Chapter 4. Small but Meaningful Changes

“Did you dare to lay a hand on the heir to this country?”

When Yunseo asked coldly, a woman stepped forward from behind Dowon-gun with rough steps.

“What kind of nonsense is this, Kwon-ga nin?”

It was Jo, who had entered the palace as Dowon-gun’s wet nurse.

“How dare you slander our young master. Do you want your head to be cut off?”

“Watch your words. I may be just a nin, but the person I serve is the heir to the country.”

In the palace, the status of a palace servant was determined by whom they served.

To me, who serves the heir to the throne, a mere wet nurse serving a collateral ‘gun’ is nothing!

Yunseo lifted her chin coldly.

“What arrogance! How can such insolence exist!”

“To raise your voice at the young lady who is cherished by His Majesty and the Queen!”

The nins who accompanied Dowon-gun approached Yunseo menacingly.

They seemed ready to attack her in a group.

To treat the heir so poorly, the royal family’s discipline was worse than expected.

“Tsk! What kind of disgrace is this!”

Park Sanggung, who had been watching, stepped forward.

“How dare you behave like this in front of the heir!”

Park Sanggung, who served the Crown Prince and managed the Donggung Palace, was a 5th rank official, far above the 8th or 9th rank nins who dared to speak back.

However, the nins of Dowon-gun and Damyang-gun did not back down.

“It’s not that we want to be disrespectful to the lady. Kwon-ga nin,”

The favor that Grand Prince Suyang and Queen Sinbin Kim received from the king was that significant!

Seeing the nins who did not back down, Park Sanggung’s eyes began to gleam.

“Both young ladies, cover your ears for a moment. I must give a stern lecture to these people who are disgracing the upper palace and tarnishing the faces of both young ladies.”

After seeking understanding from Dowon-gun and Damyang-gun, Park Sanggung let out a roar.

“Are your ears blocked? Kwon-ga said it’s not a disrespect to me but to our heir, didn’t she? Listen up!”

Park Sanggung called out to the particularly well-built nins she had brought from the Donggung Palace.

“If you have anything more to say, take them to the investigation office of the Office of Censors!”

The moment the investigation office, from which no one could return on their own, was mentioned, the nins of Dowon-gun and Damyang-gun flinched and stepped back.

Seeing the situation, the six-year-old Dowon-gun, who was quick-witted, stepped forward.

“I’m sorry. I accidentally hit Hongwi’s head with my fishing rod. That’s all. Hongwi, I’m sorry.”

Dowon-gun, who had been grinning, now looked up at Yunseo with a sharp gaze, his smile gone.

“What’s your name?”

“What do you need to know my name for? I am Kwon-ga nin, who serves the heir.”

Kwon-ga nin was over 165 cm tall.

With her intimidating gaze, she looked down at Dowon-gun, who flinched as if she might hit him and turned around abruptly.

No matter how bold the son of Grand Prince Suyang was, he was still a child.

“Let’s go. Uncle, let’s go.”

Damyang-gun gave Hongwi a nasty smile and walked out with Dowon-gun.

The nins followed closely behind, glaring at Yunseo.

Park Sanggung scolded Yunseo loudly, as if for everyone to hear.

“Kwon-ga! How dare you let the heir hear such harsh words! If this happens again, you will be the first to be taken to the investigation office and punished!”

However, the corners of Park Sanggung’s mouth twitched, forming a slight smile.

No one among the nins had ever stepped forward to stop those who treated the heir poorly.

She had to endure the frustration because if she, a Sanggung, stepped in, it would escalate into a conflict among the upper palaces.

Thanks to Kwon-ga nin’s boldness, she could instill fear in the impolite ones.

Feeling relieved, Park Sanggung called out loudly, making sure the group leaving with Dowon-gun could hear.

“Kim-ga! Go to the kitchen and prepare a lavish meal of dishes the young master likes. Make a refreshing soup with dongchimi! Buckwheat noodles with pine nuts! All kinds of fruit preserves, jujak, and jeonyuhwa, bring everything!”

Thanks to this, Yunseo enjoyed the essence of Joseon royal cuisine all afternoon.

From various fruits preserved in honey to jujak, which are glutinous rice balls fried and coated in honey, to yugwa, which she also liked in modern times, and even omija hwachae.

Everyone, including the nins, Park Sanggung, and little Hongwi, enjoyed the precious dishes and were very happy, but...

The sweetness from honey and malt syrup made her mouth feel sticky and numb after just a few bites.

‘If I have to live in Joseon for a long time, I must find a way to refine sugar.’

If I could make sugar that is sweet and refreshing, I could gather all the wealth of Joseon.

Queen Sohyeon wanted sugar so much that she cried when she saw the sugar brought from Ming after her death.

‘I need to become rich!’

The reason Dowon-gun, the son of Grand Prince Suyang, could ignore the heir, and Damyang-gun could support his impudence, is because of their wealth.

Grand Prince Suyang is rich, but especially his wife, Lady Yun, has a brother, Yun Sajun, who is one of the richest men in Hanyang.

Also, Queen Sinbin Kim, the mother of Damyang-gun, is extremely favored by the king, so people must be offering her wealth, making her even richer.

In contrast, the Kwon family, the family of the Crown Princess, was not particularly powerful to begin with, and has become even more impoverished since the Crown Princess’s death.

Crown Prince Lee Hyang has no luck with his wives and only one son, and since Sejong ascended the throne as the third son, the political support for Hongwi is inevitably cold.

As Yunseo pondered the harsh reality of the world she had fallen into, Park-ga nin and Hanga nin, who were on night duty, came.

They bowed to Hongwi without showing any sympathy for Kwon-ga nin, who had been assigned to night duty with ten dried persimmons.

