The Little Prince's Taste
A sudden, pin-drop silence fell over the courtyard, drowning out the baby's piercing cries in an instant.
Every set of eyes turned simultaneously toward me.
"The young prince... he stopped crying?"
"No way. Is it because of that child maid?"
"I know, right? You all heard it too, didn't you? That child told him, 'Hush!'..."
Yeah. I heard it too. Me telling him to hush...
It was true that Prince Lee Hwon had stopped wailing at that exact moment, but still...
It has to be a fluke.
They might call him two years old by Korean reckoning, but by international standards, Lee Hwon was not even a full year old yet. A baby that tiny naturally burst into tears and stopped again on a whim all day long.
Right then, a voice broke the stillness.
"Wait, you...?"
The wet nurse holding Prince Lee Hwon locked her gaze on me.
"Aren't you... that child maid from before? The one who bolted like an arrow?"
Uh, um, well...
I hadn't committed any crime, so why was I sweating bullets?
"It was just like this back then, wasn't it?! The young prince suddenly stopped crying, and when I looked around in astonishment, there you were!"
"Well... somehow or other..."
I wasn't shameless enough to spin a barefaced lie when an eyewitness was staring right at me.
"It happened last time, too?"
"My goodness, how extraordinary."
"Look at him! He isn't crying at all!"
The court maids' rapid-fire murmuring swept over me in waves. And then, another utterly unexpected development unfolded.
...Why do you keep staring at me like that?
Last time, he had drilled holes into me with that exact same look before bursting into giggles. I had a creeping suspicion that history was about to repeat itself.
Five, four, three, two, one...
"Giggle!"
Right on cue. With tear stains still glistening on his chubby cheeks, Lee Hwon beamed with pure delight.
"Oh, heavens! The young prince is laughing!"
"It's true! He's definitely smiling because of that child maid!"
"Look, look! He can't take his eyes off her even now!"
In a flash, the court maids formed a tight circle around me. It felt as if I had been pushed onto a brightly lit stage. The starring cast: Hwang Bong-bong, and Lee Hwon, who was currently firing off an infinite barrage of baby smiles.
...This is way too much pressure.
I was on the verge of developing stage fright for the first time in two lifetimes. Meanwhile, Lee Hwon kept babbling with glee, entirely unfazed. To me, it made zero sense.
Well, babies love things like Hamtaro and Pororo.
I possessed an indisputable Hamtaro face, so maybe that was enough to satisfy his baby aesthetic.
"Little one."
"Yeth?"
"Hide behind that court maid over there for a moment. Hurry."
It was an abrupt command from the wet nurse. Why in the world was she making me do agility drills like an obedient mutt...?
Dragging my feet, I trudged over and tucked myself behind the broad back of a hefty court maid. The very second I disappeared, Lee Hwon's cheerful laughter cut off.
"Oh my. His smile vanished instantly!"
"He's looking all around! He really is searching for that little maid!"
"Aigoo, his lower lip is quivering. Is he going to cry...?"
Sure enough, a pathetic little whimper escaped him. Heuuung...
Lee Hwon's face crumpled, on the brink of tears.
"Quick! Come back out here, hurry!"
The wet nurse waved her hand frantically. Left with no choice, I trudged back out to center stage.
"Gaaah!"
The moment he spotted me, Lee Hwon swallowed his tears and burst into laughter all over again.
...What is with this kid? Is he manic?
I began to seriously worry about the emotionally volatile genes coursing through the Joseon royal bloodline. But the court maids couldn't care less about hereditary temperament.
"Good heavens! To think of how we suffered every time the young prince cried without rhyme or reason!"
"Truly! The answer was right under our noses all along!"
The answer? ...Don't tell me I'm that answer?
"Seol-hyang. Could this child maid perhaps be transferred to Sungyeongdang?"
Gasp. A department transfer, once again...?
"What? Ay, don't even breathe such nonsense! Do you have any idea who our Bong-bong is?"
