LCSB 06

Chapter 6

“Persimmons or crabs?”
The Crown Prince, who had been staring at me in confusion, suddenly let out an “Ah.”
“So you want to eat persimmons. Let’s see… Ah, right. I happen to have some.”
The Crown Prince rummaged through his clothes.
“It’s dried persimmon. I happened to bring some—”
“D-dried persimmon…!”
The moment he held the dried persimmon out to me—

“No! Go away! Shoo!”
It happened before I could stop myself.

Whoosh!

I snatched the dried persimmon from his hand and hurled it away with all my strength as if it were a grenade.

Only after hearing the dried persimmon rolling across the floor did I come back to my senses.

‘…What the hell did I just do?’

Ever since possessing a child’s body, something had clearly gone wrong with the part of my brain that controlled impulses.

The Crown Prince was staring at me with a blank expression.

How was I supposed to get out of this mess?

“I-it’s just… Persimmons are bad!”

“Why are persimmons bad?”

Blink, blink.
The Crown Prince asked with a bewildered look.

At least he didn’t seem angry or offended.

“T-there’s a saying, you know? If you eat too many persimmons, you can get a scary illness where your poop turns hard as rocks…”

Stop. Please stop.

Even when I thought like an adult, the moment I opened my mouth, childish nonsense kept spilling out.

Haah.

Maybe the truly dangerous thing here was my uncontrollable mouth.

At the same time, I felt a little sorry toward the Crown Prince.

Persimmons and crabs were ingredients later rumored to have contributed to his death.

‘Should I tell him not to eat persimmons or crabs from now on?’

The thought crossed my mind, but I pushed it away.

‘What matters right now is my own survival. I don’t have the luxury to worry about someone else’s life.’

I wasn’t in a comfortable enough position to worry about the Crown Prince’s death twenty years in the future.

‘So stop worrying about pointless things and focus on surviving yourself.’

“Are you alright?”

The Crown Prince’s worried voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

Even after I’d thrown his dried persimmon away, he was still this kind.
Truly worthy of his reputation as a man of noble character.

Realizing I’d been making an unusually serious expression for a child, I gave him a soft smile.

It was the “harmless smile” I had perfected through days of practice.

“Yes. I’m okay, Your Highness. The court ladies might be looking for me, so I should get going now.”

“Very well. Ah, but what is your name?”

“Hwang Bombo…”

…Failed again.

“Hwang. Bong. Bong.”

“…That’s a lovely name.”

For some reason, I noticed the corners of the Crown Prince’s lips twitch.

“Anyway, Bongbong. Let’s meet again.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As I bowed politely to him, I thought:

‘I should try to stay on good terms with the Crown Prince. He’ll become king someday, after all.’

Though seeing him become king would only matter if I survived that long myself.

The next morning.

Unlike yesterday, Lady Jang didn’t turn me away at the door.

“Your Ladyship. Baby court maid Hwang Bombong greets you.”

Following Seolhyang’s instructions, I toddled forward and gave a deep bow.

I almost stepped on my skirt and face-planted, but somehow managed to recover.

“Good. I accept your greeting. Listen well to Head Court Lady Han and the other court maids.”

“Yes, Your Ladyship.”

Even as I answered, my eyes secretly swept across the room.

The only place I still hadn’t been able to investigate regarding the shrine supposedly built at Chwiseondang during Ipchun was Lady Jang’s bedchamber itself.

But nothing especially suspicious stood out.

‘Well, of course. She wouldn’t install a shamanic shrine somewhere the king regularly visits.’

Thinking that, I cautiously raised my head.

“Your Ladyship. There’s something I wish to say…”

Originally, I had planned to win her favor with the poetic line I’d rehearsed all night:
“Among the swaying flowers, I caught the scent of Your Ladyship’s sandalwood fragrance.”

But the moment I saw Lady Jang’s face directly, my mind went completely blank.

‘Her beauty is shocking.’

A smooth face like white porcelain, eyes slightly tilted upward at the corners, a sculpted nose bridge, vivid crimson lips.

She was a cold beauty capable of stealing one’s breath away.

“Go on,” she said.

“Uh… there was a flower scent, but then it suddenly started swaying…”

What nonsense am I even saying?

Lady Jang stared at my rambling without the slightest reaction before replying with only one sentence.

“You may leave.”

That was all.

“…Yes, Your Ladyship.”

In the end, I could only trudge out of the chamber.

I felt somewhat dejected, but I decided not to be too disappointed.

The important thing was that I’d confirmed the shrine didn’t exist yet.

‘This isn’t the worst-case scenario. So don’t panic.’

Then my next goal was—

‘Exploring the palace!’

I ran up to Seolhyang and asked:

“Lady Seolhyang.”

“What is it?”

“Can I go look around outside Chwiseondang?”

“Outside? Hmm… There isn’t much to do right now, so I suppose it’s fine. But don’t wander too far. You might get lost.”

“Yes. I’ll be careful.”

I’d roughly figured out the layout of Chwiseondang, so now it was time to investigate the palace itself.

