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Chapter 30
“Keuk-keuk.”
“…?”
“Ihihihi…!”
I glanced sideways at Seolhyang, who was cackling like a villain.
What’s wrong with her…?
Just as I began genuinely worrying about her mental health—
“Bongbong-ah. You didn’t see it, did you?”
Seolhyang finally spoke.
“See what?”
“Court Lady Han was standing in the inner courtyard, and right then, a fallen soft persimmon landed right on top of her head! Puhahaha!”
“Th-that happened? I didn’t see anything at all…!”
“Exactly! Missing such a precious sight. What a waste, seriously!”
“……”
For someone who constantly claimed to respect Court Lady Han, Seolhyang seemed far too delighted about it.
Meanwhile, I stood there speechless.
We were currently out running an errand together.
Our destination was Sunggyeongdang Hall.
The residence of Sukui Lady Park.
Lady Park, a royal concubine, was the birth mother of Prince Yeoning-gun Lee Hwon, the youngest son of King Sukjong. Later, history would remember her as Royal Noble Consort Myeongbin Park.
In Seolhyang’s hands was a bowl of tarakjuk—milk porridge—prepared in Chwiseondang’s inner kitchen under Lady Jang Hui-bin’s orders.
Unexpected. Hui-bin is sending such precious food to another concubine…
Jealous incarnate. Femme fatale. Seductress…
Even without recalling all the labels attached to the name “Jang Hui-bin,” this side of her felt strangely unfamiliar to me after witnessing all the vicious palace infighting firsthand.
“Lady Seolhyang.”
“Hmm?”
“It seems Sukui Mama and Hui-bin have a good relationship?”
“Hmm…”
Seolhyang looked uncertain where to begin.
“Lady Park used to be a maidservant at Chwiseondang.”
“Oh…?”
Right. That was true. I’d known that but forgotten.
Then again, King Sukjong had way too many concubines.
Still, my curiosity remained.
A personal maidservant suddenly receiving the king’s favor? With Hui-bin’s personality, shouldn’t she have exploded with rage?
“When Sukui first received royal favor, Hui-bin was furious too.”
Honestly, I would’ve been too.
“But they say Sukui begged Hui-bin for forgiveness for days and nights. It was winter, apparently, and she knelt in the courtyard without moving.”
Lady Park must’ve suffered terribly.
Inside the Joseon royal palace, “receiving royal favor” was practically a one-sided act driven entirely by the king’s will.
“In the end, Hui-bin forgave her. Apparently Lady Park had served her devotedly back when she was still a court maid. Anyway, because of that, we’re all close with the maids at Sunggyeongdang too.”
“……”
I quietly observed Seolhyang.
Had I acted too mature all this time?
Even Seolhyang seemed to forget occasionally that I was supposed to be a four-year-old child.
“So then… what does ‘receiving royal favor’ mean?”
I threw out the bombshell question with the most innocent expression I could muster.
Sometimes, it was necessary to reaffirm my identity.
A harmless, clueless four-year-old.
“Huh? Oh my! What did I just say? R-receiving royal favor means… um… it’s nothing. You can forget about it!”
Watching Seolhyang desperately trying to preserve my innocence made me feel sorry for her, so I smoothly changed the subject.
“Then how about Bogyeongdang? Are you close with them too?”
“What? Bogyeongdang?”
Seolhyang switched gears with startling speed.
“Don’t even mention those trashy wenches. Someday I’m going to rip out every last strand of their hair.”
…Seolhyang was tougher than she looked.
The maids I’d encountered at Bogyeongdang came to mind.
If the little maid from Bogyeongdang ever happened to pass in front of Chwiseondang…
Could I really be certain she wouldn’t suffer what I did?
No. Surely our Chwiseondang maids weren’t that petty.
After hurriedly convincing myself, I asked again.
“Then what about Noble Consort Mama’s side—”
“Bongbong-ah. Spit, spit, spit!”
“…Pardon?”
“Hurry, you do it too! Whenever someone says that Noble Consort’s name, bad luck follows! Quick, spit! Ptui ptui ptui!”
“Ptui ptui ptui…”
I wondered if she was overreacting, but remembering my own encounter with that Noble Consort, I quickly understood.
If she treated even a child maid like that, she was probably far worse toward the others.
