Chapter – 23
Pretty is Best, After All
Yeah, this is a real problem.
I’m on the verge of ruining my life, bewitched by a beauty.
‘Damn it.’
I feel a curse rising in my throat.
My life, which was already not smooth sailing, felt like it had suddenly entered a steep downhill slope.
And that turned out to be true!
In the spot where Lady So and her court lady had left, Amang lay face down on the floor and let out a deep sigh.
“Your Highness. If you lie like that, your body will become sluggish.”
“I don’t care.”
“Your Highness, shall I bring you something delicious to eat?”
“I won’t eat it.”
“Your Highness, shall I have some Tanghulu brought in?”
“Tanghulu?”
For a moment, her ears perked up.
Her listless upper body briefly reacted to the word ‘Tanghulu’.
But that was only temporary.
“Forget it. I just want to stay like this.”
“Your Highness!”
“Ah, what.”
Honestly, everything was bothersome.
Just thinking about Lady So was enough to make her head throb.
She erased all other thoughts cleanly from her mind.
“Are you really going to stay like this?”
“Let me rest for a bit. I’m still young, you know.”
“That’s not the point!”
Nan was like a nagging mother.
One hundred percent in sync with not being able to stand seeing her lie down for even a moment.
Amang recalled the nagging that sounded like humming.
‘Don’t just lie there, go out and play! What good comes from lying around listlessly?’
Ah, my head really hurts.
Amang buried her face in the floor.
Startled, Nan stopped her.
She picked the princess up and sat her upright in a chair.
“Ah, I want to lie down!”
“That won’t do.”
“I think I might be a little sick.”
“!”
“I think I have a bit of a fever too…”
It was a lie.
What fever? She was perfectly fine.
She lied because she wanted to lie down.
As expected, Nan’s eyebrows began to twitch.
“Could it be because you overexerted yourself until last night?”
“That simply won’t do!”
“Right? So I should lie down and…”
“Someone, fetch the Royal Physician at once! Hurry!”
Huh, this isn’t what I wanted.
At Nan’s cry, the court ladies busily sprang into action.
Normally, Nan would have been the one to move.
Nan closed all the doors of the Yeonyeong Palace to block out the light.
She slowly laid Amang down on the bed and covered her with the blanket up to her neck.
‘As expected, the bed is the best.’
Melting into the softness of the cotton blanket, Amang felt like she was dissolving.
After changing out of her cumbersome accessories and clothes into comfortable attire, it was no different from paradise.
‘I want to stay like this forever.’
It was a typical burnout symptom.
For the past few days, she hadn’t rested properly and worked like an ox.
Not that she’d been working for long, it was only her first week.
Well, she did play with Geumjin in between, so it wasn’t like she did nothing but work.
‘I think it’s okay to throw a tantrum to this extent.’
She had to deal with that gloomy Emperor at an age when she should be running around and playing.
Amang blinked her eyes as she stared at the darkened ceiling.
‘To think I’m working even after possessing someone.’
It’s something you do to make a living, but still.
The protagonists who possess villains or extras in stories all eat and live well.
But Amang had to constantly prove her existence.
Because the Amang in this novel was a wretched one.
‘Hmm.’
If she listened carefully, the Yeonyeong Palace was truly quiet.
It might be because it was located on the outskirts of the imperial palace, but it was a silence so profound that not even a mouse seemed to pass by.
‘Am I an outcast in the imperial palace?’
Though people did come and go frequently for that sort of thing.
Well, bothering about such things would only be tiresome.
Let’s not worry about that now.
‘Anyway, it’s one trouble after another!’
A mountain beyond a mountain; just as the Emperor’s consultations were about to end, Lady So appeared.
Amang kicked off the blanket and abruptly sat up.
No, but seriously!
After a very Korean-like impulsive outburst, she lay back down quietly.
‘Lady So.’
A humble consort with no substantial backing or proper power.
She was a stunning beauty, enough to bewitch Amang, but in this imperial palace, looks weren’t everything.
The Emperor’s favor.
That was the indicator symbolizing a consort’s power.
It was true that Lady So was beautiful, but to handle that tyrant…
‘Her heart is too soft.’
Judging by her face, which looked like it was about to burst into tears at any moment, it seemed she was on the verge of crying if the Emperor so much as raised his voice at her.
‘Of course, that’s a justified reaction, but.’
Until now, Amang had reacted rather indifferently. Come to think of it, why did she accept it so indifferently? She almost had her head cut off.
‘Then this body dies too.’
What about the other soul trapped inside the body? Does it perish together, or does it return to its original body? Amang’s question ultimately returned to a more fundamental problem.
‘Is the original me still alive?’
That is, Han Young-i, the new counselor in her first week of work.
‘What happened that day?’
Sometimes, when humans witness shocking events, they lose their memory entirely. As if such a thing had never happened in the first place.
Amang shook her head.
She already had a mountain of things to think about.
‘It’ll work out somehow.’
Clenching her small fists tightly, Amang turned onto her side and muttered quietly.
“Should I help her anyway…?”
It’s absolutely not because I’m bewitched by her looks!
This is purely a matter of counselor ethics, or something like that.
Chapter 2. A counselor does their best to help the client until the counseling ends.
Yes, Amang has the mindset of a counselor.
Whether she’s a princess or a consort doesn’t matter right now.
