Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 9

“Eeeeeeeh!”

Accompanied by a shriek of annoyance that anyone could hear, tiny hands struck the Prime Minister’s face.

The surrounding gazes, which had quieted down, naturally focused on the Prime Minister, or rather, on his face.

Slap, slap!

Everyone’s pupils trembled at the sight of the young baby, who couldn’t even open her eyes properly, slapping the Prime Minister’s face, the source of the noise, with her tiny hands. Soon, they bit their lips and avoided eye contact.

The corners of their mouths were trembling.

“Oh, Princess? Why are you doing this?”

“Kkiiieeee!!”

Are you asking because you don’t know?

The baby’s cry, still unable to form words, seemed to be translated automatically.

The angry little hands even grabbed the Prime Minister’s gray beard and began to inflict serious violence, but the Prime Minister couldn’t even put up a proper resistance.

The opponent was royalty, and a young baby who couldn’t even speak.

Eventually, the King, who had also been frozen, opened his mouth.

“Ahem, ahem. Si-ah, can’t you stop? I’m sorry, Prime Minister. What would a child know?”

The King also only pretended to stop her and then turned his gaze away.

*I told you to be quiet because the baby might wake up.*

Muttering softly as if making excuses, he glanced to the side and saw that the Royal Secretary and historians were also biting their lips tightly, bowing their heads, and trembling their shoulders.

Judging from the surrounding atmosphere, the Prime Minister’s reputation didn’t seem very good.

“Ahem. Dismissed for today.”

With the baby as a shield, the ministers, except for the one being harassed by the baby, covered their mouths and retreated in a rush.

The Prime Minister, who barely managed to retrieve his grabbed beard, also blushed and backed away.

Even as the doors closed, the baby’s loud cries pierced his ears.

“Heeing… waaaaaah!!”

“Yes, yes. Stop crying. It’s not noisy anymore, is it?”

“Eeeeing!!”

“Yes. You woke up from your nap and got angry. Oh dear, how could you even try to touch the royal face?”

Contrary to the words, the voice coming from inside was cheerful itself.

It sounded like laughter could be heard.

Gritting his teeth.

The Prime Minister, unable to express his anger in front of them, retreated while grinding his teeth.

‘How did I end up suffering such humiliation!’

The problem was Youngbin in the first place.

A useless woman who couldn’t properly capture the King’s heart, barely giving birth to one prince and failing to produce any more sons afterward.

He had tried to help Youngbin earn points by taking care of the newborn princess through the Queen Dowager’s Palace, but she couldn’t even take care of one child properly, ruining everything.

‘Well, how could she properly take care of someone else’s child when she can’t even take care of her own?’

He had found a child with beauty and talent to adopt as his adopted daughter in order to bring in a selected concubine [a woman chosen by the court, not through personal affection], but it seemed that a lack of education was inevitable.

‘It would have been easier if Sunbin hadn’t given birth to a son.’

Judging from the King’s personality, he wouldn’t choose a new Queen.

More than anything, considering that the Crown Prince was old enough to marry the Crown Princess, he wouldn’t issue a marriage ban and have maiden registers submitted now.

Therefore, Youngbin and Sunbin, who were from selected concubines and had produced princes, were the most likely candidates for the next Queen.

However, Sunbin’s family was relatively humble and she was physically weak. Grand Prince Gyeongwon, Sunbin’s son, also resembled his mother and was not healthy, so naturally, Youngbin was the most likely candidate for Queen.

For that reason, the Queen Dowager was also supporting Youngbin as the next Queen. It was something that would be completed smoothly once the King made a decision.

Although she didn’t take good care of the young princess, it wouldn’t be a big problem since she didn’t openly harm her or get her hurt.

However, if there were problems with the princess’s health now, he didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble because he didn’t know where the sparks would fly.

‘It seemed like he didn’t show interest in his other children besides the Crown Prince, but now that he’s getting older, he’s concerned about the young princess.’

***

‘I couldn’t sleep well because it was noisy…….’

Lately, old men with gray beards often came to my biological father and sang about deciding on a Queen quickly.

Usually, they came when I was awake, but today they came during my nap time.

I don’t know how they have such good voices, but it was so noisy that I couldn’t sleep properly. Today, I even had a dream of grabbing someone’s collar and slapping their face in a daze.

My palms hurt a little, so I must have really slapped the floor while sleeping.

Even after waking up from the dream, my biological father bothered me, so I had to use a little violence.

‘Even though I’m trying to live kindly, they don’t help me. But why am I here?’

When I opened my eyes, I was in another world again, no, in the Queen Dowager’s Palace.

I knew this was the Queen Dowager’s Palace because… everyone in front of me was calling her Queen Dowager.

It seemed that the King had brought me, who was asleep, to pay respects.

Even with my head still heavy with sleep, my calculations were quick.

‘Oh, so she’s my biological grandmother.’

The grandmother with gray-white hair held me in her arms with a smiling face.

“The princess is shy with strangers, but she seems calm with Your Majesty.”

