The Young Consort Wants to Live Quietly

Chapter 60

* * *

Ah, I’m sleepy.

I was sitting in a chair, dozing off. I was paying a heavy price for going to bed late the night before. It seemed like I slept for a long time, but I was fatigued from waking up in the middle of the night and using my brain.

I was contemplating how to make use of the information Choeun had gathered for me.

‘Anyway, I need to stay alert now.’

I rubbed my eyes and looked at the neatly arranged letters on the table. It was a letter from Yehwa.

Is there anyone else who reads the empress’s letters so casually? No, they wouldn’t even send a letter first in the first place. Newly realizing my position, I opened the letter.

[Look Sanya.

You must have been surprised by your mother’s sudden decision. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you in advance.

I fully understand your curiosity, but this is a story you don’t need to know.

I’ll explain it to you later when you’re much older.

For now, I’d appreciate it if you follow your mother’s wishes.

You are safe. No one can threaten you.

Eat a balanced diet, sleep well, and wait.

When everything is over, I’ll come to see you.]

“……”

After looking around and confirming no one was there, I slapped the letter. I’m not asking if I’m safe or okay, I’m asking the reason, mother.

I was huffing and about to pick up the brush to write a reply, but I paused for a moment. It takes too long to exchange letters. It would be better to talk face to face.

[This is Sanya.

I apologize, but what I was curious about was not that.

I would like to meet and have a conversation with you.

Please spare me some time.]

After writing a simple letter, I sealed it, called Seoyeon, and handed it to her. She answered that she would deliver it to the emperor without any objections this time as well.

Whether I go or Yehwa comes, we should try to talk when we meet somehow.

After sending the letter, I became lost in another thought. It was the content of the letter Choeun had sent yesterday.

The items from the Western continent brought by the envoys from the Western continent were being sold at an extremely high price. And the Yeoran family was releasing a panacea among the nobles at a high price and gaining popularity.

Among them, the description of the Yeoran family’s panacea was particularly hard to believe. A medicine that makes the body feel light, improves mood, and makes you forget pain.

‘Isn’t that a scam?’

But if it had no effect, its popularity would have quickly faded, and Choeun wouldn’t have told me about it.

‘Can I ask about it?’

With that thought, I looked at another piece of paper on the table. It read:

[Meet me at Baekmok Pavilion at mid-day three days from now.]

Despite Yehwa blocking all entry and exit from my palace, Giyun’s message was delivered to me very ordinarily. Reading that letter left a rather bitter aftertaste. Perhaps conscious of the increased scrutiny, it didn’t fly in through the window this time. But it was an even bolder method than that.

The one who delivered the letter to me was a young servant. On the tray handed to me with a bright smile by a child with rosy cheeks that still had baby fat and chubby hands, there was a bowl of dasik and a paper pressed under it.

I was mindlessly taking a bite of the dasik when I checked the paper and couldn’t even chew and swallow.

While doing this, what’s safe about being safe? I sighed and pulled my body back.

At mid-day, at Baekmok Pavilion.

‘Why Baekmok Pavilion of all places?’

There are three gardens in the imperial palace. Sanwha Pavilion, where flowers bloom in abundance each season, Ami Pavilion, where bonsai are tended, and Baekmok Pavilion, which has many old trees.

Among them, Baekmok Pavilion is quiet due to the many tall trees and is a place rarely visited because of the large and deep pond nearby.

I understand why that location, as there are many trees to hide behind and it’s close to the Eastern Palace, but I’m not too happy about it.

‘There’s no other way…’

If it were the eight-year-old Sanya who adores her father, she would run there in a flash without asking or arguing.

Since I have no way to contact him, I can’t change the meeting place to somewhere else either.

Giyun must know that Yehwa has ordered me to stay in confinement. Yet he’s saying this, meaning that either the confinement order will be lifted by then… or even if it’s not lifted, he’ll find a way.

Right. He’s that kind of person who flies and crawls.

‘What on earth is the panacea?’

And what does such an extraordinary person want to gain from me?

* * *

Three days later.

Contrary to what I had secretly hoped for, I wasn’t in a very good mood.

