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Chapter 4
“Confiscating the evidence.”
I quietly picked up the crumpled spring calligraphy paper.
The spring calligraphy paper was a precious item, painstakingly handwritten character by character by officials of the Seungmunwon.
These brats have guts, damaging palace property.
But the court maid apprentices seemed to think I was frightened, and only became more arrogant.
“Only a few court ladies and Lady Sukjeong are allowed near the west side of Chwiseondang. A little maid like you isn’t supposed to be here!”
“Yeah. If we report that you were loitering around here, you’ll get whipped immediately!”
“….”
My mouth fell open for a moment, goosebumps prickling down my skin.
It wasn’t because their threats scared me.
Did they just say Sukjeong?
“Sukjeong” was a name that appeared without fail in records surrounding Lady Jang’s death.
She was none other than the ringleader of the “Curse Against Queen Inhyeon” incident.
The shrine hasn’t been built yet, but something has definitely already started.
Poke—
“Hey. Why are you making such a stupid face?”
Fingers jabbed repeatedly at my forehead while I was deep in thought.
“She’s probably scared we’ll report her to the head court lady.”
The apprentice maids giggled.
I was desperately trying to avoid the blade hanging over my head, yet these girls were leisurely bullying a child. Irritation surged inside me.
Hoo—
I took a breath and glared at them.
“You said little maids aren’t allowed on the west side, right? Then why are you here, unnis?”
“W-what? Th-that’s….”
The girls’ faces flushed bright red after I hit the mark.
“I’ll report you too! You’ve been wandering around here for a while already! Then we’ll all get whipped together!”
“How dare you talk back?”
The taller maid screeched.
“But this is strange. Kids as young as you usually aren’t accepted into the palace.”
A malicious smile spread across her face, far too cruel for a child.
“Your parents abandoned you, didn’t they? They obviously didn’t care about you and just dumped you in the palace. Poor thing. A child abandoned by her parents….”
This was…
A personal attack on my family?
I could tolerate anything else, but not that!
“I won’t forgive you! Don’t insult my mom and dad!”
“And what if I do?”
The taller maid shoved me hard.
I tried to keep my balance, but my tiny little body couldn’t overpower the strength of a ten-year-old.
As I flailed my arms desperately, my hand caught onto something.
Riiip—
“Aaaah! Let go of me!”
…Though I only realized a moment later that it was her hair.
I swear I didn’t grab it on purpose. It was purely survival instinct.
Then—
“What is all this commotion? Aren’t you girls going to separate?”
A commanding voice rang through the air.
“Lady Seolhyang…!”
Seolhyang had been fairly kind to me, but it was still too early to trust that she’d take my side.
Get it together.
I quickly released the fistful of hair I’d been clutching and let my shoulders droop pitifully.
“What are you girls doing, ganging up on a child?”
Her sharp voice boomed.
“She attacked me first, Lady Seolhyang! Look at all the hair she ripped out!”
“That’s right! She’s definitely not normal. She was wandering around here suspiciously, so we were trying to stop her—”
“If you know wandering around here is suspicious, then why are you here?”
“Th-that’s….”
The ten-year-old maids shut their mouths simultaneously.
Now’s my chance…!
I immediately pulled out the crumpled spring paper where everyone could see it.
Rustle, rustle.
With my head lowered, I pretended to tremble while desperately smoothing out the wrinkled paper.
“Is that… spring calligraphy paper? How did something so precious end up like this…?!”
Seolhyang looked genuinely shocked.
At that exact moment, all my hard work finally paid off.
Drip.
A single tear fell onto the crumpled paper.
“Those unnis bullied me… and crumpled the spring paper…. It was important….”
“Ha.”
Seolhyang let out an exasperated sigh.
“And they said my parents abandoned me too….”
“What?”
Seolhyang’s expression turned horrified.
“My parents passed away, but they didn’t abandon me. I was loved a lot. By my parents, and by my big brother too….”
At the end, my genuine feelings slipped out without me realizing it.
The apprentice maids hurriedly tried to explain themselves, but Seolhyang cut them off with an icy glare.
“You girls… this really won’t do.”
“Lady! We were wrong!”
“Please spare us! Just this once!”
But Seolhyang showed no mercy.
“You’ll be dealt with by Head Court Lady Han. You damaged a valuable item and bullied a child, so you’ll pay the price.”
After speaking coldly, Seolhyang grabbed my hand.
“Bongbong. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“N-no…. I fell down, but I’m okay.”
“You fell? Let me see.”
Seolhyang lifted the hem of my skirt slightly and frowned.
…I hadn’t even realized it myself. My knee was scraped open and bleeding.
“Let’s go back and put medicine on it.”
I followed Seolhyang step by step while the crying voices of the apprentice maids echoed behind us.
Still… something doesn’t feel right.
Those two girls had already been there when I arrived at the west side of Chwiseondang.
Ordinary court ladies aren’t even allowed there, so why would they sneak around despite knowing they’d be punished?
