Chapter 16
“Even though I showered you with silver and silk like mountains, why isn't the shamanic ritual working?”
“Th-that is, Madam Budae. The st-starlight is unusual.”
“···What!? You said it was a problem that you share the same surname as the deceased Lady Kwon, so I used poison on the day Jinsung shone ominously, and now you speak of starlight?”
Mugai was the one who divined that to weaken the Grandson's mind and body, wet nurse Lee and nanny Kwon Ga had to be removed.
And now!
“You wretch! Do you think the great undertaking is a game? Will you only come to your senses after being beaten to death?”
“The, the deceased Crown Princess appeared and said you were daring to harm my s-son, and sent s-s-sickness. Two of my divine daughters have died... So, Madam. At this point...”
“Ha! Guards, drag this one out and make her confess!”
The shaman Mugai, who had expected to be ordered to stop, fearing the excuse of the deceased Crown Princess Kwon, began to pray with her hands clasped in surprise.
“Madam, Madam Budae! Please, spare me. I, I will perform rituals again, to our spirits, to our spirits...”
Fearing immediate death, Mugai desperately tried to explain to calm Lady Yun’s wrath.
“A few days ago, the stars trembled, and our spirits were angered. So, Madam Budae, for now, for now, restrain yourself and wait for the time. His Highness the Grandson is fated for a short life, so just a little, just a little, wait. I beg you! I pray like this!”
However, Mugai did not convey the fact that on that day, when Jinsung trembled and shone brilliantly with a yellow light, the spirits she served had commanded that a powerful spirit had crossed over from a distant world and that she must absolutely not interfere in royal affairs.
This was because the spirits’ wrath came slowly, but Lady Yun’s wrath was an immediate threat to her life.
At Mugai’s plea, Lady Yun’s anger subsided somewhat.
“Begone! Go and perform rituals day and night for my husband and our Hyundong!”
“Yes, yes. I will perform rituals day and night, and I will send my divine daughters to Mokmyeoksan, and far-off Geumgangsan, and Seoraksan, for His Highness the Grand Prince.”
“···Take the silver needed for the ritual.”
Lady Yun sent the shaman away for the moment and began to calmly review the situation.
Thanks to her generous scattering of silver, the Grand Audience Hall eunuch and the chief Royal Lady within the palace had both become loyal allies, informing her daily of the King's and Crown Prince's movements.
The Queen cherished our Prince Dowon, her first grandchild, even more than that brat.
The court officials who were close to Grand Prince Anpyeong were also gradually turning towards our husband by offering entertainment disguised as hunting and various precious gifts.
Why! Why, on earth!
‘It’s because of that Kwon woman.’
Everything began to fall apart from the moment the deceased Kwon, who should have died, held the Grandson tightly in the Queen's Palace as if he were her own son, and spoke with piercing eyes, exaggerating Prince Dowon’s mischief.
Because of that day’s tattling, the Crown Prince finally became vigilant and is now hastily trying to enfeoff that insipid brat as the heir apparent.
“Jo Jeon-eon! Summon Jo Jeon-eon!”
Lady Yun summoned Jo Jeon-eon.
Jo Jeon-eon, whose real name was Jo Dudae, was a woman of great intelligence who, while serving as a royal servant, was well-versed in everything from Hanja to Sanskrit. She was so clever that she worked with Grand Prince Suyang to translate Buddhist scriptures into Hanja.
“Jo Jeon-eon, we must first make sure that Kwon Ga, the maid, is properly eliminated. I don't think I can properly assist my husband's great undertaking while she is alive.”
Jo Jeon-eon recalled the face of Kwon Ga, the maid, who had coldly interrogated her at Yanghwadang a few days prior, asking, ‘Did you hit our baby?’
On that day, the other maids who had attended Prince Dowon were beaten twenty times with a stick and were near death, but Jo Jeon-eon was spared punishment due to the concealment by Grand Prince Suyang and Lady Yun.
A servant’s glory follows their master. Jo Dudae’s mind raced.
