Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 94

The separation of female physicians (Yeoui) that I suggested went through many twists and turns, but the separation itself was successfully achieved.

It seemed highly likely that a culture would be established where female patients were seen by female physicians and male patients by male physicians.

Of course, in the case of serious illnesses, they were to discuss them together regardless of gender. And when men and women had to discuss together, many troublesome things followed, such as never meeting alone, but the system was able to take hold somehow.

In fact, the female physicians who were at a level to receive ranks were confident in their abilities, so they had no aversion to taking another exam to receive ranks. This was also because there were already many exams to pass in order to become a female physician in the Royal Clinic.

Because of this, the Royal Clinic quickly decided to use the existing ranks of the female physicians as they were, rather than wasting energy on unnecessary exams.

It couldn’t be helped. The medical bureau was very busy with the work I had caused. The timing of the influx of medical books and statistical data from all over the country was a bit unfortunate, even if it was someone else’s business.

The medical officials tried to postpone the female physician issue for later discussion, but when I smiled and asked, ‘Are you going to decide after I die?’ they seemed to think there was no way to avoid it and decided on their own.

Perhaps the long-time royal physicians interpreted it as, ‘Are you thinking of continuing to hold your positions proudly when I have become like this because of your incompetence? I was generous in overlooking it, but if something happens to me tomorrow due to side effects you didn’t notice, you know you’ll be held responsible with your lives, right? And yet, you’re not listening to me?’

Rather, if they divided into female physicians, the number of responsible people would increase, so the opinion leaned towards requesting manpower replenishment. There was also a lot of noise about the rank issue, but they couldn’t object to the fact that ranks would be given.

Battle of nerves? That’s only possible when you have the energy to fight.

Already, they were all in a state of being intimidated because they hadn’t noticed the Crown Princess’s symptoms of not growing and hadn’t cured the Queen Dowager’s illness, so the King’s trust was at rock bottom.

On top of that, they were on the verge of collapsing from overwork thanks to the flood of work, so they were asking like this. ‘We’re going to give ranks to the female physicians who work here too. If she gets a rank, your work will decrease. What are you going to do? If you don’t like it, keep overworking.’

Everyone became a little more generous unless they were receiving a higher rank than themselves.

‘The timing overlapped, but it turned out that way…’

And the female physicians naturally entered the Outer Court under the Queen, but there was a rank issue with the court ladies, so they received ranks one step lower than the court ladies.

Such complex events continued, and some nerve wars took place, but in a class society, everyone originally had to kneel before the royal family, so it was gradually being resolved.

That was largely because both the female physicians and the female doctors were busy.

But the important thing is, why are you handing this over to me?

“Wasn’t it the Princess who first suggested this?”

“But how can a young girl know the work of the medical bureau?”

“Although the Princess is young, she is bright, so she will surely be able to handle the work of the medical bureau well. The Princess already has a lot of interaction with the medical bureau, doesn’t she? That’s the case with the soap as well. Her Majesty also said that it seems appropriate for the Princess to take charge of the medical bureau’s work in my place because I am not feeling well.”

Father…….

I had done a lot of things, but I didn’t want to clean up after myself, so I started with a fundamental rebuttal.

“But isn’t this… something the Crown Princess Consort should do, Your Majesty?”

“That’s… have it out with the Crown Prince.”

And the Queen also avoided responsibility.

“Isn’t His Highness the Crown Prince already twenty-two years old, past the age of twenty? It’s the age when commoners get married, so isn’t it time for His Highness the Crown Prince to take a Crown Princess Consort? His Highness the Crown Prince doesn’t listen to me, but how could he lightly disregard Your Majesty’s words?”

He’s Your Majesty’s son. Please send him off to get married!

“How can that be done as one pleases? I also tentatively brought it up to the Crown Prince after the mourning period, but the Crown Prince said that he has something in mind, so he asked to postpone the marriage. The Crown Prince is already grown up, so how can this mother block his path with unnecessary words?”

It’s not that she doesn’t want to send him, it’s that he doesn’t listen.

The Queen, who sighed, asked with a worried voice.

“Actually, I’m worried that the Crown Prince isn’t thinking of taking a Consort. It seems that he is reluctant to bring new people by his side because he has experienced so many things since he was young, so what should I do?”

“He’s just being careful in deciding who to keep by his side.”

“But the Crown Princess Consort candidates are daughters of noble families. How can he carefully seek them out while watching them up close? The Crown Prince Consort is the Crown Princess Consort, but it would be comforting if he would take even a concubine right away. Does the Princess perhaps see any court ladies that the Crown Prince likes….”

The Queen, who was saying that, trailed off.

Because my face value was seven years old while listening to those words, she seemed to have a bit of a… reality check.

“There aren’t that many women who the Crown Prince has been watching closely and can trust. Among the Princess’s close court ladies, perhaps….”

“If there was such a sign, would Court Lady Moon have stayed still? The story would have already come out.”

“Is that so.”

Perhaps the reason the Queen is saying such things is because the Crown Prince eats the snacks that my close court ladies bring relatively without suspicion.

I also wondered if there was anyone who had feelings for the Crown Prince, so I asked the court ladies, but surprisingly, they all shook their heads, saying they didn’t like it.

If they had ambition from the beginning, would they have remained as the Princess’s court ladies, whose life expectancy was uncertain at the time?

