Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 35

Born as the daughter of a low-ranking concubine [a royal consort of lower status] (35)

Even though they said it was more concise than before, looking at all the dense statistical data coming from various places made me feel suffocated and dizzy.

To think they look at this, interpret it, and do their jobs… being a king is definitely an extreme occupation.

Eventually, unable to bear it any longer, I requested paper and a ruler.

‘Paper is one thing, but what are you going to do with a ruler?’

Perhaps thinking I was going to practice calligraphy, the king readily provided me with what I wanted, and I answered his question concisely.

‘Father, I am going to make a table.’

‘A table?’

‘It seems faster to show you than to explain.’

‘Then do so.’

With the king’s permission to do whatever I wanted, even though he didn’t know what it was, I called a court lady and had her draw a table with a ruler.

If anyone were to ask me why I didn’t do it myself, I would have no choice but to point out that my fingers, hands, and arms were still small and short.

While wishing I had at least Word, if not Excel, I applied the statistical data that the king had just handed over to the table drawn by the court lady. The faces of the king and the Crown Prince lit up with admiration.

Ah, of course, I didn’t write the text either. I had the court lady do it.

‘Incredible, the Princess is truly a genius, just as Crown Prince Seongwon said…!’

No, that’s not it.

For reference, Crown Prince Seongwon was the posthumous title given to my deceased older brother, Lee Hye.

Now that Grand Prince Yeongwon had become the Crown Prince, the deceased needed a different title.

It was like the titles commonly known as Crown Prince Sado or Crown Prince Hyomyeong [infamous figures in Korean history].

‘Doesn’t this make it much more concise?’

‘So much content is organized on one sheet of paper.’

‘As Sia said before, writing the numbers aligned in columns makes the figures easy to see at a glance.’

Jeong Yak-yong [a prominent Joseon dynasty scholar] also came up with this kind of Excel-like work during King Jeongjo’s reign, so if it had been left alone here, someone would have come up with it eventually, but I couldn’t help feeling frustrated right now.

‘This is a matter of perspective.’

Coming up with it for the first time is difficult, but once you know the concept, anyone can do it. So, naturally, that task became the responsibility of the working-level staff from then on.

I was satisfied if I could reduce the workload of the king and the Crown Prince, who had no work-life balance, but I wonder if the people who had to make the tables felt differently.

However, thanks to showing my talent at too young an age, people around me started to find me annoying.

Especially the Crown Prince.

“Is there anything else you can think of?”

“I feel greasy only eating *yakgwa* [traditional Korean honey cookie], so some *sujeonggwa* [cinnamon punch] would be nice.”

Ignoring the Crown Prince’s sparkling eyes, I decided to rummage through books.

‘It’s all my fault, really…….’

Now everyone prefers the Arabic numerals I spread around because they are convenient, but honestly, I feel a bit strange.

There is no name for it yet, but the fact that Arabic numerals might be recorded in history as Sia’s numerals pricked my conscience…….

But anyway, Arabic numerals weren’t originally Arabic; they were created in India but known as Arabic, so wouldn’t it be okay to rationalize it like that?

Of course, I’ve been refraining a bit since then.

In fact, most of the mathematical principles I know can be found in this era if you look for them, so I don’t think there’s anything else to teach on purpose.

‘It’s absurd when historical dramas act like things like multiplication tables, pi, or the Pythagorean theorem didn’t exist in the Joseon Dynasty.’

Do you know when Pythagoras lived? The 6th century BC!

Is it even possible that people in the Joseon Dynasty, about 2,000 years after a formula came out in the 6th century BC, wouldn’t know it?

How can a civilization that studies astronomy to create calendars, calculates the time of solar eclipses, and builds multi-story buildings not have that level of mathematical ability!?

Even the multiplication table was claimed by Japan to have been spread to the Korean Peninsula by them, but then a multiplication table was found among Baekje artifacts, and they were embarrassed. But dramas! Do such distortions!! At least don’t export them overseas!

“Why are you suddenly like this?”

“Ah, I suddenly thought of something.”

I was lying on the floor, but as I was thinking, I suddenly got angry and jumped up without realizing it, and the Crown Prince looked at me worriedly.

If I had been well-fed and suddenly had an angry face for no reason, it was understandable.

The Crown Prince looked seriously at me and told me.

“If anyone ever bothers you, tell your brother first.”

“I don’t think there’s anyone that fearless in this palace anymore.”

Until the Crown Princess comes in, I can say that I am the fifth in the ranking in this palace.

“Well, knowing your personality, I don’t think you’d let it go anyway…….”

As expected of siblings… they know too much about me?

Smiling, I got up from my seat.

“I’m leaving.”

“You’re leaving early today.”