‘Rascals.’

Yunseo glared at them fiercely and was about to say goodbye to Hongwi when,

“...Aren’t you staying, aren’t you staying?”

Hongwi, holding her skirt, asked timidly.

After Yunseo stood up for him, he had been following her around, and it seemed he had grown very fond of her.

Her heart softened.

Without thinking, she hugged Hongwi tightly and whispered in his ear,

“I’ll come early tomorrow. I’m very tired from being awake since last night.”

“...Okay, bye, bye.”

Holding Park-ga nin’s hand, Hongwi continued to wave until Yunseo left the gate.

She felt bad.

Yunseo, relying on Kwon-ga nin’s memories, found her way to one of the pavilions attached to the back of Gyeongbokgung.

It was where Park Sanggung lived.

“Lady, oh, your eyes are so dark.”

Junggeum, who took care of Park Sanggung’s residence, came out, washing her hands on her apron, and scolded her.

“I want to take a bath.”

Not being able to wash made her whole body feel sticky.

“Oh, what are you saying. I’ll tell Saewol to fetch some water.”

Junggeum smiled and ran to the kitchen.

Once you became a Sanggung, you were given an independent residence, and two slaves were assigned to do laundry, sewing, cooking, fetching water, and other chores.

‘Come to think of it, being a palace servant isn’t bad. They provide clothes and food, and even give slaves.’

While the existence of ‘slaves’ was not entirely to her liking, they received 4 seok of rice, 1 seok of beans for making tofu, and 2 hop of soy sauce as monthly wages.

They also received two fish, salted anchovies, and salted shrimp as daily side dishes, and in spring and autumn, they received 1.5 bolts of cotton and cotton wadding, making them a kind of stable civil servant in an era where good jobs were scarce.

‘So Kwon-ga must have accumulated quite a fortune. Receiving 7 seok of rice, 1 seok of beans, soy sauce, and bean paste monthly, and in spring and autumn, nearly three bolts of cotton, one bolt of silk, and 1.5 kilograms of cotton wadding. She also received two rockfish, one mackerel, one sea bass, salted anchovies, salted shrimp, and salt daily, and various gifts from the Donggung Palace, including silk and malt syrup. If she had sold all of this, her wealth would be...’

Yunseo, counting on her fingers using Kwon-ga’s memories, frowned.

There were memories of receiving, but no memories of saving!

What is this Kwon-ga, a fool?

Park Sanggung already owned thousands of pyeong of farmland in Incheon, over ten thousand pyeong in Yangju, three tile-roofed houses in Hanyang, and was planning to buy more land in Wolgye, making her richer than most yangban.

What was Kwon-ga, who served under this shrewd land speculator, doing to end up a pauper?

Yunseo, feeling exasperated, splashed the bathwater,

“Lady. Is the water cold? Should I bring more hot water?”

Saewol, who was outside, asked worriedly.

****

“Hey, I told you not to give everything to your half-brother, that leech!”

When she asked why she had no wealth left, Park Sanggung hit her on the head with her chopsticks while eating fish.

Ah, how dirty.

I just washed my hair.

It’s too long to dry easily, why!

“Do I have a half-brother?”

“Good grief. Are you so stupid that you’ve even lost your memory?”

Then, Kwon-ga’s memories slowly surfaced.

Kwon-ga was a distant relative of Crown Princess Kwon, who had lost her father at a young age and was in a poor situation.

Although she was stupid, she was agile, and Crown Princess Kwon, who was struggling to find a reliable person in the palace, brought her in as a nin.

Kwon-ga’s mother, who was left alone, remarried a yangban with no property and had a daughter and a son.

The stepfather and half-siblings were all after Kwon-ga’s monthly wages, clinging to her like leeches...

‘Kwon-ga, Kwon-ga!’

Yunseo hit her head with her spoon.

It was to clear her mind, as she had to tie up her hair anyway.

After taking a bath and eating a full meal, she started to come to her senses.

Yunseo suddenly felt a chill down her spine.

Did I become as stupid as Kwon-ga nin and lose my mind? Is this the time to worry about wealth?

“Lady, there was a nin who gave me poisoned daseuk yesterday.”

“What?”

Yunseo described the appearance of the nin who had given her the pine nut daseuk to the lady.

Although she didn’t know which pavilion the person belonged to, she quickly explained that while the attacker had targeted Kwon-ga, the ultimate goal was undoubtedly the heir.

Park Sanggung’s face grew sterner.

“Is the security around the young master’s residence properly set up? The two nins on duty should be dismissed immediately.”

As soon as Yunseo finished speaking, Park Sanggung stood up.

“Go to sleep. I’m going back to the pavilion where the young master is staying.”

After Park Sanggung left and cleared the table, Yunseo lay down in the small room where Kwon-ga nin had lived.

Looking around, the small chest contained two worn-out nin uniforms, two dull everyday clothes made of cotton, and some threadbare undergarments.

Seeing that there were no inkstones or brushes, it was clear that Kwon-ga nin was illiterate.

She suddenly worried if she had signed any documents without reading them, being taken advantage of by her leech-like half-siblings.

However, money was not the main issue. A modern person in Joseon didn’t need to worry about making money.

The problem was survival. And saving Hongwi.

‘I need to gain people. People who can report what’s happening in each pavilion, and people who can gather information on what the powerful families are doing and how they are forming alliances outside the palace.’

Yunseo pondered how to build an information network before falling into a deep sleep due to extreme fatigue.

The next morning, when she went to Hongwi’s residence for her day shift, the gate and courtyard were guarded strictly.

Instead of Park-ga nin and Hanga nin, the diligent and capable Iga nin and Juga nin were on duty.

It was a small but meaningful change.