Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 212

Born as a Daughter of a Lowly Concubine – 212

Even though the people around me are seriously trying to stop me, wouldn’t things be okay once the children grow up?

As I entered the main house, lost in thought, the people who were at home rushed out to greet me again.

This is so annoying; I can’t even come home. Seriously.

Now there were even strangers, and seeing them made my head hurt a little.

“Princess, you have arrived.”

“Yeah. I had some business. Is everything alright?”

“Yes, of course.”

As the familiar servants answered, a child’s voice was heard from afar, “No!!”

“Hmm.”

“I apologize. The child is young and doesn’t understand his position yet.”

“…Children can be like that.”

Saying that, I moved towards the direction where the sound came from.

“Oh, Princess. There’s no need for you to go.”

Seeing them all flustered and trying to stop me, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy and had to go.

‘I had a feeling.’

Arriving at the source of the sound, a young child was struggling and screaming while being held by his mother.

“You brat! Wake up! You are no longer a young master of a noble family!”

“No! No!”

It wasn’t a pleasant sight.

The woman, who appeared to be the child’s mother, discovered me and, flustered, pressed the child’s head to the ground and bowed.

“O-Oh, Princess.”

“!”

The child, who had been screaming until just now, closed his mouth tightly, surprised by my appearance.

“Little one.”

“…Yes.”

Is it because I’m a Princess? He didn’t seem to have any resistance to using honorifics with me.

“Are you upset that you ended up like this?”

“!”

The child couldn’t say anything but stared at me with wide eyes.

‘That’s lese-majesty [crime of disrespecting the ruler], you brat.’

“You ended up like this because your father participated in the plan to kill me and my brother. Do you know that?”

“…”

“You must be upset that you ended up like this for something you didn’t do. You should resent your father, but he’s your father, so you can’t bring yourself to do that. But if you want to live with your mother from now on, there’s nothing you can solve by screaming like this. But if you want a different way to live, I can help you. Do you understand?”

“!!”

Seeing the child trembling, I felt sorry for him, but I tried to maintain a cold expression.

“Take him away, wash him, and put him to sleep. Young children get exhausted and collapse if they cry for too long.”

“T-Thank you. Princess.”

The child had a confused expression, but he was dragged away powerlessly as his mother led him.

A sigh naturally escaped my lips, but everyone was at a loss at my sigh, so I shook my head with a forced bright expression.

“It’s okay, go back to your work. Youngsun, follow me.”

“Yes.”

Jeok-ah was now a child who knew how to find his own place to rest when he came here, and I took Chun-ho and So-yi with me to my room to rest for a while.

And as soon as I settled on the mattress, Youngsun opened her mouth.

“I apologize, Princess.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I haven’t been managing the house properly…”

“Ah. It’s okay. Young children are hard to handle anyway. It might have been better if that child had gone to Siyoungwon [a type of government-run orphanage or care facility], but it’s too complicated there these days.”

It wouldn’t be good if the proportion of new people became too high when many people would be leaving soon.

“And Princess, may I say one more thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Even though this area is safe, it’s best to avoid such secluded places as much as possible.”

It was a place to build a Princess’s house, so it couldn’t be a dangerous neighborhood, but Youngsun’s voice was unexpectedly serious.

“Why? Has anything bad happened in the neighborhood recently?”

“It’s not that. But didn’t something happen in Gangwon-do? You are a precious person, Princess, so I’m saying this because I think you should be careful. I know it’s presumptuous, but how can I not worry about your safety?”

“No. It’s not that serious…”

Maybe it’s because she was originally the daughter of a noble family and studied a lot, but she was talking too much.

‘The simple-minded servants of the family won’t be able to do anything.’

Maybe some of the people I brought in later—victims of human trafficking—would be able to handle it.

“But if that area is so dangerous, aren’t you the same? Youngsun, what were you doing there? Who is that man? Did he threaten you?”

“No, nothing like that happened. It’s just…”

“Hmm. He seemed like a fairly young man. Perhaps?”

I tilted my head and omitted the rest of the words, and Youngsun hurriedly shook her head.

“It’s not like that.”

“No, you don’t have to deny it that much. Tell me if you have feelings for him. I’ll quietly release you from your servitude and give you severance pay. It’s been several years already, so it doesn’t seem like it would be a big problem.”

I am generous. I repeated that several times in my mind to avoid showing that I was disappointed.

‘It would be a shame if Youngsun disappeared in many ways, but it wouldn’t be right to keep her by my side out of my own greed.’

The problem is what kind of family the other person is from.

I was trying to show the appearance of a generous owner, but Youngsun unexpectedly had a subtly disappointed expression.

“…Doesn’t it matter to you if I’m not here?”

“Of course, it would be very difficult if Youngsun disappeared. But if the person who wants to be with Youngsun is from a noble family, I can’t treat you like I have until now, can I? That man from before seemed like a member of the nobility.”

“That’s… No.”

“Um. Okay. Let’s say that’s the case. Anyway, tell me if you want to get married and bring your partner.”

First, I need to investigate the other person’s background and decide whether to allow it or not.

