Chapter 79: Her Trace

“Come on, Young Miss. Hurry, hurry!!”

After my two aunts burst in like that.

Unlike usual, a delicious aroma began to waft through Junghee Hall.

It was because the two noble ladies had brought in bundles of goodies, all claiming they were for their beloved niece.

“Young Miss, this is from Pimatgol!”

“These days, wheat flour is so common—being able to buy such delicious food on the street is such a joy...!!”

The first thing to emerge was a steaming hot king-sized dumpling.

Judging by how chewy the wrapper was, it looked like there was plenty of flour in the dough.

“I hear His Highness still forbids foods made with refined flour, saying one shouldn’t indulge in luxury. Is that right?”

“Really, that stubborn nobleman hasn’t changed at all, even though the world around him has.”

“Ufufu... Young Miss, you know this is a secret from His Highness, right?”

But even though they were blatantly gossiping about the king behind his back, these two would never be punished for it.

They were the king’s full siblings, known as Lady Cheongyeon and Lady Cheongseon.

They were my father’s only surviving blood relatives born from my grandmother’s womb.

Well, if they ever got caught by Father directly, they’d get a good scolding, but that would be it.

Aunts and uncles are said to enjoy a niece or nephew without any responsibilities.

Though my aunts couldn’t visit the palace often because of Father’s strictness, every time they found an excuse, they’d dote on me as much as possible.

So, I took a bite of the warm king dumpling filled with their affection, enjoying a small moment of rebellion.

Since Father’s orders strictly forbade outside food in Junghee Hall, I couldn’t enjoy street snacks unless I had such rare opportunities.

“Oh my, how heartily you eat.”

“You have only us, right, Young Miss? Right?”

“Aren’t we the best aunts ever? Don’t you think so?”

“I just wish my eldest would take after you, even just a little. She’s four years older, yet honestly…”

But, well.

It was a little burdensome to be watched so intently by my aunts with every bite I took.

Their love was different from the stern affection of my mother, a softer kind.

Looking at my aunts, who had their eyes fixed on me, I could only chew as adorably as I could.

Besides, the gifts from my aunts didn’t stop at food.

Now that herring noodles were being sold at Gyedeok Sang’s Paeseolbang, and wheat-based foods were common even at Pimatgol, the area packed with pubs and eateries...

It meant the new food culture that began in Pyongan Province had spread all the way to Hanyang.

I’d heard something similar in the reports coming up through Kim Josun.

Thanks to the Qianlong Emperor’s favor, people had become used to flour-based foods, and now large-scale wheat cultivation was just beginning in the Pyongan area.

Of course, nothing would ever threaten rice’s place as the staple food.

But just as people now grew tobacco, ginseng, or yams as cash crops, some landowners were starting to grow wheat as a treat or snack.

As flour-based foods grew popular, merchant groups sensed the profit and started moving into the milling business.

Compared to the past, when only tiny amounts were grown for fermentation or medicine, making wheat hard to obtain, Joseon was undergoing a cultural revolution in its diet.

So, after the king dumplings, my aunts’ gifts continued to pile up.

Only then did I finally voice a question I’d been putting off.

“Oh, that?”

“The Queen summoned us.”

“Though His Highness ordered us to remain confined to our homes as proper noblewomen, there was no helping it this time.”

“Of course! When the Queen, who oversees the inner palace, calls, how can we refuse?”

These ladies...

Even as they explained that they’d come at Mother’s request, they couldn’t help but grumble about Father.

It seemed my two aunts had been bottling up quite a lot.

Well, it was true Father had forbidden them from entering the palace so freely.

Not only my aunts, but all royal relatives and maternal clans were kept at arm’s length.

Even the prestigious Cheongpung Kim clan, my mother’s family, could barely enter the palace for private matters.

If you ignored the fact that they were grumbling about the sovereign of Joseon, they certainly had their reasons.

And seeing them bring me forbidden treats on a rare visit made it clear why Father banned their visits.

“Honestly, His Highness wasn’t always like this. He changed completely after getting an heir…”

“The heir… you mean your late brother?”

“That’s right, Young Miss. Maybe he just didn’t want flies to gather around his precious successor.”

“To think he’d treat even his kind sisters like those flies… how cruel. Sniffle.”

Still, as members of the royal family, my aunts seemed to understand why Jeongjo gave such strict orders.

Even as they continued to complain.

“Back then, we could come and go from the palace a lot more easily, right?”

“Wasn’t it after you had your second child, Sister?”

“Yes. Back then, I even had time to copy books together with close friends in the palace...”

“I miss those days. It was wonderful.”

At that moment, a word caught my ear.

It was odd for a word to stick in my mind in the midst of fun small talk, but I suppose a writer is a writer, no matter the era.

