Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 216

“My lady, that’s a bit much!”

But the people around me who overheard my muttering turned pale and tried to dissuade me.

“We’ve heard you’ve been dedicating a lot of effort to publishing the newspaper lately.”

“Please, for the sake of Siyoungwon’s reputation, refrain from that.”

“……Hmm. I’ll consider it.”

It’s not that I’m obsessed with publishing articles, but they’re overreacting.

However, I didn’t want to press the issue when Court Lady Min sighed and lamented.

“What good would it do to widely publicize something like this?”

“There’s also the perception of Siyoungwon to consider.”

“No, I’m the one publishing the newspaper, so I wouldn’t necessarily have to include anything about Siyoungwon.”

I was just planning to publish an article about the seriousness of gambling addiction!

It’s so unfair…….

“Still, rumors will spread.”

“If it’s going to that extent, it’ll spread even without the newspaper.”

As we talked, a strange suspicion arose.

‘Could this be a deliberate attempt to sabotage Siyoungwon?’

I wondered if the general perception of Siyoungwon had always been mostly negative.

Even when problems arose, they had always handled them well internally.

But there might be people who had suffered tangible or intangible losses because of Siyoungwon or its related businesses, or who felt they had been wronged.

‘No matter how virtuous you are, there’s always someone with a twisted heart who will resent you.’

The world is a bit of a gamble anyway.

Court Lady Min seemed uncomfortable with me continuing to stare at the kneeling children and ushered me inside. She wanted to explain in detail what had happened.

“I heard from Chunho that they tried to rob the bank?”

“Yes. Fortunately, they were discovered immediately and fled, but they were too scared to return to their residences and hesitated, which led to their capture.”

Their actions are so clumsy.

“So, what do they say?”

“They’re remaining silent… But since the people around them are all from Siyoungwon, we were able to piece together the situation by gathering testimonies.”

“Ah, so everyone around them suspected something?”

“Since this happened, everyone reported their absence, worried that they might have been harmed by thieves. But after catching them and thinking about it, they noticed inconsistencies and revealed various details.”

Some had been coming home late recently, their behavior was strange, or they suddenly asked to borrow money.

Some even asked detailed questions about the bank building’s layout, and one foolish guy even tried to persuade others to help steal money, so it was quickly revealed that they were the culprits.

Since they had all been like family, some had actually lent them money, and one child had wavered after being begged to help, saying they would borrow the money briefly and pay it back, but eventually refused.

‘But they probably never imagined they would actually go through with it.’

It had been quiet until now, but the outside became noisy as soon as I was out of sight.

“How could you do this to me! When I asked for help, you didn’t even pretend to listen!”

“Of course, I thought you were joking! How could you even think of stealing Siyoungwon’s money?! Are you crazy?!”

“You’ll starve from now on, you ungrateful bastards!”

Hmm……. It’s not good for things to escalate too much.

‘But the closer the relationship, the deeper the sense of betrayal.’

I’m relatively calm because I don’t know most of the culprits well.

“There’s no one to trust in this world.”

“How could you do this when you’re from the same Siyoungwon?”

“Mohan, of all people, how could you do this? You’re even a scholarship candidate!”

Of course, unfortunately, one of them was a child I knew reasonably well.

“Wasn’t Mohan one of the top students? I heard he was diligent.”

“Yes. The children who are scholarship candidates knew about the bank. But I never thought they would do something like this.”

Court Lady Min’s face deepened with wrinkles as she said that.

Compared to the bright face she had when I first brought up the scholarship idea, she suddenly looked several years older.

“That child is a disappointment.”

Everyone sighed at the maid’s words as she brought tea.

They thought he was a good student with a good personality, but they never imagined he would let them down like this.

‘They’ll also develop a distrust of their own judgment.’

I was shocked even though I didn’t see them often, so how much more shocked must the people who raised them be?

I opened my mouth to comfort the shocked people.

“Surprisingly, intelligent people are easily scammed and easily fall for things like that. Because they’re smart, they think they’ll be fine.”

“But to steal…….”

“Look at what they were saying earlier. They probably don’t even think it’s stealing, right? They probably rationalized it by thinking they’ll just borrow it for a while, make more money, and then put it back. Gambling addiction usually starts with winning a lot of money at first. They can’t forget the big money they made at that time, so they keep chasing that high.”

That’s why I’ve heard that when a beginner enters a gambling den, they deliberately let them win at first.

Of course, it could just be ordinary beginner’s luck.

“How do you know that?”

“Um……. Actually, I heard recently that there were people in Siyoungwon who were addicted to gambling and in debt. After that, I had a conversation with the families and victims of gambling addicts in my private residence.”

“Ah…….”

I briefly recalled the conversations with the people who were now living peacefully in my private residence.

‘Um. What should I do? I think Court Lady Min is about to empathize deeply with those people as if she were a family member of a gambling addict.’

There was another reason why Court Lady Min was feeling down.

“That child is at least making excuses… But among the other children who have been caught, there were also children who were dissatisfied with the scholarship system.”

“They may have acted together, but they don’t necessarily have the same motivations.”

