young Consort and Grand Prince Gyeongeon did not receive any major punishment in practice, but the palace people who had been running wild, trusting in their masters, were dragged out en masse.

‘Are they trying to cut off their limbs at this opportunity? Well, Consort Seon, no, the queen, must have had a lot of pent-up feelings.’

Now fully recovered, I hid behind the palace maids who wanted to witness the schadenfreude [pleasure derived from misfortune] with their own eyes, as there were accumulated emotions, and watched the scene. And I caught sight of a familiar face among those being dragged away and ran out.

“Princess??”

“No way!!”

There was one lady-in-waiting among the Chwiyeongdang palace maids whose face I remembered properly.

When I ran to the lady-in-waiting who was being dragged out like the other palace maids, the ruthless supervising court ladies stopped moving.

My flustered attendants rushed over and tried to persuade me.

“Princess, why are you doing this?”

“Princess, you were afraid to come here, weren’t you? You said there were bad people.”

“Aang…… Not bad.”

Ugh, my pronunciation keeps slurring. I frowned and clung to the hem of the lady-in-waiting’s skirt.

Everyone couldn’t tear me away and didn’t know what to do when the lady-in-waiting knelt down in front of me as if collapsing.

“Ah, Princess, do you perhaps remember this humble servant?”

“Ung. Saved me…… you did!”

How can a person forget a favor?

She was the lady-in-waiting who had become my shield when I was almost hit by Grand Prince Gyeongeon, even though she had never met me before, and who had thrown herself in front of Grand Prince Gyeongeon when I was dragged to the pond.

“!!”

Perhaps feeling something from my words, the eyebrows of the supervising court ladies who were arresting the palace people twitched.

And this incident was naturally reported to the higher-ups.