“Copying books?”

“Yes, copying! Transcribing entertaining novels, scraping every bit out for enjoyment.”

“The most fun we ever had copying was that, right? ...”

“Ah… That was wonderful. Everyone I’d befriended through gossip in Mother’s quarters gathered to copy it together. Even with the court ladies. Hehe.”

It was the first I’d heard of my aunts copying novels.

I’d heard them mention novels now and then on the rare occasions we met, but I never realized it went this far.

Truth be told, copying books is something only true novel enthusiasts do, even in this era.

I couldn’t be happier to learn that my aunts, whom I seldom met, loved novels this much.

Besides—

“Then, , did you copy it together with Mother?”

I already knew that Mother, now in Daejojeon, had copied novels like  and .

That allowed me, in my other life as ‘that person,’ to hide my identity behind Mother’s and Grandmother’s love for novels.

So I was curious if my mother and two aunts had ever sat together and copied a book—such a trivial detail, yet it nagged at me.

But just then—

As soon as my words ended, the mood inside Junghee Hall shifted dramatically.

“Th… that…”

Both my aunts began to stare at me intensely.

Had I said something I shouldn’t have?

“Ah… no. Back then, Her Majesty and I grew distant because of that Lady Jeong’s scheming...”

“Scheming?”

“Ah, ahaha!! But now we get along just fine!! All misunderstandings are resolved!!”

“That’s right!! Her Majesty summoned us this time, didn’t she? Don’t worry, Young Miss!!”

‘Lady Jeong’ meant the wife of the criminal Jeong Chidal, referring to Great Aunt Princess Hwa-wan, who had been exiled and demoted to commoner status.

She’d been obsessed with Father since he was Crown Prince, causing all sorts of trouble in the royal family.

Well, if such schemes had soured relations with the Queen back then, no wonder the mood had turned chilly...

But the awkwardness lasted much longer than I expected.

So I had to work hard to restore my aunts’ spirits.

“...Of course we read the new novels!!”

Luckily, my aunts loved novels as much as Mother and Grandmother did.

It really was true that a love of novels flowed through the blood of the Joseon royal family—but Father, honestly...

“According to the monks at Jingwan-sa, it was because he accumulated merit seeking ways to cure Lady Mama that he was able to return from the past? I hear so many devotees are asking about that these days?”

“Haha... Is it really that popular?”

“Of course. The new ending of , compared to that foolish original ending—how much better is it!!”

“What? You liked that?”

Still, though the mood lightened, a new problem arose.

As if to prove they were royal women, the aunts began yet another fierce debate right before my eyes.

“I really didn’t like it. The original ending was more poignant and lingering.”

“What? Have you gone blind raising your third child??”

“Sis, haven’t you gotten too desensitized to drama??”

Truly, my aunts were novel fanatics.

Forgetting their niece was right in front of them, they dove straight into a fierce literary debate.

“If you were going to kill her off in the end, why introduce a female character at all! It’s not like you can just give then take away!!”

“That bittersweet ending is what made the emotion so powerful! Did you lose all your sensitivity with age?”

“What? We’re not that far apart in age!”

“From the moment the author changed the ending they set, I lost respect! To take a novel and put it on a funeral bier, on a memorial table...”

“Are you finished? The author was the first to betray readers’ trust!!”

Mm.

It was good that, working behind the scenes, I’d pressured Park Ji-won to switch to a happy ending and calmed the angry readers.

But I suppose, even in this era, people’s tastes varied widely.

At least, during all that, variolation had been naturally introduced to Joseon, becoming the first country in the world to do so.

Still, seeing my two aunts fighting like sisters in front of me after so long...

I couldn’t help but raise my hand to my forehead.

But this royal quarrel showed no sign of ending.

In the end—

“A-hem...”

“Oh! Ah!”

“S-sorry, Young Miss...”

Only after a good while, when I coughed awkwardly, did my two aunts realize I was still there.

No wonder Father banned them from the palace. Tsk, tsk.

And at that moment—

Doom— doom— doom—

From somewhere in Changdeokgung came the sound of the noon drum.

The beating of the drum let the palace staff know it was lunchtime.

“Did Mother say to dine together? It’s almost time for you to go.”

“Oh, but we only just reunited with our dear niece…”

“We’re sorry. We spent so much time arguing, we couldn’t even talk with you properly...”

Well, whether it was the irresponsible aunts giving junk food to their niece before lunch, or the flighty aunts who forgot their niece and argued over novels...

As if to make up for not spending enough time with me because of their bickering, my two aunts clung to my hands, looking truly regretful.

Since, unless something special happened and Mother called them, Father would hardly allow them into the palace.

Their time with me must have felt all the more precious.

