Ch 344: Transformation

Baek Jin-jin opened the door and rushed out, like a small bird flying into the garden. She kept circling, finally stopping, placing her hands on her waist, and raising her head towards the heaven. Baek Jin-jin laughed loudly, “Ha-ha-ha!”

“Ha! Ha-ha!”

Outside the garden, Mu-eon covered his ears. He secretly suspected that his master had given Baek Family’s Fourth Young Lady some kind of marriage pact. Wasn’t she acting like a mad person? Her behavior was far from serious.

However, Gun Mo-cho didn’t stop her. He simply folded his arms, a smile on his face, and watched the girl act as if she had lost her mind. Suddenly, he felt that this was life. And he further understood why his Tenth Brother, who usually avoided women, shamelessly clung to Baek Hak-yeom.

Having a lively girl in the household was such a beautiful thing.

“Gun Mo-cho, I’ll give you a token too!”

Baek Jin-jin realized that she had received his name but hadn’t reciprocated, so she reached into her sleeve and began searching. Unfortunately, no matter how much she rummaged, all she found were countless silver notes.

Gun Mo-cho chuckled.

“Stop searching. The token was given earlier. It’s on the table! To be honest, you wrote the name first. This King wanted to ask, why did you start writing casually and then write This King’s name? Were the people in your household casually playing with a Prince’s name, or did you often think of those three characters?”

Baek Jin-jin tilted her small chin and looked at him. Her face was full of wit.

“That’s right. Both reasons are true. My Second Older Sister often plays with Tenth Prince’s name when she’s bored. And I often think of Your Majesty in my heart. So when you said I could write freely, I naturally wrote Your Majesty’s name!”

She said these words without the slightest hesitation, so naturally, as if it were a completely ordinary, everyday thing. Even the listener felt at ease.

“Gun Mo-cho!”

Baek Jin-jin ran to Gun Mo-cho, raising her head and looking at him. It was as if stars were twinkling in her eyes.

“Tell me honestly, did almost no one ever call your name before?”

Gun Mo-cho nodded.

“To be sure, excluding Father Emperor and Queen Mother, you are the first person who dares to call This King’s name directly. Even Father Emperor and Queen Mother don’t call it with the surname like you do. Honestly speaking, those three characters aren’t familiar to This King.”

“I learned it from my older sister. My sister calls Tenth Prince that way. Very naturally.”

Baek Jin-jin said to him.

“Names need to be called by someone. If no one calls it, it has no meaning. After a long time, you will forget your own name. How sad would that be!”

Gun Mo-cho had never heard of such a thought before, but it felt quite fresh.

“Alright. Then call me that way from now on! This King will also frequently remind himself that he is a person with a name, not just Prince, Your Majesty, or Prince.”

“Okay!”

Baek Jin-jin laughed mischievously and, without any hesitation, hugged his arm.

“From now on, I’ll call you Gun Mo-cho, so please call me Baek Jin-jin!”

She couldn’t stop laughing. Like someone who had found a treasure, she laughed so hard her stomach ached.

So Gun Mo-cho had to wake her up.

“Calm down. It’s not something to be this excited about. And you are a young lady from the Government Office and your maternal family are merchants, so your background isn’t lacking. Besides, you weren’t this excited when your sister was getting married to our Tenth Brother, were you?”

“I can’t be compared with my sister.”

Baek Jin-jin finally calmed down a little, but her hand around his arm didn’t loosen in the least. She was worried that she might escape if she loosened her grip even a little.

Baek Jin-jin said to Gun Mo-cho.

“Although our maternal family is very wealthy, to tell the truth, my sister’s maternal family is a nation. According to that nation’s standards, she is a Princess. Wealthy and noble are different. Otherwise, how did Sangdo City get the saying that the east is wealthy and the west is noble? People living in the east try their best to get closer to the west, and those in the west would never move to the east for anything. It’s ultimately a matter of origin; my sister is of truly noble origin, and I am only a half-merchant bloodline.”

“So what? As far as we know, your sister has lived worse than you for over twenty years.”

When Gun Mo-cho heard the news of his full brother’s death, he thought Baek Heung-eon’s memorial service was meaningless. After all, someone died, so he considered it a mere formality. Besides, he didn’t have time to think about anything else. The news of his brother’s death had shattered his mind and body.

Only after he learned that his brother was still alive and that he wouldn’t give up on the marriage, did he feel the urge to investigate the incident. The results of the investigation revealed that the things Second Young Lady Baek had experienced in her life were truly heartbreaking.

Baek Jin-jin also sighed.

“That’s right. She lived worse than me. To tell you the truth, I used to protect my sister. I’m not good at fighting, nor do I have a strong temper, but to protect my sister, I made myself a small tyrant in the Mun Gukgongbu. That’s why I have a very good relationship with my sister. Before, I protected her, and now she takes care of me. She said we owe each other nothing, but I know. I only protected her for five or six years, but she will take care of me for my whole life.”

