Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 245

“Huff!”

“Ah!!”

“Aaaah!!”

Of course, those watching from behind also screamed in surprise.

The loudest scream came from the employee who had just approached the man.

It seemed like the bowstring snapping was a bad omen.

The Crown Prince, who was on the opposite side, seemed to grasp the situation belatedly after seeing the screams and the bow with the snapped string, and rushed towards the man.

“Are you alright?”

“…I’m fine.”

The man seemed a little surprised but politely refused the help around him, saying he was fine.

Judging by the way he was pressing his face with his hand, it was clear he was hurt, but he was adamant.

“It looks like you’ve injured your face; you should get treatment before you leave.”

Although not widely known, Princess Soo-yeong’s stores, especially those in the food industry, always had emergency medicine on hand.

This was due to Princess Soo-yeong’s policy of always having them prepared in case of an emergency.

“I am a physician. May I take a look at your injury?”

Moreover, when Se-hwa approached and said that, the man looked even more flustered.

Even the manager, who had apparently been informed by another employee, rushed out to apologize, but the man hurriedly waved his other hand.

“I’m sorry! This happened because we didn’t properly check the condition of the bow…!”

“No, the employee clearly advised me to change the bow, but I refused, saying I was fine. It only grazed my face, and I wasn’t seriously injured. I also don’t want to cause a big commotion.”

“But shouldn’t you have it checked elsewhere?”

Looking at the employees screaming at his face, even unrelated people seemed tense and stiff.

Se-hwa, who was subtly watching them from a third-party perspective, swallowed the thought, ‘I shouldn’t laugh right now.’

“It’s just a slight scratch, so there’s no need to worry. I didn’t want to spoil the fun, so I didn’t change the bow and overdid it, but it only caused more of a commotion.”

“……”

The man said that, gestured to someone beyond the crowd, and walked through the crowd.

“Cu, customer! You have the highest score today; may we have your name?”

The recording staff member, who had been watching, plucked up the courage to approach, but the man shook his head.

“I just came to enjoy the entertainment, so I’ll yield to someone else.”

The man said that and briefly glanced at the Crown Prince, who had shot the bow with him, but disappeared quickly before the Crown Prince could approach.

“Just a moment…!”

“Wh, where are you going!”

The Crown Prince, who had been pushed back with the manager’s appearance, tried to run out through the crowd, but was held back by Song Naegwan [a court official] and couldn’t achieve his goal.

Se-hwa also approached the Crown Prince belatedly and asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“…It’s nothing….”

The Crown Prince had a slightly confused look but soon gave up and relaxed his shoulders.

‘I couldn’t see his face, but his posture and back looked like someone I know.’

***

After leaving the arcade and taking the reins of Jeok-ah [the name of her horse], Cheon-ho asked where we were going, and I finally realized that I hadn’t told him where to go.

“Where are you going now?”

“Yeah. I think I need to go to my house.”

“If you’re talking about the young lady’s house, are you referring to Saga?”

“Yeah.”

So-yi, who had given up and was just following me wherever I went, also had a puzzled look.

“Did something happen that you’re going to Saga?”

“Nothing happened, but I think I need to check that side too.”

“Ah, is it because of the antiques?”

“Yeah. I think I’ve been too negligent of that side lately.”

So-yi nodded at my words.

“You’ve been too busy lately to visit often. But that side has been well-managed, so wouldn’t it be alright?”

“I hope so.”

In fact, most of the work I do is entrusted to agents, and those agents manage it well on their own.

‘Like Ga-i, Min Sang-gung [a high-ranking court lady], and Young-seon.’

However, compared to the two people in front of me who are court ladies, Young-seon was inevitably in a weaker position.

I’m dragging my feet, thinking that maybe her false accusation might be cleared up after the treason is revealed.

Maybe I should just grant her emancipation now; I’m still often worried.

‘There’s no contact from Seong Gyeom-sa-bok either.’

So many people’s lives are at stake; I hope he comes back soon.

“I hope it’s not just a hassle.”

“It’ll be alright. Don’t worry too much.”

“Yeah… There hasn’t been any contact, so it seems alright, but….”

Young-seon is a child who contacts me when necessary, so she should be fine.

“Hiak.”

“Huh?”

The moment I was thinking about something else and passing a corner, Jeok-ah suddenly stopped, and it seemed like there was something in front of us.

‘I think I heard a terrified voice.’

“Just a moment, young lady. It seems a young child ran and fell in surprise.”

“Yeah. Isn’t she hurt?”

“Yes. Jeok-ah is smart, after all.”

As expected of a true self-driving car, she seemed to have stopped on her own.

Cheon-ho helped the child up and checked if she was hurt.

“Are you alright, little one?”

“So, so, sorry.”

The child, who still looked quite young, was holding a small box close to her chest, as if she was running an errand.

“Don’t be scared; I won’t bother you. If you’re hurt, you need to get treatment, so don’t hide it and tell me.”

“Ah, no. Ca, can I go now?”

“Um. Go ahead.”

“Th, thank you!”

The child bowed and ran away quickly.

“Oh dear. I wonder what village she lives in to be so afraid of noblemen.”

“Perhaps she was scared of the horse.”

As if understanding Cheon-ho’s words, Jeok-ah began to whinny discontentedly, so I had to stroke her mane to soothe her.

“Cheon-ho, Jeok-ah understands everything, you know?”

“Hmm. Sorry.”

Seeing Cheon-ho apologizing to Jeok-ah with a slightly subdued face, I remembered something from my conversation with that man earlier and patted Cheon-ho’s shoulder.