“Is that so? The young princess is also intelligent.”

The Queen Dowager looked at me with pity and sighed.

‘I don’t know why she’s doing that, but it’s better to be on good terms with the Queen Dowager than with the concubines, right?’

I reached out and hugged the Queen Dowager’s neck and patted her back.

“Giggle!”

It was business aegyo [acting cute] for the future.

“She’s so affectionate, I don’t know why she was so surprised in Youngbin’s residence. Isn’t that right, Youngbin?”

“I am sorry, Your Majesty.”

I flinched at the voice coming from behind.

‘Youngbin is here too??’

She’s supposed to be in confinement!

Did the Queen Dowager call her?

Whether she didn’t know my feelings or pretended not to, the Queen Dowager kindly suggested to Youngbin.

“Why don’t you come over and hold her again?”

“Yes, Your Majesty…….”

“Kkyaaaaaah!!”

If I’m not careful, I’ll be dragged away again!!

As Youngbin tried to approach, I screamed with all my might.

Thanks to that, the room, which had been in a warm atmosphere, was plunged into cold silence.

“Uuuuu…… augh, augh!!”

And I, regardless of what happened, reached out to my biological father to escape from the Queen Dowager’s arms.

With a stiff face, my biological father took me from the Queen Dowager and held me tightly in his arms again.

“Yes. Don’t be afraid. Nothing will happen. Who would dare to harm you while you are in your father’s arms?”

“Heueoo.”

That was dangerous. Was the Queen Dowager also a dangerous person?

As I felt safe, my body lost strength, but I held onto the sleeve of the royal robe just in case.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but the hand holding me seemed to be holding me tighter.

“Youngbin. What on earth happened?”

“It’s a misunderstanding. This concubine has only tried to serve the Princess well.”

It was a voice filled with injustice, but it still seemed to lack sincerity in front of the baby’s scream.

“Whatever the case, it would be better for Youngbin to step down since the child is so scared.”

“Your Majesty. How can you say such disappointing things? Grand Prince Gyeongwon was so happy to see the Queen Dowager and Your Majesty after a long time.”

Grand Prince Gyeongwon? That crazy guy is here too?

Surprised, I turned my head and immediately met eyes with the crazy guy who was staring at me intently.

“Kyaaak!!”

That crazy guy who tormented me!

As I gripped my biological father’s hand even tighter, the hand holding me gently patted my back, naturally blocking my view of Youngbin and Grand Prince Gyeongwon.

“It would be good for Grand Prince Gyeongwon to step down with Youngbin as well.”

“Yes, Father.”

He answered readily and stepped down, but he must have been glaring at me.

‘I’m worried about the future.’

Still, I relaxed and slumped down, and my biological father put me on his lap and started talking to the Queen Dowager.

“The relatives are also worried about the Queen’s seat being vacant, Your Majesty.”

“With Your Majesty here, how could it be a problem if the Queen’s seat is temporarily vacant?”

“Isn’t it the Queen’s job to preside over the royal ancestral rites, as well as the sericulture ceremony [ancient ritual where the Queen cultivates silkworms] and the banquet for the elderly? Surely you’re not thinking of entrusting the affairs of the inner court to this old woman again.”

Since the conversation between the two seemed to be getting longer, I roughly gauged the situation and slowly crawled off my biological father’s lap.

I had seen Youngbin and Grand Prince Gyeongwon leave earlier, so I was relieved, and I was also curious about the many strangers.

I had seen many court ladies, but the people here were definitely not court ladies.

They were all women wearing silk clothes, and there was one young boy.

‘If they’re relatives… but they’re all women, so are they concubines?’

I was worried about the conversation in the back, but it didn’t seem like anything would change even if I was there.

‘If they’re concubines, maybe my sister is here too?’

To see if my sister was there, I diligently crawled towards where the concubines (presumably) were sitting.

“?”

The concubines all looked at me with a vague expression and then forced a smile.

When I approached and checked their faces, they seemed a little nervous. I wondered if they were worried that I would burst into tears because of what happened earlier?

“The child is shy with strangers, so I’m going to send her back to Court Lady Yoon’s residence.”

“The Queen’s seat is also vacant, so issuing a decree is……”

My story was in full swing in the back.

It seemed that my biological father was thinking of sending me back to my sister.

“Then how about entrusting her to a concubine who has experience raising children?”

“I think it would be difficult because the child is shy with strangers.”

“But doesn’t it seem like she’s fine with any concubine right now?”

And the Queen Dowager seemed to be against it.

‘Don’t just decide where I’m going.’

One, two, three, I don’t like crawling, but I groaned and crawled through the concubines, but I couldn’t see my sister. Perhaps she couldn’t even come to the Queen Dowager’s Palace because she was a lowly concubine who hadn’t even received a decree.

“Ugh.”

“Oh, you can’t go.”

I wanted to escape the room as it was, but of course, I was caught.

‘I want to see my sister……!’

I felt sad after being caught, and I burst into tears without realizing it.

“Hwaaaaaa!”