Chapter 27

Kyosul got stiff as she was not accustomed to that kind of greetings. A little later, the soldiers raised themselves. Kyosul and the nanny approached the top gate to enter the garden. When Kyosul crossed the threshold and the nanny followed her, they stopped the nanny.

“We’re sorry, but only royal family members and top officials can enter this garden.”

The official title of Kyosul’s nanny was Lady Yuon. Though her rank was high enough to compare with most high-ranking officials, it was below the so-called ‘top officials.’ Embarrassed, the nanny stepped back and said to Kyousul, “Your Highness, let me wait here outside. So, take a walk slowly inside.”

“Got it, nanny.”

Nodding, she entered the palace and disappeared. Looking at her back with a worried expression, the nanny began to wait at a distance from the soldiers.

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When Kyosul arrived at the entrance of the garden, she smelled the fresh fragrance of flowers. She smiled naturally the moment the sweet smell of various flowers tickled her nose. As there were so many rare flowers in the garden, there was another gate inside for her to pass. The wall surrounding the garden was covered with unknown vines, where small and cute pink flowers were blooming fully. While looking at the flowers, she entered the top gate, exclaiming before she knew.

“Wow! How large the imperial palace of a great empire is!”

There were various roads through the endless flower garden with small shrubs planted on both sides. The roads were full of colorful, simple, mesmerizing flowers, all of which emitted all kinds of fragrance but made a great harmony. While walking along one of the roads, she chose only the road right ahead of her whenever she arrived at the intersection.

How long did she walk?

She wasn’t tired at all as she saw so many beautiful flowers. She came out to a large, empty place, which seemed to be the center of the garden. And there was a pool in the center, which was too small to be called a lake but not small enough to be called a pond. There were a small island and pavilion in the center of the pool. There were about five bridges leading to the island.

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“Can I walk over there?”

When she was hesitating, she heard a woman’s very sharp voice from behind.

“Who are you?”

When she turned around with a surprised look, a woman wearing a colorful wig with ornaments approached her, holding a long silk robe. This woman with red lipstick boasted of gorgeous accessories, indicating she was high in rank. She thought Kyosul was a lowly royal concubine who didn’t even get the number of concubine rank in the palace. The seniority of concubine rank in the palace was given, based on how much favor the Emperor gave to his concubines. Currently, there were three ranked concubines, and all other concubines were one step higher than chief court ladies.

Though Kyosul didn’t put on colorful accessories, she was wearing the golden dragon hairpin only the Crown Princess could wear in the imperial palace.

But that woman didn’t notice her hairpin and shouted at Kyosul, rolling her eyes sharply.

“Didn’t you hear my question? I’m the Emperor’s concubine. Who the hell are you as you dared enter this flower garden? Don’t you know this place is only accessible to the royal family members and top officials? What the hell are these imperial soldiers doing letting this woman wander around here? Let me give them a good scolding.”

Kyosul was so embarrassed by this woman’s barrage of sharp questions that she couldn’t say anything.

“Well…”

“How rude you are! How come you don’t show your manners to me, the Emperor’s concubine? Have you recently entered the palace?”

When Kyosul barely opened her mouth with hesitation, that woman stopped her with an arrogant look and looked her up and down. When Kyosul hesitated as she had never received this kind of treatment, that woman raised her hand, biting her red lips.

Surprised, Kyosul closed her eyes and curled up her head. But when this woman was about to slap Kyosul in the face, she was stopped by another woman.

“What the hell are you doing now?”

Kyosul turned her head toward another woman to check out if the latter was her acquaintance. But Kyosul didn’t know her. That woman was also decorated with colorful ornaments all over.

I think I have to walk around, colorfully decorated like them, Kyosul thought at that moment.

Kyosul usually went around in casual dress as her official garment was heavy and cumbersome, but when she bumped into strangers, her decoration told them the status of her rank in the palace. As the Mok Kingdom was so large and there were so many royal women, their decoration showed to each other how they were ranked in the palace.

