Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 320

“It’s fortunate the matter concluded swiftly, but the aftermath is quite a handful.”

The Crown Prince massaged his temples, gazing at the mountain of tasks piled up due to the rebels.

Even during his regency, he wasn’t strictly required to personally oversee every interrogation.

However, given Seongwon’s involvement, concealing his existence meant the Crown Prince had to handle many things himself.

The fewer people who knew the truth, the better.

‘It’s like burying my head in the sand… but it’s better than doing nothing.’

In truth, not many among the rebels were fully aware of Seongwon’s existence.

Mostly, it was the key figures who orchestrated the treason who knew and shifted the blame onto Seongwon.

The Crown Prince had to step in during such instances.

‘At first, most people spout nonsense about Seongwon being alive.’

But after a bit of intimidation, they suddenly come to their senses and give the correct answer: ‘The person I saw resembled Seongwon, but it must have been someone else!’

They weren’t fools; they quickly understood how things were unfolding.

‘That they don’t want to implicate Seongwon.’

Those who could save their lives quickly turned cooperative, and even those with no chance of survival changed their stories to avoid unnecessary suffering.

The Crown Prince didn’t particularly enjoy tormenting people, so he outwardly acted cold but was inwardly relieved.

Of course, some people didn’t cooperate.

In those cases, the Crown Prince regrettably had to engage in one-on-one interviews, listening to their frantic shouting, which only added to his exhaustion.

‘Listening to that all day can be mentally draining.’

To soothe his weary mind and body, he sometimes grabbed his cats and practiced animal therapy (as Sia called it, claiming it was good for fatigue) to purify his mind.

Whether the cats willingly cooperated was another matter.

‘The little one Sia takes care of stays still no matter what Sia does.’

Considering he even ran away to find Sia after only meeting her a few times, that child was definitely unusual.

Miyaang-

“Alright, alright. I won’t bother you.”

Watching the ungrateful furballs slip away after seeming to settle down briefly, he felt a bit of relief.

Honestly, having another one-on-one with Lord Pyeongpa, thanks to the unexpected fact in Sia’s letter brought by Sehwa last night, was exhausting.

‘His voice is so loud.’

When he probed about the incident to verify the letter’s contents, the Lord Pyeongpa started yelling again.

In essence, his argument was, ‘It was all for the sake of the Crown Prince, for His Majesty!’

Since the Crown Princess Seonghyeon was unable to conceive, there was strong pressure from those around him to bring in a concubine, but the Crown Prince resisted, saying they should wait since the Crown Princess was still young.

The Rebellion of Sinheodo occurred at that time.

Hong Sang-jo and Lord Pyeongpa deliberately incited him from behind to eliminate their political rivals. Then, by staying by the Crown Prince’s side and gaining his trust, they brought in a woman from their faction as a concubine who could assist the Crown Princess.

That woman was Yeongbin, who was eventually demoted and died.

‘It was done out of concern that the Crown Princess, who had no children, might be pushed aside by other concubines.’

Since she was sent by those who protected him during a crisis, even the Crown Prince, who was reluctant to take a concubine, couldn’t treat Hong Sang-jo’s stepdaughter coldly.

Anyway, the Crown Prince’s impression of Lord Pyeongpa’s words was simply this:

‘What is he even saying?’

To say it was for Seongwon and Seonghyeon was just nonsense.

‘It just means they did it for their own power.’

As someone who suffered under that son in his childhood, it was a sickening thing to hear.

The reason Left State Councilor Hong Sang-jo fell was Gyeong-eon, the son born to Yeongbin, whom he had pushed in, so he probably wasn’t wronged.

‘Still, Sehwa must have been more shocked than I was.’

Recalling last night when he kept Sehwa to comfort her under the guise of needing a checkup and some medicine since she wasn’t feeling well, he felt his anger subside a bit.

‘Sia sent that letter through Sehwa for a reason….’

The Crown Prince paused his thoughts.

‘Does Sia not know yet? Or has she noticed something?’

She was definitely his sister, but sometimes he couldn’t understand what she was thinking. She might have noticed something and not said anything until now.

“Your Highness, the Princess has arrived.”

“Oh? Ah, let her in.”

Speak of the devil; she appeared as soon as he thought of her.

Sia, who had left the palace last night to check on her brother, who was confined—no, protected—at his private residence, returned to the palace surprisingly quickly.

‘I didn’t want to keep her in the palace during these times, so I got Father’s permission to send her to her private residence.’

He was the Crown Prince, so he had no choice, but he didn’t want Sia to suffer.

Hasn’t she seen enough hardship in her childhood?

Whether Sia knew her father and brother’s feelings or not, she looked at the Crown Prince with a worried expression.

“Brother, did you get any sleep last night?”