Of course, if you stay in the house too much, that won’t happen.

“I am grateful for your kindness, but that person is not in that kind of relationship with me. Please don’t misunderstand.”

Youngsun emphasized this repeatedly, so I decided to move on for now, wondering if it was really not the case.

“Okay. I understand. So, what does that person do?”

“Yes. That person… often comes to me saying he has items he wants to sell to you. Recently, you haven’t been buying many antiques, so he seemed anxious.”

“Ah.”

My hobby is relatively well known, so people have often come to me saying they want to sell good items.

“But I don’t have money these days.”

“Yes. I know that too. So I tried to refuse him, but he didn’t listen, so there was a bit of a scuffle.”

There are many places where money needs to go in Siyoungwon these days. I was a little worried about the finances because there was a lot of construction going on.

Of course, this was not my personal business, but rather something that the Crown Prince had brought up, so I was receiving some financial support, but I didn’t like relying on others too much.

‘And I don’t want to run a deficit if possible.’

Hanyang [old name for Seoul] is originally a place where there are many people with deep pockets, so I’m not worried. But in the provinces, I don’t know if the customers who used to visit the gibangs [traditional Korean houses of entertainment] will continue to come after that.

Even if I absorb the street performers and put them on stage, I don’t know if people will come to see them properly.

I told her that I wasn’t interested in antiques anymore, but that I was refraining from them because of my business, and Youngsun had a complicated expression.

“Why? Was there really a good item that you didn’t want to miss?”

“No.”

“Anyway, I have a lot of work these days, so it’s hard to spend a lot of money.”

Youngsun looked strangely relieved. Was he a stalker rather than a lover?

We were naturally wiping the ceramics with cloths and talking. It always turns out like this when I’m with Youngsun.

“I wanted to buy that Goryeo Dynasty painting… I wonder if I’ll have a chance someday.”

“Once antiques are gone, it’s hard to find them again.”

It is a market where supply and demand do not match.

“But don’t you have a merchant group? You should be able to afford that kind of luxury.”

“Ah. Gaya has made money, but I don’t want to touch it. The merchant group needs money too.”

“I don’t know how you can be so diligent in taking care of other people.”

“It just happened that way. I’m not trying to do anything great…?”

“I heard you’re taking care of the gisaengs [female entertainers] too.”

“I don’t know if I should call it taking care of them. Let’s just say it’s providing healthy job placement.”

“We hear things too.”

Youngsun was also the daughter of a traitor, so if she hadn’t come to me, she might have become a government slave, so she had a complicated expression.

“Who would want to be treated like that?”

“I heard that gisaengs were not always slaves from the beginning, like us…”

“Um. His Majesty doesn’t seem to like the number of government slaves increasing, so he keeps giving them to me…”

In fact, the rebellion of Yeongcheon-gun last time was because I had made such a great contribution… He keeps giving them to me, but when I refuse, I can’t bear to think about what kind of treatment they will receive if they go to another house, so I put them into Siyoungwon again.

Some of them were placed in my private residence due to space constraints, and I was a little worried when I heard the child screaming earlier.

“After receiving some education at Siyoungwon, they may be assigned here as well, so please take good care of them even if it’s bothersome. The people there may be resenting me, so it’s bothersome, but…”

As I told the child earlier, those who plotted treason in Gangwon-do were the families of those who tried to harm the Crown Prince and me.

Still, most of those who were received as slaves were women and young children, so everyone adapted quickly, and sometimes I was more uncomfortable.

“How can you worry about such things and still care so much?”

“It’s a little bothersome for me, but it’s a matter of life and death for those people, so I can’t neglect it.”

“…Do you think slaves have a life too?”

“I can’t give them what they want, but shouldn’t they at least be treated like people? Of course, there are people who aren’t satisfied…”

Having said that, I sighed.

“Don’t resent me too much for just talking a good game and not freeing the slaves.”

“A-Absolutely not. How could we have such absurd thoughts?”

“Now that people have forgotten about it to some extent, and after I grow up to some extent, I was going to quietly release them, but then new people come in.”

“…”

I was thinking of allowing it if someone came to ask for them as their wife before that, assuming they allowed it, but there was no such brave person.

“Still, save money in advance.”

“Yes. Princess.”

Youngsun has a family, so it seems better for her to stay here than to go outside even if she is freed.

“Hoo. I’m a little tired these days because I have so much to think about.”

“I’ll prepare a place for you to rest for a while.”

“Um… No. It’ll be too noisy if I’m late, so it’s okay.”

My original purpose was someone else, but somehow I ended up holding on to Youngsun.

As I was about to call my fellow kidnapping victims, Youngsun asked an unexpected question.

“Princess, may I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“If I were to be freed and still wanted to work by your side, would you accept me?”

“Of course, I’d be happy…?”

“!”

Youngsun’s eyes widened as if she didn’t expect that.

“Um. I might not be able to raise your salary much, though.”

“Ah, no. That doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter? It’s important, you know?”

Anyway, everyone was trying to work for passion pay, which was a big problem. That was a virtue in this era, so I couldn’t help it.

I turned my back on Youngsun and called for someone.