“Yeah. Study hard.”

“Okay, tell me if you think of anything.”

“Give me something other than *yakgwa* next time.”

Saying that, I came out of the East Palace [the Crown Prince’s residence].

He tells me to tell him anytime if I think of anything, so should I tell him something later?

‘Now that it’s come to this, should I spread the four arithmetic operation symbols too?’

+, -, and = seem like I could get away with it if I made up some excuse.

I had seen the Crown Prince’s mathematics book before. I read it, but the explanations were too long and difficult, so I thought I didn’t know it and had to read it several times. But when the Crown Prince, who couldn’t stand watching, explained it to me, I realized I knew it.

The importance of symbols……!

‘But if possible, let’s pretend that I came up with new ideas when I’m a little older.’

I’m only eight years old…….

Even though I’m royalty, so I can live without doing anything, and I was born as a princess, so no one is jealous of me for being smart, I want to refuse the title of a genius that I don’t deserve.

It’s enough to get boring education from the Crown Prince sometimes.

I came out of the East Palace, leading the court people who were following me in a line, and started to worry about the future.

‘Tomorrow, should I run away to the Queen Dowager instead?’

The King, the Queen, and even the Queen Dowager. After the dried persimmon poisoning incident that day, everyone was in a Yes-bot state, just saying yes to whatever I said.

Well, it’s not bad.

‘But I can’t say it’s good either.’

The aftermath of what I did was more intense than I thought.

Of course, it’s not my fault; it’s the fault of the person who put in the poison.

Besides, it wasn’t comfortable there either.

No matter what, there were many eyes watching in the palace and many laws to abide by, especially in front of the King and Queen.

So, the most comfortable person was still the Crown Prince.

He’s annoying because he nags a lot, but the Crown Prince, who has many worries, often calls me out to teach me this and that, give me sermons, or just lie around with the cat as if he’s exhausted.

Well, that’s not bad either.

***

But not long after thinking that, I had to be dragged to the East Palace again. The Crown Prince sat me down and seemed to be reading a book, but for some reason, he taught me something strange.

It seemed that one of the *Sejasigangwon* (世子侍講院: an institution in charge of the Crown Prince’s education) guys had put strange ideas into a child’s head.

And I was the type of person who wouldn’t do anything I didn’t like.

“You’re talking about the Three Obediences (三從之道: the duties of women in Confucian society that appear in the ancient Chinese classic Book of Rites. It means that a woman obeys her father when she is young, her husband when she is married, and her son when her husband dies).”

“When I take a Crown Princess, you will soon have a wedding and leave the palace, so you need to know the duties of a woman.”

“If you like those duties so much, you should live like that, brother. Obey the Queen from now on, marry a wife chosen by your superiors and obey your wife, father-in-law, and mother-in-law, and when your wife dies, obey your daughter and never look at another woman and remain chaste for the rest of your life!”

As I refuted each of the duties that I had taken for granted in my life, the Crown Prince seemed flustered and shouted.

“Th, then would you like to live like me? Would it be better to wake up early every morning to greet people, be tormented by studying all day, feel the burden of state affairs, and have your life threatened?”

“Of course that’s better. Do you think there aren’t many people in the world who risk their lives to do that? Why would you feel threatened? You’re threatened because there are many people who covet that position. And why do you think I can’t do what you do, brother? If I live like that, can I have many men to my liking later?”

I’m not really an 8-year-old baby, and I’ve even gone through the life of a Korean test taker, so why wouldn’t I be able to do it?

Perhaps surprised by my answer, the Crown Prince was momentarily speechless and closed his mouth.

“…….”

“I’m leaving. Listen to Mother well and study hard for your future wife.”

I omitted the daughter part because it sounded like I was telling him to let his wife die early.

One way or another, I seemed to have said something too unconventional to a child, so I sighed and left the room.

It means I escaped.

The court people outside didn’t know what kind of conversation the Crown Prince and I had, but they noticed that we had a loud argument, so they looked flustered, realizing that we had fought.

“Ah, young lady, how could you raise your voice to His Highness the Crown Prince?”

And in their eyes, it was obviously my fault, so they tried to persuade me.

Ha, stress…….

I knew that this era would annoy me one day.

I returned to my residence, locked myself in my room, and took out a piece of paper.

[I’ll be back after playing on my own. Leave me alone. I’m taking snacks with me, so don’t worry.]

Leaving a note with such content and packing snacks to disappear was no longer a rare occurrence.

Then began the hide-and-seek with the court ladies, who couldn’t really not look for me just because I told them not to…….

I’m sorry……!!

But I can’t do it either!!

So, on a certain day that was not much different from usual, I ran away from home.

What made that day different from usual was a strange little kid I happened to run into.