Translator: Nox

Chapter 1

Reincarnated As the Grandson's Nanny Palace Lady

When I wore Queen Hyeondeok of the Kwon clan's gold ring,

-Protect him, Gwaya. Protect our Hongwi.

With a terrifying scream, I was forcibly summoned to Danjong's side.

“Mama, mama.”

Something warm and wriggling burrowed into my embrace.

“What is it?”

Tiny, soft fingers brushed against my tear-soaked cheek.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince! You must return now! Your Highness!”

It’s me who needs to return now.

Instead of Yunseo, who wanted to cry, Hongwi, who had woken up in the Crown Prince’s arms, burst into tears.

“So noisy.”

My head, it’s so very noisy, little one.

#Fusion #AlternateHistory #Drama #Possession #Misunderstanding #Healing #Trainer #CapablePerson #RomanceFantasy #Maid

Chapter 1. The Summoning of the Gold Ring

“Mama, mama.”

Something warm and wriggling burrowed into my embrace.

“What is it?”

Tiny, soft fingers brushed against my tear-soaked cheek.

It was too warm to be a dream, so Yunseo lifted her heavy eyelids.

Moonlight flowed gently through the papered window.

“It’s already night. How much… Mama!”

Yunseo sprang back.

A small child stood before her like a phantom, looking at her and asking,

“Are you crying too?”

She looked about three years old.

The child, with long hair cascading down, had a voice too gentle to be a ghost.

“…Who?”

As she asked, the child buried their face in Yunseo’s embrace and whispered in a sleepy voice, clutching her hand.

“My mama, dada.”

Then, the child grabbed the ties of Yunseo’s clothes…

‘Huh? The ties of my clothes!’

Yunseo carefully lifted the blanket, leaving the ties the child had grabbed and fallen asleep with.

She saw a jade-colored jeogori and a dark skirt.

She had definitely been wearing a worn-out t-shirt and pants with saggy knees.

What is this?

Child, who are you?

She was about to shake the child awake to ask, but she stopped her hand. It was her professional ethics as a counselor, the instinct not to startle a sleeping child.

As she withdrew her hand again, her ring finger glinted.

‘The gold ring!’

It was the gold ring that had come with a letter in an old sandalwood box.

Then, the scream she had heard when she put on the gold ring out of curiosity echoed in her head.

-Protect him, Gwaya. Protect our Hongwi.

Hongwi.

Lee Hongwi.

The son of Queen Hyeondeok of the Kwon clan, our family’s 19th-generation ancestor.

And Danjong, the tragic king murdered by Sejo.

No way!

It can’t be.

It must not be.

Yunseo placed the edge of the blanket into the baby’s hand instead of her clothes ties and sat up.

Opening the sliding door revealed an inner hall, and beyond that, a double-layered structure with a four-panel door leading outside.

This was a structure typically found only in palaces or the residences of powerful families.

‘Could it be, did I really time-slip to the Joseon era?’

With a fearful heart, she reached for the door leading outside.

Thump. Footsteps on the main wooden floor, and a man’s voice was heard.

“Your Highness! Your Highness the Crown Prince! If your unauthorized entry into the palace is discovered!”

One voice, trembling with fear.

“Hmph. Look up at the sky. Jinsung is shining exceptionally bright.”

Another voice, filled with authority.

“Then, please confirm the safety of His Highness the Grandson and leave quickly. Time is short if you are to return before sunrise.”

“You, find out the names of those who were on night watch tonight, and the names of those responsible for guarding this noble’s pavilion, without fail. What is the palace’s defense!”

The man’s voice was filled with deep anger.

His intention was clear: to find and severely punish all those who had failed to detect his intrusion.

‘His Highness the Grandson. Is that child truly Danjong?’

She wanted to ask, but it didn’t seem like the right time.

Just as Yunseo turned back.

Swish. The door opened silently, and the next moment, a rough hand gripped Yunseo by the nape of her neck.