“So-so.”

“You look so tired.”

Sia sighed softly and put down the tray she brought.

“I brought some easy-to-eat things. You don’t eat well because you don’t feel like setting the table and eating.”

Seeing the meat patties, vegetable bread, and sweets, it seemed she had already heard he was skipping meals.

‘Stop leaking information.’

The Crown Prince resented Court Lady Moon for already knowing he wasn’t eating properly, but if he said anything to Court Lady Moon, she would inevitably start nagging, ‘If you had listened when I told you, I wouldn’t have had to ask the Princess. So, quickly choose a Crown Princess….’

‘How annoying that she says she’ll leave me alone if I take a Crown Princess….’

He felt strangely disappointed that Sia might say something similar.

“Sigh.”

“Sighing makes you age faster. Eat while it’s warm and get some rest.”

Looking at his sister, who was blinking at him as if she had to watch him eat, another sigh of relief escaped him, different from when he was petting the cats.

“Alright. Thank you.”

It was definitely easier to eat this while working when he was busy.

“Should I make rice burgers….”

“What?”

He asked back when she mumbled something, but Sia brushed it off.

“No, I was just thinking if rice might be too heavy. But Brother, aren’t you overdoing it?”

“Perhaps because everyone has experience dealing with rebels from the last time with Yeongcheon, it’s not as difficult as I thought.”

“Ah, everyone’s a bit more used to it since they’ve done it once.”

“It’s not something to be happy about….”

Besides, it turned out that many of the same people were involved this time, so facts that weren’t properly revealed last time came to light.

“Lord Pyeongpa also incited Yeongcheon last time. Of course, that doesn’t absolve Yeongcheon of what he did.”

“He was quite diligent.”

“Everyone thought they weren’t such significant figures, so the suspicion was weaker. Yeongcheon was also simple-minded.”

As the mastermind of this incident, Lord Pyeongpa was scheduled to receive the ultimate penalty.

“Since he is a Lord, I’m thinking of trying to avoid beheading [斬刑: a punishment of cutting off the head] out of consideration for Seongwon.”

“You’ve suffered a lot. How is Seongwon?”

“The rebellion failed, and Father has decided to bury the matter of my brother, so it’s troublesome, but the task isn’t difficult.”

“That’s a relief.”

The Crown Prince ate the food that Sia had cut into small pieces, and at some point, he realized that more than half of the food in front of him had disappeared.

‘I was hungrier than I thought.’

He couldn’t say anything to Court Lady Moon after all.

“Brother… is he alright? Has he woken up?”

At the small voice, Sia smiled brightly and nodded.

“Sehwa said it seems he was stressed for a long time and then relaxed. He seems to have slept for a long time, but he’s refreshed and eating and sleeping well. Yeonseon told me he hasn’t been eating or sleeping well lately, so it makes sense.”

“My brother suffered mentally, and I suffered physically.”

But this pressure and fatigue are his responsibility.

What can he do? Now, the foundation of Joseon rests on only one person.

“The older brother won’t have to suffer mentally anymore.”

“Still, he won’t be comfortable because of his uncle’s matter.”

“That’s why things like this happen because you’re so soft-hearted towards your blood relatives.”

It was an undeniable statement.

“You didn’t just come to take care of my meals. Is there something else you need to confirm?”

“I sent a letter through Sehwa yesterday. What are you planning to do about that?”

“As for that, I’m planning to bury it as well.”

“Alright. That’s all.”

Sia nodded without surprise. She probably expected it.

‘It wouldn’t be good for Father if that matter became known. It wasn’t good for Minister Kim Seon-ik either.’

He didn’t bother telling Father either. It was obvious that he would be mentally exhausted just from this incident.

The Crown Prince thought of his father and suddenly asked,

“But what on earth did you talk about with Father?”

“Oh, this and that.”

“What is ‘this and that’?”

“Even if no one is listening, this isn’t something to talk about here.”

“……”

The Crown Prince couldn’t even imagine what this fearless sister of his might have said.

Sia checked that the Crown Prince had eaten all the food he had brought and smiled contentedly as she stood up.

“It might be tough right now, but come out for a bit to clear your head when things settle down later.”

“Alright.”

I gave instructions to make the Crown Prince’s late-night snacks easy to eat and left the palace again.

‘It would be nice to see the King, but it’s hard to get permission to visit right now.’

Both the Crown Prince and the King didn’t seem to like me being in the palace right now. I think I know the reason, so I didn’t bother resisting.

‘What did I talk about with Father, huh.’

What else would I have to say to the King at a time like this?

It’s about whether he knew about Seongwon.

‘I feel like I was heavily criticized, scolded, and fought with, but maybe not.’

I pulled out a not-so-distant memory.