A Rather Familiar Trope
Ugh, so hot…
That was the very first thought that struck me the moment consciousness crept back into my mind. My back felt as though it were roasting against a blazing-hot ondol floor, and thick, stifling air pressed down upon my chest like a heavy blanket.
Ah. That's right. I fell into the pond.
The slick, squelching mud beneath my thrashing limbs and the bone-chilling cold of the winter water rushed back in vivid, terrifying detail.
Then shouldn't I be shivering? Why on earth is it so sweltering?
In the span of that bewildered thought, memories from the water's edge came tumbling back in a frantic rush. The Crown Prince's desperate voice shouting my name. The blurred silhouette of Eunuch Mun leaping into the frigid depths to drag me to safety.
Yet burned far more indelibly into my mind was the glimpse of a vivid scarlet dragon robe.
Right. King Sukjong was there. But… what happened after that?
The moment I had been hauled out of the pond, the world had gone black. I had lost consciousness entirely, leaving my memory a complete blank from that instant forward.
"Uuuugh…"
A pathetic whimper slipped past my lips unbidden. It wasn't a groan of agony—it was an involuntary complaint forced out by the suffocating heat baking the room.
In that very instant—
"Bong-bong! Have you awakened?!"
The sharp, emotionally overwrought voice of Court Lady Han rang out, brimming with frantic excitement.
"Are you all right? Bong-bong, can you hear me? Are your senses back?"
A chorus of palace maids, led by Seol-hyang, erupted into an uproar of tearful, clamoring chatter.
Wait a minute… Is a mere aegi-nain taking a tumble into a pond truly such a monumental calamity that the entire court maid staff had to assemble around my mattress?
What bewildered me even further was Court Lady Han's urgent, imperious command that followed immediately after:
"Bong-bong has opened her eyes! Report this to Her Royal Consort at once! Hurry, this instant!"
…Why on earth are you taking this to such dramatic extremes?
Sensing that the atmosphere was spiraling well beyond normal bounds, I briefly contemplated squeezing my eyes shut and pretending to faint again. But curiosity got the better of me, and I gingerly cracked open my heavy eyelids.
One, two, three, four faces were looming over me, staring with breathless intensity…
Uh… excuse me, mister, who are you?
A strange, middle-aged man was peering down at me with an extraordinarily grave expression. Taking a closer look, I noticed his attire—he was clad in the formal red robes of a Joseon court official.
Wait, so he's a high-ranking official?
The man gently rested his palm against my forehead, checking my temperature with practiced care.
"Fortunately, the fever has not flared."
Ah. He must be a medical officer from the Nae-uiwon.
"As she is still a tender child, she may suffer sudden convulsions or a sharp spike in bodily heat. Keep the ondol fire steadily stoked and ensure she takes her medicinal decoctions promptly at the appointed hours."
"Understood. We shall attend to it without fail, Lord Royal Physician."
…The instant those words left Court Lady Han's lips, I could hardly believe my own ears.
Did she just say "Royal Physician"?!
The person examining my state wasn't just some run-of-the-mill medical attendant—he was the Royal Physician, the sovereign's very own personal doctor! The more I tried to make sense of what was happening, the dizzier my head became.
Right then—
"Bong-bong has awakened?!"
Jang Hui-bin came bursting into the room.
In a split second, several frantic scenarios flashed through my mind:
First: getting severely reprimanded. Falling into a royal pond right in front of the King? Given Sukjong's volatile temperament, he might well have barked, 'Can you not even properly manage a single child maid?!' and taken his displeasure out on her.
Second: getting banished. Ruining her rare, pleasant outing—perhaps she would cast me out to go muck out the palace latrines?
Third: she might actually be worried. After all, she had taken quite a liking to me lately…
And the winning answer was—
"Sob… hic…"
Huh?
"Uuuugh… Bong-bong! You are safe. I truly thought we had lost our little bokdeongi, and my heart was torn to pieces with worry…"
…Wait, she's crying?
Why on earth are you crying, Your Highness?!
Did you personally give birth to me or something?
Her tears were so utterly out of left field that the absurd thought crossed my mind.
"Oh, my poor child. You must have been so terribly frightened. No matter how deeply Gwi-in Kim's insolent words wounded my pride, failing to watch over a little one like you was entirely my own fault."