“Young Miss, then, we’ll take our leave.”

“We’ll go see Her Majesty now. And...”

But just then, as the two aunts hurried to leave Junghee Hall, Cheongyeon, the elder, who was about to close the door after sending her younger sister out first, suddenly stopped in her tracks.

“Young Miss.”

Her gaze was somehow different.

It felt like... the same look she had when we’d talked about  earlier...

“You must keep growing up just as you are, healthy and strong, alright? That’s what your mother wishes most of all.”

“Y-yes...? Mother said that?”

“Yes. That’s all this aunt could ever wish for. Truly...”

I could clearly feel Cheongyeon’s gaze slowly tracing my face.

Suddenly, I recalled when she had visited the palace long ago, holding me in her arms and caressing my face with trembling hands.

“Y-yes, I will.”

“Then, let’s meet again next time, Young Miss?”

“Sister, what are you doing? Hurry up!!”

But unable to resist her sister’s urging, Aunt Cheongyeon turned and left Junghee Hall.

Her departing figure looked oddly forlorn, quite different from her cheerful demeanor just before.

I found myself rubbing my eyes several times.

* * *

“How is the Royal Heir?”

“Growing up splendidly. You can tell whose blood he carries at a glance.”

“...I suppose so.”

Some time later, at Daejojeon.

After a light lunch, a real conversation began among the three women.

Yet the atmosphere was different from when they’d been with the Royal Heir.

“By any chance, did you two...”

As if to break the heavy mood, Queen Hyoui produced a book and set it before the two Ladies.

But even though a novel—something they couldn’t live without—had appeared, Cheongyeon and Cheongseon’s reactions were a bit strange.

“So... this was the reason?”

“To be clear, it’s not the only reason. Even in the royal family, ties between sisters-in-law must always be maintained.”

“...”

Their eyes fixed on the book—a novel that had recently shaken both Hanyang and even the Emperor’s heart.

.

But the lukewarm reaction from the two Ladies was not because they’d already read this sensational novel.

“Your Majesty read this and thought of that person, didn’t you?”

“I can’t deny it.”

“You risked incurring His Majesty’s wrath to call us to the palace because you couldn’t find a clear answer, even after consulting with Lady Hyegyeong.”

“That too is true.”

And now, quite unlike their earlier doting-aunt act.

The two Ladies had instantly seen through their sister-in-law’s reason for calling them to Changdeokgung.

Surely, the two of them had read  and thought the same as Queen Hyoui.

“By any chance, Your Majesty—”

And, being skilled in the palace’s games of subtlety just like their brother, they immediately saw through even Queen Hyoui’s innermost thoughts.

“You’re not suspecting that we’re the author of this novel, are you?”

“I couldn’t find the author inside the palace. But if there were a noble with talent for novels... I wondered, just maybe.”

“Haha... It’s not good to be under suspicion, but truthfully, we suspected Your Majesty as well...”

“So you thought the same.”

“How many people are there who have the learning to write such fine novels in recent years, and the ability to publish while hiding their identity?”

“More importantly, the subtle traces that shine through the story. So few would know these old tales well enough to weave them into fiction.”

In the end, all of them had suspected the author of  might be a member of the royal family.

Sister-in-law and sisters-in-law could only share a bitter smile.

The reason for that bitter smile was that, now, the author’s identity was again up in the air.

“So, if it’s not me, nor Lady Hyegyeong, nor you two...”

“As Your Majesty knows from your wide reading, Lady Hwabin Yoon’s character makes it difficult to imagine she could write such a fine novel.”

“I agree. Then...”

“By the way, has Your Majesty questioned Gyeonghui directly?”

At that moment, as the conversation floundered, one name came up again.

Choi Gyeonghui. That is, Choi sanggung.

“Of course. When Uibin was mentioned, how could I not call her?”

“So, what did she say?”

“She claimed she only received  from Uibin, and that if she had such talent, she would have written novels long ago. She flatly denied it.”

Queen Hyoui let out a shallow sigh, saying she couldn’t really fault Choi sanggung and could only let her go.

It seemed the author’s identity slipping back into the maze was quite frustrating.

But—

“Your Majesty.”

The elder of the two Ladies, Cheongyeon, quickly spoke up as soon as she heard about Choi sanggung.

“Since we’re in the palace after so long, might we see that child ourselves?”

“You two?”

“Yes. Before marriage, we were closer with Uibin and the other court ladies than anyone else.”

Perhaps they’d learn something new if they met her themselves, Cheongyeon muttered, a mysterious look in her eye.

※ Author’s Note

The following are those who copied the  manuscript still extant today:

Lady Cheongyeon, Lady Cheongseon.
Court ladies Deokim, Yeonghui, Gyeonghui, Bokyeon.