Ch 343: I Will Take You As My Wife!

“……”

“Is this not possible? There is no need to rush. If you don’t want to do it that way, let’s think of another method.”

Baek Jin-jin said.

“No need to think. Do it that way! Accept me!”

Gun Mo-cho was silent.

“……”

Baek Jin-jin was very anxious inside.

“How come, now that I agree, do you regret it?”

The tense Baek Jin-jin started to stammer again.

“A man of courage, sh, sh, should keep his word.”

Gun Mo-cho was utterly dumbfounded.

“Baek Jin-jin, what treachery is this towards This King?”

“I, I, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t plot any treachery.”

Baek Jin-jin, frightened, stepped back.

“As we talked, it came to this. If you don’t want to do it, let’s pretend nothing was said, and nothing happened.”

Feeling utterly frustrated, Baek Jin-jin quickly retreated to the entrance. Accidentally raising her eyes to look at him, Baek Jin-jin quickly lowered her gaze again.

“Come here.”

He sighed.

“Treachery or not, I’m not blaming you, so why are you hiding? Come here and seriously write This King’s name. After you write it, let’s go eat dinner.”

“I, I won’t write. I won’t eat.”

Baek Jin-jin remained motionless, standing in front of the entrance.

“Just find the documents I need to see. I came here to work, so I shouldn’t waste work time.”

“You won’t even eat?”

“Um, I won’t eat. I ate a lot at lunch, I’m not hungry.”

“But This King is hungry.”

Since the mountain wouldn’t come to him, he had no choice but to go to it. So he walked towards the entrance and soon stood before Baek Jin-jin.

“This King hasn’t eaten anything from morning to night because This King was reviewing cases at Yeomwang Palace at lunch. If This King wants to starve with you, This King has nothing to say. The documents are in that chest over there. Look at them yourself!”

Gun Mo-cho returned to the table, picked up the brush, and began to write. Baek Jin-jin couldn’t see it, but what he was writing was her name. He wrote it smoothly, as if it was natural. Just as she unknowingly wrote his name on paper, he, too, had no qualms about writing the three characters of Baek Jin-jin’s name.

In a short while, Gun Mo-cho was once again in front of her. This time, he held a paper with the freshly written characters in his hand.

The paper was about the size of a book, not that big. Baek Jin-jin saw the three characters of her name written on it, and a red seal stamped in the lower right corner.

“What’s this stamp?”

As she approached, she saw that it was a seal that read “Cho.” The stamped seal was not entirely red, but a gold-mixed Imperial Ink.

“This King’s personal seal.”

As he spoke, he started to fold the paper on which he had finished writing and grabbed her wrist again. Gun Mo-cho slipped the paper into her sleeve and said,

“Keep it. This King keeps his word. I will take this as proof. When you turn thirteen, This King will go to Mun Guk Gongbu and propose marriage.”

Baek Jin-jin’s face turned red instantly.

“R-really? You’ll really accept me?”

Gun Mo-cho was stunned by Baek Jin-jin’s reaction.

“Could it be you said it as a joke?”

“No, no. It wasn’t a joke. I’m just, just a little surprised.”

She started spinning in place. It wasn’t just surprising, she was delighted. It was surprisingly delightful. It was simply too sudden, and she didn’t know what to do.

“There’s no need to be surprised.”

Gun Mo-cho smiled at Baek Jin-jin.

“Since the day you stopped me on the road and said that even if you were beaten to death, you wouldn’t be sent to Yangju, I’ve been thinking. Perhaps I can’t shake this girl off. If she is destined to be Gun Mo-cho’s woman, why would we test each other’s hearts and suffer for a long time? Your mother also asked about my horoscope, and I answered truthfully, so go back and ask her. What our horoscopes are like, that is.”

“Horoscopes? Compatible?”

Baek Jin-jin tensed up again.

“That means, if we’re not compatible, this matter… .”

“If we’re not compatible, we’ll make it compatible.”

Gun Mo-cho grabbed her sleeve and said,

“People come first. If you just nod your head, the horoscopes can be made compatible. If not, we’ll do it differently. It’s not difficult. You just need to answer This King. What will you do?”

Gun Mo-cho leaned in to look at Baek Jin-jin. His eyes revealed an undisguised expectation.

Baek Jin-jin’s face was as red as it could possibly get.

“Then let’s do it that way. Your Majesty is saying it directly, why would I refuse!”

Gun Mo-cho once again gave up completely in the face of this forthright Fourth Young Lady. He decided to change the subject.

“What’s in your sleeve?”

He pressed it, and Baek Jin-jin’s sleeve was bulging.

“Ah, silver notes.”

As Baek Jin-jin spoke and took out the silver notes, more than twenty notes came out at once. It seemed to be tens of thousands of nyang.

Gun Mo-cho was startled. A young lady, only twelve years old, carrying so many silver notes?

“Did you steal it from Geumsaenggak?”

“What kind of joke is that? What is there to steal from Geumsaenggak?”

Baek Jin-jin widened her eyes.

“I just brought some pocket money, just in case.”

Gun Mo-cho was bewildered. Suddenly, he felt that compared to this girl, he was more like a gigolo relying on a wealthy woman.

Fortunately, Baek Jin-jin quickly dispelled his doubts.

