MOSC 11

“If a rumor were to spread that Her Highness the Princess is living in a shabby residence, it would be a blemish upon the dignity of the royal family.”

A direct translation of Wigyeom’s words was this.

‘I do not have the money to prepare bridal gifts that match the level of your dog-like daughter.’

“…I understand. The royal family will bear all costs for the construction and maintenance of the princess’s palace.”

The queen’s eyebrow twitched.

However, Wigyeom’s demands did not end there.

“I believe you know that the things I gave up to become the prince consort were not merely personal sacrifices, but a price that my entire family had to pay.”

‘The honorable reputation of the Sim family as clean-handed officials has been damaged by taking your ill-mannered daughter as a daughter-in-law, so compensate us in various ways.’

“…I will guarantee a portion of the farmland under the royal family and commercial rights, especially a monopoly on the trade of salt, pottery, and cotton cloth. Is that enough.”

A vein throbbed on the queen’s temple.

But Wigyeom’s lips moved again with impudence.

“Given Her Highness the Princess’s temperament, I cannot guarantee that this marriage will last long. However, the princess’s palace that I have prepared can be used later as a detached palace that displays the majesty of the royal family, a place to welcome envoys from tributary states or to hold royal banquets.”

‘Your yaksha-like daughter’s temper is so foul she is certain to cause trouble, so compensate me with this and that in advance while I am still being nice.’

“…The maintenance costs for the princess’s palace will be continuously supported by the royal family, and I will delegate the management of those finances to the Sim family. …Surely you do not want anything else?”

The queen’s face finally turned red and blue.

The queen blindly granted Wigyeom’s excessive demands, intending to think about them after she had married off the princess.

‘That should be enough now.’

She presumed.

…But of course it was not enough.

These were the conditions for becoming the husband of that Princess Bonghwa, so there was no way it would end with just one or two things.

The queen’s ominous premonition was correct.

Through his memories of his past life, Wigyeom knew that the queen, at this present moment, had already noticed the ‘trouble’ Princess Bonghwa would cause later.

From Wigyeom’s perspective, both the queen and Princess Bonghwa shared joint responsibility for On’s unhappy past life.

And Sim Wigyeom was already a man hell-bent on honoring the spirit of the past life’s On and guaranteeing her wealth and happiness in this current life.

‘As if that would be enough.’

The eyes of the nobleman kneeling before the queen had already gone stark raving mad.

To say it again, this was possible because he was not a person but a vengeful spirit.

A deal, by nature, could only be established when both parties were on equal footing.

Right now, one side was human and the other was a vengeful spirit.

It was a lopsided deal, and a very lopsided one at that.

…The queen had picked a fight with the wrong person, the very wrong person.

“Please allow the Sim family to manage the auxiliary lands and a portion of the agricultural output included in the princess’s palace, and grant our family’s entry into the commercial districts with a partial exemption from royal taxes and special permission.”

‘What is this kind of man…!’

The queen clutched the back of her neck.

To summarize Wigyeom’s demands in one phrase, it was this.

‘My family’s fortune has been completely depleted while cleaning up after your crazy daughter, so compensate us for everything in every way, such as cutting our family business taxes and giving us a big push at the national level from now on.’

He was no different from a highway robber.

It was completely unreasonable.

His determination to empty the national treasury on the pretext of marriage compensation was palpable.

‘…For it to be this difficult to marry off a single princess!’

The queen’s wrinkled eyes trembled.

The queen had to sip a tea that had a calming effect on the mind and body.

She had thought he would be easy to deceive, being an unworldly scholar from the clean-handed Sim family, but it was the complete opposite.

‘He is no ordinary man.’

Of course he was not.

Although the queen did not know it, she herself was the one behind the making of the current Sim Wigyeom.

This was the reason one should not do shady things in life.

In the end, the queen, filled only with the thought of marrying off the princess, hypnotized herself.

‘That bitch… no, I have one daughter, not two, so if I just endure it this one time, I will be free.’

If she just humored Wigyeom this one time, it was a golden opportunity to send her life’s headache… no, her precious daughter, far, far away.

And so, using this marriage-disguised scam as a pretext, Sim Wigyeom was able to extort a considerable fortune from none other than the queen herself.

In other words, this entire commotion stemmed from Wigyeom’s excessive passion to provide On with a single, magnificent tile-roofed house.

…However, On was still unaware of this situation.

Naturally, she also did not know the fact that he had deliberately summoned her and bewildered her on the pretext of giving her silver ingots because of the strange sense of defeat he felt after his negotiations with the queen.

She was only thinking about her own future, which stretched out before her like a path of thorns.

On, with the eyes of a sun-dried croaker, sought a way to survive.

‘First, I have to find a way to leave the Sim household, no matter what excuse I have to make. Should I try opening a professional sewing room? If not that, should I start a palace tea ceremony education class for the women of prestigious families? If not that, should I open a restaurant with royal medicinal cuisine recipes?’

