Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 300

‘Sia? You said Sia?’

He knows who I am?

There are plenty of people in the world who know my name.

But in this world, the number of people who dare to call me by my name is small enough to count on one hand.

Besides, the voice ringing in my ear was unfamiliar, yet somehow… familiar.

It was a long time ago, but…

If my memory isn’t failing me, and if there’s nothing wrong with my hearing, this voice definitely belongs to someone I know.

The problem is that this person shouldn’t be here.

However, if the owner of this voice is really ‘that person,’ then the one who was with Yeon Seono, the Left Commander, must also be that person.

As I froze and couldn’t move, the hand holding me loosened its grip.

I took a deep breath and turned around, half in doubt. I needed to see it with my own eyes.

A delicate and neat face, a gentle smile.

Now I understood why the village woman I met earlier was so mesmerized. This person was here.

But no matter how much I expected it, I couldn’t help but doubt my own eyes.

“…Brother?”

My first older brother, whose smile hadn’t changed, even though he looked a little older than I remembered.

Why is someone who clearly died, whose funeral was held, and whose grave was made, standing in front of my eyes right now?

“…Yes. It’s me. Your brother, Lee Hye. You’ve really… grown a lot since I last saw you.”

An arm, familiar yet strange, embraced me.

Is this a ghost or a person? As I stood there blankly, reality suddenly crashed in. The tears welling up in my eyes disappeared completely.

“Brother… you said?”

I roughly pushed away the person who had approached me so brazenly, as if it were natural.

“Sia.”

“Brother died. Yeon Seono, the Left Commander…”

It was Yeon Seono, the Left Commander, who told me about the Crown Prince’s demise.

And now, Yeon Seono was here too. With the Crown Prince.

I couldn’t believe that Yeon Seono, who is still with the Crown Prince, would have said such a thing against the Crown Prince’s will.

“Why… did you lie to me…?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Sia.”

Lee Hye, the Crown Prince, tried to grab me, but I shuddered and slapped his hand away.

Bewilderment and regret flashed across his face, which had seemed so kind.

“Do you think people are a joke?”

“Si, Sia.”

“You told that little kid that you died, and died so horribly! What kind of fool would be happy to hear that you were actually alive?”

“…I’m sorry.”

It seemed that Lee Hye’s memory of me was still of a round-faced, seven-year-old child.

As I flared up in anger, Lee Hye could only apologize, at a loss for what to do.

To be honest, I was so angry that I just wanted to faint.

But the situation was so absurd that I couldn’t just let go so easily.

The moment I saw Lee Hye’s face, it was true that I was happy that a family member I thought was dead was alive.

But, if Lee Hye, the former Crown Prince, is alive now.

What happens to the current Crown Prince?

Logically, I know.

‘It’s already irreversible.’

At least, it might have been different a few years ago.

The current Crown Prince has already been appointed as the Crown Prince and has proven his abilities by acting as regent.

There weren’t many ways to reverse this.

I didn’t know whether to be happy or surprised, but a chill ran down my spine as I realized one thing.

‘That strange rumor…’

It wasn’t Grand Prince Gyeong-eon.

It wasn’t another royal relative either.

If the one the rebels were trying to enthrone was none other than the Crown Prince who was known to be dead…

‘He has more legitimacy than anyone else.’

Besides, Lee Hye’s original people, who had been living as if they were dead, would naturally join him.

Knowing this, I finally understood the arrogant attitude of the court ladies.

They must really think they’re going to become head palace maids.

‘But even so, they’re aiming for a coup? Crown Prince Seongwon, who was so kind that he seemed indecisive?’

I don’t know if he knows what I’m thinking, but the Crown Prince… no, Lee Hye, looked at me, who was frozen, here and there.

Behind him, Yeon Seono, who had appeared unnoticed, was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression.

It seemed that they had never imagined that I would appear in such a place.

Don’t these guys read the newspaper?

“O, Princess Consort?”

“…How dare you hold your head so high in front of me. Can’t you lower it right now?”

“I, I apologize.”

As I said that in a cold voice, Crown Prince Seongwon looked even more embarrassed than Yeon Seono, who lowered his head and bowed.

“…Don’t be angry with Seono. Sia. It’s all my doing, and Seono is only guilty of following my orders.”

“I’m sure. It’s not like the Left Commander kidnapped my brother.”

“…”

Crown Prince Seongwon looked shocked, as if he had witnessed something impossible, when he saw me sneering.

‘How old does he think I am?’

I clearly haven’t been hiding my personality that much, have I?

I haven’t hesitated to mock Grand Prince Yeongwon, the current Crown Prince, in front of Crown Prince Seongwon.

‘Well, if you haven’t seen someone for over ten years and only remember the old memories, they naturally become idealized.’

