Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 215

Frowning, I asked again,

“So, you’re saying there was a robbery?”

“Yes…”

“The fact that you reported it to me means it happened within Siyeongwon [a government office], right?”

“Yes. I heard from Court Lady Min that someone tried to break into the vault that was being prepared under Ongju’s [a princess] orders. Fortunately, they were caught by a guard on patrol, failed, and fled.”

“It’s a relief that they failed, but…”

Seeing my reaction ease slightly, Sehwa and Cheonho seemed relieved and relaxed their shoulders a bit.

I felt a little sorry for making them worry so much.

“Um, I’m sorry to ask, but what is this ‘vault’?”

“Ah.”

At Cheonho’s question, Sehwa nodded, also curious.

Come to think of it, only the people of Siyeongwon knew about it yet.

“You know that the Crown Prince decided to give scholarships to some of the top-performing children in Siyeongwon… the school?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a facility being prepared within Siyeongwon to manage the money the Crown Prince entrusted to me for the scholarship payments.”

“You’re creating a separate facility?”

“Yes. I thought it might be too much money to give at once, considering it needs to be managed separately, but there are so many people, and it seems the Donggung Palace [the Crown Prince’s residence] finds it cumbersome to manage each one individually, so I decided to receive it all at once.”

Even so, I think everyone in Donggung Palace trusts me too much.

“Thanks to that, the amount has grown, so I created a separate place to manage the money.”

“So, there must have been quite a large sum of money.”

“Yes. Actually, the operating funds for Siyeongwon and everything else require thorough money management, but as the scale grew, it seemed to be too much for Court Lady Min and the maids to handle.”

So, I selected people to manage the money more systematically, and I was even thinking of creating a facility within Siyeongwon where people could deposit money once things stabilized, so I deliberately named it a vault.

‘After all, everyone leaves their homes to earn money, so this is an era where they bury jars of money in the yard.’

Of course, paper money is also used, but it would be bothersome to carry around money that you don’t need to use right away.

“But only the people inside Siyeongwon know about the vault, so how did they target it?”

The internal funds of Siyeongwon, which were kept in the vault building, had not been circulated outside Siyeongwon except for the creation of branch offices.

The place where the Siyeongwon operation-related ledgers were stored was temporarily designated as the vault and strictly managed, and new security personnel were deliberately hired.

So, even if people living in Siyeongwon didn’t know exactly what it was or where it was, they could roughly guess that there was something important there.

‘But Cheonho specifically said vault.’

Since Cheonho wasn’t from Siyeongwon, he didn’t know exactly what the vault was or where it was.

He was just relaying what he heard from Court Lady Min, so the fact that he said they targeted the vault meant that the thieves knew exactly where the money was.

As that thought crossed my mind, a sigh naturally escaped.

“The culprit must be someone from inside Siyeongwon.”

“Yes. Everyone seemed to think so.”

“The atmosphere in Siyeongwon must be bad.”

“Of course. If something like this happens internally, they’ll be suspicious of each other.”

“Hmm.”

They had been thinking of each other as family and had a strong internal bond, but something like this happened.

Sehwa carefully asked, noticing that I was frowning.

“Are you alright? It’s best not to worry too much.”

“That’s right. You just took your medicine.”

Sehwa looked worried and asked to check my pulse again, so I just let her.

“Hoo. With so many people, there are bound to be people who cause problems. There’s no way everyone is happy with what I’m doing, and no matter how much I educate them, there will be people who go astray or turn to crime.”

Besides, it’s not possible to give the children as much focused care as before. There are just too many people now.

‘Still, I tried to focus on character education.’

Until now, I knew that there had been fights among themselves or minor issues, but I didn’t know they had caused such a big problem. Was I wrong?

It was a bit bitter to realize that I was lacking.

“So, you haven’t caught the culprit yet?”

“When I heard about it, they hadn’t caught the culprit yet, but they’re searching internally, so they should be caught soon.”

That’s true. Since they failed, they wouldn’t have anywhere to run, and even if they did, it would be like confessing.

“However, there are so many people in Siyeongwon, and recently, many have left for other regions. So, they’re trying to figure out who is in Siyeongwon and who isn’t, and where they were at the time of the incident, so it’s taking time.”

“I see. They must be having a hard time since they already have so much work.”

Cheonho also seemed to care about the people of Siyeongwon and tried to defend them.

“Everyone was blaming themselves for the fact that this happened.”

“Hmm. It’s not something to blame themselves for. But still, it’s hard not to feel bad that there’s a criminal among the Siyeongwon children.”

Ha, is this how parents feel when they hear their child has gone astray?

It’s like the gambling story I heard last time. I guess problems are inevitable when there are too many people.

Thinking that far, something suddenly bothered me.

“…Come to think of it, I heard there were people addicted to gambling…”

“Yes? Yes. I heard that too. There seemed to be quite a few.”

Thinking that far, something suddenly came to mind.

‘Even in modern times, there are people who get addicted to gambling or stocks, lose all their money, and then try to make up for it by taking out all the money in the house, including the house deed and land deed… It’s not uncommon.’

I think I’ve seen it in dramas too.

Besides, in this era, there were really guys who would even sell their wives and children.

And from the perspective of the Siyeongwon children, Siyeongwon is like their home.

“Sigh. I hope it’s not like that.”