There had to be a reason Seolhyang reacted so strongly.
“By the way, Lady Seolhyang. Is Sukui Mama very ill?”
“Yeah. She became much weaker after giving birth to the prince. She’d always been sickly, but then she suffered postpartum fever…”
“Ah…”
“But after serving ten whole years as a court lady, she finally gave birth to a prince, so people say she’s fortunate. Thanks to that, she even received a concubine title.”
…Could that really be called fortunate?
There were exceptions, of course, but the lives of court maids who received royal favor were rarely peaceful or beautiful.
Especially not during an era overflowing with vicious palace schemes like this one.
“Anyway, if we’re lucky today, you might get to see the prince. You’ll be shocked when you do. He’s unbelievably adorable!”
Seolhyang lightly pinched my cheek.
“Not as cute as our Hwang Bongbong, of course, but honestly, I’ve never seen such a pretty baby.”
She rambled for quite a while about how cute and handsome the prince was.
But actually, I had already seen him before.
The boy who would later become known as Prince Yeoning-gun—Lee Hwon.
King Sukjong’s most beloved youngest son.
A prince fated to die young at twenty-one.
That day, when I’d happened to encounter him during one of my hardest moments, there had been no sign of death lurking in his bright smile.
And Lady Park as well…
She would die when Lee Hwon turned five.
A historical record surfaced in my memory—how King Sukjong had shed tears watching little Lee Hwon, too young to understand his mother’s death.
Thinking about how both the mother and child I was about to meet were destined for tragic deaths made my heart suddenly feel heavy.
Just then, a baby’s crying echoed from afar.
“It sounds like the prince is crying.”
Seolhyang was right.
The courtyard of Sunggyeongdang was bustling.
Every maid in the residence was desperately trying every method imaginable to stop the prince’s crying.
“Prince! Please don’t cry! Peekaboo! Peekaboo!”
“Waaaahhh!”
They shook little dolls in front of him, held him and rocked him gently—
At one point, a maid even placed her hands beside her head and hopped around like a rabbit.
Yet the prince refused to stop crying.
“Why is the prince crying so sorrowfully today?”
“He won’t even drink his milk properly…”
The wet nurse and nanny murmured anxiously.
“Oh? Isn’t that Seolhyang?”
A young court lady approached us as we stood awkwardly near the entrance.
“Yes, Mama. I brought tarakjuk. Hui-bin sent it for Sukui Mama.”
“Tarakjuk? Such precious food… Truly, Her Ladyship’s grace is as vast as the sea. But…”
Her gaze shifted toward me.
“Oh, this must be the child maid you mentioned before.”
“Yes. I brought her along so she could properly greet everyone.”
I quickly bowed.
“Hello. I’m Hwang Bongbong, a child maid from Chwiseondang. I’m four years old this year.”
“How adorable. I’d like to give you something to eat, but the prince is in such a foul mood today that we’re all distracted. What should we do…”
“Oh, it’s fine, Mama. Honestly, Bongbong already eats way too many snacks as it is.”
Feeling slightly betrayed, I glared sideways at Seolhyang.
Rightfully so—half the snacks I obtained somehow ended up in her stomach.
Meanwhile, the baby still wouldn’t stop crying.
“He doesn’t even have a fever, so I wonder what’s wrong. Perhaps he misses being held by Mama… it’s been days now…”
The court lady trailed off quietly.
“How is Sukui Mama doing?”
“She has no strength at all. She hasn’t even been able to rise from bed for days.”
As the conversation continued and the prince cried pitifully from exhaustion…
I felt emotionally drained just watching.
That was when the nanny carrying Lee Hwon stepped into the center of the courtyard.
It’s the same nanny from before.
Surely she didn’t remember me fleeing for dear life that time, right?
Fortunately, she seemed to have little interest in me.
Carefully, I looked at Lee Hwon’s face.
His clear little face glistened with tears.
Feeling sorry for him as he cried weakly, I found myself staring quietly into his eyes.
Lee Hwon. Why are you crying so sadly? You’re really cutest when you smile. Seeing you cry keeps making me sad too.
So…
“Stop!”
The word escaped me completely without thought.
And then—
…silence.
“……?”
The entire courtyard suddenly fell quiet.
Wait.
Did he really stop crying?
