Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 314

‘Where am I?’

Crown Prince Seongwon blinked, staring blankly at the displayed ceramics.

‘Sia would like that…….’

He thought of giving it to his sister, then quickly caught himself. “Ah!”

Of course, Sia would like such things. This was clearly Sia’s private residence.

Realizing this, he was able to grasp the situation more quickly.

‘Yeon Seon-o……!!’

Recalling his last memory, he naturally thought of the familiar name and bit his lip.

He had never imagined that someone he had trusted for almost half his life would betray him!

‘I entrusted myself to Sia, and she immediately sided with him in such a short time.’

Of course, Crown Prince Seongwon was aware that he was entirely responsible for this.

Sia and Yeon Seon-o both had the common goal of protecting him, so they must have quickly formed an alliance. Probably the other close aides as well.

Perhaps there was something in the food Yeon Seon-o gave him before he left.

Come to think of it, he must have been too out of it from the medicine at the time to remember.

Creak-

Just then, the door opened, and one of the people he had just cursed in his heart entered. Behind him were even the close aides who had been protecting him until recently, making him feel a deep sense of betrayal.

“You……!”

“Have you awakened?”

He wanted to grab them by the collar, but seeing the woman who entered behind the men, Crown Prince Seongwon stopped himself.

As if noticing his mood, Yeon Seon-o introduced the woman.

“This is a physician sent by Princess Suyeong. Let’s have her take your pulse first.”

“I’m not in a position to…….”

“You are in a position to. I was told by Princess Suyeong and His Highness to look after your health.”

“……”

Crown Prince Seongwon didn’t recognize the woman in front of him at first, but he realized who she was the moment she spoke.

He had seen her a few times near the Hyeminseo [a government-run medical institution] when he was wandering around, hoping to see Sia after hearing various rumors. More importantly, he had met her in Gangwon-do.

She probably remembered his face since she had seen him with the Crown Prince in the market afterward, but he only remembered seeing her at night, so he wouldn’t recognize her.

He doubted she would remember the voice of someone she had only met briefly, but physicians had good memories, so you never knew.

“The famous Physician Sehwa is here to take your pulse, so it would be good to take this opportunity to take care of your health. You haven’t been feeling well lately, have you?”

“Ahem. I understand.”

Feeling inexplicably guilty, he deliberately spoke quietly and decided to obediently have his pulse taken.

“You may not have noticed it yourself, but your body seems to have been greatly harmed by internal heat. Have you been greatly troubled by something recently?”

“……”

Of course, he had plenty to worry about.

He had forgotten everything and was living well, but then his maternal uncle had to use his name to do all sorts of bad things, even trying to harm his sister, so he couldn’t say he had planned a mutual suicide.

“I will prescribe some medicine for you, so take it well with your meals, and you must relax your body and mind.”

“……”

Relax his body and mind. How was he supposed to do that?

As if reading Crown Prince Seongwon’s mind, Sehwa’s calm voice flowed out.

“Of course, I have yet to meet a patient who can do that just because I tell them to.”

“……”

Since he couldn’t speak, the conversation felt like Sehwa was just muttering to herself, but she seemed used to it.

And just before getting up, Sehwa said something that was like a bolt from the blue to Crown Prince Seongwon, who was relieved that it was finally over.

“Oh, and Princess Suyeong trusted me and told me everything, so you don’t have to hide anything from me. Feel free to be comfortable. Then.”

“!”

Watching Sehwa leave with a greeting, the Crown Prince looked as if he had been hit in the back of the head again.

Sia told her everything about who he was?

Even if she was a trustworthy physician who had healed her, was that okay?

He was stunned for a moment, but seeing Yeon Seon-o remaining next to him, he remembered what he had to do.

“Everyone, do you have anything to say to this person?”

“Please don’t blame us.”

“Were you all thinking the same thing?”

Giving him medicine.

Crown Prince Seongwon rarely looked angry, but they were not to be outdone.

“Is there anyone in the world crazy enough to want to experience losing their lord twice?”

“……”

“We are the ones who are disappointed.”

Everyone had as much to say as Crown Prince Seongwon.

And the words of someone who had been by his side for the longest time carried even more weight.

“I was tired of seeing you whine about wanting to see your sister every day.”

“……”

“……”

“No, when did I ever…….”

Crown Prince Seongwon tried to retort, but Yeon Seon-o didn’t hold back.

“You heard rumors that Princess Suyeong occasionally went out, so you lurked around here and there, secretly peeking at her. It was before she had grown up, so anyone who saw you would have thought you were a criminal or a pervert.”

As befitting their long relationship, Yeon Seon-o was polite but cutting.

The other close aides who were listening clicked their tongues and added comments.

“No, why did you do that?”

“Princess Suyeong must have been surprised.”

“Why didn’t you just tell Princess Suyeong?”

“No, I thought it was too early to tell her since she was still a child…….”

If the Princess accidentally told someone, it would be troublesome. Besides, he was worried that she would resent him if he showed up shamelessly after such an incident.