“Yes?”

“No. It’s nothing. More than that, I should go and take a look.”

“Wouldn’t it be better not to go since it’s so unsettling?”

“Yes. You don’t know if they’re just thieves or something more dangerous.”

“Ongju, it’s not good for your health to worry too much.”

Soi, Cheonho, and even Sehwa tried to stop me, but I shook my head.

“Similar problems may arise in the future, so I should go this time.”

“You said you wouldn’t go out for a while.”

“The heat has subsided, so it’s okay. I haven’t been out enough lately.”

Well, summer without a fan or air conditioner is a bit much.

“Come to think of it, everyone must be tired from the summer. I should ask Songbi to make something delicious and take it with me later.”

“Everyone will be happy.”

Now there are so many people that it’s mass production if I take it once.

‘I feel like a parent who can’t even properly take care of snacks because there are too many children.’

There was some light resistance to my sudden outing, but everyone was used to it now and started preparing to go out.

And while leaving the palace with Soi and Cheonho, leaving Sehwa who was on duty, I realized one thing.

“Ah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Umm. It’s nothing.”

“?”

Soi, not knowing what was going on, looked puzzled, but Cheonho had the same look on his face as me, as if he had realized something.

‘I forgot to call Sung Gyeom-sabok and have him do what the Crown Prince said.’

I’m glad I haven’t called him yet.

The Crown Prince and I had already discussed the adjustment of Sung Gyeom-sabok’s duties, so all I had to do was call him, explain the situation, and send him to the Crown Prince tomorrow.

So, it would be enough to go to Siyeongwon today and call him after returning to the palace. It’s not like he has to leave tomorrow.

Actually, the Crown Prince could order it.

‘Well, if the Crown Prince orders it, Sung Gyeom-sabok might submit his resignation and run away…’

Is it because I’m growing noticeably these days?

I heard that Sung Gyeom-sabok has been singing ‘Oh, my body isn’t what it used to be,’ ‘I don’t want to work,’ ‘I want to retire’ lately, strongly appealing for retirement, but the King and Crown Prince are pretending not to hear.

‘Sending Sung Gyeom-sabok isn’t really an urgent matter…’

It was too long ago to destroy evidence now. I honestly don’t know if Sung Gyeom-sabok can find anything if he goes.

Sending Sung Gyeom-sabok probably means that it’s no longer possible to find administrative evidence.

By the way, why did the Crown Prince suddenly want to ask Yeonseon-oh about Crown Prince Seongwon?

‘Did he have any suspicions about the accident?’

Unlike me, who is an Ongju, the Crown Prince had access to more information.

Looking at the circumstances at the time, it seemed like Grand Prince Gyeong-eon, no, Deposed Prince Lee Soo, was trying to do something, but wasn’t it just an unfortunate accident?

‘I was unconscious at the time, so I don’t know how the investigation was conducted.’

Still, it was about the death of Crown Prince Seongwon, so if there were any suspicions, the King wouldn’t have overlooked it.

I can understand that he kept Grand Prince Gyeong-eon alive at the time, but it was difficult to punish his own son easily.

He only had three surviving children.

‘But he eventually gave him poison.’

Most of the people who were deeply involved with Grand Prince Gyeong-eon at the time were implicated and executed or exiled, losing their power.

It’s ironic, but the person who benefited the most from the death of Crown Prince Seongwon was the current Crown Prince.

‘Come to think of it, there might be someone who holds a grudge in retaliation.’

The world is wide, and there are many strange people.

Thinking unprofitably, I arrived at Siyeongwon, and everyone greeted me with surprised faces.

Did they not expect me to come?

“Ongju, you’ve arrived.”

“Yes. I heard something happened. But why is it so noisy?”

“Ah, come this way.”

For some reason, Court Lady Min abruptly led me to the back, where the vault was located.

If you ask what’s different from where I usually play… it was a place that was difficult for outsiders to enter.

It wasn’t a place where other children frequented, but now it was especially… the atmosphere was cold, so I knew what was going on without hearing an explanation.

‘They caught the culprit.’

I arrived at a good time.

As expected, a few young men, probably around twenty years old, were kneeling and trembling.

“You caught them faster than I thought.”

“It’s only natural in a way…”

Well, it was natural. The leaders of Siyeongwon were still half former secret agents.

Even though they’ve retired, catching clumsy thieves isn’t difficult for them.

The culprit was an insider, as expected.

The children, knowing that I had arrived, looked even more desperate and began to bury their faces in the ground and tremble.

I didn’t bother asking the culprits and asked Court Lady Min.

“So, what’s the reason?”

“That’s…”

My sad premonition was never wrong, so the reason was as I expected.

“So, you’re saying you stole the money to pay off gambling debts?”

“No, that’s not it! I was going to put it back as soon as I won enough money to pay off the debt! This time for sure…”

“Hmm. Sounds like a typical gambling addict’s statement.”

Or an investment addict?

People who invest in stocks or coins and go bankrupt generally steal from their family’s accounts with that kind of mindset, take out loans, and use private loans, dragging their whole family into the mire….

“No, how does Ongju know about that?”

Soi grumbled from behind, but I pretended not to hear it.

Well, maybe I saw it on the news.

“Should I put this in the newspaper as an article…”

I think people need to be more aware.

“No! Wait a minute!”