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Chapter 32
Tap tap tap!
“Just a little more, just a little more!”
“To the right— no, the left!”
The courtyard of Chwiseondang was noisy and chaotic.
What’s going on?
What came into view as I returned from an errand for Sunggyeongdang was Sunrye, swinging a pole as tall as herself and mercilessly whacking at the persimmon tree.
“Ugh, my arms are gonna fall off!”
Sunrye let out a long groan.
“Seriously. Unni, what are you doing?”
At Seolhyang’s question, Sunrye answered,
“It’s Lady Han Court Lady’s order. She said to get rid of every persimmon left on the tree! Hah, but they’ve gotta be within reach first!”
Sunrye shouted angrily.
“Damn soft persimmons! Why’d one have to fall right on top of Court Lady’s head and cause all this mess?”
The other court maids burst into giggles.
…Sorry. I had committed a grave sin.
I quietly crept over beside Sunrye and lightly poked her waist.
“Sunrye mama.”
“Hm? What is it, Bongbong?”
“The tree’s too tall. It’s hard knocking the persimmons down. You should stop.”
“Right? Even you can tell this ain’t working? Fine. Even if it’s Court Lady’s orders, I can’t do this!”
Sunrye hurled the pole onto the ground.
Twilight had already fallen over the courtyard of Chwiseondang.
The ripe persimmons hanging from the branches swayed softly in the wind.
The palace night echoed with the cries of owls.
Fwish!
A pebble shot through the air from somewhere unseen.
“Bullseye.”
A tiny voice, barely audible.
Fweeew—
“Bullseye again.”
In the blink of an eye, five or six soft persimmons splattered onto the ground one after another.
“Heh.”
The small shadow let out a satisfied little snort before leisurely disappearing back into the sleeping quarters.
…and then, the next morning.
“Oh my goodness!”
“Where did all the persimmons go?!”
“Was it ghosts? Or goblins?”
The court maids were utterly shaken by the sight of the persimmon tree, now stripped bare overnight.
No one noticed the “little blessing” standing in the corner with a sly grin on her face.
“Ow, that hurts!”
“Just bear with it a little. I’m trying to make you pretty!”
“Gently! You’re pulling all my hair out!”
From the room Seolhyang and I shared came sounds of pure chaos early that morning.
Which meant Seolhyang was braiding my hair.
“There, all done! Ahh, so pretty. Our Bongbong, should I show you the mirror?”
“I don’t need to look!”
“Why not?”
“Because I already know you made me look pretty, mama.”
“Aigoo, how can even your words be this adorable?”
Seolhyang lightly pinched my cheek.
I was all dressed up.
The Head Court Lady from the Main Hall was scheduled to come pick me up.
Under Seolhyang’s enthusiastic fussing, my hair had been done into twin buns tied with red ribbons.
Lastly, Seolhyang helped me into a sleeveless vest.
Honestly, this outfit’s a bit much for a mere court maid.
Unlike the plain vests ordinary palace maids wore, mine was quilted silk.
And naturally, the person who’d given it to me was Heebin.
Well, if she says wear it, I wear it.
Not like I really had a choice anyway.
In any case, there was still some time before the Head Court Lady arrived.
I wandered out into the courtyard.
Morning was the busiest time for the court maids.
So I’d assumed nobody would be around, but in one corner of the yard stood a very familiar face.
Glare.
Yonghui.
Now this was pretty good timing.
Despite my efforts, it hadn’t been easy running into Yonghui.
Ten-year-old Yonghui was in charge of grunt work in the Inner Kitchen. Which meant she almost never left it.
Meanwhile, my job mostly involved errands and outside tasks, so our paths rarely crossed.
Thinking this was my chance, I slowly approached her.
It wasn’t as though I’d been sitting idle just because I couldn’t meet her.
In the meantime, I’d quietly gathered information about Yonghui.
Ten years old. From a well-off middle-class family. Proud of her status. Recently growing distant from Bokhui.
And…
Mean as hell.
Okay, maybe there was a bit of personal bias in that last assessment.
Still, Yonghui’s reputation within Chwiseondang wasn’t particularly good.
Put kindly, she was shrewd with practical matters.
Put bluntly, she was selfish and only cared about herself.
That was how people viewed Yonghui.
And Yonghui immediately proved my judgment correct.
How?
With her sharp tongue.
“Tch. I feel bad for the silkworms.”
Huh? What kind of insult was that?
“The clothes you’re wearing are made from silk spun from silkworm cocoons, right? And yet they ended up being worn by some fat little slave. Poor things.”
Oh. That was unexpectedly creative mockery.
It seemed Yonghui firmly believed I was born a slave.
Well, a lot of palace maids did come from government slave backgrounds, so it wasn’t a completely baseless assumption…
Hey. I’m actually from a noble family.
