GOBLIN PALACE

The southeast of Heongjeongdang was where the Crown Prince lives. Everyone

called this place the Goblin Palace. Every night, you could either see strange

shadows floating around the place or you could hear the chilling sounds of crying.

This was how the place got its name. However, recently, the meaning of this name

has changed. It was because of the frightening Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince always kept his distance from the eunuchs and the court ladies.

Unless there was a need, he didn't allow anyone to get close to him. Whenever he

does his reading, he would ask everyone to stay ten steps away from him for the

reason of "impurity". He treated the court ladies even worse.

The officials were talking among themselves. They said, "is he still a man?"

Occasionally, some court ladies would try to make an impression in front of him.

However, the Crown Prince could not tolerate any boundary crossing. Even if the

court ladies were trying to be kind and friendly, he would punish them with lashing

on their legs. Therefore, everyone thought he was a goblin. As people tried to

avoid the East Palace, the place became desolated.

Within the dark East Palace, Deokim works at the most deserted part, the annex.

Underneath the building, there were pillars holding the building. Within this space,

there was a storage room. No matter how you tidy up this place, the next morning,

someone would dump unwanted items or rubbish in here. Deokim spent almost

ten years cleaning up this place.

There were always little circles between the court ladies, especially the ones from

internal affairs. Deokim was not included into their circle. Very soon, Deokim will

become an official court lady. In their cold voices, they told Deokim, "Learn as

much as you can." With a wiping cloth all day and being stuck in the same place,

what's more for her to learn?

It was very obvious why they outcast the new court ladies. It's not that they were

fighting to receive the "grace" from the Crown Prince (spend the night with him

and become his woman) but the comparison between older court ladies and the

freshness from the new court ladies always shows a big contrast. However,

everyone was trying to avoid the "Goblin Crown Prince", what was there to

compare?

Today, before Deokim opened the doors, she had already discovered a pile of

rubbish in front of the storage room. "What? Someone did this again!"

Deokim kicked one bag of rubbish and the mice jumped out making their

squeaking sound.

She opened the doors to the storage. Pushing up her sleeves, she went to open all

the windows. Light came in and it showed the large amount of dust that was

floating in the air. could hear the voices of men. For girls like her who was isolated from the rest of

the world, it was the closest she could get to masculinity.

When she first heard of the voice, her heart was fluttering but that only lasted a

day or two. Later on, she was bold enough to record what they were saying.

With ink in a saucer, Deokim dipped her calligraphy pen into the ink and started

writing every stroke seriously. Suddenly, the voices stopped. She thought, why did

they stop so early today?

Feeling pity, Deokim hid her recording book. Then, there was nothing more to do.

Even if she wants to run away, she must wait until midday. She thought, should |

be transcribing the books I've accumulated? But today's weather was too good, it

was not a day to be transcribing in this dark space. Although it would be nice to

earn some money...

Deokim stared out the window at the court ladies chatting outside.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of someone opening the doors.

"Who is it?"

There was no answer. It was a young man she had never seen in her life. He wasn't wearing accessories or official ranking belts but in the plain blue uniform of officials. Looking at the size of his sleeves, he doesn't look like a low rank officer either. With his sharp eyes, he looked around the room and then, he saw Deokim.

"Are you the court lady in charge of this

place?"

For a moment, Deckim couldn't believe

her ears. Strangely, it was a familiar voice.

In a split second, the voice of the Crown

Prince came across her mind.

Ah, he's not the Crown Prince, right? His Highness won't be coming here alone in this abandoned rubbish dump. Also, this man's appearance does not match with the Crown Prince's voice. The young man

was tall and muscular with very defined facial features. A very firm chin and thick eyebrows. A long and straight nose bridge that points towards the sky. There was a strong sense of power and pressure coming from him. A tall and slim man. In contrast, Deokim's imaginative Crown Prince was someone who has a weak body. 