After being rebuked for a while, Crown Prince Seongwon opened his mouth with difficulty. He felt complicated about calling her this, but he didn’t know what else to call her.

“The rebels…… what happened to them?”

“I heard that several houses have already been raided and they have been taken to the Uigeumbu [a Joseon Dynasty law enforcement agency].”

He relayed what he had heard from the people working here, that rumors had already spread in the market that the Crown Prince had swiftly dealt with the rebels.

“……My maternal uncle…….”

“As the ringleader of the rebels, he is known to have started a rebellion by fabricating that Crown Prince Seongwon was alive.”

“……I think I know what happened.”

His maternal uncle probably wouldn’t survive. It was his own fault, but he couldn’t simply rejoice at the death of his blood relative.

As if understanding Crown Prince Seongwon’s feelings, everyone exchanged glances as if to suggest they should step back now.

Yeon Seon-o spoke on behalf of them.

“Princess Suyeong will come to find you later, so please rest.”

“……”

“Princess Suyeong seemed to know everything.”

What Crown Prince Seongwon was thinking.

“Please don’t make Princess Suyeong any sadder than she already is.”

“……I understand.”

Not long after everyone left the room, a woman brought a table.

“I am Yeongseon. Princess Suyeong has ordered me to personally attend to your needs, esteemed guest.”

“The Princess trusts you very much, it seems.”

“I am simply grateful for the excessive favor.”

Her face was familiar; he had definitely seen her with Sia when he was loitering around Sia’s private residence before.

‘The way she speaks and her name, she’s definitely like a young lady from a noble family.’

He had heard that his father had given Sia the wives and daughters of the rebels he had captured after suppressing the rebellion, so perhaps she had been serving Sia since then.

In a way, she might be a more trustworthy person to Sia than her incompetent older brother, which made him feel a little bitter, but he picked up his spoon without saying anything.

‘There’s a reason why there are rumors that Princess Suyeong is a gourmet.’

After unexpectedly enjoying a delicious meal for the first time in a long time, Crown Prince Seongwon drank the herbal medicine that Yeongseon brought. Before Yeongseon left, he asked what had been bothering him since earlier.

“Is this room originally a place to store ceramics?”

“Yes. It is where the Princess keeps her most cherished ceramics. The Princess always makes sure to look around here when she comes to the private residence.”

“Is that so.”

After Yeongseon left, Crown Prince Seongwon looked around the room again and smiled contentedly when he found a familiar ceramic.

‘I’m glad she likes it so much, at least.’

It was a ceramic that he had asked his maternal uncle to get for him, even asking him for a favor, because he thought Sia would like it.

And he knew that the ceramic was being used strangely.

‘I was tracking that incident when I found out that Sia had been kidnapped and even chased after her.’

Fortunately, he found Sia before anything serious happened, and there was someone else who came to rescue Sia, so he could at least confirm that he had entrusted Sia to that person and that she was safely taken away.

‘If I had known my maternal uncle’s true intentions back then and had made up my mind early on, things wouldn’t have gotten this big.’

At the time, he had only thought that his maternal uncle was scamming the rich with antiques; he had never imagined that he would be a man who would commit treason.

‘I thought that kidnapping Sia was just something that his subordinates, who were scamming wealthy people, had impulsively done.’

No, rather, because of that incident, he didn’t even think of treason. His maternal uncle was greedy, but he wouldn’t have been crazy enough to kidnap a noble family’s daughter.

In fact, if he had known at the time that the kidnapped child was the one and only precious Princess Suyeong, his shameless maternal uncle would have been shocked.

However, if he knew that the rumor that the Princess was wandering around the streets was not a rumor but a fact, he didn’t know what he would think, so he deliberately didn’t say that the kidnapped child was Princess Suyeong.

Of course, separately from that, he had gone to his maternal uncle and was furious about the incident.

‘Are you perhaps scamming people with the ceramics I asked you for?’

‘No, that’s not it. It’s just that my subordinates did things on their own. Calm down. Your Highness the Crown Prince.’

‘Why are you calling me Your Highness the Crown Prince! Have you forgotten that the only Crown Prince of Joseon is the Crown Prince in the palace right now?’

‘!’

‘And am I in a position to calm down right now? You’re not only scamming people, but you’re also kidnapping girls! Didn’t I tell you why I gave up the position of Crown Prince! And yet you’re committing such a crime again?’

‘No, no. How could I kidnap a daughter of a noble family? It’s all because my subordinates are stupid, so please calm your anger.’

‘It would be best if you stopped not only the antique scams you are currently doing, but also all other illegal activities like this. Otherwise, I will find out and report you myself!’

‘Your, Your Highness! Your Highness the Crown Prince!’

It was possible to threaten him because he had been investigating the bases where his maternal uncle was doing suspicious things to some extent since he found out that he was scamming people with antiques.

‘Come to think of it, after that, I was looking for a place where my maternal uncle was doing suspicious things with Seon-o, and I happened to meet the boy who came to save Sia and lent him a horse.’