The Young Consort Wants to Live Quietly

Chapter 62

* * *

Yeah. It would be a waste to just let him go.

I decided that. But I still lamented his naivety.

“Hmm, would that be okay?”

“How can you say that…! I told you everything I know!”

“Not that, but there’s something else you did.”

At those words, Jisu became dazed. He really seemed too naive to have thought of it.

“If that’s all my father ordered you to do, it means you threatened me for no reason.”

“……”

“You called me ‘my lady’, so you clearly knew who I was.”

Jisu shut his mouth. But I could see his eyes rolling.

“But I am benevolent, so I won’t have you do anything unreasonable.”

“Then…!”

“First, go back to my father and tell him you completed your mission.”

At my patronizing tone, his pupils trembled anxiously. He seemed to have quite good intuition. So I kindly added,

“If you ever try to betray me, just do it in your thoughts. If you put it into action, that thing inside your body will strangle your breath.”

Jisu’s face turned pale in an instant. I watched his reaction with interest.

‘I guess it really exists.’

I was lying though. I just tried it out based on something I read in a martial arts novel a long time ago about a poison that enters the body and controls the person, but it seems to exist in this world too.

Of course, what I fed him was just a tasty dasik.

‘Three people can make a tiger, they say.’

“You can let him go now.”

At my words, the man released Jisu, and he looked at me, unable to stand up or sit down properly.

“Go and do as I said. And make sure to come back.”

“……”

“I’ll give you five days. If you don’t return within that time……”

I deliberately dragged out my words so the next part would be noticed.

“I’ll assume you’re dead.”

“…Yes. I understand, my lady.”

Still pale-faced, Jisu bowed to me and staggered out of the forest. As I watched his figure with satisfaction, I flinched when the man stood up. He was looking at me with meaningful eyes, and I finally realized this must have seemed quite strange.

‘But I had no choice.’

I couldn’t let Jisu go, and I couldn’t hold onto him with my own strength.

“You’re quite clever.”

At his admiring words, I laughed wryly. I appreciate the compliment, but I was going for a mysterious concept.

“It’s all thanks to your grace.”

I prayed that luck would be on my side. I hope he at least keeps the secret even if he can’t help.

“It was supposed to be a secret to some extent, but you ended up seeing everything.”

At my muttered words, he smiled slightly. His stiff impression softened just with a small smile.

“I heard you were a quiet and gentle child usually.”

“Yes. That’s right. Do you know of me, sir?”

At my probing words, he fell silent for a moment.

“Your story is quite famous. As the haughty and arrogant Princess Kanghee.”

Haughty what?

I almost frowned right then and there. Putting aside the discrepancy coming from his bear-like mouth, it was quite dreadful to have such an embarrassing nickname attached to me.

No matter how unfriendly I am, why go that far…

As I shut my mouth in embarrassment, I suddenly came to my senses. This isn’t it.

“May I know your name, sir? I will surely repay your kindness in the future.”

I gave up trying to find out who he was. At my repeated question, he smiled quietly.

“You’ll naturally come to know even if you don’t know now, so don’t be impatient. I won’t make an issue of it later.”

It was a remark that quite pierced through what I was thinking. As I was pondering how to respond, he spoke again.

“If it’s a favor, why not repay it now?”

Now?

“If it’s something I can do for you……”

“I was just taking a leisurely stroll, so keep me company for a bit.”

If it’s just that, I don’t mind, but he’s more modest than I thought.

“Is that really enough?”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

Well, if you say so…

I nodded, and the man, smiling softly, reached out his hand to me. As I held that hand, his pot-lid-sized hand gently grasped mine. When holding a child’s hand for the first time, people usually can’t control their strength and grip tightly, but he seemed used to it.

He and I sat down casually on a flat rock. And a brief silence passed.

“How old are you this year?”

“Eight years old.”

“You’re young.”

The conversation quickly ended as neither of us had a friendly personality. The one who quietly spoke again was him.