“What difficulty is there in eliminating one maid? However, if you act directly, all suspicion will fall upon you, Madam. My grandson said that among the thirty-six stratagems for dealing with an enemy, the third is the stratagem of borrowing a knife to kill.”
“......!”
Lady Yun’s face twitched slightly.
Lady Yun, who had grown up as a beloved daughter in a wealthy family, unfortunately, could not read.
Sensing her master’s mood quickly, Jo Jeon-eon hurried to continue,
“The stratagem of borrowing a knife to kill means to use someone else’s hand to achieve your goal without lifting a finger. It means to move the people around that wretched thing to accomplish Madam’s intricate will.”
Lady Yun’s face brightened again.
“Oh, yes. Killing her outright would be best, but since we cannot, we are not letting that young brat go either. Who would be a good pawn?”
“Isn't Hong Seung-hwi your maternal cousin? She is simple-minded but very jealous, and she once received the Crown Prince’s abundant favor, so if we instigate her a little, she will try to frame Kwon Ga with all her might.”
“Heh, yes. I had a niece, Hong. Hong Seung-hwi, who innocently takes the medicine I send every day without suspicion. You go into the palace tomorrow and meet that child. It’s about time her medicine runs out, so it’s a good pretext.”
“Yes, Madam. Also, I investigated and found that Kwon Ga has half-sisters and brothers, who would be very useful. I will try to create some trouble in that direction as well.”
“Yes. Do not spare the silver. Money can be squeezed out again, but the great undertaking, once shaken, is difficult to rebuild.”
While knives were being sharpened against Yunseo from all sides and conspiracies were being hatched,
Yunseo spent her busy days divided between the East Palace and Bansongbang.
Eom Sangjeon’s quarters, where Yunseo was to reside, was a small pavilion attached to the northwest wall of the East Palace.
In front of Jaseon Hall, Eom Sangjeon’s bedroom and office could be entered directly through the door, and next to it, through a small separate door, was a narrow anmaru (main room) through which two people could pass.
Four small rooms were attached in a row along this anmaru. In one of them was Yunseo, in the room next door separated by a sliding door was Maegeumi, the servant boy and bodyguard, and in another empty room, Park Sanggung sometimes stayed.
Maegeumi, who entered the palace the same day Hongwi was transferred to the East Palace, looked like a skinny, furious fighting cock at the age of sixteen or seventeen.
“I am Kwon Yunseo. Nice to meet you. Please take care of me.”
When Yunseo extended her hand, Maegeumi, whose expression was entirely blank, merely shrugged her shoulders without making eye contact.
Park Sanggung, flustered, patted Maegeumi’s shoulder and said, “Even though this child is so gruff, her skills are no less than those of the Naegeumwi. She’s excellent at taking heads.”
“What do you mean, taking heads? Human heads, not pigs?”
Yunseo asked in surprise.
“That’s just a saying. Why do you sometimes act so naive like in the old days? If you get naive again, I’ll find that Pine Pollen Sweet and put it in your mouth again.”
Park Sanggung then earnestly warned her to be extremely careful, as everyone was watching the East Palace.
While Yunseo and Park Sanggung bickered like this, Maegeumi sat blankly staring at the wall as if listening to a stranger’s conversation. Perhaps she had been abused as a child.
But when Yunseo asked what she would use to protect her in case of an emergency, Maegeumi’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she smoothly rolled up her jeogori sleeves.
On her arms, which were nothing but bone and muscle like Bruce Lee’s, was a whip coiled like snakeskin.
Maegeumi then quickly lifted her skirt. Over her plain cotton underpants, she wore a leather belt, to which were attached a small dagger in a leather sheath, eight throwing knives, and a pouch finely embroidered with flowers using small pearls on red silk.
“What’s in this pretty pouch?”
When asked, Maegeumi lowered her eyes again and just shrugged her shoulders.
Yunseo wanted to ask if it contained a ring that crossed dimensions like hers, but since she didn’t think she would get an answer, Yunseo offered the most reliable capitalist carrot.
