🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter: 17
“Did everything go well with Chief Palace Lady Jejo?”
“Yes. From now on, I will officially serve Your Highness as the Crown Princess’s trusted palace lady.”
She already knew about the assassins, and this person was both efficient and incredibly well-informed.
“Good work. I’m counting on you from now on.”
I nodded in satisfaction.
Then Palace Lady Kim asked cautiously,
“Your Highness… I heard the assassins all died as though they had fallen from a great height. Do you happen to know what happened?”
“Ah.”
I hesitated for a moment before feigning ignorance.
“Well… I’m not really sure. I stayed hidden inside the palanquin until everything quieted down.”
“I understand.”
Without pressing further, Palace Lady Kim stepped back.
Good attitude.
When it came to members of the royal family, it wasn’t particularly strange to assume they had mysterious shadow guards with supernatural abilities, so she was probably just accepting it as something along those lines.
I noticed her briefly glance at Ansi, who stood quietly behind me. Judging by Ansi’s unusual hair and eye color, Palace Lady Kim seemed to think she was one of the Imperial Family’s secret shadow guards.
‘Well, except for the fact that it’s not this imperial family, that’s almost exactly right.’
This time, I asked the question.
“Have they found out who was behind the assassination?”
“I’ve heard that the Royal Investigation Bureau is personally examining the scene. They should uncover the truth soon.”
“The Royal Investigation Bureau…?”
The moment I prompted her, Palace Lady Kim immediately explained.
“It is an agency that reports directly to His Majesty and investigates cases involving the royal family. It is similar to the Empire’s Embroidered Uniform Guard.”
“I see. If you hear anything, could you let me know as well?”
“Of course, Your Highness. I will report it immediately.”
I hadn’t really expected an agency that answered directly to the king to report anything to me. I’d only asked on a whim, but Palace Lady Kim answered as though it wouldn’t be difficult at all.
‘So she has informants in the Royal Investigation Bureau too?’
For someone I had picked on the spur of the moment, she was turning out to be quite impressive.
Why hadn’t someone this capable been promoted?
I wanted to examine her with Heavenly Insight, but I decided against it. She might faint from the shock.
“Your Highness, you must be hungry. Shall we return to your residence? Although it’s a little early, I’ve already had lunch prepared.”
At those words, I revised my opinion of her.
‘I have been starving this whole time!’
She had anticipated that someone who skipped breakfast would be hungry and had prepared an early meal.
Kim Sukhyang wasn’t merely competent.
She was exceptionally capable.
The royal palace of Yun—the Dragon Cloud Palace.
The eastern section of the palace was the Eastern Palace, the domain of the Crown Prince.
According to Palace Lady Kim, the Eastern Palace was essentially a miniature version of the Dragon Cloud Palace itself. The buildings were simply smaller, while the overall layout was identical.
At the center stood the Lesser Royal Hall, which served as the Eastern Palace’s main hall.
Behind it stood the Crown Prince’s residence, the Hidden Dragon Hall, directly facing the Crown Princess’s residence, the Cloud Mist Hall.
The two buildings were connected by a long covered corridor, with a small garden and pond lying between them.
If it had been properly maintained, the garden would have been charming and splendid, with autumn leaves painted in brilliant shades of red and gold.
Instead, it looked bleak and impoverished.
The trees were withering, weeds covered everything, and the pond water had become so stagnant that it was nearly impossible to see through it.
‘It perfectly reflects the Crown Prince’s current position.’
The Cloud Mist Hall, where I would now be living as the Crown Princess, also showed clear signs of neglect.
It had been cleaned in a hurry, so it was tidy enough, but that was about it.
Still…
The food was absolutely delicious.
Palace Lady Kim really was an excellent person.
After finishing my meal in complete satisfaction, I asked her in an unusually generous mood,
“Why is the garden in such terrible condition?”
“They say there aren’t enough hands to maintain it.”
“Not enough people?”
“…I heard that His Highness the Crown Prince dislikes having people around him, so everyone except the minimum necessary staff was dismissed.”
Palace Lady Kim answered awkwardly.
She was clearly trying her best not to outright say that anyone who stayed near the Crown Prince eventually lost their mind or died.
Resting my chin on my hand, I gazed out the window.
“Even so… this is a bit excessive.”
“Now that new court ladies have been assigned to Your Highness, we’ll have them clean it together with the Eastern Palace attendants.”
“Do you have enough people?”
“Not quite, but we can manage.”
If there weren’t enough workers to begin with, piling even more work onto them would only breed resentment.
Especially right after they’d been assigned here.
After thinking for a moment, I waved my hand.
“Don’t start right away. There’s still plenty to organize inside my residence, isn’t there? The work assignments haven’t even been sorted out yet. It’ll be too much if you begin immediately.”
Palace Lady Kim looked at me with wide eyes before answering slowly.
“…That is true, but Your Highness needn’t concern yourself with the circumstances of your servants.”
“Why not? They’re my people. If I don’t think about them, who will?”
“…”
She seemed speechless.
She stared at me as though I were something she’d never seen before.
‘Is the etiquette of the mortal realm different from Heaven?’
That couldn’t be right.
‘Or… do humans actually ignore proper conduct more often than they follow it? Is that why someone following it seems so strange to them?’
No matter how foolish and immature humans were, could it really be that bad?
Surely not…
At least more people followed proper conduct than ignored it.
Didn’t they?
Tilting my head, I continued.
“Anyway, don’t start any major work yet. Organize everyone’s duties first. Once that’s done, make me a roster of everyone assigned to my residence. Oh, and one for the Eastern Palace as well.”
“Y-Yes, Your Highness.”