Besides, most of them had already gone through scary things with me, so they had become close and didn’t seem to want to be separated.

‘It could be because they’ve seen the Crown Prince’s sensitive temper by my side.’

They’ve experienced murderous things like poisoning, so they might be scared.

Maybe the Crown Prince has PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder].

While I was blankly thinking about that, the Queen asked.

“Does the Princess perhaps have any good ideas?”

“What would a young girl know? However, since he is always suffering from overwork, it would be good to have regular health checkups.”

“The Princess is right. I feel sorry that there is nothing I can do as a mother.”

The Queen, who still didn’t look well, lamented at my words. Anyway, he’s like an unfilial son.

Anyway, that’s how I ended up taking over the work related to the female physicians.

Well, I had received a lot of land and money, so if I thought that I had to earn my keep that much, it wasn’t unfair, but wasn’t it too much work for me, who was still young?

Even now, the medical bureaus were generally not short of work.

‘It’s a bit… my own fault, but.’

Still, the number of female physicians is still small, so I should finish this up and heal by looking at my beloved pottery, mother-of-pearl chests, paintings, and novels.

But after working hard and processing the work, letters from Siyoungwon [a school for young girls], the school, and even the Hyeminseo [a government-run clinic for the poor] arrived evenly in front of me.

The contents were generally similar.

‘I hope the Princess will definitely come.’

Ah….

Female lead, please come quickly….

Come quickly and make that guy come to his senses and get him a Crown Princess Consort soon….

At this rate, I’m really going to get a ‘fixed g*x’ label….

And come quickly… and free me from this pile of work!!

***

“Princess, where are you going again?”

“Home.”

Soi, who saw me preparing to go out again, asked with a dumbfounded face.

“Isn’t this the Princess’s home?”

“I have a private residence outside the palace.”

“Why are you going out to your private residence again? The superiors are very worried that the Princess keeps going out.”

“I can’t live for the superiors all my life. Let’s go out and eat something delicious.”

“Ah, no.”

“Yes!”

I’ve already moved about half of my pottery and furniture collection to my private residence!

I’m not going to live in the palace all my life, so let’s go out a bit!

Even though I said that, Soi, who gave up on stopping me quickly, quickly packed her bags and prepared to go out.

Gai was out on business, and I had already put Songbi to work making bread, so I felt sorry for dragging her out, so I let her rest.

I deliberately kept Soi, a young blood, by my side to follow me around, so I have to make good use of her.

‘Actually, Gai seems to spend more time in my private residence than I do.’

It can’t be helped. When doing business, time is bound to be delayed more than expected, so it was better to go there than to return to the palace late.

It was originally an empty house, so someone was needed to manage it. Worried that it wouldn’t be managed too well, Songbi also occasionally went to the private residence when Gai wasn’t there to check on my collections and the attendance of the servants.

Honestly, even I think the servants of the Princess’s private residence had too sweet of a position.

‘Well… as long as they don’t break the pottery and clean well.’

Other than that, they would write a list and send it to me when expensive gifts arrived.

For reference, I made sure that all the servants working in my private residence learned Hangeul [the Korean alphabet]. I sent someone from Siyoungwon who could properly act as a writing teacher to teach them, and since Hangeul is easy to learn, everyone quickly learned to read.

Thanks to that, anyone could write letters.

Other than that, if there were people who wanted to, I would send their children to Siyoungwon to study more.

Of course, I paid for the food because I couldn’t starve living people.

I also allowed them to accumulate private property by selling their skills when they were free.

…When I write it down, I’m really a good boss, no, a master.

Because of that, there were no servants who ran away to find freedom because there was no owner. It seemed like I wouldn’t even know if they disappeared.

In fact, there are many expensive things in my collection, so I wondered if there would be people who would steal and try to turn their lives around, but everyone seemed to prefer living comfortably as they are now rather than risking their lives to run away and be chased.

Perhaps the servants of my private residence were the people who least wanted my marriage.

Anyway, even though I said that, the place I headed to after leaving the palace was not my private residence for healing, but the Hyeminseo.

“Oof. Soi, take this luggage inside and put it down.”

“Yes, Princess.”

I jumped off the back of Red Hare and dusted off my skirt, and my eyes met with frightened children. One child was carrying a smaller child on his back and was lingering in front of the Hyeminseo.

“What’s wrong, little one?”

“…M, my brother is sick….”

“So you came to the Hyeminseo?”

“Yes….”

There were surprisingly quite a few people who were afraid to enter the Hyeminseo because they thought it was a government office.

“It’s okay, come here. The doctors here will treat your brother.”

“Princess.”

“Soi. Help this child.”

“Princess, really…. I understand.”

Soi stopped unloading the luggage from Red Hare’s back and took the children inside as I said.

‘It’ll be okay.’

I’m still worried about sick children.

Heh heh.

“?”

I was waiting in front of the Hyeminseo gate for Soi to come out again when I heard a faint laugh.

I looked around, but there were no familiar faces.

‘I thought someone I knew had passed by, but it doesn’t seem so. Did someone just laugh because it seemed like a heartwarming scene?’

Well, it’s not something to worry about. Nothing will happen even if someone recognizes me.

“Princess, the child has been seen by the doctor. Let’s go inside now.”

“Okay.”

While I was looking around, Soi, who soon came out from inside, grabbed Red Hare’s reins, so we went inside the Hyeminseo together.