Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 226

“I’ve cleaned up the mess from earlier and blocked off the connecting door!”

“Wait. Shouldn’t I get out to the restaurant first?”

While they were flustered, Jia was also taken aback.

‘If they’ve blocked the gambling den, where am I supposed to exit?’

She had a major realization that acting without a plan was a bad idea, but it was too late.

It would be difficult for anyone to come in and help.

The thought of being caught sent shivers down her spine.

“Then, I’ll be going, Elder.”

“Should the Elder wait here?”

“I should head out to the restaurant as well…”

“You guys escort him.”

“Yes!”

As the men moved, Jia breathed a sigh of relief.

If they stayed, Jia wouldn’t be able to move.

Jia looked around and headed towards the area that had been less crowded earlier.

According to the information from the scouts, there was definitely a small service entrance in that direction.

But just as she turned the corner, someone shouted from behind.

“Who’s there!”

“!”

Jia quickly pulled the skirt from her bosom, wore it over her head like a veil, and ran. She had to avoid being recognized if possible.

‘Damn it. I don’t even know the layout of this house. Is it okay to run like this?’

She knew the general direction of the exit, but it would be over if she ran into a dead end or a guarded inner gate.

It wasn’t difficult to ambush and subdue someone unarmed, but against a trained person, going barehanded… it would be hard to avoid being recognized.

And as if her thoughts had materialized, someone appeared in Jia’s path.

A cute-looking woman with wide eyes was standing right in front of the inner gate. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell if the gate was open or closed.

‘A courtesan?’

She definitely recognized the face from the gambling den.

She didn’t seem like much of a threat, so there was no need to subdue her. Jia simply tried to pass by and open the gate, but it wouldn’t open.

‘Damn it!’

And at that moment, unexpected words came from the courtesan’s mouth.

“Sister!”

“???”

The courtesan, grabbing the shocked Jia, hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear.

“I’ll help you. Lower your body as much as possible and lean on me, and just go along with what I say.”

“?”

What was going on?

The footsteps of the men chasing from behind were getting closer, but the courtesan suddenly pretended to be angry.

“Stop it, sister! Don’t fall for a guy who’s just trying to sweet-talk you for fun. If he was serious, he would have saved up money instead of telling you to sneak out so dangerously!”

“Bu… but…”

Since things had turned out this way, Jia decided to go along with it, but she didn’t let her guard down so she could escape at any moment.

“Hey, what’s going on!”

“I’m sorry, brothers. This sister of mine was fooled by a man again…”

“Again? Who is it this time?”

“Just pretend you didn’t see anything, okay? If she gets scolded again, it’ll just ruin the mood.”

The men’s momentum seemed to weaken at the courtesan’s words.

“Ah… that’s true…”

“It was brutal last time…”

“I knew in advance and came out to stop her. Please, just let it go this one time. My sister is just naive.”

Jia was taken aback by the mention of a previous escape attempt.

“Tsk tsk. Trusting a gambler, of all people.”

“Seriously.”

She didn’t know what had happened before, but the men surprisingly backed down.

“Sister, don’t think strange thoughts and come here.”

“…Okay.”

As she subtly turned her head to confirm that the men were moving away and felt relieved, the courtesan led Jia behind the building.

Jia, caught off guard, heard another unexpected remark.

“You’re with Siyoungwon [a government agency], aren’t you?”

“!”

“I’ve seen you with Maehyang a few times before. When I saw you at the gambling den, you looked familiar, but I didn’t think much of it. Seeing you escape from here, I knew it.”

“If you knew, why didn’t you say anything?”

“To whom? Those people? Why would I?”

She seemed to be on less-than-friendly terms with them, despite the intimate way she spoke earlier.

“What’s the point of getting a little praise for telling on someone? It’s not like they treat us like people anyway.”

It was an unexpected remark. That’s why these words slipped out without her realizing it.

“Why… didn’t you go to Siwolgak [a renowned courtesan house] and come here?”

The courtesan, who had a cold expression, looked a little bitter at those words.

“Sister… said she didn’t want to go.”

“……”

Could she be the ‘sister’ she mentioned earlier?

As Jia remained silent, the courtesan sighed and smiled as she led Jia.

“Here, I’ll tell you how to get out. It’s heavily guarded to get out of here, but there are quite a few ways to get to the restaurant. Since we have to go to the restroom.”

“Can’t the courtesans go outside?”

The courtesan’s face showed distress at those words, so Jia shut her mouth.

“Haha. Well, there aren’t many courtesans, so I guess they’re worried we’ll run away. So give me back that outfit. If you just go back in your current disguise, you can get out through the restaurant. Actually, you’ve been following us since earlier, right?”