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Kyosul let out a sigh with bitterness. The second woman seemed to be older and higher in rank than the first woman.

“What are you doing? How can you try to beat somebody in this strict palace?”

“I was teaching this rude woman a lesson. So, just go your way, Concubine Sassi.”

“Princess Oran!”

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The first woman was Princess Oran, and the second woman was the Emperor’s first concubine, Sassi. The No. 1 concubine of the Emperor and the official wife of a prince in line to succeed the throne were treated as equal in rank in the Mok Kingdom. Even those princes in line to succeed the throne had to respect the Emperor’s concubines because his authority was so high. The fact that Sassi was given the number of the concubine rank meant that she was favored by the Emperor. Even the Crown Prince could not treat the Emperor’s concubine recklessly.

When Kyosul came to learn the two women’s identities, she could calm down. Princess Oran was clearly lower in rank than she, and Concubine Sassi was the Emperor’s concubine that Prince Ruhae’s wife Yomin told her about the other day.

Completely forgetting about Kyosul before them, they began to compare their ranks in the palace and argue.

“As you know, anybody can’t come to this flower garden. As this woman broke the rule, she has to be duly punished.”

“Nonetheless, you shouldn’t beat her.”

“Moreover, this woman didn’t show any manners to me when she saw me. This is totally my own matter. So, don’t meddle in my matter, Concubine Sassi. Just pretend not to know and tour the flower garden, will you?”

“As you know, there are imperial soldiers standing guard outside the flower garden. Obviously, they must have checked out her identity before letting her in. Don’t you think so?”

“Look at this woman’s pretty face! She must have heard the rumor about the flower garden here and tempted the guards outside to come inside.”

When Oran said cynically, Kyosul bit her lips quietly. Kyosul didn’t like the way Oran spoke recklessly, granted she was not aware of her title as the Crown Princess.

Stopping Oran in the middle, Concubine Sassi said, “Oran, you’re too sarcastic! I can’t just ignore your arrogant words.”

But Oran raised her head, balking at Concubine Sassi’s warning, and opened her red lips, leering at her, “Are you going to report this to the Emperor? I’m the mother of a prince’s son. In other words, I’ve begotten a son for the royal family of the Mok Kingdom where there are few male offspring.”

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“How arrogant you are!” Concubine Sassi shouted at her.

She stammered as if she was shocked by Oran’s arrogance.

As she couldn’t stand Oran’s audacious attitude, Kyosul came forward and said, “Stop it.”

“How dare you cut in?” Oran shouted at Kyoran.

Biting her lips, Kyosul opened her house, looking at her with a stern look, “I’m Crown Princess Kyosul!”

When Kyosul identified her title belatedly, Oran and Concubine Saassi’s faces turned white.

***

Oran was a woman who had nothing and nobody to fear. She was admitted to the palace when she was 15 and got married to Prince Dukwol who was a kind-hearted man but a very hard nut to crack. Since she became his official wife, she loved him dearly and lived in the palace for ten years. It was none other than Oran who delivered the first grandchild, Prince Taehwa, for the royal family that had seen no male offspring for a long time. Six years had passed since she gave birth to a son, but she didn’t beget any more children. Oran was confident that her son would be crowned as the official grandson of the Emperor. Looking at Bipaan, who was younger than her, she believed that Prince Dukwol would be the Crown Prince and succeed the throne.

In fact, Emperor Ohyulje was the son of the previous emperor’s second concubine, who was not duly recognized by royal family members at first. There was nothing wrong with the fact that Prince Dukwol was born to Ohyulje’s concubine. It was common in the imperial family that there was intense fighting among princes to succeed the throne. Oran even thought that she could kill Bipaan in order to have Dukwol succeed the throne. She put her five-year-old son on her lap and kept whispering into his ears every night, “I’m going to be the Queen in the future. And you’re going to wear the crown of the Crown Prince in the not-so-distant future.”

But her son was no more than the grandson of the Emperor at this point.