“They’re saying, why can’t they receive scholarships and that we’re being biased. I was speechless for a moment and didn’t know what to say.”

“Court Lady Min is having a hard time.”

I felt like if the palace maids had said something like that in the palace, they wouldn’t have been left alone.

Court Lady Min gave a bitter smile at my words.

“Perhaps. It’s my fault for not properly supervising the children under the excuse of being busy.”

“Court Lady Min, your self-blame doesn’t excuse their actions. No matter what, it’s not okay to resort to crime because of a sense of victimhood.”

It seemed like there was resentment, envy, and jealousy towards the scholarship system.

They were saying, why give money only to kids who study well so they can study comfortably.

‘But those words… Someone who works hard at something should say that to be persuasive…….’

I remember that they definitely provided more support to the children who worked hard at cooking, farming, or business and showed results, whether it was a tavern or a restaurant.

Besides, if you study hard but narrowly miss out, you usually envy the child who studies better than you, not be dissatisfied with the scholarship system.

Of course, there may be people who can’t do it no matter how hard they try, but doing something like that is a different issue.

‘They might be able to resent it… But this is a matter of character.’

Court Lady Min, who seemed to be contemplating for a moment, opened her mouth again with difficulty.

“After listening to the children’s stories about the gambling den, I think they deliberately targeted Siyoungwon people.”

Ah, really?

“You don’t have any evidence, do you?”

“No. Not really. But recently… Too many people seem to be involved or almost involved in gambling dens.”

That’s troublesome.

“What do they hope to achieve by targeting Siyoungwon people?”

“We don’t know that much, but it’s clear that it’s damaging the prestige of Princess Ongju’s household.”

“Annoying.”

I was born as a princess, but I didn’t live thinking about that. It would be really troublesome if rumors spread later.

Isn’t that something that could interfere with my free and independent life that will come after I’ve fully grown up?

‘Come to think of it, princesses usually don’t have to worry about that.’

Yeah, it’s all my fault.

“It would be good to supervise the children more thoroughly in the future.”

“Um……. I’ll leave it to Court Lady Min.”

When have I ever managed Siyoungwon strictly? I’ve delegated it to you appropriately.

“Then, what should we do with those children now?”

“Well. What should we do?”

Judging from their expressions, it seemed like everyone didn’t want them to be severely punished. I think their hearts have softened even more because it ended in an attempt.

‘Usually, they would be handed over to the authorities……’

Since it happened within Siyoungwon, they decided to handle it internally and crack down on it.

It’s a strange analogy, but it’s similar to not immediately reporting your grandson to the police for touching your grandmother’s bank account.

Everyone seemed to think it was a disgrace to the family.

If a Siyoungwon child goes to prison, my name will unnecessarily be on people’s lips.

“Rather, shouldn’t we investigate if there’s someone behind this?”

“Um…….”

I was also worried, but everyone’s opinions were divided.

“Could there really be someone orchestrating something like this?”

“But the fact that they attempted to steal…….”

Above all, the culprits were keeping their mouths shut, so it seemed like they would have to interrogate them to find out something, so everyone was reluctant.

‘Should I recruit someone from outside?’

But I didn’t want to resort to harsh methods either.

I was thinking about the various talents within the palace, wondering if there was a solution, when Mauri unexpectedly stepped forward.

She had been raising the children directly since the very beginning of Siyoungwon, so she seemed to be very shocked by this incident.

The children who caused the problem now were probably the children that Mauri took to the mountains to gather firewood and pick herbs.

“I should talk to the children.”

“Are you sure?”

“If there’s a problem with the children we raised, it means we raised them wrong……. We should take responsibility.”

Her expression wasn’t good, so I couldn’t say it was okay.

If they didn’t sort things out properly this time, they didn’t know when something like this would happen again.

I also thought that I had to listen to what the children had to say.

Everyone tried to stop me as I got up.

“Please stay here, my lady.”

“Why? What are you going to do…….”

Surely you’re not going to do something I shouldn’t see, are you?

They said as if to reassure me as I made an uneasy face.

“Don’t worry. We won’t harm the children.”

“No, if they committed this kind of thing, you might as well just give them a few swats. Or just send them to the police station.”

“I don’t know if those guys will be properly punished if we send them to the police station.”

Oh, really? Is there a possibility that the police station won’t do it properly because they’re worried about me?

Gambling is something those guys are colluding on for money, and the theft ended in an attempt?

“Please allow us to take responsibility.”

“Um. Okay…….”

I wanted to tell them to find out where the gambling den was, but everyone’s atmosphere was too serious to say it…….

‘They’ll figure it out.’

Since there were kids who quit gambling without going that far, it didn’t seem difficult to find out if they used some persuasive methods.

“Follow me, you guys.”

“Eek!”

Everyone was horrified, but they followed Mauri and the uncles obediently with pale faces.

There were guys who were sending me pleading looks……. Have those guys forgotten whose money they were trying to steal?

“It’ll be okay, right.”

“It’ll be okay.”

Even as she said that, Court Lady Min also sighed.