Gun Mo-cho didn’t agree.

“After marriage, This King will take care of you.”

“But I still need my maiden family to support me!”

Baek Jin-jin said.

“The Imperial Family’s background is too great. Any maiden family wouldn’t be satisfactory. At least, having a great sister allows me to avoid embarrassment in front of Your Majesty.”

Baek Jin-jin finished speaking and started laughing again.

“So now you understand why I’m so happy? It’s as if I’ve ascended to heaven. I’ve completely ascended!”

Gun Mo-cho was completely speechless at this girl’s words. It sounded like she wasn’t thinking at all, yet she so openly and freely revealed thoughts that a normal woman would never utter! Even getting entangled with the Imperial Family, through her expression, was merely a child’s act of cuteness. Far from being uncomfortable, his heart felt at ease.

Really…. He chose his words internally. Really, the saying that you don’t need to worry about what a child says was exactly right!

“Let’s go. Let’s go eat. You said you were hungry, right? Now I’m hungry too.”

Baek Jin-jin led Gun Mo-cho outside.

“Where is Hwacheong? Is it outside Dongak Palace?”

Gun Mo-cho nodded.

“That’s right. It’s near Dongak Palace Garden. You can take a shortcut through a small path. Ah, didn’t you say you weren’t hungry because you had a lot of lunch?”

“I wasn’t hungry just now, but I am now. When I’m happy, I get hungry. When I get hungry, I need to eat a lot. Lee Nang told me that it’s fortunate that I don’t gain weight no matter how much I eat. Otherwise, I would have become a rolling ball by now.”

The girl said with a laugh. Her joyful mood couldn’t be suppressed. Her laughter was contagious. Even the usually silent and unsmiling cold-blooded man had a smile on his lips. The servants busily carrying food in Hwacheong were startled by this sight.

Ga Gonggong’s eyes also widened. Having served his master for more than twenty years, he had rarely seen Gun Mo-cho smile since he was born. At that time, the Emperor had pointed to the Ninth Prince, a tyrant, saying that this boy would definitely grow into a cold person, and he wondered which young lady could handle him.

As expected, the Ninth Prince’s face was expressionless as he grew up day by day. He occasionally got angry, but whenever he did, someone would suffer. No one who fell into the King of Hell’s grip ever came out safely.

Ga Gonggong thought the Ninth Prince would live like that his whole life. He thought that even if he got married, there would be no affection between husband and wife. He thought maintaining a forced harmony would be the best. He even thought that he might not be able to get married. The servants were prepared for the future where the New King’s Palace would never have a mistress.

However, since Baek Jin-jin came, a earth-shattering change occurred in the Ninth Prince.

The servants saw Baek Jin-jin holding the Ninth Prince’s arm with both hands. Their hearts sank at that sight. They were afraid that the unhappy Your Majesty might order them to cut off all her fingers. Because there had been such bloody incidents before. For example, the rich young lady who tried to seduce him by taking off her clothes was left completely stripped.

But Baek Family’s Fourth Young Lady was truly an exception! Not only did the Ninth Prince not cut off her ten fingers, but he even patted her frequently. And that patting looked like he was secretly touching the young lady. The servants suspected that their master was possessed by some object. This scene was too frightening.

Gun Mo-cho was completely unaware of his own appearance. In the past, for him, the only women were Empress Jin and Gunryeongseo. They were the only two women he didn’t keep at a distance. Although he didn’t have the intense hypersensitivity of his full brother, Gun Moneum, Gun Mo-cho was inherently uninterested and even annoyed by matters between men and women. The thought of a woman clinging to his side and chattering incessantly made him even more annoyed.

But the world was truly unpredictable. Things that had originally seemed annoying to the point of death became perfectly natural after he met Baek Jin-jin. It was so natural that he even served Baek Jin-jin dishes.

Because Baek Jin-jin liked meat, all the dishes served were meat dishes. She thought that was the end of it. Eight dishes for two people was already quite a lot, and they couldn’t finish them all. But she had misjudged how the servants of the New King’s Palace understood “meat dishes.” Therefore, seeing roasted wild boar as the final dish, she couldn’t hide her surprise.

Gun Mo-cho also thought it was excessive. But he found it quite amusing to see Baek Jin-jin’s surprised expression with her mouth wide open, so he just nodded. It was a form of praise for the food.

After hearing that Baek Jin-jin would come often for dinner from then on, Ga Gonggong painstakingly selected a new chef. Thanks to this, the culinary standard of the New King’s Palace was definitely raised by several levels. Even amazing dishes like roasted wild boar were served, and they were delicious. It could be seen from the fact that Baek Jin-jin didn’t touch any other food after she saw the wild boar.

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