Crown Prince Seongwon in my memory might also be idealized.

“Come this way. This is not a place for you to be.”

“…”

If I resist, he’ll probably just pick me up and carry me.

The Crown Prince Seongwon I remember wasn’t the kind of person who would gag a girl and forcibly carry her away.

The Crown Prince Seongwon in my memory seemed to be fading, and I felt a little lonely for some reason.

Crown Prince Seongwon and Yeon Seono went back the way I had come and took me to one of the empty houses I had passed.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No.”

After sitting me down on the porch, Crown Prince Seongwon looked at my face and hands, and after not finding any injuries, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

Crown Prince Seongwon, who didn’t know how to treat me, hesitated and then asked the first question he should ask.

“So… why are you here?”

“I heard that you saw Left Commander Yeon Seono in this area, so I came to find him.”

“I knew that Princess Consort had placed an advertisement in the newspaper looking for me, but I never imagined you would come all the way here…”

So he did read the newspaper.

“I came to find not only the Left Commander but also other… members of the Royal Guard.”

“Why… why did you suddenly look for them?”

“Because there’s something I want to ask.”

“…Is it something I can answer?”

I don’t think it’s a good idea to ask Crown Prince Seongwon that…

‘If you think about the truth like this, it means that Father knew.’

Maybe everyone except me knew?

“I heard the court ladies talking. They said that when you were lost, Father didn’t grieve as much as they thought he would.”

“…It’s because I was foolish.”

Crown Prince Seongwon nodded with a sigh, as if something had occurred to him.

Looking at the Crown Prince made me feel overwhelmed again.

“Why, why did you pretend to be dead?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you would suffer so much because of my wrong choice.”

“?”

I was puzzled for a moment, but soon I understood what he meant.

‘You’re talking about the things that Grand Prince Gyeong-eon did.’

Thanks to that, my birth mother and the fetus in her womb died, and I was poisoned and wandered between life and death, and I stopped growing.

It wasn’t the development that Crown Prince Seongwon had hoped for, but as he disappeared, Grand Prince Gyeong-eon was able to act more freely.

“It wasn’t planned from the beginning. It was just… the situation was right.”

“…”

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m always sorry for those who lost their lives because of me.”

The Crown Prince explained what happened that day as concisely as possible.

The big picture was not much different from the story Yeon Seono had told me before.

The biggest difference was that someone, who wasn’t even mentioned in the first story, suddenly appeared and saved the two from the tiger.

He said he was a young man who lived in a nearby village.

He asked them to avenge him because he, who had already been fatally wounded by the tiger, would not live long, and to take care of his mother who would be left alone.

Thanks to that, the Left Commander and the Crown Prince, who had survived, caught the tiger and safely escaped, and then kept their promise.

“So, those bones were his?”

“Probably.”

How absurd. I guess I cried like that in front of a stranger’s remains.

Suddenly, I understood why Father didn’t grieve.

If he knew that his son, who was known to be dead, had plotted this, he would have been so angry that his tears would have disappeared.

“So. Why did you pretend to be dead?”

“…That’s a little difficult to explain.”

“Do you think I came all the way here to hear that, Brother?”

Crown Prince Seongwon was embarrassed, but eventually opened his mouth.

“It was because of Grand Prince Gyeong-eon and Royal Concubine Yeong.”

“?”

“I can’t tell you more than that… I’m sorry.”

“It’s almost like you didn’t tell me anything.”

Whether I was displeased or not, Crown Prince Seongwon continued to look at me with tearful eyes.

“Seeing you so grown up makes me want to cry.”

That’s not the important thing right now.

I deliberately spoke in a cold voice.

“So, all you do after disappearing like a dead person is plot a rebellion?”

“…I didn’t intend to do this either.”

“Then why?”

“…Lee Hwa, that child is doing reckless things, and I can’t just leave it like this, can I?”

It was an unexpected remark.

As I opened my eyes wide, Crown Prince Seongwon nodded as if he knew I would.

“The policies that child has been pursuing while acting as regent are all idealistic and not realistic. Because of that, he is incurring the displeasure of many people.”

“…”

“If I leave it alone, you and that child will surely get hurt.”

“Do you think the current Crown Prince is doing the wrong things?”

At my words, Crown Prince Seongwon smiled and shook his head.

“It’s the right thing to do, but it’s just idealistic armchair theory.”

“…”

“How can I stand by and watch you get into danger? Even now, I have to fix everything.”

And as he spoke, Crown Prince Seongwon smiled sadly and reached out his hand to me.

“So, won’t you join your brother? If you help me, things will be much easier.”

I was overwhelmed by the unexpected development, so I jumped up and slapped the Crown Prince’s hand away, and then mumbled in a daze.

“…My brother doesn’t say such strange things.”