Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 4

A strange man’s booming voice echoed through the room.

With a low, angry tone, Royal Concubine Yeong couldn’t hide her embarrassment and stammered.

She must have dropped the blanket she was holding, as heavy darkness fell over my face.

“Y-Your Majesty! It’s a misunderstanding! I was just trying to cover the little princess with a blanket because she seemed cold.”

“Hngh…waaaaah!!”

‘Take this blanket away and then talk!!’

My throat was starting to hurt, and I didn’t think I was making much noise, but I cried with all my might until the very end.

Whether it was because of the blanket over my face or because I was exhausted, it became harder to breathe.

Fortunately, someone stomped over and pulled the blanket off my face.

‘Red… a dragon robe!’

My eyes were swollen from crying so much that my vision was blurry, but I could roughly make out the shape and color. A dragon robe is a traditional East Asian garment worn by emperors and high-ranking officials, often adorned with dragon motifs.

I had already guessed from the title ‘Your Majesty,’ but the moment I saw him in person, I stopped crying and weakly reached out my hand.

“Hic. Cough, cough.”

I coughed because I was so tired from crying. The exhaustion made my arms weak, making my performance as a sickly baby very realistic.

‘No, I actually am a sickly baby.’

Soon, a large hand picked me up, and I immediately clung to him.

“I entrusted the princess to Royal Concubine Yeong, thinking she could take good care of her.”

“No, Your Majesty! Please believe me!”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“T-The little princess is crying because of a fever…”

Royal Concubine Yeong’s desperate excuse was cut off. Silence fell in the room.

Royal Concubine Yeong seemed to realize that I, who had been wailing so loudly, had stopped crying.

‘Ah, I feel so much better.’

Perhaps because he had just come in from outside, this strange man’s clothes were cool and comfortable. I, who had become hot from crying so hard, rested my head against the red silk and sighed in relief.

“I held you, and you stopped crying, yet you say it’s because of a fever?”

“W-Well, that is… It seems the little princess is shy because I tried to take care of her myself. There won’t be a problem if you leave her to the familiar nanny and wet nurse. Court Lady Kim, come here and attend to the little princess.”

“Yes.”

My familiar caretakers approached and reached out to me, but it was no use.

“Kkyyaaaak!!”

“Ah, little princess…!!”

Because I screamed almost hysterically and clung to the king.

‘How can I trust you and continue to entrust my safety to you?’

“Are you sure these are the ones who have been taking care of the princess since she was born?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then why is she so terrified and refusing?”

“Y-Your Majesty, I am deeply sorry.”

Those who had only seen my docile side until now must have been going crazy.

‘I wasn’t being quiet all this time for your benefit.’

“Royal Concubine Yeong, stay in confinement at Chwiyoung Palace for a while. It seems I was mistaken about who to entrust the princess to.”

“Y-Your Majesty! Your Majesty!! It’s not true.”

My biological father ignored Royal Concubine Yeong, who was crying and clinging to him, as he held me.

‘Hoo. I’m alive…’

Feeling safe, I let go of the thread of consciousness I had been barely holding onto and closed my eyes in peace.

It was a very tiring day for a baby.

***

Visiting Chwiyoung Palace today was an impulsive act.

‘I didn’t even visit when the Queen took care of the child…’

The Queen, who was not originally of strong constitution, had to send children away several times since her days as the Crown Princess. “Sending children away” likely refers to the practice of entrusting newborns to wet nurses or other caretakers, a common custom in historical East Asian societies.

Fortunately, she safely gave birth to the current Crown Prince, and after ascending to the Queen’s position, she had another princess, but after the young princess passed away early, the Queen’s mind and body weakened day by day.

She had also taken in and raised a concubine’s child who had died in childbirth, but when that child also passed away not long after, she blamed herself even more and eventually passed away as if following after them.

No, in fact, it wasn’t just the Queen.

How many more women had conceived the royal seed, but not many children saw the light of the world, and those who were born did not live long.

‘Am I such an incompetent king that I am sending my children away one after another?’

It was an era with a high infant mortality rate.

Many children were born healthy but did not make it past their first birthday, and countless others did not grow up safely to adulthood, but such misfortune was rare.

And losing a child was not something that one could get used to, no matter how many times it happened.

He no longer tried to have children and lived without paying attention to the children who were born.

Fortunately, the Crown Prince, who had been sickly and worried about since childhood, was growing up safely, and there were also princes born to concubines, so there was no need to overdo it to see an heir.

In that situation, the birth of the child he was holding now was truly an unexpected product of chance.

‘She’s so small.’

The child he held after a long time was smaller and warmer than he remembered, so he naturally tightened his grip.

And the reason he came to see this child today was also by chance.

‘I saw my youngest sibling today.’

‘Are you talking about Grand Prince Gyeongwon?’

‘No, aren’t there still a youngest sister who doesn’t even have a name yet?’

Crown Prince Lee Hye said, his eyes sparkling.

The existence of his full-blooded sister, who had passed away early, was a great wound for the Crown Prince.

Perhaps because of that, the Crown Prince cherished his younger siblings very much, and he was so heartbroken whenever his siblings passed away that it harmed his health.

