I Was Born as the King’s Daughter – Chapter 75

Ch 75

If you don’t kiss me, you’re sentenced to death

◈◈◈

Honestly, I didn’t want to ask. I was afraid of the answer. I’ve been too busy trying to manage my own life so far. Even though I’ve received many privileges, it was still like that. Then, how hard of a life must the maids be living, and how are the commoners living? To be more honest, I think I’ve been consciously refusing to think about it. My life is hard enough. And I can’t do anything right now either. So let’s just focus on surviving for now. I think I’ve been comforting myself like that.

But this time, I asked.

“Sujin, please answer my question honestly.”

“Yes, Princess nim.”

I asked what happens to the maids when they turn 40. Song Su-jin smiled faintly.

“Well…”

“Sujin, I’m asking you seriously. What happens? I…”

I once heard that they are disposed of. Whether that’s true or not. I felt like I had to confirm it here. How could they do that? Disposing of people. Even if this is another world, isn’t that too much? It’s absolutely impossible. It’s something that shouldn’t happen.

“It’s better for our beautiful Princess nim not to know.”

“Sujin, tell me honestly. I’m also afraid to hear the answer. But I want to hear it.”

“…….”

Sujin hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Usually, it goes two ways. They either leave the palace…”

When they leave the palace, they say they get a little money. It’s not a lot, but enough to somehow live out the rest of their lives.

“Or they choose to die peacefully. They choose one of the two.”

And what followed was shocking.

“More than 70 percent of the maids choose to die peacefully.”

“…….”

I was shocked. To choose to die on their own.

“It’s considered an honorable thing if a maid has done her job well until the age of 40, and dies at 40 without any accidents.”

“…That’s a lie.”

I couldn’t believe it. To choose an honorable death at the age of 40. That’s a lie. Rather than that, it seemed much more plausible that the maids, who had never left the palace in their entire lives, chose death because they were afraid to go out into the outside world.

‘Really… this world…’

I thought I had gotten used to it, but it wasn’t true after all.

‘This can’t go on.’

Song Su-jin smiled brightly.

“Princess nim, you’re the only one who cares about the maids. Our beautiful Princess nim.”

◈◈◈

Chris’s proposal was a very good one for me. An opportunity to experience the outside world. To be honest, I’m also afraid of the outside world. It’s hard enough to live as a princess, but to live as a commoner, who is much lower in the social hierarchy, would probably be like living in h*ll. However, the women here live their lives thinking that such a life is natural.

‘My world is too small and narrow.’

That’s right. Except for the Royal Palace and the Imperial Magic Academy, there are hardly any places I’ve been to. Most of the information about the world I’ve obtained has been from books.

Chris knew my mind like a ghost.

“Kim Sang-hui, you don’t look so good.”

“Ah, no, it’s not.”

“You know, you should be dating me, but you don’t like it because the Prince nim is in the way, right?”

And before Kim Hwan-seong could flare up, Chris held out a chocolate bar.

“This is the Honey Chocolate Bar, which is so scarce in the Empire that it’s causing a commotion. I prepared it for the Prince nim.”

“Wh, wh, who do you think would like th, th, this kind of thing!”

Hey, Brat. But why is your hand reaching for it? Ugh, really. That Brat. He’s an evolved Brat, but at the same time, he’s just simply evolved. How can a human be so simple? Don’t go around saying you’re my older brother. It’s embarrassing.

Our Brat, ahem, cleared his throat.

“I’ll accept it for the sake of your sincerity.”

Anyway, our two-night, three-day schedule began. We boarded the plane heading to Goryeo.

‘When I think about it… I’m really receiving tremendous privileges.’

Even the fact that a woman is riding a plane is already a big deal. It’s obvious, but it’s a man who flies the plane. It moves with a man’s magic power. It’s absurd that a woman is comfortably riding in an object that a man is operating with his own strength.

‘I… what should I do?’

Our Brat, who was snoring next to me, seemed to have no thoughts, and Chris was smiling brightly at me.

“Princess Sang-hui still seems to distrust me too much.”

“I am too foolish to understand what you mean.”

“You’re still wary of me, aren’t you?”

Chris leaned back against the seat. And then smiled brightly again.

“I’ll approach you slowly. It’s okay to be wary. You can’t help it. I understand it well enough. Anyway, my feelings are sincere. You’ll see it as time goes by.”

I asked cautiously.

