Chapter 34
“My Hongwi, did you miss your grandmother?”
“Yes, Grandmother. Hongwi likes Grandmother. It made my heart throb.”
Hongwi, perhaps finding the baby cat crying inconsolably after losing its mother so fascinating and adorable, was using the word ‘heart throb’ she’d learned from Yunseo everywhere to express her feelings.
They say you can’t even drink cold water in front of children…
I’ll have to teach my Hongwi more cute words!
“Grandmother missed you very much too, my Hongwi. Please come visit your grandmother often.”
Then Hongwi wrapped her arms around the Queen’s neck and hugged her tightly,
“Yes, Grandmother. I want to come play with Kwon Ga, the maid, every single day and not leave.”
She whispered earnestly.
In that moment, the Queen, whose entire face had been lit with a pleasant smile at her grandson’s unreserved display of affection and cute speech, stiffened her expression.
Queen Soheon gently unclasped Hongwi’s arms from her neck and said, “Hongwi, would you like to sit on Grandmother’s lap now?” She then had Hongwi sit facing her.
“I pay my respects to Your Majesty, Queen, I am the nanny, Gwon Yunseo.”
Yunseo bowed respectfully and carefully prostrated herself.
“Lift your head.”
Yunseo rose and met Queen Soheon’s gaze.
“……”
The Queen’s expression had become considerably stern, a stark contrast to the warm welcome she had shown when they first entered.
Yunseo already had an inkling of the reason why.
On the way to the Queen’s Palace, holding Hongwi’s hand, Yunseo had whispered into Hongwi’s ear, “Your Highness, when you see the Queen, go hug her and call her ‘Grandmother,’ tell her you missed her, and say you want to come play with Kwon Ga, the maid, every day.”
The intelligent Hongwi understood that she needed to speak these words well to move the Queen’s heart, which would allow Yunseo to remain by her side. So, she earnestly recited them to the Queen.
The Queen, having raised many children, immediately sensed that Hongwi’s words were not her own but had been prompted by Yunseo. She became displeased.
Hongwi hadn’t been summoned in the first place, and bringing her along, if one set aside the joy of seeing one’s grandchild, was an act of disrespect whose intention could be discerned.
The Queen observed Yunseo carefully for a moment before suddenly asking,
“Hongwi seems to like you, Kwon Ga, very much.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I, your humble servant, also love His Highness the Grandson very much.”
“Hmm?”
The expression ‘love’ was not something a mere Palace Lady should carelessly utter when referring to the grandson.
Queen Soheon recalled the King’s words when he had assessed Gwaya.
“Kwon Ga is very intelligent and knows many things. She also seems resolute, and above all, she cherishes our Hongwi as if he were her own life. In some ways, it even seemed as though she loved the grandson more than she loves Hyangyi. In that regard, I too am inwardly thinking that it would be good if that girl could serve as a member of the royal family and steadfastly support our Hongwi. However, as Your Majesty knows well, don’t you? Often, there are other intentions mixed in when someone cherishes a royal grandson as if he were their life. Therefore, I ask that Your Majesty observe that girl yourself and decide what rank she should be given.”
In other words, the King’s words were asking her to observe and judge whether Gwaya might be using Hongwi as a shield to advance her own career.
It was a joyous occasion that the Crown Prince, who was a source of worry for the royal family due to his ascetic nature, favored a single Palace Lady and kept her close. However, for the usually cautious Crown Prince to disregard all customs and political dynamics and insist on immediately bestowing the title of Crown Princess upon a Palace Lady of no significant family was no ordinary matter.
In that sense, Gwaya’s deliberate act of bringing Hongwi and making her say such artful words, like wanting to play together every day, became a cause for renewed vigilance.
“Hongwi, I hear you like playing fishing, is that true?”
“Yes, Grandmother. I like fishing. Kwon Ga made me a fishing rod. The fish wriggled and ran away, so I hid in the grass.”
“The fish wriggled and ran away to hide in the grass? Where did you learn such pretty words?”
“Kwon Ga taught me. She also taught me about heart throbs.”
“Kwon Ga, what is a heart throb?”
“It means one’s heart drops with a thud.”
The Queen, trying to suppress the involuntary smiles that escaped her at every cute expression coming from Hongwi, asked Hongwi again,
“Hongwi, Jaseon came with you, didn’t she?”
“Yes, Jaseon is outside.”
“If you go around to the back of Gyotaejeon, there is a small pond in the rear garden. I recently obtained colorful, pretty fish and put them there for when my Hongwi comes to play fishing. Would you like to go play fishing with Jaseon?”
“……”
Hongwi, who had been answering earnestly, pursed her lips and looked at Yunseo.
She was already trembling at the corners of her mouth, about to cry, anxious that this was an attempt to separate her from Gwaya under the guise of fishing.
Yunseo, harboring deep resentment towards the Palace Lady who had carelessly declared she would become a consort and leave Hongwi, ignored etiquette and opened her arms towards Hongwi.
Hongwi ran with all her might and fell into Yunseo’s embrace.
Yunseo held Hongwi tightly, lowered her head, and addressed the Queen.
“Your Majesty, on the way to Gyotaejeon, the sky was clear and the sunlight was very pleasant. Wouldn’t it be nice if you took a moment to enjoy the fresh air and watch His Highness the Grandson play fishing? His Highness fishes very cutely and well.”
This was Kwon Ga, the maid’s plea, asking that they go out together and speak their minds within Hongwi’s sight, as she couldn’t bear to send Hongwi out alone due to her anxiety.
“……”
The Queen did not answer immediately. She gazed for a long time at Hongwi, who was tightly holding onto Gwaya, and at Gwaya, who was holding Hongwi just as tightly, as if unable to let go.