The moment I confidently stepped outside, a real royal palace unfolded before my eyes.

Even though I had visited Changgyeong Palace countless times in my previous life, this looked completely different from the version in my memories.

‘A lot of the buildings were destroyed during the Japanese occupation.’

For the first time, it truly felt real—that I had entered actual history.

My heart raced.
The instincts of a history nerd stirred awake.

Naturally so.

The title of the thesis I had been staying up all night writing as a graduate student was none other than:

<The Daily Lives of Royal Women During King Sukjong’s Era Through Historical Records>

Filled with excitement, I was just about to scamper off when—

‘Huh? Those girls from yesterday.’

That was when I spotted the two child court maids.

They looked miserable as they carried heavy buckets of water.

Apparently, damaging the spring couplets had been considered such a grave offense that they’d been assigned hard labor for the time being.

…But what were they talking about?

“We need to find the evidence quickly…”

“If we secure proof, they said we’d receive a huge reward…”

A dizzy feeling swept over me instantly.

Those suspicious girls were talking about “evidence” and “a huge reward”?

‘Don’t tell me… they were spies?’

In an instant, suspicion hardened into certainty.

There was just one problem.

‘…Why are they walking toward me?’

I wanted to keep eavesdropping, but unfortunately there wasn’t anywhere nearby to hide.

Eventually, I decided to retreat and hurriedly ran away.

And the moment I turned the corner—

Crash!

“Uwaaaah!”

I ended up diving straight into the middle of someone’s silk skirt.

“M-my apologies!”

Though panicked, I tried to assess the situation quickly.

First of all, the color of the woman’s skirt was far from ordinary.

Instead of the blue skirts worn by court ladies and maids, soft pink fabric fluttered before my eyes.

‘Definitely a royal consort.’

I immediately jumped to my feet and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.

Just as I was about to apologize again—

“My goodness. It’s been so long since I’ve seen such a tiny little court maid. Are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you?”

A warm, gentle voice reached me.

At least it didn’t sound like I was about to be severely punished, so I lifted my head and answered:

“Yes. I’m okay.”

“Oh my, what a pretty child. But I don’t recognize you. How long have you been in the palace?”

“Uh… five days? No, six…”

“Oh dear. Not even ten days since entering the palace. You’re practically a newborn.”

The woman had a graceful appearance.

Her slightly drooping brows and eyes gave her an innocent impression.

‘Who is she?’

I mentally listed the royal consorts currently living in the palace.

Besides Queen Inhyeon and Lady Jang, there were many others:
Royal Noble Consort Suk, Lady Choi.
Royal Consort Gwiin Kim.
Royal Consort Sukui Park.
Royal Consort Sukui Yoo…

‘Seriously, for a king, couldn’t Sukjong calm down a little?’

Suppressing my irritation toward King Sukjong, I smiled brightly at the consort.

Then she spoke.

“I’ve just had a wonderful idea. Little one, I should take you to my residence.”

…Excuse me? Me? Suddenly?

She examined me from head to toe.
Despite her gentle appearance, her gaze was surprisingly sharp.

“Prince Yeoning has been lonely lately. He would surely think of you as a younger sister. I can already picture how delighted my son will be.”

“Huh?”

Without realizing it, my mouth fell open.

‘Did she just say Prince Yeoning?’

Prince Yeoning was the princely title once used by the man who would later become King Yeongjo.

Which meant the woman standing before me was—

‘Choi Suk-bin. King Yeongjo’s birth mother.’

The very woman who would later become Lady Jang’s greatest rival through King Sukjong.

And now she was saying she wanted to take me to her residence?

Fireworks exploded in my mind.

‘Does this mean… I can escape Chwiseondang?’

If I could become a court maid serving Choi Suk-bin, everything would be safe.

After Queen Inhyeon’s death, the bloody purge that followed only destroyed Lady Jang.
Suk-bin herself emerged completely unharmed.

Naturally so.

‘Because it was Choi Suk-bin who accused Lady Jang of cursing Queen Inhyeon.’

In media portrayals, Choi Suk-bin was usually depicted as a kind and righteous woman.

But from the perspective of a history major, she wasn’t someone so purely innocent.

‘If anything, she was a brilliant strategist. That’s how she survived until the end.’

Which meant—

‘If I can get to Suk-bin’s residence, my survival is basically guaranteed.’

My heart began pounding.

Escape. Survival.

A peaceful life completely unrelated to bloody political purges.

A shift from a survival thriller into a cute slice-of-life story!

That was it.
Choi Suk-bin was my lifeline.

“So then, which residence do you belong to? I shall tell the Head Court Lady to transfer you to Bogyeongdang—”

Right then—

The sound of hurried footsteps rapidly approached.

A strong floral fragrance drifted through the air, one I vaguely recognized from somewhere.

“Suk-bin.”

…Why was Lady Jang here?

“This child belongs to Chwiseondang.”

Lady Jang’s voice was terrifyingly cold.

“How dare you covet what belongs to me?”

At that moment, chills erupted all the way down my spine.

…Damn it. Transfer attempt failed.