Chapter 6…..
All this time, he had only pretended not to notice, but the Crown Prince knew well how much Sunbin envied the favored concubines.
He had long heard that she would nitpick and find fault even with Lady Hong Seunghwi, the one he cherished the most. Unlike Lady Kwon, who endured silently, Lady Hong had a fiery disposition that compelled her to report any injustice at once.
Still, he had turned a blind eye because of the King’s teaching—that the most important thing for the Crown Princess was to bear a son. The Crown Prince also believed that such a son would become the strongest foundation of royal authority.
But his complacent neglect had brought disaster. He now had no face to see Lady Kwon, nor his little daughter, who appeared each day with her eyes swollen from crying and her face worn with fatigue.
The Crown Prince took Hong-ah from her wet nurse. Seeing the faint redness under her eyes as she slept pierced his heart.
This little one was his only bloodline. Was it truly so difficult to let this child grow up without worry? As a clumsy father, he had no idea how to soothe the ache that filled his chest.
After sending the wet nurse away, he gently patted Hong-ah as she slept soundly in his arms.
“Poor child.”
Lately, whenever the Crown Prince looked at Hong-ah, he was seized with complicated feelings.
Though the wet nurse had said the baby’s eyes were covered from afar and she could not have seen, he felt there must have been a reason why the child often wailed to the point of fainting.
His large, awkward hand tapped lightly against her tiny, fragile body. Rough though the touch was, his sincerity as a father reached her.
“Mm.”
Receiving his touch, Hong-ah furrowed her little brow. Slowly, her eyelids lifted, and her clear eyes gazed up at him. Entranced, the Crown Prince spoke as though in a daze:
“I will depose Sunbin.”
Hong-ah, who had just yawned to shake off her drowsiness, opened her eyes wide at the sudden words. Though he knew his daughter could not understand, the Crown Prince continued.
“I have turned a blind eye until now, but the evidence is clear—she has beaten and tormented countless palace maids. She kidnapped and imprisoned the mother of the royal heir, then assaulted her, causing her to lose the child in her womb. To leave her undeposed would be more strange.”
The words were dreadful for a baby to hear, but to Hong-ah, it was long-awaited news. Her eyes sparkled as she stretched her hand toward him—a sign of agreement.
“Kyah!”
“…But the problem is His Majesty.”
Deep furrows appeared on the Crown Prince’s brow.
Grandfather opposes it?
No matter how one looked at it, Sunbin had committed crimes deserving deposition. To oppress concubines under the pretext of maintaining order within the inner palace might be tolerated, but she had gone far beyond the line.
Mother had suffered many injuries. Dragged out in thin underclothes and beaten with wooden clubs—her fair face was still swollen in places, her body mottled with bruises.
In the end, Mother had lost the royal heir. With no legitimate crown prince yet born, causing a concubine’s miscarriage was a crime for which someone had to take responsibility.
“Has the Minister of Justice swayed His Majesty by groveling with endless pleas for mercy?”
The Crown Prince sneered, though he squeezed Hong-ah’s tiny hand warmly.
“The one meant to uphold the law and deliver proper judgment tries instead to cover his daughter’s sins—attempting to block the heavens with his bare hands.”
He shook his head in disgust.
Though the King cherished Hong-ah dearly, when it came to deposing Sunbin, he hesitated more than ever.
And when word arrived that Sunbin’s father, the Minister of Justice, had begun a desperate act of penitence by kneeling in the courtyard, His Majesty even dismissed the Crown Prince when he came to discuss her deposition.
Not all the court officials knew the full truth yet. The Crown Prince had acted quickly, containing the matter by confining Sunbin under house arrest. For the moment, rumors had been suppressed.
But it was only a matter of time. The palace was full of people, and people had mouths, and whispers spread like wind.
“Is it because of Huibin?”
The Crown Prince muttered to himself.
A wrinkle appeared on Hong-ah’s forehead, just like her father’s. Huibin, Sunbin… The names sounded oddly familiar.
Noticing the wrinkle on her brow, the Crown Prince let out a soft laugh. It almost seemed as though his tiny daughter was seriously listening to his worries.
He gently pressed her forehead with his finger.
“Your father is saying all sorts of nonsense to you. You need not worry about anything. Just grow up safely.”
His voice was warm. Since the death of her father in her past life, Hong-ah had never known such tender concern.
The ticklish warmth made her babble more loudly, as if to hide her feelings, and she nestled deeper into the Crown Prince’s arms.
“Your Highness, the physicians and court ladies have arrived.”
“Let them in.”
The father-daughter moment ended with the entrance of the royal doctors.
They carefully poured medicine between Lady Kwon’s lips. Though she could not swallow properly, their desperate efforts carried the hope of bringing her back.
As the physicians checked her pulse and whispered among themselves, the Crown Prince’s expression darkened again.
“Why has she still not awakened?”