‘I told him not to get too attached to his siblings.’

Moreover, this child had been suffering from a fever since birth and could pass away at any time. Because of that, he even told the Crown Prince not to visit the child under the pretext that Court Lady Yoon would be uncomfortable.

Knowing that Royal Concubine Yeong had decided to take the princess from Court Lady Yoon’s residence today, he must have deliberately gone to see his younger sister.

‘…That’s right. That’s what happened.’

‘She was a very strong and intelligent child.’

‘How does the Crown Prince know that a child who can’t even walk yet is strong and intelligent?’

‘Even though I almost dropped the struggling baby, she didn’t cry, and she recognized me as her older brother and hugged me without hesitation, so wouldn’t she be a strong and intelligent child?’

In the Crown Prince’s words, which seemed to be praising his younger sister, there was a hidden meaning that the process of Royal Concubine Yeong taking the child was not smooth.

He did not delve deeply into the Crown Prince’s words, but the intention was clear.

It would have been nice if he could have forgotten about it and moved on, but he couldn’t pretend not to know about the child he had already thought of.

And when he visited Royal Concubine Yeong’s residence, the child’s piercing cry, which the Crown Prince had said did not cry, was echoing, as if proving the Crown Prince’s words.

He blocked the mouths of the palace people who were trying to inform Royal Concubine Yeong of the king’s arrival and approached the paper door, and he could hear Royal Concubine Yeong’s voice trying to block the child’s cry from leaking out.

‘I didn’t think Royal Concubine Yeong would do such a foolish thing.’

Royal Concubine Yeong was one of the selected concubines who entered the palace after the Crown Princess’s frequent miscarriages made it difficult for her to have children.

As the adopted daughter of Chief State Councilor Hong Sang-jo, she had a strong backing, and as the mother of the king’s second son, Grand Prince Gyeongeon, she was in a position to desire the vacant Queen’s position.

Perhaps because of the Chief State Councilor’s influence, the opinions of the officials were also gathering on Royal Concubine Yeong, but he was postponing it, saying that it was a matter that needed to be decided carefully.

In this situation, if Royal Concubine Yeong took good care of the concubine’s daughter, it would be beneficial to Royal Concubine Yeong herself. Everyone would have praised her for having the qualities of a queen. And conversely, if something happened to the princess, she would be blamed.

He had deliberately entrusted the princess to Royal Concubine Yeong, who was not of a gentle nature, not only because she had raised Grand Prince Gyeongeon to be strong but also because he thought she would take care of the child more diligently in such a situation.

But that expectation was completely wrong.

‘I wish Consort Seon were healthy.’

Consort Seon, the birth mother of the third son, Grand Prince Gyeongwon, had a character in stark contrast to Royal Concubine Yeong.

She was from a selected concubine who entered the palace with Royal Concubine Yeong, but perhaps because she was from a humble family, or because she herself, as well as her son, was weak, she was always cautious.

She regarded taking care of her son, Grand Prince Gyeongwon, as her life’s work and always stayed in the background. As he thought of Consort Seon, he was shaken out of his thoughts by the cautious voice of the head eunuch.

“Your Majesty, what would be the proper way to handle the princess?”

“It would be better to entrust her back to her birth mother, Court Lady Yoon.”

It was the most reasonable method.

But unfortunately, that opinion was immediately withdrawn.

“Court Lady Yoon is sick in bed?”

“Yes, that is so, Your Majesty.”

She had not recovered from her postpartum pain, and it seemed to have worsened after sending the child away and being heartbroken.

Originally, it would have been a matter of entrusting the child to the nanny and governess who had been taking care of her, but judging from the child’s reaction earlier, he was not very confident in entrusting her to them.

That being said, he couldn’t send the child to someone who was sick in bed with aggravated postpartum pain without a nanny or governess.

Suddenly, his eyes fell on the child’s tear-stained face and the small hands clinging tightly to the dragon robe.

“We must appoint a new governess first.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And the child…”

“?”

“We must take her to the royal bedchamber for now.”

At the unexpected words, a look of shock briefly crossed the head eunuch’s face.

“Summon the royal physician to the royal bedchamber. We must examine the child’s condition first.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

It was just an impulsive thought.

Perhaps he just wanted to hold the child a little longer.

‘Just for tonight.’

He also felt sorry for entrusting the child to Royal Concubine Yeong.

Of course, there were other reasons, but Grand Prince Gyeongeon, born to Royal Concubine Yeong, was so healthy, and Royal Concubine Yeong also had a daughter who had passed away early, so he just thought that she would take good care of the princess even if she thought of that child.

How wonderful would it be if all the children born were as healthy as Grand Prince Gyeongeon?

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.’

He felt both admirable and pitiful towards the baby, who had stopped crying when he held her in his arms as if she recognized a father she had never seen before.

The baby’s face, who had fallen asleep making soft breaths, looked very peaceful.

“Heua?”

And the child who opened her eyes in the morning,

“Hwaaaaaaah!!”

Burst into a grand cry as soon as she saw her biological father’s face.