If that affection were genuine, it would be quite lovely. But if it were a display of her bond with Hongwi to assert that she could not accept a mere Seunghwi rank!
“Let us do that. It would be good to go out and stroll in the sun. Everything becomes clear in the bright sunlight.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I will assist you.”
Yunseo quickly whispered into Hongwi’s ear, “Your Highness, let’s go out and play fishing together,” and approached to assist the Queen.
The agile Hongwi, excited, took the lead.
“How happy she looks?”
Before anyone could help her down, the Queen’s expression softened with an instinctively blooming affection as she watched Hongwi’s bright face turn around and descend the main hall.
“Jaseon, let’s go fishing!”
Hongwi shouted to the eunuch from the East Palace who was standing guard in the courtyard.
After Jaseon put on her shoes and carried her down to the courtyard, Hongwi ran towards the rear garden, circling Gyotaejeon. Chief Consort Choi, a Palace Maid from the Queen’s Palace, who had prepared the fishing rod in advance for Hongwi to play with, hurried to follow her.
It was a rather elaborate toy fishing rod, made from a light bamboo, skillfully carved to resemble a real fishing rod with a string attached.
As Yunseo assisted the Queen around the Gyotaejeon building, they saw Hongwi, who was raising and lowering the fishing rod up and down in front of the shallow pond, which was about knee-deep for an adult, and simultaneously bending and straightening her legs several times before casting the line.
After casting the line, Hongwi laughed heartily and stomped her feet towards the fish.
“Fish! I’ll find you even if you hide!”
The grandson, who had been on the verge of tears moments ago, regained his liveliness simply because Kwon Ga was watching, and was now completely absorbed in pure play, laughing heartily.
“……”
At the sight of the adorable child, the Queen sighed, “Ah!” and handed the fishing rod to Chief Consort Choi, who had returned, and commanded,
“You assist me.”
Chief Consort Choi, a Palace Maid from the Queen’s Palace, assisted the Queen, while Yunseo stepped back two paces, clasped her hands respectfully, and bowed her waist.
The Queen asked in a cold tone,
“So, because you ‘love’ Hongwi so much, are you perhaps intending to become the Crown Princess and raise Hongwi as your own son? And did you want to show me by bringing Hongwi here, that he becomes so anxious without you that he hesitates to even go play fishing, which he loves so much?”
What the Queen, who was both benevolent and strictly disciplined, sternly questioned was the very question Yunseo had been waiting for.
“Your Majesty.”
Yunseo prostrated herself on the ground and bowed her head.
“I wish to remain as the nanny serving His Highness the Grandson. I beg your permission, Your Majesty. This is the reason I dared to bring His Highness the Grandson.”
“What?”
“I am well aware that if His Highness the Grandson stays in the residence of a particular concubine, it will lead to the concubine’s influence growing, and factions will arise that envy her, and the harm will fall entirely upon His Highness the Grandson. How could I, knowing this, dream of becoming a high-ranking concubine, or dare to dream of becoming the Crown Princess, for whom I am not qualified? I wish to remain as the nanny I am now and support His Highness the Grandson until he grows up as brightly as he is now.”
“···Do you truly intend to remain as the nanny? Truly?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I earnestly wish to serve His Highness the Grandson by his side.”
“……”
The Queen, who had given birth to and raised ten children, including Crown Prince Yi Ha, and had sometimes entrusted the care of the royal grandson to concubines, knew well what it meant to care for a royal grandson.
While all showed utmost sincerity, the question of how much genuine maternal affection was intertwined within it was another matter.
Most would be cautious, fearing severe reprimands if the royal grandson were to be injured or fall ill. Their love was not like that of a parent for their own child, but a difficult form of respect shown to a superior.
However, between Gwaya and Hongwi, there was not that ritualistic, superficial affection, but a genuinely strong bond, a deep affection like that between a parent and child, as if she were raising Hyangyi herself.
“……”
The Queen gazed at Hongwi for a long time without a word.
The Queen, watching with a pleased gaze as Hongwi, with her short legs, chased the fish hiding in the reeds by the pond, stomped her feet to startle them, then raised her fishing rod again to cast the line into the water, suddenly spoke.
“It has been a long time since I heard the laughter of my children in the rear garden of this Gyotaejeon. For a while, all the laughter I heard was from the children of concubines.”
“!”
“Did the laughter of those children sound as lovely as Hongwi’s laughter?”
In that moment, a chill entered the eyes of the Queen, who had been infinitely generous and benevolent.
“When you have your own child someday, you will understand that complex feeling that cannot be described in words.”
Sighing, the Queen murmured, “At that time, will your gaze upon our Hongwi be the same as it is today…”
“I understand what you are saying, Kwon Ga. I will use my influence to ensure you remain as the nanny.”
As she said this, the Queen, gathering all her intuition from her years of living as the highest authority in the Inner Court, scrutinized Kwon Ga with sharp eyes.
Chief Consort Choi, who was assisting the Queen, also scrutinized Kwon Ga with wide-open eyes.
If even a hint of disappointment were visible on her face, they would reprimand her for her transparently calculating hypocrisy. Since the Crown Prince favored her greatly, they could not simply let her go. The plan was to bestow upon her a low rank, perhaps a mere fifth-rank Lady of the Court, and cast her as prey into the den of the fourth-rank Seunghwi.
However, Kwon Ga, with a genuinely joyful expression, prostrated herself, bowed, and stated,
“I am deeply, deeply grateful for Your Majesty’s grace. I, Kwon Ga, will faithfully serve His Highness the Grandson as his nanny.”
“……!”
The Queen looked at Chief Consort Choi, who had been by her side for almost her entire life.
Chief Consort Choi also nodded slightly.