“We beg forgiveness, Your Highness. It is difficult to determine the precise cause. However, her vitality has returned and her pulse is steady. We believe she will open her eyes within a day or two.”
“Tch.”
Clicking his tongue, the Crown Prince frowned. The physicians hung their heads in shame.
“Your Highness.”
Just then, an attendant approached—it was time for his royal lessons. The Crown Prince scowled, then sighed.
“Serve Lady Seunghwi with utmost devotion.”
The physicians bowed deeply to his command. Summoning the wet nurse, he handed Hong-ah back.
“If she cries too much again, bring her to me. With her mother like this, her father must try harder, must he not?”
The Crown Prince left first, and soon after, Hong-ah and the wet nurse returned to Yeonggyeong Hall.
The nurse prepared her bed.
Lately, crying herself to sleep had become a daily routine, so she thought she wasn’t tired—but a baby’s body was different. Sleep crept in again, and her eyelids grew heavy.
After some time, even through her tightly closed lids, she sensed a cool light. It was still too early to call it morning. A hand stroked her hair, gently rousing her from slumber.
The wet nurse? The tender touch made her want to whimper for more. A soft, familiar laugh reached her ears.
Huh?
Hong-ah’s eyelids fluttered. Through the half-opened slits, a face appeared—blurred but familiar.
The hand caressing her head was soft. The gaze looking down at her was warm. Mother.
At once, she thought: Ah, it’s a dream. Mother is sick because of me.
“Hong-ah, my baby.”
Her mother’s voice was just as beautiful. The hand that brushed down her cheek was warm. If this dream was so happy, she never wanted to wake.
“She sleeps so soundly.”
“Your Ladyship should return to your chambers. Your health is still fragile. When the baby wakes, I will bring her to you.”
“Let me stay a little longer. I did not know how precious this time was.”
What?
At the wet nurse’s words, Hong-ah’s drowsy mind snapped awake.
“The physicians are anxiously waiting outside.”
“I told them I am fine, yet they make such a fuss.”
“For three days, Your Ladyship was anything but fine.”
It was real.
Her eyes flew open. Blurred but unmistakable, she saw the wet nurse—
And her mother.
“Baby, you’re awake?”
“……Ma…a?”
“Yes, it’s your mother.”
“Baby, the mother you longed for has come.”
“Ma-a!”
Hong-ah stretched out her little arms. Smiling, her mother reached out and held her close. Warmth. A gentle fragrance. This was no dream.
“My baby saved her mother’s life.”
No. It was me who put Mother in danger.
“Mother is fine now. Do not worry.”
But your baby—my little sibling…
“As long as you are safe, that is my greatest joy.”
Hong-ah could not contain her frustration.
Her mother was too kind. She had lost the child who might have been the royal heir, all because of her daughter’s childish tantrum, yet she said she was glad it had been her instead. That it was a relief Hong-ah had not been harmed. It made Hong-ah both angry and heartsick.
And not only that.
She was frustrated that in this baby’s body, she could not ask about her condition. That she could not confess her guilt. That she could not say she was sorry for being stubborn, sorry that her selfishness had caused such tragedy.
“Your Ladyship, the child in your womb…”
While Hong-ah wrestled with her tangled feelings, the wet nurse cautiously broached the subject. She feared reopening a wound, but it was something that could not be avoided forever.
Her mother’s smile faded, replaced by a shadow of sorrow. Yet she still stroked Hong-ah’s head tenderly.
“I heard from the maids. There was indeed a child in my womb.”
“It is our great failing, as those who serve the Crown Prince’s household, that we did not notice Your Ladyship’s condition sooner.”
“How could that be your fault? I, the mother, did not even realize I was with child.”
Her mother’s voice was calm.
“Before I came, I asked the physician how such a thing could be. She said some children are so small that even their mothers feel no signs. When I carried Hong-ah, I suffered from the very beginning. I thought a second child would be the same. Hong-ah was so restless in my womb I never slept a full night.”
She tapped Hong-ah’s cheek playfully. Though she had no memory of it, Hong-ah babbled as if to apologize.
“This time, I had no morning sickness, no dizziness. My monthly courses had not long ceased. The physician said in early pregnancy, some women still see slight bleeding. She guessed I had only passed the first month. The child was so small and frail, it could not be helped.”
“But he might have been the Crown Prince’s heir.”
“That, no one can know. Such things are certain only at birth.”
Her mother again caressed Hong-ah’s soft cheek.
“Of course I am more joyful that the child already born and growing before me is safe. That is only natural.”
But still…
Hong-ah’s silent cry remained unspoken. The wet nurse asked no more, and Hong-ah’s infant body could not voice her thoughts. Most of all, her mother’s expression was serene.
Hong-ah had never borne or lost a child herself, so she could not truly understand. But she realized that to insist further would be disrespectful. Her mother’s firmly closed lips said as much.