“Now that I think about it, you’re especially kind to young children, Cheon-ho. Is that why you took such good care of those siblings from Siwol Pavilion [a restaurant or establishment]?”

“I don’t think I particularly took care of them. I mostly just did what the young miss told me to do.”

“Was that so.”

Rummaging through my memories, it seemed that way, and it seemed not.

Since they were children I first met when Siwol Pavilion opened, quite some time has passed now that I think about it.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen them much lately.”

“Hmm. I heard their circumstances weren’t good, so they were staying at Siyoung Garden [likely a residential area or estate], right? If you wanted to meet them, you could have, so it’s unexpected.”

“Is that so? I keep going in and out of Siyoung Garden to deliver news, but since they work at Siwol Pavilion, wouldn’t there be no chance of running into each other?”

Does that mean they don’t run into each other because their commuting times are different?

“It would be difficult to find other work, and I think they’re still working at Siwol Pavilion. Ah, the child must have grown a lot.”

“They must have grown a lot. Once the younger sibling grows up quickly and starts helping with work, life will be much easier.”

Well, I heard before that they were doing well in Siyoung Garden, but lately, I haven’t paid any attention to them, so I felt a little sorry.

Still, I tried to scrape together as many memories as possible.

“I heard they’re not bad with their head and are learning the work.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Hmm. I guess there are many people of noble lineage among the kids working at Siwol Pavilion, so I thought they wouldn’t learn that kind of thing and would just laze around.”

“They have to feed their younger sibling, so they have no choice.”

“That must be tough.”

I don’t have any siblings in this life, so is that why I’m so unencumbered?

***

“Moon-young. How is your sibling?”

“Ah. The fever seems to have gone down. Thank you.”

Moon-young bowed to Doctor Heo, who was in charge of the patients in Siyoung Garden.

“It’s a relief that they’re getting better, but I’m worried because it’s already early winter. I hope they get better before it gets colder.”

“Yes.”

Moon-young checked that Doctor Heo’s back was receding into the distance and returned to the room.

There was no one in the room except her younger brother, who was sleeping soundly.

‘Coming to Siyoung Garden was a really good thing.’

At first, she had been hanging around, wanting to go to the academy, and when she heard there were job openings, she applied and was suddenly hired to work at Siwol Pavilion; her heart felt like it would burst with tension.

The memory of being caught by Yeongcheon-gun [a noble title] on the opening day of Siwol Pavilion was still vivid.

She never imagined that Yeongcheon-gun would commit treason and end up like that.

‘What would have happened if Ongju Jaga [a royal title, princess] hadn’t helped me back then?’

She might have been played with and discarded, or she might have been dragged away and become a concubine.

Some people said that being a concubine of a royal relative was better than working hard.

But if she had become Yeongcheon-gun’s concubine back then, she would have definitely suffered something more terrible, so thinking about it now, it was such a fortunate thing.

Besides, after that day, she occasionally paid attention to her.

Even though she never spoke to her directly, she knew that she had been taken care of a few times through Cheon-ho, who was known as her close aide.

If she thought that she had been able to enter Siyoung Garden because of that day’s intense memory, it might not have been a bad thing.

‘How many times have I heard that I should raise my sibling comfortably by becoming a concubine.’

Moon-young stroked her sleeping sibling’s head.

“If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have heard those words.”

“…Sister.”

It didn’t seem like he was awake, but was it sleep-talking? The child called out to his sister.

After losing their parents, not being able to rely on relatives, and finally, even her last remaining cousin brother left, she lived alone, raising this young child.

Even so, the people around her still told her to live for this child.

‘If I raise this child well, will I ever be rewarded?’

But during the past years of struggling to survive, Moon-young had also realized something.

Even if you give, you don’t necessarily get anything in return.

‘Moon-won brother… said that if we found out about the things happening here or about Ongju Jaga, we could live well again….’

I don’t know. Is that really possible?

Besides, Siyoung Garden… provides food, clothing, and shelter, and most of the people are kind, but it’s very closed off in important areas, so it’s not easy to find out anything important.

She had felt it to the point of exhaustion ever since she started wandering around inside Siyoung Garden to find out what her brother had told her to find out.

‘What are you doing in a place like this? Are you not feeling well?’

‘Yes? No. I’m fine.’

‘This is a place where there are sick people. I was surprised to see a young person other than the caregivers.’

‘Here?’

‘Yes. I’m taking care of patients who can’t move. If you want to support caregiving, let me know.’

‘Yes, yes.’

Taking care of even one young sibling was already too much, let alone caregiving.

She had already done it to the point of exhaustion when her mother collapsed. Thanks to that, she didn’t even go near that area.

‘If that’s the goal, it’s a successful strategy, but.’

Relatively recently, she was told to find out about the people in Siyoung Garden who were involved in gambling.

This time, there was a slight rumor inside, so she thought she could catch something.

‘There seem to be people I haven’t seen for a while… Do you know anything?’

‘Maybe they were dispatched to another region? Honestly, there are so many people that I don’t know.’

‘Well, that’s true.’

Infiltration or whatever, but honestly, just adapting here was overwhelming.

There were many people inside Siyoung Garden, and there were many elderly and children, so manpower to take care of them was constantly coming and going.

From the outside, it seemed like there were only young children or young people, but those people were just more visible.

‘On days when I was off from Siwol Pavilion, I approached a place where people didn’t go often to see if there was anything, but I was dragged to a place where they raise children and ended up doing childcare volunteering.’

Taking care of children was familiar because of her younger sibling who was far apart in age, but it wasn’t welcome.

It’s not that she dislikes her sibling. It’s just that there are times when it’s burdensome.

Moon-young hugged her knees and reaffirmed.

‘This is also for my sibling.’