“Geumsaenggak runs a business that aims to lose money. So my Lee Nang told me to always carry plenty of silver ingots. If the ledger doesn’t have enough silver, it can be used to extinguish urgent fires. We can’t make patients take unnecessary trips! Besides, everyone who comes to Geumsaenggak is in a critical situation. If we lack herbs like hundred-year-old ginseng, I can use this silver to go to another pharmacy and buy a root, in case of emergency.”

Baek Jin-jin rummaged through her sleeve.

“Where did I put that paper just now?”

Gun Mo-cho helped her find it. Baek Jin-jin held the paper and looked at it carefully, and the more she looked, the more she laughed. Finally, unable to hold it in any longer, Baek Jin-jin’s face broke into an uncontrollable smile; even her laughter leaked out.

Gun Mo-cho was also amused by her laughter.

“Is it that funny? Like you found silver ingots or something.”

“What do you mean? What’s so funny about finding silver ingots? I found a Prince!”

Unable to control her laughter, she covered her face with the paper and laughed loudly.

Seeing the tears welling up in the girl’s eyes from laughing, Gun Mo-cho quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped them away.

“Stop laughing. Other girls would blush and run away if this happened, this is the first time I’ve seen this.”

Baek Jin-jin’s laughter finally stopped. As the paper came down from her face, the interrogation began.

“Who? Who did you see cover their face and blush while running away? Gun Mo-cho, did you give this paper to anyone else?”

After she finished speaking, Baek Jin-jin suddenly remembered an important question.

“No, wait. I laughed too soon. I should have asked this first. If you accept me, what will I be? A concubine? A secondary consort?”

Gun Mo-cho was stunned.

“What kind of talk is that? What concubine, what secondary consort? When I say I will accept you, it naturally means I will accept you as the Royal Consort of our Sinwangbu.”

“Really?”

Baek Jin-jin showed disbelief.

“How could that be? You’re a Prince. Even though my father is Mun Gukgong, I’m an illegitimate daughter. An illegitimate daughter is not qualified to be the wife of a Prince, will your family agree?”

Gun Mo-cho looked at her for a moment before asking,

“Then what if my family doesn’t agree? Will you be a concubine or a secondary consort?”

The temperature in the room seemed to drop instantly. A moment ago, she was sweating from laughter, but now it was as if ice was forming everywhere, her heart gradually freezing.

She said,

“I won’t do anything. If it’s a concubine or a secondary consort, I won’t get married. My Lee Nang said that I have the opportunity to become the legal wife of an illegitimate son. I thought, even though I am marrying an illegitimate son, it’s still much better than being a concubine of a legitimate son. My Lee Nang is a concubine, but I don’t want to be a concubine.”

Baek Jin-jin’s voice grew quieter, and her head bowed lower. The moment the girl lowered her head, Gun Mo-cho saw a tear fall onto the jade-paved floor. It felt like a needle piercing his heart.

Gun Mo-cho sighed and stroked her soft hair.

“Alright. Since it’s come to this, become the legal wife of an illegitimate son!”

Baek Jin-jin’s tears gushed out. Finally unable to bear it any longer, she covered her face and crouched on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

She knew. Gun Mo-cho didn’t want her.

At that moment, Baek Jin-jin felt like her heart was being torn apart. Even Mu-eon, who had been hiding far away, could hear it. But Gun Mo-cho couldn’t understand why she was crying. He could only feel sorry for the girl crouching on the floor, so distressed.

When her crying finally subsided, Gun Mo-cho quickly asked,

“Why are you doing this? Why are you suddenly crying?”

Baek Jin-jin was utterly heartbroken.

“If you don’t want to accept me, then don’t say things that touch me. After saying all that, then saying you don’t need me, what am I supposed to do? Who can stand being tossed around like that? Is it so fun to torment me?”

Gun Mo-cho couldn’t agree with that.

“Is it fun to torment you?”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s not what I meant. Calm down first. Didn’t you clearly say that you would marry an illegitimate son and become his legal wife?”

“Isn’t that saying you don’t need me?”

“How is that saying I don’t need you? If you were to marry a legitimate son and become his concubine, that would mean you don’t want to have anything to do with This King.”

Baek Jin-jin was stunned by Gun Mo-cho’s words.

“What do you mean?”

Gun Mo-cho spread his hands and pointed to himself.

“Although I am a Prince, the current Empress has no sons. Therefore, there are no legitimate sons in our Military Family. Not only This King, but even your Second Older Sister’s intended, the Tenth, is merely an illegitimate son. So look, doesn’t This King’s status and your aspirations perfectly align? Isn’t this fate?”

Baek Jin-jin was a little bewildered.

“That means, since Your Majesty is an illegitimate son, if I marry you, I can be the legal wife?”

Gun Mo-cho nodded.

“That’s the meaning. And This King is busy with government affairs, I don’t have the time to make the back garden lively. I also don’t plan on taking concubines after officially taking a wife. So, if you ever marry me, you will not only be the Royal Consort of Sinwangbu, but also the only mistress of this Royal Palace. Do you like what This King is saying?”

“Really?”

Baek Jin-jin’s eyes widened. She looked almost unable to believe what she had just heard. She kept shaking Gun Mo-cho’s arm.

“Is that true? Will you really accept me as your Royal Consort? Will the Imperial Family agree?”

Gun Mo-cho nodded and said seriously,

“It’s all true. My family won’t interfere with my decision.”

“Wow!”

Baek Jin-jin, who was almost dead, instantly came back to life and jumped up and down, almost reaching the ceiling. Gun Mo-cho was startled, but seeing the girl so happy, he too began to feel happy.

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