Born As The Daughter Of A Lowly Concubine [EN]: Chapter 99

“That celadon over there!”

“How much is that celadon?”

As Youngsun and I shouted almost simultaneously, the man guiding us grinned, seemingly pleased.

“Ah, you have a good eye. That celadon was supplied to the royal family during the Goryeo Dynasty [918–1392 CE]. It’s a genuine piece brought out by the descendant of a former Chief Secretary of the Royal Secretariat.”

He carefully wiped the porcelain with a cloth, polishing it.

“However, you cannot purchase this porcelain right now.”

“Has it already been sold to someone else?” Soyi asked, and the man shook his head.

“Not only has no one been able to pay the price for it yet, but the owner of this celadon borrowed money using it as collateral, and the term has not yet expired. It’s just being stored here for safekeeping.”

The man added that if the owner of the celadon did not repay the borrowed money after five days, it would then be put up for sale.

“So, you’re saying it will be for sale in five days?”

“That’s right.”

“We’ll come to buy it in five days, so don’t sell it to anyone else and leave it as it is.”

“But there are many people who want this item.”

“Didn’t you just say that no one has been able to pay the price for it yet?”

At Soyi’s words, the man stammered and changed his tune.

“Ah, haha. There are still more people who will come to see it.”

“Then, we can decide the price among those who want this celadon on that day.”

“But everyone is from such prominent families, so the price won’t be cheap….”

“The person who buys this porcelain will also be a very important person, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“If they are an important person….”

“What do you need to know who they are for?”

There was no need to let him know what I was buying, so Soyi coldly cut off the man, who kept dragging out the conversation.

Soyi might seem clumsy in front of me, but she wasn’t clumsy in front of others.

The man, startled by the iron wall defense, a passive skill of court ladies, soon nodded and told us the amount.

“Yes?? Ah, I understand. Then, I will show it to other people until seven days from now, and if there is no one else who wants to buy it by then, I will hand it over to you.”

“Alright.”

We made a meticulous contract and returned to the private residence.

“Young Miss, I will bring a family member in seven days to purchase that porcelain.”

“I will also come out in seven days to check it, so call an appraiser.”

“No, Young Miss, are you going out again? Are you really alright?”

“It’s okay. It’s a rare item, so I need to check it and buy it. It’s not cheap, either.”

I had picked out a few other things I liked besides the porcelain, but nothing caught my eye as much as that porcelain.

“Did something good happen, Princess?”

“No, not really?”

Thanks to that, I heard such words from the court ladies for a while after returning to the palace.

But seven days later, when I went back with the same members, something felt off.

Fortunately, the man said that no one else wanted to buy it, so he could hand over the item right away, saying we were lucky.

But Youngsun and I frowned.

“…Doesn’t something seem a bit off?”

“Yes. It looks a little different from what I saw that day.”

Even without calling an expert, we could tell. It was definitely different from what we had seen that day.

“Shall I wrap it up for you?”

“…Yes. Wrap it up. Is it really a relic from the Goryeo Dynasty, as you said?”

“Yes, it is.”

“What if it isn’t?”

At Soyi’s words, after hearing our conversation, the man introduced an old man who seemed to be an appraiser he knew.

But how could we trust an appraiser brought by someone else? I thought of my regular appraiser, who suddenly had urgent business and couldn’t come today.

“There’s an appraiser here….”

“Yes. Well, then, you, stamp your seal on this, saying it’s genuine.”

“No, why are you doing this? This is troubling.”

The man refused to sell, but his insincerity was too obvious to fall for.

“It’s not like it’s cheap, isn’t this obvious?”

“Then, if you stamp your seal saying it’s definitely genuine, we can go and pay the full amount right now. What will you do?”

“Well, if that’s the case….”

The man stamped his seal.

We told him to wait a moment while we paid the money and got out of the man’s sight.

“Let’s go to the police station and report it.”

“Yes?”

Normally, I might have just not bought it and moved on. Because it’s annoying…….

But today, perhaps because of the backlash from my expectations, I was in a very bad mood.

So, I entrusted my identification牌 [pae; ID tag] to Seong Gyeom Sabok and reported the guys selling forgeries to the police station.

A report from a member of the royal family. This is valuable.

“We will arrest them immediately.”

The staff of the people, no, the staff of the citizens, moved quickly.

‘Power is so good.’

It would be nice if they could act as the staff of the people like this all the time.

As a result of having the most reliable appraiser through the police station, it turned out to be a forgery as expected.

‘Even if they had just said it was a replica and sold it, they would have received a good price normally.’

Human greed is endless, and they repeat the same mistakes.

Some of the guys who noticed the situation ran away, but several people were caught. Seong Gyeom Sabok also helped the officers subdue the guys who were resisting.

I heard that they were the guys who had been caught doing similar things before, and one of the investigators shouted with enthusiasm that they would root them out this time.

Selling these forgeries was usually done by an organization, not an individual.

“But we clearly told them that a very important person was buying it, so why did they commit such a sloppy fraud?”

“Perhaps they thought that not all connoisseurs are deeply knowledgeable and wouldn’t know the value of the item?”

“But if they buy it, they will definitely call an appraiser.”

“There are people who are too embarrassed to report the fact that they were deceived even if the truth is revealed.”

“Ah.”

Indeed, if a self-proclaimed collector with a hobby couldn’t recognize a fake, their reputation would be ruined. Collecting expensive items such as porcelain or relics is difficult unless you are a wealthy person.

“Um. Then, what happened to that porcelain that Young Miss was going to buy?”

“They may have deliberately left the genuine article to commit fraud, but it is highly likely that it was fake from the beginning.”