“I… I don’t really understand why Chris Fellow Student nim says he likes me so much. I’m just a lowly girl…”

“I told you.”

Chris smiled again. That smile. If he were born on Earth, he would have charmed many women. I admit it. He’s really handsome. Just a typical pretty boy.

“I fell in love at first sight… Ugh!”

Whether it was a sleeping habit or not, Kim Hwan-seong’s fist struck Chris’s face. Kim Hwan-seong opened his eyes.

“What…? What happened?”

Blood was flowing from one of Chris’s nostrils. That Brat. It seems like he hit him on purpose. I have a suspicion, but no evidence.

◈◈◈

In an instant, all eyes were focused.

“Nuna!”

Hmm. Well. If I were to express that shout in text, it would be something like ‘!!!!!!!!’. In other words, it was incredibly loud, and it echoed loudly throughout this place, Songdo International Airport, Goryeo’s huge international airport.

Oh, my Hwan-hyeok. It’s only been about four months since I last saw him, and he’s already grown so much. He’s taller than me, so that says it all. Wow. My Hwan-hyeok. Oh, my Hwan-hyeok. I wanted to run over and pat his butt right now, but I held back. There are many eyes watching here.

I could feel the whispers around me. I couldn’t hear them, but they were probably cursing us for being a dysfunctional family.

‘How on earth were they raised?’

‘Nuna? How can he call her that in front of so many people?’

They’re probably cursing us like that. For a simple example, wasn’t there a time when some guy picked a fight with our Gaecha-ban ssi just for walking with our arms linked? Telling him not to embarrass men.

Hwan-hyeok, now knowing a little about such things, deployed a field. Kim Hwan-seong smirked.

“That’s not how you deploy a Special Field.”

And he acted very smug. He puffed out his chest, raised his chin, glanced at me once, and then smiled. I will never forget that. He seems like he’s nothing without his swagger.

“This is how you do it.”

Our Hwan-hyeok ran towards me. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. You’re gonna fall. You’re gonna fall. In the end, I fell. Well, not completely. I survived thanks to Chris catching me.

‘Aigoo. This guy really has no consideration for women.’

I know Hwan-hyeok likes me. That’s why he ran over and hugged me like this. But the problem is that he hugged me too hard. It would be fine if I were a man, but I’m a woman. I couldn’t overcome Hwan-hyeok’s strength and almost fell. And if you’re a man, it doesn’t hurt when you fall. It hurts when a woman falls. But I can’t scold Hwan-hyeok. Instead, I gave him the information.

“Prince nim, it hurts when a woman falls.”

“Why does it hurt? Sang-ah was fine?”

Sang-ah has magic power! Come to think of it, I don’t see Sang-ah. If Sang-ah had come to greet me too, the joy would have been doubled.

“Women without magic power hurt very, very much when they fall. I might even cry because it hurts so much.”

“Th, th, that can’t happen!”

His body has grown a lot, but seeing him act like a spoiled child, he’s still a baby. What do you call this? Gap moe? His mental age is still that of an elementary schooler, but his body is close to a high schooler… Ah. Cute. He’s really cute, my baby.

But then our Hwan-hyeok started to whine.

“Why aren’t you greeting me?”

I thought about what he meant, and I remembered that when this child was truly in the form of a ‘baby’, I would greet him with cheek kisses or forehead kisses. He really had the appearance of a ‘baby’, but how does he remember that? It’s really amazing.

I looked at our cute Hwan-hyeok and smiled, then gave Hwan-hyeok a light kiss on the forehead. A light kissing sound was made.

Our Second Brat grumbled.

“What are you doing, a grown man clinging to a girl? Do you want to get scolded? Aren’t you ashamed?”

“Hyung is so lucky.”

“What, you punk.”

Ah, no. Hwan-hyeok. You. You seem like you’re about to say something weird.

“If we’re in the dorm together, Hyung will get greeted every single day! Ugh. I’m jealous!”

…He did it. Kim Hwan-seong, who was complaining, smirked. Hey. You’re not cute… I don’t feel like greeting you… Don’t make me do Mureo-wat… That’s what I’m thinking, but the Brat smirked.

He looked at me and asked.

“Then. I’ll get greeted every single day. Right?”

…I’m doomed. It seems like the harm of family education. I don’t know how he did it, but I heard a strange ringing sound only in my ears. It was like the whisper of a demon.