Nothing in this world happened without reason.
So what exactly was theirs?
“Bongbong-ah.”
“Yes, Lady.”
“You mustn’t wander around this area alone. Understand?”
“Yes. I understand.”
Looking at Seolhyang’s hardened expression, I became certain.
…There was definitely something hidden on the west side of Chwiseondang.
“Ow!”
“It’s done. Just bear with it a little longer.”
“…Yes, Lady.”
After applying the ointment came a stream of gentle scolding, but my thoughts remained elsewhere the entire time.
I still don’t have enough information.
What condition was Lady Jang in right now? And what exactly was she plotting?
History already recorded her inevitable ending: Lady Jang’s execution by poison.
I first needed to determine where exactly we currently stood in that chain of events.
And I’m curious about who Hwang Bongbong was too.
How had a child ended up entering the palace? What kind of role would she play here in the future?
Could someone as insignificant as me—a mere extra in history—actually change the flow of history?
“Yaaawn….”
…Meanwhile, exhaustion hit me like a truck.
Far too much had happened in half a day for a child’s body to endure.
“My goodness, sleepy already? A child really is a child.”
The hands gently laying me down as I nodded off sitting upright felt surprisingly warm.
“Sleep tight, sleep tight, little Hwang Bongbong sleeps so well….”
Seolhyang’s voice echoed faintly in the distance.
As I sank into sleep like I’d blacked out, I recalled a passage I had once read in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.
“October, 27th year of King Sukjong’s reign.
Court ladies Seolhyang, Sukyeong, and Sukjeong of Chwiseondang were executed by beheading.”
…I hope Seolhyang doesn’t die.
When I awoke from a deep, dreamless sleep, the sky outside the door was tinged blue.
Was now really the time to be sprawled out sleeping?
Just as I was about to sit up in self-reproach, familiar voices drifted in.
“…I didn’t expect someone this young. I thought she’d at least be six or seven….”
I wasn’t alone in the room.
The speaker was Seolhyang.
Beside her sat Head Court Lady Han—the same woman I’d met during the “mouse-writing ritual.”
It sounded like they were talking about me, so I quietly kept pretending to sleep and listened.
“Isn’t she destined to become a jimil court lady? Then it’s only right to start training her from age four or five. Gradually teach her to read and thoroughly instruct her in palace etiquette.”
“Yes, of course. But Lady Han, how did Bongbong become a court lady?”
“She’ll someday serve the Queen once Her Majesty is restored to her position. We couldn’t just bring in anyone, so while searching around, we heard about a noble family child with nowhere to go and brought her in.”
“Oh my goodness. Bongbong’s a noblewoman?”
Wait—I was a noble?
“That’s true, but make sure you keep that fact to yourself.”
“Yes, of course.”
By Joseon law, nobles were not supposed to become court ladies.
That was why Lady Han was being cautious.
“What good is noble blood? She’s still a helpless orphan with no one to care for her. If not for the lady next door, she wouldn’t even have gotten rice porridge to eat. Had I not brought her here, she’d probably have been sold off to a gisaeng house.”
At Lady Han’s words, Seolhyang gasped.
“My goodness. Are you saying she was living all alone?”
“Apparently she had an older brother much older than her until last year, but he suddenly disappeared too. They say he associated with martial artists, so he’s likely dead.”
“Oh dear…. Lady Han, Bongbong really is pitiful….”
Tsk, tsk.
Behind Seolhyang’s clicking tongue came Lady Han’s quiet laughter.
“Haha. Is there any court lady with a fortunate fate? We all spend our lives trapped behind palace walls, only to wither away.”
“That’s true…. Now that I think about it, I entered the palace at six too….”
Seolhyang’s voice sank bitterly.
“….”
I closed my eyes again.
It seemed Hwang Bongbong’s life had been quite cruel.
Perhaps even before entering the palace, this child had already been desperately struggling to survive.
It was a sad story.
But what truly saddened me was one sentence alone:
She had an older brother too.
Something deep in my chest trembled violently.
Because I suddenly remembered my own older brother from my previous life—a face I’d tried desperately not to think about.
Just like Hwang Bongbong’s brother, my brother had also left me, an orphan, behind and died.
“Live well.”
The words my brother left me with.
“You have to live well. Enough for both of us.”
That was the last thing I ever heard him say.
It’ll soon be Lunar New Year.
The season when I lost my brother—spring—was approaching once again.
Neither in modern-day Korea, where I used to exist, nor in this Joseon era where I now lived, did my brother still exist anymore.
Drip.
Without realizing it, tears rolled down my cheeks.
It felt as though my brother’s voice, buried deep in my heart, echoed once more.
“You have to live well. Enough for both of us.”
…I will.
I answered silently in my heart.
I’ll live well.
No matter how impossibly difficult this world was.
No matter how little a small child’s body could accomplish.
Brother. Somehow, I’ll survive.