The officers who arrested the fraudsters began to sort out the forgeries with the help of the appraisers, but no genuine articles were found.

“But the porcelain I saw that day really seemed genuine.”

“What makes you think so?”

“That’s….”

At Soyi’s words, I hesitated to answer. It was difficult to explain if she asked what was different, but what should I say.

“The luster is different, I guess.”

“…I see.”

“The moment I saw it, I thought, ‘This is it!’ Of course, there are also slight differences in the ratio, the color is slightly different, and the gloss is also different.”

“I don’t understand at all.”

“But they might have hidden it somewhere. It’s a rare and valuable item that anyone can see.”

“It did look expensive….”

Sadly, even the highest-quality celadon supplied to the Goryeo royal family is just porcelain to those who are not interested.

‘In movies, there’s always a secret passage or a small space in the back, and there’s hidden treasure inside, right?’

I roughly watched the fraudsters’ shop, which was being torn apart, and slipped into the warehouse that the officers had already searched once.

“Ah, Young Miss! You can’t go in there.”

“Wouldn’t it be in a place like this?”

There were so many things that I wondered if they had checked it properly.

There were many large jars inside, some in boxes and some just lying around. It seemed that they would ban entry to this building itself and dispose of the items later.

I looked into a large jar that seemed to have enough space for an adult to enter and smiled at Soyi.

“There’s no way that these jars have a hole in the bottom, so they can hide there and come out, right?”

“Oh, Young Miss, really…?”

And the next moment, something grabbed my neck and moved as if bouncing.

“Huh?”

“Quiet. If you don’t do as I say, I don’t know what will happen to this little kid.”

“Hic…?”

Really, a person popped out of the jar!

“Ah, Young Miss!”

“Get out of the way!”

Ugh, why is my life so spectacular…….

My body, which was only about seven years old in appearance, regardless of my actual age, was lightly dangling in the hands of the fraudster gang.

Soyi seemed to be looking for an opening, but the man was holding a weapon.

He was just holding it for now, but.

“If you let go of the Young Miss, I will help you escape.”

“Judging by the way you talk, you seem to be a Young Miss from a good family. Yes, you must be the children of rich families since you came to buy porcelain, right? If you want to save this child, bring the ransom.”

“Yes?”

It was the moment when the fraudster transformed into a kidnapper.

As the man shouted the amount and the time and place to bring the money, Soyi shouted.

“Ah, no!!”

And this stupid fraudster…… was just stupid.

He ran into the alley where people were passing by, holding a knife in one hand and me in the other.

Most of the officers had left, but people who were curiously peeking around because of the commotion screamed at the unexpected sight.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Kidnapper!!”

“Thief!!”

“Ah, damn it!”

The man, realizing his mistake, finally put away the knife, tucked me under his arm, and started running.

“Young Miss!”

Soyi’s voice was heard from afar.

Wow. I want to faint.

“……!!”

It felt like someone called my name.

***

Unfortunately, the ride wasn’t very comfortable, so as soon as the fraudster gang, no, the kidnapper, put me down on the ground, I collapsed on the floor.

“Ugh…… I’m dizzy.”

“Little one, if you stay still, I won’t hurt you. Do you understand?”

I nodded obediently.

When you’re kidnapped, it’s said that listening obediently is advantageous for survival.

The kidnapper blindfolded me, picked me up again, ran up a mountain path, and seemed to enter a house.

“Hey, you crazy bastard. What is this?”

“I had no choice to escape.”

“No matter what, you shouldn’t have done this to such a young child…….”

“Lock her in the shed. She’s still a small child, so even if we let her go later, what would she know?”

Judging by what they were saying, fortunately, they really didn’t seem to have any intention of hurting me.

Perhaps because they thought I was a young child and wouldn’t be a big threat, there were no other measures taken.

‘They probably think I’m just sobbing alone.’

Locked in the shed, I took off the blindfold and quietly crouched down, looking around. There was a small window, so I thought I might be able to escape. I carefully stacked the items inside without making any noise.

They said they wouldn’t hurt me, but you never know.

I was moving nervously so as not to make a sound when I faintly heard voices talking from the next room.

“……is, who…… if…… ……right?”

“Shut up……! How much would…… if that person……?”

“……but soon ……and…… in Dabanggol gibang [a traditional Korean house of entertainment]…….”

Gibang?

“Then…… the 19th…… ……story…… that place…… money…….”

“……but, the Crown Prince…….”

The Crown Prince?

The familiar word made me flinch, and at that moment, I heard the sound of a door.

Squeak-

“What are you doing?”

“Brother.”

“That’s…… a few people were caught because the forgery sales were exposed. I barely escaped.”

“Damn it, there wouldn’t be any witnesses, right?”

“That’s…… there’s one child.”

“There are no exceptions. If it could interfere with our grand plan, we must eliminate them all.”

“!”

Just in time, my hand reached the window frame. It was a small window, but I was a child.

‘I never thought I’d be grateful for not growing up. Oof!’

And I also had arms and legs that were relatively trained in archery and horsemanship.

I immediately climbed onto the window frame, and at the same time as confirming that there was no one, I jumped out of the window.

And at the same time, I heard the sound of the door of the shed I was in opening.

“Little one, where are you hiding?”

I ran without looking back.

‘Even if I escape, I don’t know what will happen if I get lost on the mountain path.’

“Found you!”

“Kyaaaa!”

The moment the man rushed towards me, something struck him.

“Argh! What are you…… no?!”

I don’t know what it was, but I’m alive!

I ran like crazy without looking back.

And after tripping over something, I lost consciousness as I was.