“You don’t need to be so clever at that age.”

Those calm words made me choke up for no reason. He resembled Yehwa in many ways. The kindness, the way of speaking, and even that way of thinking.

Who says I’m dying to work?

Actually, the moment I sat down, the strength drained from my legs. I must have been that tense.

I couldn’t get used to facing crises. Not just today, but if something like this happens again, no matter how many times, I will be startled and scared.

I’m timid, not smart, and have no power. But I do it because I have to. Unable to answer that way, I shut my mouth tightly, but he didn’t urge me to respond and spoke again.

“I was away from the capital for a long time.”

“……”

“I went to find something I had forgotten was precious because it was too familiar, but it was already too late.”

It was a nonchalant and vague remark. But a faint loneliness was evident.

But why all of a sudden?

“I didn’t tell you my name, and you don’t know me either, so this meeting will be the last for today.”

As I was thinking about the meaning behind his abrupt words, he quietly added,

“What harm is there in confiding in someone who will soon disappear?”

His voice was still calmly monotonous. As if he truly didn’t care.

After hesitating for a moment, I eventually opened my mouth as if burying my words in a hole.

“I’m tired.”

“……”

“No one believes me.”

It was something I hadn’t even properly looked into myself. That what makes it more difficult for me is not the tough reality but the loneliness of not being understood.

“Everyone tells me I don’t have to do anything……”

“……”

“But that’s no different from a doll in a display case.”

I know what Yehwa is thinking when she fusses over me. If I were actually eight years old, that would be the right attitude.

But I’m not eight years old. No, regardless of age, I wanted to be understood. That’s why I spoke.

“I’m not lying. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable either……”

“……”

“I’d rather they at least say that, but everyone tells me to just stay still. They don’t tell me anything.”

Having one’s trust denied by someone with whom you’ve formed an emotional bond is painful.

“It’s difficult and burdensome to do it alone. So I’d like them to help me. But that just means I’m asking for help, not asking them to do everything for me.”

Having spewed out words like a machine gun, I let out a deep breath. I feel like the haberdasher who shouted ‘the emperor’s ears are donkey ears’.

‘It’s quite refreshing just to talk about it.’

He didn’t give any answer or comfort. But he led me to be able to talk, and quietly listened to my words. I was grateful for that alone.

“You do have thoughts that are unlike a young child.”

“If I were an ordinary kid, would I have handled it like that earlier?”

“Well, that’s true.”

When I responded sharply to his pointless nitpicking, a vague assent came back. That lukewarm response made me chuckle, and he laughed along.

“I wonder if your parents know you’re having these thoughts.”

“Probably not. Because they don’t try to listen.”

“My, my.”

He really responds in a dull way. But that subtle tone wasn’t bad.

“I know they did it for my sake, but shouldn’t the person involved, me, be happy about it?”

“That’s right.”

“But I don’t know why they won’t even consider listening to me.”

“My, my, they’re bad parents.”

That response left me speechless.

“…They’re not bad people.”

“……”

“They’re not bad people, but……”

Yehwa’s images flashed through my mind.

The way she piled fruits and snacks high on my plate on my first day in the palace.

The way she smiled brightly, holding a storybook, saying she would read it to me, or the way she proudly declared that I should call her mother from now on.

The way she blocked Giyun and prioritized my well-being, and the smile on her face at being called ‘mom’.

The way she assured me that the inside of the palace was safe, and the first reply, and… the reply that still hasn’t come.

The fluffy feeling in my heart cooled down in an instant. Just say they’re bad people.

“…No. I think you’re right.”

At my quiet muttering, he burst into laughter. Laughing softly, he said to me,

“Your bad mother is here.”

At those words, I raised my head and spotted a woman approaching with her black hair fluttering. Wearing a splendid dragon robe, with palace maids hurriedly following behind…

“Sanya, you…!”

The sight of my terribly angry mother.