“……Did you notice?”

“Well, I was at the very back. The other sisters didn’t seem to notice, so don’t worry about it.”

Thanks to the courtesan who introduced herself as Nanhyang, Jia was able to safely return to the restaurant and get out.

She was worried about attracting attention, but everyone was distracted by something else, so no one paid attention to Jia.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Did this person go to the restroom or something? Everyone’s going out to see Ongju Jaga [a royal princess], but didn’t you know?”

“Ah.”

Jia, who had temporarily forgotten the news while escaping, soon asked as if nothing was wrong.

“Something like that. But what’s so interesting about that?”

“No, people say she hasn’t grown in years and is still a child, so wouldn’t you be curious!”

Well, after seeing her for years, I’m not curious.

‘Besides, she’s grown a lot.’

Others nearby also chimed in.

“But why is Ongju Jaga coming here?”

“How would I know…”

When Jia went outside, she saw a truly splendid palanquin coming, and people were gathering and buzzing about it being Ongju Jaga’s palanquin.

“Is Ongju Jaga really coming?”

“Seeing the court ladies walking alongside the palanquin, it seems so?”

“But why here of all places?”

The people’s questions were not much different from Jia’s.

The courtesans who had come out were also whispering among themselves.

“……Surely she’s not coming to our establishment, is she?”

“To see us?”

“Ongju Jaga wouldn’t be crazy enough to do that…”

The establishment’s employees said that and gestured for the courtesans to quickly go inside.

“Humph. Can’t we even watch?”

The courtesans grumbled but went inside.

Everyone seemed full of curiosity because the rumors about Suyoung Ongju were so rampant.

Jia looked at Ongju Jaga’s palanquin from a distance, feeling unfamiliar.

‘Well, she’s supposed to ride in a palanquin anyway.’

It’s just that she’s so easygoing.

While everyone was watching from afar, someone was seen approaching the palanquin without fear.

Jia realized that the person was the middle-aged man who had been talking to Grandpa earlier and pushed through the crowd to move forward.

“Step aside. How dare you approach Ongju Jaga’s palanquin without permission?”

“I apologize. We are the owners of the small restaurant there, and we humbly wish to greet Ongju Jaga and ask for permission.”

However, Ongju Jaga did not get out of the palanquin or give any other answer, but simply conveyed these words through the court lady next to her.

“She says that a new small restaurant will be opening here soon, so she will accept greetings then if necessary.”

“……Pardon?”

“I am sorry, but by small restaurant, do you mean…”

A bad feeling flashed through the middle-aged man’s mind about the scale of the ‘small restaurant’ Ongju was talking about, and cold sweat ran down his back.

Whether he did or not, the court lady coldly conveyed Ongju Jaga’s words.

“She said that there should be no face-reddening incidents between neighbors.”

And the palanquin entered the building across from that ‘small restaurant.’

That building across the street that had been under construction for some time.

Everyone had laughed, saying that a great rich person must be moving in because the house that hadn’t been sold for a long time had finally been sold, and they had started construction on both sides of it.

But a ‘small restaurant’ of that size… What on earth are they planning to make?

Considering that the scale of the things Ongju had made so far was usually not small at first but grew later, this scale was not ordinary.

The middle-aged man’s face, which had been quite proud, turned as pale as paper.

And thanks to that, he didn’t even notice Ongju giving instructions before her palanquin went inside and hurriedly ran into the store.

“Where, where is the Elder?”

“I have escorted him to his usual seat.”

Forgetting his dignity, he ran in with a thud, and the Elder clicked his tongue at the sight of him.

“How can you show such a frivolous appearance in a place where subordinates are present?”

“I apologize.”

“Yes. Did you put in a word with Ongju?”

He meant whether he had mentioned the gambling debts of the Siyoungwon children.

But that wasn’t the problem now.

“Ongju, Ongju Jaga is going to open a new store across the street.”

“……What?”

The Elder’s hand, which had been leisurely drinking tea, stopped.

“Although our biggest profit comes from the gambling den, a considerable amount of money has been spent on building and maintaining this restaurant.”

“……That’s right.”

It existed to constantly attract people and disguise the gambling den, but it was also really doing business as a restaurant.

Of course, there were subtle costs that were consumed accordingly.

Bringing in courtesans who could perform to imitate Siwolgak, and finding maids who were skilled at making food also took quite a bit of effort.

He knew that the reason why people who started similar businesses after Ongju’s business succeeded didn’t succeed greatly was because of those two things.

But it was not at all difficult for Ongju to find people who met those two requirements.

For Ongju to build a store right next door meant….