Chapter 4: Like father, like daughter.
"How dare you defy Her Highness's will!"
Court Lady Choi reported the court maids from the royal kitchen to the concubine for giving me rice cakes, and they were immediately replaced. After that, I was locked in the separate palace for a week without being able to take a single step outside.
Because I had crammed the rice cakes into my mouth, I suffered from acute indigestion and spent the entire time groaning in a cramped corner of my room.
'Useless body!'
The day the confinement was lifted, I stepped out with my eyes burning with determination.
'Let's train. As soon as possible!'
In this crazy palace where they not only neglected me by not giving me a name but also didn't let me eat a single rice cake, I had to escape as soon as possible. To do that, I needed to become strong quickly.
'I need to find a place where I can train properly without getting caught.'
Of course, I had been training my stamina alone in the small space of the separate palace every morning. But I couldn't keep training in that tiny area forever. Moreover, there had been several close calls where Court Lady Choi almost caught me training.
'Who knows what she would do if she found out.'
Considering how harshly they treated me over food, the thought of them preventing my training made me feel hopeless.
'This path is unfamiliar…'
I was sneaking around the palace, trying to find a suitable training spot, when I stumbled upon a place I had never seen before.
"What's this?"
It seemed like a good spot since I had wandered quite far from the separate palace. There were enough trees around to hide my body, and it was a small but spacious area perfect for running around.
'This place looks quite decent.'
As I was looking around, I spotted something shiny in the grass, reflecting the sunlight, which made me squint.
'What's that?'
I trotted over and pushed aside the grass with my small hands to reveal a quiver full of arrows and a bow lying on the ground.
'This is amazing! What a find!'
A real weapon. I had been trying to get one for the past five years but couldn't manage it.
'Shall I try shooting it once?'
I looked around but didn't see anyone. It seemed safe to shoot an arrow at a nearby tree. However, there was one significant problem.
'It's too big. I can't lift it.'
I tried to anchor one end of the bow in the ground and awkwardly pulled the string with an arrow nocked.
'Ugh, it's too short… I can't do it well.'
It was quite different from the calculations based on my previous life's physical capabilities. My arms trembled, and in the end, I decided to give up and lower the arrow.
Thwack!
But I accidentally let go of the string due to my lack of strength.
'No!'
"Your Majesty…!"
The arrow flew past, narrowly missing the king's neck and embedding itself in a tree. I never imagined I would accidentally shoot at my father, the king.
"Who dares to harm His Majesty!"
My eyes, filled with horror, met the king's fierce gaze. In an instant, numerous swords were pointed at my neck.
My legs were trembling as the tense standoff continued. I swallowed dryly.
'I messed up.'
I had let my guard down. I should have considered that the king could appear outside the palace.
'Is this the end?'
Facing the king's sharp, blade-like gaze, I felt like I might die right there.
Though it might seem unlikely that he would kill his own five-year-old daughter, this wasn't just a wild guess! It was a reasonable judgment based on the data I had collected over the past five years.
Having spent most of my time growing up as a baby, there was very little I could do. Like any baby, the best I could do was sleep, eat, and 'listen.'
"He beheaded his own brother to ascend the throne."
I had heard such insane stories one day!
His past was far more complicated than I had anticipated. My biological father, the current king, was born to a concubine but was registered as the son of the then-queen, who was infertile. The problem arose when the queen unexpectedly became pregnant with a son.
The ministers unanimously wanted the king's position as crown prince to be revoked.
"The Crown Prince neglects his studies and spends all his time training in martial arts and hunting at dawn."
In other words, the king was as obsessed with martial arts back then as he is now! Neglecting his scholarly duties and always swinging a sword, he faced a barrage of memorials to the throne. With a legitimate heir born, the case was closed.
Thus, the current king relinquished his position as crown prince to his younger brother. For a while, he pretended to have no interest in the throne. However, this crazy king launched a coup without any warning, killing all the opposition and seizing the throne. He was rightfully called a 'tyrant.'
'In conclusion, he's a madman who kills even his kin if it suits him.'
I still vividly remember when the king, who had just been crowned, left me, his newly born daughter, to the concubine and disappeared.
So, I had been trying to avoid encountering him all this time, but it was all in vain as we met like this.
"What is this wretch?"
The king asked, not directing the question to anyone in particular, but I couldn't muster the courage to respond due to the swords pointed at me.
When I didn't respond, the king's eyebrow twitched.
"Answer me. Who are you?"
His low voice and the persistent gleam in his eyes felt as if they could tear me apart at any moment. In the short time I had, I desperately racked my brain.
No matter the reason, I had shot an arrow at the king. In other words, I had almost harmed the heavenly ruler. Would this really be resolved with a mere excuse? Moreover, I was a 'discarded princess' who hadn't even been given a name.
No matter how much I thought, I couldn't come up with a suitable excuse.
'Should I kill him?'
Facing a death threat, if there's no way to avoid it, the only option is to kill the threat.
'Can I kill him?'
I quickly calculated the odds in my head.
'No, I can't.'
I reached a cold conclusion.
'With my current skills, I can't kill him.'
Even if I ignored the guards pointing swords at me, it was impossible to defeat the king alone.
'He has an incredible killing aura.'
I looked at the king's stern face and his sharp, obsidian-like eyes.
I wondered,
'Could I have beaten this man in my previous life?'
It's hard to say for sure. He was undoubtedly stronger than any assassin I had faced before.
"Your Majesty…!"
At that moment, the chief eunuch, who had been standing quietly behind the king, stepped forward.
"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, but this is the princess, the daughter of Queen Sohyeon."
"Princess?"
Fortunately, the king's killing aura subsided. He looked at me thoughtfully and then glanced at the arrow.
"Are you really a princess?"
I desperately moved my stiff tongue to utter a response.
"Yes…."
That's right. You are my biological father, and I am your biological daughter. So please, have them lower their swords. I was wrong. Okay?
Swish!
Noticing my pitiful gaze, the king signaled with his eyes, and the guards lowered their weapons and stepped back. Finally, I exhaled the breath I had been holding. Though my body trembled as if I might collapse, I managed to stay upright.
"If so, why is the princess in my training ground?"
While I hesitated, unable to quickly come up with an appropriate answer, the chief eunuch spoke up.
"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty. In my humble opinion, it seems the young princess wandered nearby and mistook this place for a playground."
"So, she thought the royal bow was a toy?"
"I apologize, but I've heard that young children sometimes mistake weapons for toys and get into accidents."
"Is that so…?"
Nod, nod!
Sensing the king's gaze urging me to respond, I clenched my fists and quickly nodded.
'Will he really buy this story?'
But to my surprise, the king, after a moment of contemplation, accepted it immediately.
"Well, I was like that too when I was young."
Previous Chapter
Comments
Post a Comment