Maybe even one with an impressive lineage.
I already knew social status didn’t really matter, but the malice behind the word slave still irritated me.
So I shot back.
“That’s not right, mama.”
“What’s not?”
“There aren’t any silkworms who’d feel sorry for you.”
In other words:
Your family doesn’t own silk clothes like this, huh?
Yonghui exploded.
“Hey! My house has tons of silk clothes! How dare some beggar-looking thing like you—”
“What’s the point if your house has silk clothes? You’re always walking around in plain hemp anyway.”
I threw in another jab.
“Between the maid wearing silk and the maid without silk, which one looks like the beggar?”
“Eek!”
Oh. That I hadn’t expected.
I never imagined Yonghui would actually try to slap me.
“…?”
I clearly saw her hand flying toward me at incredible speed.
But before I could even process what was happening, my body moved first.
Without realizing it, I’d already dodged it.
Whoosh—
The wind brushed past my face.
…Am I some kind of martial arts master?
Just as I was staring blankly in shock at the reflexes of my four-year-old body—
“What are you two doing?”
Seolhyang had entered the courtyard, her voice sharp.
Her gaze was terrifying.
Already flustered that I’d dodged her slap, Yonghui visibly panicked further when Seolhyang appeared.
In that case…
This is an opportunity too.
I spoke casually, as though nothing had happened.
“Nothing. Yonghui mama and I were just talking.”
“Talking about what?”
“What we’re gonna eat for Daeboreum, and about mouse-fire play.”
“Reeally? Yonghui, looks like you’ve decided to be nice to Bongbong?”
“…Yes.”
Yonghui answered weakly.
“That’s good then. Don’t fight, and get along.”
Looking relieved, Seolhyang hurried away.
“…”
Yonghui looked bewildered.
She’d probably been certain I would tattle on her.
“You… what are you?”
At her question, I replied with complete seriousness.
“Why do you hate me, Yonghui mama?”
“…”
“I never did anything wrong to you. Why do you hate and bully another court maid?”
“Th-that’s because you act so annoying!”
“But I didn’t do anything. Even that day, I was just putting up New Year slips.”
“…”
“You said I was a child abandoned by my parents. And just now you tried to hit me.”
Yonghui, glaring at me, suddenly shouted.
“See?! This is exactly why you’re annoying! You’re tiny, but you strut around like you’re something special and always talk back!”
I looked at the agitated Yonghui in silence for a moment.
Then slowly opened my mouth.
“Want me to guess something?”
“What?”
“You’ve heard people say that to you before too, haven’t you?”
“What?”
“That your parents abandoned you. That they sent you to become a court maid because they didn’t care about you.”
“…”
Yonghui’s face turned pale.
“That’s why you said it to me too. Because you’d already heard it before, so you just repeated it back.”
“…”
“Am I wrong?”
Yonghui was completely speechless.
Yeah. I figured.
The whole “abandoned by your parents” line was far too cruel and twisted for a ten-year-old to invent on her own.
Children are mirrors of adults.
Yonghui already knew how deeply those words could wound someone.
Because she’d experienced it herself.
“H-how do you know that…?”
Instead of lashing out, she simply admitted it.
A child really was still a child.
“Yonghui mama.”
“What.”
“I don’t resent you. Everyone makes mistakes at least once.”
“…”
“But people who know something is wrong and keep doing bad things over and over…”
I paused.
“They never get what they want.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That’s just how the world works. People think doing bad things will help them gain something amazing. But it never works out that way.”
“Wh-what are you even talking about…?”
Yonghui’s voice trembled.
“Do you know what happens to people who secretly keep doing bad things?”
“…What happens?”
I put on the most solemn expression I could manage.
“They disappear.”
Then I dragged a finger across my throat.
“You, you…”
Now even Yonghui’s hands were trembling.
“How can you say things like that? What do you know?”
“I don’t know anything. I’m just repeating exactly what Lady Han Court Lady said.”
This time, I decided to use Court Lady Han.
It was a gamble meant to plant suspicion in Yonghui’s mind that Han Court Lady might already know she was a spy.
Judging by the way Yonghui bit her lip with a stiff expression, it seemed to work.
Time for the finishing blow.
“Yonghui mama.”
I whispered into her ear.
“They say spy maids disappear without even a rat or bird noticing.”
“…Hk.”
Then I stepped back and smiled at her.
“But I think your true nature is actually kind.”
“…”
“So even if you hate me, I believe you won’t do bad things anymore. Let’s be friends!”
I flashed her the brightest smile I could.
Right then—
As if perfectly timed, Han Court Lady’s voice rang out.
“Bongbong! The Head Court Lady from the Main Hall is almost here! Hurry outside!”
“Yes, mama! I’m coming!”
Leaving behind Yonghui, frozen stiff in place, I scampered across the courtyard.
