Chapter 3 (1/2)
“Otherwise, the child will die in the hands of Councilor Lee. That beast!”
“Yoo Hee, you’re the only one left.”
“My Queen!”.
“This child … Please raise this child for me.”
“My Queen!”
Yoo Hee fell flat on the floor. To raise a princess, this precious princess instead, she couldn’t help but to doubt her ears, and her heart started beating like crazy.
“I did not give birth to this child today.”
“My Queen!”
“I will return to the palace on the boat that I called and give birth again on the scheduled delivery. But of course, the child is dead.”
“My Queen, how could you!”
“So yes, the child is dead today. I will save this child like that.”
“My Queen!”
How can she end the passionate love of motherhood for the child that is completely covered with every glance and every gesture?
Jungjeon hung herself with anger and pain with a trembling voice and dropped her head. Yoo Hee dared not to turn down the request of the Queen, so she could not refuse it, she could not answer it and just lay down flat with her face on the floor.
“Help me. There is only you.”
“My Queen!”
“Please raise this child for me. There is no need to raise it preciously, nor do you need to grow it finely. Just take care of her so that she can live.”
“……..”
“On the day when the greed of my in law comes to an end. On the day when l can get out of Lee Haksoo’s hands, I’m going to pick up this child– the precious royal princess.”
If the King dies in the hands of Councilor Lee and the person on his side takes over as King, the national text that had been handed down from the founding of the Joseon Dynasty would be shaken. Yoo Hee hesitated.
Just thinking about it, she was at a loss on how to raise the princess with her own hands.
“Yoo-hee, this is not a play. I am your old friend.”
“My Queen!”
“Now, all I have left is this one child. Please save this princess that your Majesty the King, wanted to protect with his life.”
Yoo Hee closed her eyes tightly at the Queen’s sincerity’s hot voice containing the Qing Dynasty’s true heart.
Jungjeon couldn’t waste more time. Soon, if Lee Hak Soo’s people were secretly hiding in Sansa, all plans would be in vain. Jungjeon led her tired body out of the mountain temple. The dried up black eyes didn’t want to leave the sight of the child who was being held tightly in Yoo Hee’s arms.
“When I reach home, I will contact you, My Queen. It won’t take long. Don’t worry about the Princess, just take care of yourself and go safely.”
“Thank you. Thank you, Yoo-hee”.
“I will raise her up as light and noble as my own child. My child is still……. It is not that her life has been lost, so I will tell the family that she can escape the life of a princess from Lee Hak Soo.”
“Yoo Hee.”
“Did you say Eun Seol is the name of the princess, my Queen?”.
“It is the name of your Majesty’s desperate hope for her to live as a flower of snow that never dies even in a strong blizzard.”
“It’s a pretty name as much as yours, my Queen.”
Jungjeon held Yoo Hee’s cold hands tightly. In Yoo Hee’s eyes were filled with firm strength. Jungjeon nodded towards her and bit her lips.
“I will not forget this debt to you.”
“It is not a debt, because my Queen always cares for Yoo Hee, this time I will protect you, My Queen.”
Jungjeon looked at Yoo Hee for a long time. Joo Sanggung, the court lady, opened her mouth with difficulty as she watched Yoo Hee carrying the little princess safely descend down the mountain.
“My Queen, if Councilor Lee knows about this, not only you but your whole family will not be left alone.”
“One, isn’t it the only way to save that child? If I go back to the palace like this, that child’s life will be in danger.”
“Didn’t you make an agreement with Councilor Lee? If you give birth to a princess, he will spare your life.”
The court lady Ju Sangggung looked at Yoo Hee moving away and lowered her gaze to the ground. Jung-jeon stared at the main palace once, then looked up at the black sky and sighed deeply.
“Do you believe I am in agreement with him?”
“My Queen!”
“With Lee Haksoo, a contract is a meaningless word that lost its effect as soon as I held the hand of His Majesty.”
The chief monk Ju Ji Seung carefully approached the Queen’s side and shook her head as if in vain.
The queen looked up at the sky with a desperate face, putting her hands together. She begged and prayed again and again for the sin of having to send a little child away from her arms. The chief monk looked at Jungjeon, staring only at the sky with tearful eyes.
“My Queen, you will lose your precious body.”
” I will. I am a bad mother who can’t protect my own child.”
“You did not make a difficult decision just to die, my Queen.”
“Was Joseon such a powerless and small country? I didn’t know. When I sat in the seat of the Queen Mother, Joseon was easily overturned by the hands of a mere ugly god.”
The Queen’s voice trembled helplessly. Looking at her, Ju Ji Seung’s heart seemed to collapse.
“I thought I could change it. So, I made a mistake by taking Lee Haksoo’s side. I thought with his power, I could make this country a peaceful place by using my seat as a stepping stone, and made sure that the sovereign would be restored to its dignity.”
As if in vain, she shook her head, bursting with anger and regret. Deep shadows cast on both cheeks of the deep-pained Jungjeon.
The chief monk dared to stare at the Queen and suppressed the soaring anger and sadness.
“Yes, I was stupid. I stepped on the back of Lee Haksoo and tried to stand up. However, he caught me by the neck and pushed me into an endless abyss. I was a weak person.”
“My Queen.”
“I’m not greedy now, Monk.”
As if she had collapsed, Jungjeon poured out the words like a sigh and lifted her head high.
“It was clear when I saw the prince being taken away by their hands so vainly.”
“……”
“The place where I must live and die is the palace. Even if I am away, I will surely return there someday and die there. Then I will surely protect the one princess and find her place.”
Jungjeon put her dry hands together and looked up at the gloomy sky.
A rather chilly breeze filled Sansa mountain and soon the sky was overcast with blurry snow. A dry cough broke out. Jungjeon clenched her fists and bit her lips until it’s bleeding.
“Trust in your fate, and in the Princess, My Queen. She will grow up right and pretty.”
“Monk. .”
“Because she resembles the Queen, she will become the most intelligent and bravest woman in Joseon.”
“My Queen, give me a little more strength.”
Before coming down from Sansa, on the day she received it from the monk, Jung-jeon began giving birth to a false child by telling him that the childbirth had started.
Jungjeon pretended to give birth at the sansil office prepared by the king. Of course, with the two midwives who was told in advance. Jungjeon, who was screaming with all her might, collapsed. It was then.
“ My Queen!”
She could hear the whispering of the main palace from the back door of Sansilcheong. JooSanggung gasped and breathed by the Queen’s side, who was screaming to tears, stepped in. In her arms was the body of a newborn baby surrounded by a cloth.
“My Queen, it’s here!”
“Is it a girl?”
“Yes, My Queen!”
Joo Sang-gung, trembling with both hands, held the infant’s body and handed it to Jung-jeon. She looked into the dead baby’s face. It was a newborn baby just short of breath. Jungjeon clenched her teeth.
“Baby, what is your story that you come to my arms with your eyes closed?”
“ After two exams, it is said that the baby was dead. The mother also died while giving birth to the baby. It is not a ceremony for the noble family, but I have brought a baby who was in the process of doing business with the mother, My Queen.”
“When the work is done, let this baby and the deceased mother’s business be carried out in a carefree manner.”
Jungjeon looked down at the pale baby’s body and handed it to the midwife who nodded with a firm face and clenched her lips. In response to the Queen’s hand signal, the midwives began to move busily. Soon, the dead baby’s body was wrapped in a silk cloth, and the midwife cleared her breathing. Jungjeon remembered the white face of Princess Eun-Seol, who had left the temple with two fists clenched. Then Jungjeon called to Joo Sang-gung with a trembling voice.
” The Court Lady?