Even if she left the family, her status as Sim Wigyeom’s concubine would not disappear, but the farther she lived from the clan, the higher her chances of survival would be.

…Of course, if Wigyeom were to hear this, he would throw a fit.

It would not be enough for her to live out her natural life under a flower-scented silk blanket in the Sim family, and yet she was talking about doing business.

A man who would let her enjoy a life of clouds, enjoying such luxury in the master bedroom that she could not even enjoy it all, was waiting for her, so it was ridiculous talk.

However, On was serious all by herself.

‘No matter how much I am a pawn chosen as a bridal night court lady to be used and discarded, he will not cast me out or kill me for political use right after the princess’s arrival. He will surely open a path for me to live on, along with the silver ingots I received as a severance payment.’

On thought of her peculiar master, whom she had served since she was young.

She tried hard to find a reason to soothe her anxious heart.

‘Yes, yes. What kind of person is our princess? She was the kind of person who would work her subordinates to the point of near death, but when they were actually about to die, she would brew them restorative medicine to drink.’

On was, in fact, the court lady who had drunk that restorative medicine the most.

She thought desperately.

‘She is not the kind of person who would now cast out a homeless court lady who became a bridal night court lady that everyone else refused, or have her assassinated without a trace….’

Flinch.

A cold sweat formed on the bridge of On’s nose.

‘…Or is she?’

This was something no one knew.

‘If it is her, maybe she really would, without a trace….’

On thought, breaking out in a cold sweat.

What kind of person was Princess Bonghwa, exactly?

Her Highness the Princess was now merely eighteen years of age. However, she was a royal whose name was already being talked about as a legend both inside and outside the grand palace.

It was common for a pillar of the palace to be pulled out and the royal budget to stagger at a single word from the princess.

She was a free-spirited woman who took extraordinary to the extreme, a walking natural disaster of the palace, about whom a rumor circulated that the official historians responsible for the Veritable Records had worn down not only all the ink in the Hwanjo Kingdom but also the inkstones used to grind that ink, just by recording the troubles Princess Bonghwa had caused so far.

“……”

Shiver shiver. On’s two legs trembled.

‘…I am afraid of the future.’

At this very moment, a candle on the verge of being blown out by the wind seemed brighter than On’s path ahead.

As she left for the detached building, On resolved that she would offer a prayer with a bowl of fresh water, wishing for the marriage of Princess Bonghwa and the prince consort to be carried out safely, and for a single ray of sunlight to settle on her own dark path.

It was the wedding day of the precious princess that everyone had been eagerly awaiting.

It was a state marriage so auspicious that a rumor was heard that the moment Princess Bonghwa’s groom was confirmed, His Majesty the King, saying he had finally gotten rid of the troublemaker, left the royal throne and ran all over the palace grounds, shouting “hurrah.”

On, too, finished her preparations for the princess’s wedding. She adorned herself moderately with modest clothing and accessories, and also applied a moderate amount of makeup to her face.

Of course, even after preparing like that, On could not participate directly in the princess’s wedding ceremony.

This was because On was a concubine who had to remain in the shadows forever.

‘The ceremony must be in full swing by now.’

The image of a tall and handsome Sim Wigyeom, going through the procedure to greet the bride, was drawn in her mind automatically.

‘He must be neatly dressed in his official uniform. How long will his shadow stretch across the courtyard of the outer quarters when he performs the four bows.’

…It was strange. She did not know why her chest stung and felt unsettled.

Imagining this, On unknowingly pressed the inner flap of her blouse with her palm. Even though she knew she should not, her mouth tasted strangely bitter.

‘Do I have indigestion.’

Sniffle. On thought as she wiped her reddened nose with her finger.

I do not think I ate that much.

On, who had no idea for whom Sim Wigyeom was going through all those complicated ceremonies and rushing over for, thought gloomily.

She was merely worried about the situation where she would have to receive her concubine appointment alone, while the splendid wedding ceremony of the princess and the prince consort was being held outside.

Of course, On did not attach any meaning to it.

Even during her days as a trainee court lady when she was called a bride, meaning to become a wife of the palace, and even when she went through the coming-of-age ceremony to become an official court lady, she had just been indifferent.

This time, becoming Sim Wigyeom’s concubine, would be the same.

No, it had to be.

On absentmindedly hugged her knees and stared at the wallpaper in a corner of her room located in the detached building.

‘What a shabby detached building this is.’

This detached building was a secluded place, located farthest from the center of the princess’s palace. The path connected to the main gate was also narrow and inconspicuous.

Only a few simple wooden pieces of furniture were placed here and there under shabby earthen walls, a stark contrast to the princess’s splendid inner quarters, which would be filled with small dining tables decorated with mother-of-pearl lacquerware and precious golden lacquer.