Jang Hui-bin stroked my cheek with tender, trembling fingers. It was an undeniably affectionate touch, yet her phrasing sounded curiously deliberate, as if carefully staged for an audience…
"Hui-bin-jaga, this humble servant shall take his leave," the Royal Physician spoke up cautiously. "I shall report to His Majesty that the child has regained consciousness. As complications may yet arise, pray have the court ladies keep a vigilant watch over her."
…Pardon me?
For a second, I thought my ears were playing tricks on me.
Why in the world is he reporting my condition directly to King Sukjong?!
An ominous gut feeling told me that something had gone terribly off the rails. The palace maids fussing over me as if the sky had collapsed, Jang Hui-bin shedding theatrical tears, and now the sovereign's personal physician dispatched expressly on royal orders…
Wait… isn't this a plot development I've seen somewhere before?
A helpless, orphaned child who suddenly captures the doting attention and favor of the realm's absolute ruler.
Don't tell me… Have I somehow triggered the classic "Tyrant's Beloved Child" trope?!
No, no way. Get a grip. That's pure nonsense.
I vigorously shook the deluded fantasy out of my head. Sukjong was the King. And not just any ordinary monarch, but an utterly terrifying autocrat known for ruthlessly executing anyone who crossed him. Sure, we had crossed paths a few times. We had met by chance thanks to his cat, Geumdeok, and he had muttered some strange, cryptic remarks about how I resembled someone from his past. But none of that constituted proof of "royal favor."
Sukjong just has a soft spot for kids, that's all. There's no need to read into it.
He had witnessed a child maid plunge into freezing water with his own eyes, so walking away without a word would have weighed on his conscience. He had probably dispatched the Royal Physician out of basic human decency.
While I scrambled to sort out my thoughts, the Royal Physician bowed deeply and took his leave.
And right on cue, Jang Hui-bin's tears dried up instantly.
All right, here comes the scolding.
Please, anything but the hoechori…
Steeling my resolve, I parted my lips and spoke in the meekest voice I could muster.
"Hui-bin-jaga… I am so, so thowwy…"
Yet once again, her reaction defied all expectation.
"Sorry? Do not speak of apologies. Children make mistakes; it is only natural." Though the weeping had vanished, her voice was surprisingly warm. "I once heard His Majesty recount that in her youth, his sister, Princess Myeong-an, tumbled into a pond as well. Children will be children. As long as you are safe and sound, that is all that matters."
Jang Hui-bin's eyes held no deception. This was genuine, tender warmth—completely unlike the slightly theatrical tears she had put on for the Royal Physician's benefit.
"I am deeply gwateful, Jaga…"
"Rest comfortably. If there is anything you wish to eat, simply ask, and it shall be brought to you."
"Yeth, Jaga…"
With that, Jang Hui-bin swept out of the room. When I squirmed and feebly pushed back against the smothering pampering, the court maids who had been frantically massaging my arms and legs dispersed as well.
At last, only Seol-hyang and I were left.
"Seol-hyang Hamanim."
"Yes, Bong-bong?"
"What happened while I was knocked out cold?"
Pheeew— Seol-hyang let out an enormous sigh that sounded as though all the air had been drained from her lungs.
"Aigoo, don't even get me started, Bong-bong! My heart nearly plummeted straight out of my chest…"
The tale Seol-hyang recounted was nothing short of staggering.
After losing consciousness, I hadn't been carried straight back to Chwiseondang. Instead, I had been rushed to an empty royal pavilion within the Huwon, where the court physician had arrived in a panic to administer emergency treatment.
"And to top it all off, His Majesty personally stayed by your side the entire time, watching over you! They say he only departed after receiving firm confirmation that your life was out of danger!"
"…What?!"
My mind spun into total chaos.
Why on earth was Sukjong extending such absurd, excessive benevolence toward someone like me? Suspicion, anxiety, and bewilderment swirled through my head all at once, but…
I'm… so sleepy.
Above all else, an overwhelming wave of exhaustion crushed down on me. My eyelids felt as heavy as lead weights.
"Sleep a little more, Bong-bong."
Seol-hyang smoothed the thick quilts over me and gently patted my stomach.
…It was definitely a bit too warm, but it felt wonderfully cozy. Drifting softly, I sank into a deep, dreamless slumber.
The Royal Physician's warning that complications might arise proved entirely accurate. Starting that very night, my body erupted into a raging, scorching fever.
"Uuuugh…"
Fierce, violent chills tore through me, while cold sweat soaked my clothes and bedding through and through. In the fitful bouts of delirium that seized me, I suffered terrifying nightmares of the Chwiseondang maids meeting gruesome deaths one after another, and I woke up screaming in panic.