“And the Inner Palace Register… you call it the Inner Palace Register here too, don’t you? Anyway, do you have books that record its regulations and ceremonies?”
“…The regulations of the Inner Palace are recorded in the Royal Section of the Yun Kingdom Law Code, and the royal ceremonies are compiled in a book called the Uigwe.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t all that different from Heaven.
I’d learned quite a bit simply by watching Mother and Father work.
One lesson in particular stood out.
If you want to govern something, the very first thing you must do is examine the existing records.
You have to know the current state of affairs and understand how things have been managed until now before deciding what to do next.
Even if your goal is to completely overturn the old system, you can’t change it properly unless you first understand what the old system actually is.
‘Mother always said ignorance isn’t a sin… but acting while remaining ignorant is.’
She always taught me to fully understand the situation before making decisions.
The greater the responsibility and the higher one’s position, the more cautious one had to be, because the consequences would be much greater.
Which meant that if I intended to properly fulfill my role as Crown Princess, the first thing I needed to do was study the records of this royal family.
“Then bring me all of them.”
“…Surely Your Highness intends to read them?”
“Of course. Do books have some other purpose? Or… am I not allowed to read them?”
“O-Of course you are. It’s just… they’re incredibly dry and difficult reading…”
“I’ll decide that after I see them. Just bring them.”
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
Palace Lady Kim stared blankly at me for a moment before bowing and leaving.
‘Why is she so surprised?’
‘Ah… is it because I don’t seem like a child?’
For some reason, I felt oddly pleased.
In Heaven, no matter what I did, everyone always treated me like a baby.
‘I hope people keep seeing me as an adult.’
I barely managed to suppress the smile tugging at my lips before getting to my feet.
I planned to take a walk to help digest my meal while taking a closer look around the Eastern Palace.
Ansi, who had been dozing in the corner, immediately hurried after me.
“You can stay asleep. I’m only taking a short walk nearby.”
“I am not sleepy!”
“You are. You were up all night catching the Maegu, weren’t you?”
“That hardly counts as being tired! Ansi is perfectly fine!”
Once she became stubborn like this, there was no changing her mind.
I gave up and headed into the garden, with Ansi faithfully trailing behind me.
‘She’s so overprotective.’
I sighed, but I didn’t force her to stay behind.
That would probably be harder on her than following me.
Once outside, the garden looked even worse than it had through the window.
Every flower had died.
The only thriving plants were weeds.
‘It must have been abandoned ever since the Crown Prince became… that way.’
Crossing the garden, I walked toward the Hidden Dragon Hall.
The building itself looked fairly impressive, but every window was tightly shut, and the lack of maintenance made it feel gloomy beyond words.
Frowning, I looked up at the thick spiderwebs hanging beneath the eaves.
‘It’s not like this place is an abandoned house.’
Looking around, I spotted an old, worn-out broom leaning against a corner of the wall.
I walked over and picked it up.
Ansi gasped.
“Princess! What are you planning to do?”
“I was going to clean away the spiderwebs.”
“Why would Your Highness do such work? Please leave it to Ansi! One little gust of wind and they’ll be gone!”
“I know. I just want to try doing it myself.”
“You mustn’t! You’ll collapse!”
Ansi cried out, her face turning pale.
To be fair, this wasn’t merely overprotectiveness.
Back then, I had once insisted on picking persimmons myself.
I’d looked up while shaking a long pole beneath the tree, gotten dizzy, collapsed, and fainted.
Then I’d been bedridden for three whole days.
What an unbelievably fragile body that had been.
A bitter smile escaped me.
“This body’s different from the one I had back then. It’s healthy now. That’s why I want to try.”
“…”
Ansi quietly closed her mouth.
Shrugging, I raised the broom as high as I could.
It wasn’t nearly tall enough.
So I began hopping in place.
The very tip of the broom barely brushed against one dangling strand of web.
“Ah!”
Even though I sighed in disappointment, I couldn’t stop smiling.
Why was something this simple so much fun?
Being able to jump.
Not getting dizzy.
It all felt wonderful.
‘I want to move around even more.’
If it involved using my body, I felt like anything would be enjoyable.
Maybe I should learn something.
Watching me nervously, Ansi cautiously asked,
“May I help you?”
“No. I want to do it myself.”
“Then please do it yourself. I’ll simply let you ride on my shoulders.”
Well, I had no reason to refuse that.
When I nodded, Ansi effortlessly lifted me onto her shoulders.
Now that I was higher up, the broom easily swept away the spiderwebs.
“Wow!”
“Did you succeed, Your Highness?”
“I did! Look!”
The brilliantly painted patterns beneath the eaves, once hidden beneath layers of webs, finally began to reveal their vibrant colors.
This was strangely satisfying.
“Let’s do that side too!”
I pointed excitedly, unable to hide the enthusiasm in my voice.
Grinning from ear to ear, Ansi carried me over.
As the Heavenly Princess, I was supposed to maintain my dignity…
But dignity be damned.
This was just too much fun to stop.
“Does your body still feel alright, Your Highness?”
“I’m fine! I feel amazing!”
My arms and neck were starting to ache a little, but I wasn’t dizzy at all.
The more colorful patterns I uncovered, the more excited I became.
‘Just that last corner… I can’t quite reach it.’
I swung the broom with all my strength.
Then the handle suddenly slipped from my tired grip.
“Ah.”
The broom flew in a graceful arc—
—and punched straight through the paper-covered window.
Crash!
Something inside toppled over with a loud racket.
A moment later, the window was flung open.
It was the Crown Prince.
“…”
“…”
The neat-looking young man stared at me in stunned silence.
…I think my face is turning bright red right now.