“Is there still no reply from Her Majesty?”

When I asked, Heesa answered with a face that said she had no excuse. Although I was upset with the first reply, it was better than now. For three days, Yehwa did not reply to my letter.

There was no message conveyed by the palace maids, nor did she come to see me separately. It was complete disregard.

They say you may know ten feet of water but not one person’s heart. I thought she would blindly trust me and give me a push. It’s really an unexpected surprise.

Yehwa blocked my movements and also blocked my interactions with the outside. I’m getting information from Choeun, but what’s the use of information if it just exists as information?

Yehwa’s influence on me was greater than I thought. And I had to somehow shake it off.

‘…There’s no other way.’

Sighing deeply, I raised my head. Knowing that my mood hasn’t been good these past few days, my palace maids were keenly observing my expression.

“I won’t have dinner tonight either.”

I made a remark that was no different from a bombshell to them.

“My lady, you must eat dinner!”

And as expected, Heesa exclaimed. The other palace maids had the same expression.

I had been skipping meals since this morning. When lunch passed without a reply, I skipped lunch too, and when there was still no reply even after lunchtime, I was planning to skip dinner as well.

When I said I would skip breakfast, the palace maids dissuaded me moderately, but their reactions gradually intensified.

Even when I was trapped in the Eastern Palace, they didn’t react like this, but it seems skipping meals is more shocking.

“I won’t change my mind, Heesa.”

I cut off her words firmly with a slightly twisted thought.

“Tell Her Majesty. Until she withdraws the confinement order, or at least until she sets foot in the Eastern Palace, I will abstain from food.”

I was docile, but I was not a frivolous person. I had no intention of dismissing my serious words due to the pleas of the palace maids. The palace maids, who seemed to want to say something, eventually bowed to me and left the room.

Are they going to tell Yehwa? She might wait and see if I really skip meals. But if I really don’t eat, she’ll have to communicate.

The troubling issue was somewhat resolved. But I didn’t feel good.

‘What kind of act is this?’

This is truly a child’s method. Throwing a tantrum and being unreasonable if not indulged. It was obvious that I would be seen that way now.

Sighing deeply, I smoothed out my furrowed brow. Child or not, now is not the time to be picky about hot water or cold water.

The bad mood will soon subside, and the result will be the same, so it doesn’t matter. Having calmed my mind, I got up from my seat. I could see the shadow of the sundial placed by the window.

The time when the sun had moved a bit more to the west.

It was mid-day.

* * *

A while later, I was truly able to arrive at Baekmok Pavilion without difficulty. As I was contemplating what to do in my room, someone lightly knocked on the door.

In front of the slightly opened sliding door stood the same servant who had delivered the letter. The child smiled brightly and touched me, and my hand that was resting on the door disappeared.

“Leave your bodyguards behind and come out slowly.”

The thought whispered as if sharing a secret and quickly disappeared. I looked down at my invisible hands, lost in thought.

‘I thought you couldn’t use abilities.’

The seal that the consorts can barely shake off. Then is that child not a servant but a consort?

Classifying the young servant as a definite spy in my mind, I turned around.

Gowun was standing there looking at me. Leaving behind his confused eyes, I moved my feet and quietly arrived at Baekmok Pavilion. As if the duration had been set to match the time it took to walk to Baekmok Pavilion, color began to return to my fingertips.

I wiggled my fingers and slowly took steps. Baekmok Pavilion, filled only with trees, was particularly quiet. Like an oriental garden, large trees untouched by human hands grew in a unique way.

Among them, a place that wouldn’t catch anyone’s eye.

Passing by pine trees, juniper trees, and zelkova trees, I stopped at a bamboo grove. I didn’t specifically seek out the bamboo grove, but I came all the way here because there was no one around as I passed through.

But fortunately, I could see a man standing between the bamboo. I was about to suppress the corners of my mouth, smile broadly, and approach him, but I hesitated. The face of the man who turned his head was not familiar. Above all, he had black hair.

‘It’s not Giyun.’

When I took a step back, the man’s narrowed eyes curved like a crescent moon.

“Miss Sanya!”