“Who are you? Who is eavesdropping like a rat?”

“Eaves-, eavesdropping?”

Yunseo desperately thought of a plausible excuse.

“The baby… seems thirsty…”

“If you’re thirsty, there’s water prepared right beside you!”

As if to say don’t make such flimsy excuses, the man’s grip tightened.

Ugh.

Just as she began to suffocate, an unfamiliar memory flooded Yunseo’s mind like a sharp pain.

Kwon Ga, the Palace Lady!

This body originally belonged to ‘Kwon Ga Yunseo Nain’, a distant relative who lived with the family of Crown Princess Consort Kwon.

When the Kwon clan was chosen as a concubine, Seunghwi, to enter the palace, she followed along as a sort of bodyguard, simply because she was agile.

After the Crown Princess Consort passed away, she became the nanny Palace Lady protecting His Highness the Grandson.

Crown Princess Consort Kwon, who died three days after giving birth.

It was a very, very familiar story.

“Speak properly!”

Crown Prince Lee Hyang, who would later become Munjong, tightened his grip on her neck.

Yunseo’s crossing of time and space and being strangled by a noble was due to someone else’s ring, or rather, the gold ring of Queen Hyeondeok of the Kwon clan, her 19th-generation ancestor, which she had carelessly worn.

She thought it would be fine since it was her ancestor’s.

Yunseo had returned to her hometown in Hongseong to perform the third anniversary memorial rites for her parents.

After offering rites with salted yellow croaker and bean cakes, which her parents loved, and a drink.

While revisiting places that held memories of her parents, she went up to the attic.

As she looked at the bookshelves packed with children’s storybooks and awards she had read as a child, a strange box caught her eye.

It was a sandalwood box, intricately decorated with flowers and stems in mother-of-pearl.

It was a precious box that would surely fetch hundreds of millions if exhibited on a TV show.

When she opened the lid, there was a phoenix hairpin carved from white jade, and a pair of gold rings engraved with phoenix patterns in silver.

And at the very bottom, a piece of paper with a still vivid gardenia yellow hue was neatly folded.

After carefully taking out the hairpin and rings, she unfolded the paper.

Why did the benevolent mother depart from this world so hastily?

The neat and strong handwriting contained restrained sorrow.

‘This is Munjong’s elegy written on Queen Hyundeok’s death anniversary, a kind of mourning poem.’

It was a line her father, who had translated and published several books of Han poetry, had taught her.

Yunseo, tracing the verse with her finger on the paper deeply imbued with the sorrow of losing a Crown Princess, slightly altered the verse.

Why did my parents depart from this world so hastily?

Leaving me alone in this fleeting world.

As her heart crumbled, she lifted the ring and put it on her left ring finger.

Sob sob sob. With a mournful cry, a woman wailed.

-Protect him, Gwaya. Protect our Hongwi.

In an instant, her vision turned white, and Yunseo lost consciousness and collapsed.

When she opened her eyes after collapsing like that, she was here in Joseon.

She was being shaken violently by the neck by the hand of the ancestor’s husband, who had wailed.

Really, you’ve gone too far.

If you wanted to protect Hongwi so badly, you should have come back yourself.

Why did you send me, your unfortunate descendant, who is less than a stranger after 19 generations?

Fueled by her rising indignation, Yunseo elbowed forward and jabbed Lee Hyang hard in the solar plexus.

It was the second self-defense move she knew for escaping when caught by a pervert.

Cough. With a groan, the grip on her neck loosened.

Seizing the opportunity, Yunseo quickly opened the bedroom door where the precious baby was sleeping.

“You don’t wake a sleeping child!”

Yunseo put a finger to her lips, signaling silence, and sat down beside the child.

“Hah, how audacious!”

Lee Hyang, who was about to shout, closed his mouth tightly.

There was no time.

It would take a full two sijin to return to Janghowon.

Two sijin ago, while Lee Hyang, exhausted from commanding the royal procession all day, briefly dozed off.