“I’ll add two bolts of fine cotton to your monthly salary provided by the East Palace. So, you must protect my life for sure.”
At that, Park Sanggung slapped her on the back and reprimanded her.
“Instead of those leech-like half-siblings…”
‘She’s going to give everything to this child.’ Park Sanggung, who was about to scold her, belatedly remembered that the person in question was right beside her and cleared her throat.
Maegeumi, who had slightly raised the corners of her mouth for the first time at the mention of ‘two bolts of fine cotton,’ soon tilted her head and asked in just two words.
“You? Baby?”
“......?”
Confused, Yunseo looked at Park Sanggung, who also shook her head.
Then Maegeumi pointed towards the Seoondol where Hongwi was and asked again.
“You? Baby?”
Only then did Yunseo grasp the meaning.
It was a question of whom she would save first if both Hongwi and Yunseo were in danger simultaneously.
Maegeumi seemed to have been impressed by how Hongwi had tightly embraced Hongwi during the argument Hong Seung-hwi had with Hongwi when Hongwi came to the East Palace that afternoon.
At times like this, one should answer like an adult, with a cool, unhesitating response, ‘Our Hongwi!’
Yunseo hesitated for three seconds and then asked weakly,
“Can’t I save both? I’ll add two more bolts of fine cotton, so…”
Maegeumi shook her head resolutely. How heartless.
“...Then, save the baby. I have lived in various ways, so it is right to save our baby, who has a long life ahead…”
If Park Sanggung weren’t watching, Yunseo might have said, ‘It’s me! I’m the one giving you fine cotton!’
Sigh. Why is nothing in life free? Sighing, Yunseo had a great idea.
“So, you mean you have the skill to definitely save one person in any situation? Then you must also have the skill to definitely kill one person in any situation?”
At that, Maegeumi’s eyes lit up again, and she nodded vigorously.
“Good! Good!”
So, in case of emergency, she could just kill Grand Prince Suyang.
Suddenly, her chest felt refreshed, and her appetite surged.
“Madam, how do I eat here? I have to stand night watch later, so I should eat something beforehand. Oh, and bathing?”
“Meals will be brought by Chungbi and Sawol soon, and you can bathe in the small pavilion next to the well on the northeast side of the East Palace. There’s always hot water there, so you can wash anytime.”
“···The pavilion next to the well?”
To return here from next to the well, one has to pass by the Seoondol next to Lee Hyang’s quarters in Jaseon Hall.
‘It would be embarrassing if I ran into him after bathing,’ Yunseo thought, then shook her head.
What concern would a man, who outwardly appears so proper but inwardly suffers from psychogenic impotence or premature ejaculation, have for a maid slightly damp with water?
It’s not Lee Hyang who is the problem, but me, me who imagines that handsome body!
From that day on, Yunseo spent her days and nights very busily.
Around 4 PM, or around the Shinshi half-hour according to Joseon time, she would leave her pavilion to go to the Seoondol, about five hundred paces away, to take over.
There, she would first attend to Hongwi’s evening meal.
Usually, Hongwi ate alone in the Seoondol, but Lee Hyang joined them for a meal in the Dongondol only once, three days later.
But on that day, a truly difficult situation arose.
Perhaps remembering Yunseo’s words about dying from boils if she didn’t cover herself up, Lee Hyang began to wear surprisingly thin clothing when he returned to the East Palace!
It was late April by the lunar calendar, which was early June by the solar calendar. That year, there was a severe drought, and the heat arrived early.
Even in midsummer, Lee Hyang used to wear his Dragon Robe neatly until bedtime. After his private meeting with Yunseo and finishing his official duties, he would return to the East Palace wearing trousers and a jeogori made of fine, thin, milky-white ramie silk, and a similarly made red robe loosely tied.
While attending to Hongwi’s meal that day, Yunseo had to scream internally endlessly.
‘Oh, God, if a sculpted handsome man, wearing see-through clothes, tantalizingly revealing his perfect body, lingers in front of me, even if he has impotence or premature ejaculation, where on earth am I supposed to look!’
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