...Transfer denied.
"Who is she, then?"
"Hui-bin-jaga dotes on her like her own flesh-and-blood daughter, and the Crown Prince cherishes her like a little sister! And what's more—"
No. Absolutely not. The King's title could not slip out of her mouth under any circumstances. I shook my head at Seol-hyang with desperate, frantic intensity.
"Ahem! Anyway! That is the kind of precious existence our Bong-bong is at Chwiseondang."
"She is favored to that extent? What a pity... With a child like that around, soothing the young prince would be child's play."
"Indeed. Our Bong-bong can never be moved from Chwiseondang. Even if the heavens split in two, Her Ladyship would never permit it!"
Seol-hyang declared it with boundless swagger. She probably intended it as a boast, but why did hearing it make me feel so hollow inside?
I gave up on escaping a long time ago, but... did you really have to slam the door shut so thoroughly?
I lifted my head with a sullen pout. Even in that moment, Lee Hwon was staring right at me with round, unblinking eyes.
He really is undeniably cute, though.
His face beamed with pure joy.
Lee Hwon. Is an older sister your type?
"Giggle!"
Little rascal. You certainly have high standards.
"Gwah!"
Don't keep smiling at me like that... I'll get attached. And if I get attached...
It was only going to hurt later.
I quietly shifted my eyes away from him. Meanwhile, in the courtyard, Seol-hyang's unusually high-spirited bragging continued without pause.
"Do you ladies know what nickname Hui-bin-jaga personally bestowed upon our Bong-bong?"
"A nickname? What would that be?"
Seol-hyang slapped a firm, proud hand onto my shoulder and announced to the world:
"Bokdeongi! The lucky charm of Chwiseondang!"
It was, without exaggeration, an utterly soul-draining afternoon.
By the time Seol-hyang and I began our trek back to Chwiseondang, the sun was already dipping below the horizon. Yet Seol-hyang's mouth, wide open and roaring like an eight-lane highway, showed no signs of slowing down.
"Our little Bokdeongi! First His Majesty summons you, then the Crown Prince dotes on you so dearly, and now even the little prince has fallen head over heels for our lucky charm!"
...Please, stop. I'm exhausted.
"Then again, our Bong-bong doesn't lack a single thing. You're pretty, cute, sharp as a tack, and gentle and obedient to boot. If only the other child maids were even half as good as you..."
Seol-hyang's voice trailed off. By "the other child maids," she undoubtedly meant the two ten-year-olds, Bok-hee and Yong-hee. Rather than interjecting, I quietly waited for her to continue.
"Bok-hee dissolves into tears at the drop of a hat, and Yong-hee is already so cunning and sly despite her tender age... I worry for their futures, I truly do..."
Mm.
Seol-hyang suddenly smacked her own lips, as if just realizing I was walking right beside her.
"Why am I blabbering so much today? Saying such things in front of a child..."
Yes. Fully agreed. I strongly suggest you undertake a vow of silence for the foreseeable future.
Still, what kind of relationship did we have? We were bonded comrades who shared afternoon snacks and late-night porridge.
"What was that?"
I widened my eyes innocently, putting on the face of a toddler who had been lost in her own daydream.
"I didn't hear anything at all."
"Aigoo... Look at you, sharp as a needle."
Seol-hyang broke into a tender smile and patted my head.
"Hold on a moment, pretty girl."
Having promoted me from "Bokdeongi" to "pretty girl," Seol-hyang rummaged through the silk bundle the court lady of Sungyeongdang had packed for us. A moment later, she popped a piece of candied walnut into my mouth.
"Delicious, isn't it?"
"Yeth. It'th yummy."
"Sungyeongdang has a maid who used to serve in Saenggwabang, so she makes candied fruit and nuts like nobody's business. Here, have another."
Another sweet, crispy walnut went into my mouth, crunching delightfully between my teeth.