Helping people with worries was Amang’s job.
“Fine, I’ll just give it a try!”
How hard could it be? No matter how eccentric he was, the Emperor was a living person. Not some animal you can’t communicate with, but a person with emotions.
As she stretched her arm, fist clenched towards the ceiling, a thought suddenly struck Amang.
‘Am I maybe a workaholic?’
I really can’t seem to rest properly.
Anyway, Amang was ready to help Lady So.
Just as she finished making her resolution, Amang shouted.
“Nan, I…!”
“Your Highness! The Royal Physician is here.”
“Huh?”
“Please tell us where you feel unwell!”
Wow, perfect timing.
Outside the bed curtains, the Royal Physician had arrived.
The physician, who was half-bald, had brought something bundled up.
“I have come to see Her Highness.”
“Uh, I’m not sick anymore!”
“I will check your pulse for a moment.”
“No, I said I’m not sick!”
There was absolutely no communication.
The Royal Physician politely paid his respects and then immediately rolled up Amang’s sleeve.
Startled, Amang flinched and pulled her body back, but was soon restrained by Nan.
The Royal Physician’s wrinkled fingers pressed against Amang’s pulse.
With his eyes closed, feeling her pulse, he looked as if he were asleep.
‘He’s not sleeping, is he?’
Amang craned her neck to check the physician’s condition.
Just then, the physician’s eyes snapped open.
“Yikes!”
The physician unceremoniously felt Amang’s forehead.
Without realizing it, Amang let out a shriek.
“There is a slight fever.”
“Huh?”
“If left like this, you may catch a cold.”
“Me?”
“I will prescribe some medicinal herbs to nourish your body. Please be sure to get plenty of rest today.”
The physician, who had been feeling her forehead, politely paid his respects again.
Amang, now half-disheveled, was despairing at this thunderbolt-like news.
‘No!’
I just made up my mind to work for Lady So!
They say you have to start when you feel motivated.
If you put it off once, you never know how long you’ll keep putting it off.
Just like I’ve always done!
A lazy perfectionist—that was a term that described Amang.
“But I’m not sick!”
“Your Highness. I will bring the decoction, so please lie down comfortably.”
“But I’m fine!”
“You all, make sure Her Highness does not leave!”
“Yes!”
Haha, I’m utterly screwed.
True to her role as the head of Yeonyeong Palace, Nan commanded the court ladies.
It seemed she was seeing the Royal Physician out and would boil the decoction.
Thanks to that, Amang was stuck having to lie still.
“Sigh…”
The ending of the boy who cried wolf came vividly to mind.
She had a big mouth.
She kept saying she was sick, and now she really was sick, wasn’t she?
Amang felt her forehead.
It was just warm.
‘Is he a quack?’
No matter how much she touched it, she couldn’t feel any fever at all.
And they call him the Royal Physician of the imperial palace? A complete fraud.
Or perhaps he’s part of a faction trying to prevent Amang from going outside!
No, that’s going too far.
That can’t be it.
‘What do I do now?’
Of course, no method for hearing Lady So’s concerns came to mind.
She thought about asking the Emperor directly, but he wasn’t the type to grant such requests.
‘On the contrary, he might think I’m mocking him and tell me not to even think about setting foot in the Wonseok Palace.’
It only added to her worries.
The fate of a consort completely forgotten by the Emperor would be unusual.
Moreover, even the court ladies of Wonseok Palace might disregard Lady So.
Just like the court ladies who had tormented Lady So when she was still a court maid.
‘Favor.’
A common theme that appears frequently in palace intrigue stories: imitating the woman the Emperor favored.
‘Oh.’
That’s it.
Amang snatched the idea that flashed in her mind.
Now the problem was how to get out of Yeonyeong Palace.
Going out was unavoidable to find information.
Wasn’t Yeonyeong Palace located quite far from the center of the imperial palace?
‘What should I do?’
By Nan’s order, the court ladies were guarding the doors of Yeonyeong Palace.
Amang’s gaze drifted from the door to the opposite side.
If you don’t have teeth, you chew with your gums.
(Note: Korean proverb meaning “to make do with what you have.”)
“Hey! Someone’s over there!”
She hoped this plan would succeed.
Nan, who was diligently boiling the decoction, was worried about Amang.
Amang had been acting maturely, unlike her usual self.
She didn’t attempt her frequent escapes, nor did she pull any outrageous stunts like climbing the trees in the garden.
Has Her Highness finally come to her senses!
“If Her Highness Hwanyeongbi could see this, how pleased she would have been…”
Remembering the master she would serve forever, Nan transferred the decoction into a bowl.
After letting it cool so Amang could drink it without burning herself, she headed towards Yeonyeong Palace.
This was a simple task that could have been delegated to the servants.
But Nan, worried that someone might have poisoned it, did it herself.
If she lost Amang too… Nan couldn’t go on living.
“Your Highness. Please drink the decoction.”
The tightly drawn curtains showed no sign of opening.
Had she fallen asleep? Sometimes, when Amang was quiet, it was because she had fallen asleep.
“Your Highness?”
It was eerily quiet. Not even the sound of soft breathing could be heard.
With an anxious heart, Nan gently drew back the curtain.
“Your Highness!”
She was gone.
The princess, who should have been in her bed, was gone!