His beloved Crown Princess Consort Kwon appeared in his dream.

-Your Highness, Your Highness. I have sent someone to protect our Hongwi. Your Highness. Please protect Hongwi, Hongwi, Your Highness.

At her earnest plea, he woke up and rushed out of the tent. The movement of the stars was strange.

Jinsung, the star that appears in the eastern sky in the early evening, was shining exceptionally brightly and flickering.

Jinsung is a star related to the safety of the royal grandson, and while shining brightly is an auspicious sign, flickering is an ominous sign.

‘What has happened to our Hongwi!’

His heart sank.

Lee Hyang was currently returning from a royal visit to Onyang Hot Springs with the King and Queen.

With the King and Crown Prince absent from Hanyang, Grand Prince Anpyeong was guarding the capital.

At a time like this, even the Crown Prince risked being accused of treason if he entered the palace without the King’s permission.

However, Lee Hyang, driven by the anxiety that he absolutely had to confirm the safety of his son, who was not yet two years old, with his own eyes, immediately mounted his horse and rode 40 ri*.

Five of the most outstanding guards from the Crown Prince’s Igwisa followed him.

Upon arriving, the palace guards were unaware of the intrusion over the wall.

Even the guards for the pavilion where the Grandson was located were all gone, and there was no Palace Lady who should have been guarding outside the gate.

Even if they had been away from the palace for two months!

“Who are you? Are you the nanny Palace Lady?”

Lee Hyang kept his eyes on the Palace Lady holding the child and lit the candle on the table.

In the spreading lamplight, he saw the Palace Lady holding Hongwi, who had chubby cheeks.

“…Kwon Ga?”

“…Yes, I am nanny Palace Lady Kwon Ga.”

“Why are you alone? Where are the other Palace Ladies?”

Hearing the words ‘other Palace Ladies,’ the faces of Nain Park and Nain Han, who should have been on duty, came to mind.

She also recalled that those two had given ten dried persimmons to the agile but slightly dim-witted ‘Kwon Ga Nain’ and had her take their watch instead.

‘Kwon Ga Nain’ was officially registered as the guard for the pavilion where Hongwi was!

“They all got stomachaches, so only I am here.”

“Stomachaches?”

“The water must have been bad.”

“Is dysentery spreading? What about our Hongwi?”

“He is sleeping soundly right here!”

Her mouth mechanically spat out the answers, but her mind was in an uproar.

Lee Hyang approached.

Under the lamplight, Lee Hyang was a handsome man.

Tall stature, broad shoulders, rugged features. If not for that abundant beard, he would have been among the top five most handsome royal princes worldwide by modern standards.

However, even as such a handsome face leaned in and took the child from her arms,

Yunseo looked at the Crown Prince with a blank expression, contemplating something else in her mind.

‘This ring! If I take it off and put it back on, can I go back?’

Taking advantage of the child’s absence, Yunseo removed the gold ring from her ring finger.

Then, she closed her eyes tightly and put it back on her finger, praying.

‘When I open my eyes, it will be modern times. When I open my eyes, it will be the attic in the 21st century. When I open my eyes!’

Mom, Dad, please help me.

God, Buddha, all the deities in the world!

As she opened her eyes after praying earnestly,

Black hair was the first thing she saw.

And then, a hand with hardened calluses roughly twisted her hand.

“What is this ring? Why are you wearing it?”

Damn it.

Still in Joseon,

She was in front of the Crown Prince, a wise ruler who, however, was unable to protect his own son and died irresponsibly.

“I wish I knew. This ridiculous ring!”

“?”

Lee Hyang’s lips tightened. He wore an expression of bewildered disbelief, having never heard such insolent words.

Just then, a hurried call was heard from outside again.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince! You must return now! Your Highness!”

It’s me who needs to return now.

Instead of Yunseo, who wanted to cry, Hongwi, who had woken up in the Crown Prince’s arms, burst into tears.

“So noisy.”

My head, it’s so very noisy, little one.