"Seol-hyang Hamanim! Y-you're alive, right? You're really alive?!"
"Bong-bong, hush, you're all right! What on earth did you dream about to keep asking that? Of course I'm alive, you silly girl!"
"Haaah… Thank goodness… D-did Suk-jeong… Did Madam Suk-jeong come by?"
"Aigoo! Halfway to the underworld and you're asking after that little mistress? No, she hasn't set foot here. Honestly, the nerve of that woman—just how terribly did she torment a tiny child to traumatize you so…?"
"She really didn't come?"
"She didn't. So don't worry your little head."
"Whew… Thank goodness…"
Thank goodness that Seol-hyang was alive. Thank goodness that Suk-jeong hadn't come…
Even in the throes of agonizing delirium, I desperately checked on Suk-jeong's whereabouts. For I knew that the moment her shamanic shrine was erected within these walls, the nightmare would turn into brutal reality.
Fortunately, Suk-jeong never showed her face.
It took three full days before I finally threw off the covers and rose to my feet. And so…
By the time the court maids who had departed for their New Year's home visits returned to Chwiseondang, I had become the undisputed official geumjjogi of the entire residence.
Once the fever broke, my physical recovery was astonishingly swift, but my frustration rapidly reached its boiling point.
I'm going to lose my mind from boredom!
The court maids' overprotectiveness had reached such suffocating extremes that I was ordered to remain lying flat on my back all day like a corpse. In the end, to execute my great prison escape, I had to put on an elaborate health demonstration in front of the Royal Physician himself—jumping on the spot, throwing my arms up with triumphant shouts, and even knocking out sit-ups—before he finally relented and granted me permission to step outside.
Freedom at last!
Cheering wildly on the inside, I bounced out into the open air with light, joyous steps. But no sooner had I stepped into the courtyard of Chwiseondang than I crossed paths with an all-too-familiar face.
"…Bong-bong!"
It was the Crown Prince.
And the look in his eyes was extraordinarily intense.
…Please, Your Highness, don't look at me with those wide, doe-like eyes. Not only is there a staggering nine-year age gap between us, but you're also a married man with a Crown Princess!
The absolute last thing I need is any scandalous palace misunderstandings!
…Or so I fretted, but in all honesty, who in their right mind would ever entertain such absurd thoughts about a four-year-old child? Above all, the Crown Prince's expression was unmistakable evidence of his true feelings. He was looking at me with the pure, agonized relief of an older brother gazing upon a younger sister who had just narrowly crawled back from the brink of the grave.
"Your Highness. You must have been dweadfully fwightened on my account. I am quite all wight now!"
"How does a child so young… have 'I am all right' so constantly on her lips?"
"Because I weally am all wight! Ah, and also…"
Turning toward Eunuch Mun standing respectfully behind the Crown Prince, I dropped into a polite, deep bow.
"Eunuch Mun. Thank you so, so much for saving me."
"Haha."
Clearly not expecting a formal greeting of gratitude from a tiny toddler, Eunuch Mun scratched the back of his neck with an awkward, flustered grin.
Looking at him closely, he really does have quite an endearing, gentle face.
Seol-hyang, you have surprisingly good taste in men after all.
"I only reacted without thinking because His Highness was on the verge of plunging into the water himself. Are you truly fully recovered now?"
"Yes! I am all better!"
Hearing that the Crown Prince had actually been about to jump in after me touched me deeply, but my gratitude toward Eunuch Mun was completely heartfelt. The sheer, suffocating terror of drowning was still fresh in my memory. And so…
"Eunuch Mun, this is a pwe-sent for you!"
I thrust a precious treasure into his hands. None other than traditional dang-gwa sweets—the prized confections I had received in place of New Year's pocket money!
"Aigoo, no, no, I cannot accept this from a child."
"You saved my life! You are Bong-bong's savior!"
Eunuch Mun glanced tentatively at the Crown Prince, who offered a warm smile and an encouraging nod. Crunch, crunch. Two pieces of sweet dang-gwa vanished happily into Eunuch Mun's mouth.
It was at that very moment.
Thud. Thud.
Heavy, measured footsteps echoed nearby.
All three of us—myself, the Crown Prince, and Eunuch Mun—whipped our heads around at the exact same time. The Crown Prince's eyes wavered with a faint flicker of tension.
"Royal Father."
…Why? Why do you keep popping up out of nowhere, Your Majesty?!