“Now, if you don’t greet me properly, you’re sentenced to death.”

◈◈◈

It is very unusual for a prince to go out to greet a princess. However, the Royal Palace Scholars are now in an accepting mood.

“At least outwardly, they have to act as if Princess Kim Sang-hui is truly the treasure of the kingdom.”

And what’s a bit strange is,

“But Prince Kim Hwan-hyeok seems to really like Princess Kim Sang-hui.”

“Oh, come on. No way. It must all be part of their education. Since he’s a prince of Goryeo, he must be receiving political education from a young age…”

Thinking that way, it was also surprising. It was as if they had predicted in advance that Princess Kim Sang-hui would be used in this way ━ as a cause for war ━ Prince Kim Hwan-hyeok has been liking and following Princess Kim Sang-hui since a long time ago. Indeed. This must have been planned from a long time ago. Indeed, the King was amazing.

“But why did they suddenly return to Goryeo?”

To that, Alex replied.

“There’s a boy named Chris, and he asked her out on a date.”

“A date?”

I wondered what that word meant, but the scholars soon recalled its meaning. A word that is not used now. A word that can only be found in very old ancient languages.

“Are you perhaps referring to that date, a word that has now disappeared?”

“That’s right. He confessed that he fell in love with Princess Kim Sang-hui at first sight. According to my research, falling in love at first sight means falling in love after seeing someone once.”

Still, the scholars were well-educated, so they easily understood such difficult words like alien language. At least in their heads.

“To think there’s such a bizarre word.”

“So, does that mean that a person named Chris loves Princess Kim Sang-hui?”

Love is also an extremely uncommon word. It was only because they were scholars that they recalled its meaning at once, ordinary people probably wouldn’t know the word.

“That’s right. At least, that’s what it seems like outwardly.”

“What country and position does he have? What’s his scheme?”

“He is said to be the first prince of the Baekje Kingdom, whom we sent the 6th Division Knight to investigate some time ago.”

“Baekje…”

The scholars thought.

‘It seems like His Majesty is plotting some kind of scheme again.’

Otherwise, there’s no way that they would have sent a knight to the small, unknown kingdom of Baekje for no reason, and there’s no way that the prince of that place would approach Princess Kim Sang-hui like that.

Only Alex had a slightly different thought.

‘If I just believe what I see… it’s really simple and clear… The problem is, the possibility of that is slim.’

No. It’s not slim. Rather, it was closer to what was seen. The scholars were thinking in a completely different direction, and Alex was the closest to the truth, but he just couldn’t believe it.

The scholars’ night grew deeper again.

Based on the four words: Baekje, Chris, Princess Kim Sang-hui, and Knight, they worked day and night to understand what the King’s insight was.

◈◈◈

Chris said.

“Just trust me and follow me, Oppa.”

…Hey. You’re also talking about Oppa. Do you really have to say “Oppa” like that on your own? Did you catch it from our Brat… Even so, the “Oppa” that Chris was saying didn’t feel cheesy or burdensome. It sounded really natural.

Our Brat, who heard the word “Oppa,” asked bluntly, as if he was very displeased.

“Where are you trying to go?”

Chris smiled brightly. That smile. It’s really worth a million dollars. I admit it.

“Princess Kim Sang-hui… wants to know a lot about the outside world. She knows that the world she’s experienced is too small.”

He’s really… an amazing guy the more I see him. How does he know so much about women? And how does he know so much about me? Really… I’ve become a little curious about the country of Baekje.

“I wanted to take her to our Baekje, but I thought Sang-hui might be scared, so I came to Goryeo. But she’ll be relieved if she’s here.”

Well… Hwan-seong is next to me, and our Hwan-hyeok is here, and there are probably Special Knights with us, so I guess I’ll be safe.

‘Is Chris’s heart sincere?’

I don’t know yet. But I was starting to feel a little that it might be sincere. If he didn’t really care about me and look at me with affectionate eyes, this kind of consideration would be absolutely impossible. For the men here, that is.

“So, I’m going to show her this place first. Well… to be honest, it’s not really like a date. Now. We’ve arrived! Everyone, please get off!”

I got out of the car. It was a place I had never seen before.

━————————–= Author’s Notes —————————=

I know Hwan-hyeok likes me. That’s why he ran over and hugged me like this. But the problem is that he hugged me too hard.

He was happy to see me and hugged me, but it almost became attempted murder…