"They packed bureom nuts and all sorts of treats since Daeboreum is right around the corner," Seol-hyang murmured. "Bong-bong, the Great First Full Moon festival is going to be so much fun. We'll eat heaps of delicious food and play jwibulnori, too. Aren't you excited?"
"...Yeth."
I was excited, though for reasons entirely different from Seol-hyang's. The full moon was fast approaching.
Which meant the day Suk-jeong would return to Chwiseondang was drawing near.
What kind of scheme is Suk-jeong preparing this time?
Whatever madness she was cooking up remained an uncharted mystery to me. Naturally, every nerve in my body was strung taut.
I can't rely on cheap parlor tricks like fake grave-defilement or scrawling characters in the dirt forever.
What I needed was a permanent way to drive Suk-jeong out once and for all.
Of course, I hadn't been sitting on my hands all this time. I had secured Jang Hui-bin's absolute trust, uncovered the fact that Suk-bin Choe was spying on Chwiseondang, laid the groundwork to recruit Bok-hee to my side, and—unintended though it was—gained the reputation of a child under the King's personal favor. Just as Seol-hyang had bragged until her lips dried out, my standing within Chwiseondang was rock-solid.
However...
The real problem is that Suk-jeong is an unpredictable wild card.
To counter a vile, erratic unknown like Suk-jeong, I had to confront her head-on at least once, even if it meant taking a calculated risk.
Daeboreum. That day would be D-Day.
The sharp, chaotic jangle of brass bells echoed through the room, thick with the heavy stench of burning incense.
A low, eerie voice murmured as if chanting an arcane curse. After shaking the ritual bells furiously, Shaman O-rye reached out and yanked a banner from the bundle of obanggi divination flags.
A vivid, bright yellow silk flag whipped through the air.
"Yellow!"
"Again?! Not again...!"
Sitting across from her, trembling with an ash-pale face, Suk-jeong let out a shriek of raw despair.
An inexplicable phenomenon had taken hold. From the five-colored obanggi, only two shades ever emerged: yellow and black. Five yellows, followed by a single black. Time and time again, the identical, terrifying sequence repeated itself with chilling precision.
It had all begun on that very day.
The day Suk-jeong had carried her ritual implements into the palace, only for five consecutive yellow flags to be drawn before her eyes. The day a bizarre, suspicious child maid had been found scrawling the character 'Hwang'—the very word for yellow—into the dirt. The day that very same child maid had rolled her eyes back into her head like a demon possessed, hissing that terrifying warning: Do not go west!
"This is enough to make the dead weep! O-rye, say something! Anything!"
At Suk-jeong's frantic hysterics, O-rye, who had kept her eyes clamped shut, finally raised her heavy eyelids. A bizarre, unnerving gleam flickered within the shaman's pupils.
"The spirit child refuses to grant an answer."
"What nonsense is that?! Why?!"
"It feels as though something is blinding the divine eye. Yet, because the yellow flag reveals itself without end, the heavens must surely have a grand design in this matter."
Suk-jeong viciously gnawed at her already ragged, bleeding fingernails.
"O-rye. This won't do. There is only one way left."
"What way do you mean?"
"You must enter the palace with me."
"Me, enter the palace? How could a lowly shaman like myself ever set foot in such a sacred place?"
"Fret not over that. I will handle the entry passes myself. Let us see..."
Suk-jeong counted the days on her fingers.
"Daeboreum is approaching, so the sooner, the better."
Just before a major holiday, the flow of people entering and leaving the royal palace swelled dramatically. Suk-jeong intended to slip O-rye past the gates under the cover of that festive chaos.
"If that is your wish, I shall obey."
O-rye bowed her head slightly toward Suk-jeong.
"Yes. I must pay my respects to Hui-bin-jaga, and..." Suk-jeong's voice trailed off for a heartbeat, her eyes locking onto O-rye's with fanatical intensity. "There is a bizarre child with the surname Hwang. You must read her fortune. You must."