Although he must be gentle, he was also impatient. Also, the Crown Prince's voice was very elegant and mature, It doesn't match with the young man right in front of her.

"Do you know how to speak?" The desperate young man asked. After going through her own judgement for a very long time, Deokim decided this young man's voice was different from the Crown Prince. Although, it sounded familiar but maybe it was the walls of this confined space that brought in an echo.

It wasn't the same heart fluttering that she experienced with the Crown Prince's voice.

"Are you deaf or you cannot speak?" Now, the young man looked angry.

He was probably one of the Crown Prince's lecturers. That was why his voice sounded familiar. After convincing herself, Deokim nodded her head.

"I'm the court lady in charge of this place."

"When did you start your duty here?"

"Since five in the morning..." With his angry eyes, she realised she gave the wrong answer.

"Ah, since I came to the palace."

"Were you here three nights ago?"

"Because I'm only an apprentice, I don't work at night time."

He looked at Deokim from head to toe. The young man looked around the place

filled with dust. Without hesitation, he started approaching the dark side of the room and stood next to the window. Without any movement, he listened carefully to all the sounds.

"As expected, you can see this place clearly from Juhapru. You can also hear very clearly, too"

 He talked to himself. He turned around and looked at all the windows.

"Have you seen or heard anything strange lately?"

The young man asked indirectly. However, Deokim knew immediately what he was

trying to ask. He must be investigating the horrible incident that happened three nights ago.

Three nights ago, a vicious man threw an anonymous letter into the yard outside

the Crown Prince's chamber. It was a message filled with disgusting words. Rumour said, the Crown Prince was burning with anger. The Anti-Traitor Squad were on the move to catch the traitor.

"I didn't hear anything."

Deokim thought, maybe the Crown Prince thinks dark places are suspicious and so, assigned his lecturer to check in this place.

"Looking out from the windows, have you seen any court ladies or any officials or anyone engaged in close conversations?"

"There is? I am not sure."

"Have you seen anyone looking around the place and acting suspicious?"

Deokim shook her head.

The young man continued asking questions of the similar kind and Deokim replied

them all with no. What does this young man expect from a little court lady who spent her days eating dust and catching mice? He didn't get any information out of her. The young man raised his eyebrows and showed his arrogant eyes. As if he knew what to expect all along.

"But who are you? You came in here all of a sudden and bombarded me with questions?"

The young man thought, why is she speaking informally? She's just reached the age to get married? This is so irritating.

"You're not wearing the uniform from the Anti-Traitor Squad." Deokim walked around in a circle and checked the young man.

Wanting a closer look, Deokim put her face up close to the young man's face. She had a small build. She barely reaches the young man's chin. The young man got startled and took a step backward.

"Where are you from?" She asked.

"l'am...." He was about to answer but changed his mind in a split second.

"You don't need to know."

Then, he took five coins out of his waist belt. Deokim caught the coins with her hands. The young man tilted his mouth to one side.

"So now, you are going to tell me?"

Deokim stood frozen with the coins in her hands. She thought, is this what they called bribery? It's a scene when the officials want to bribe the court ladies.

"This is all you're going to give me?" She asked.

She heard stories from other court ladies on how they could earn money by saying a few words. She felt envious upon hearing these stories but now, experiencing this herself, Deokim felt very uncomfortable.

"It's not enough?"

The young man's voice turned cold and started to get angry.

"You think only five coins worth?"

Deokim threw the coins onto the young man's chest. He didn't intend to catch them. All the coins fell on the floor and were lost somewhere in the darkness.

"Are you from another palace? How dare you come to the Crown Prince's Palace

and bribe his court ladies? For someone so disrespectful like you, not to say five

coins, even if you give me fifty-thousand coins, I have nothing to say to you."

Deokim scolded. He was a young man one head taller than her.

"Your voice is so familiar. Although you are the Crown Prince's lecturer, your

behaviour is unacceptable. Perhaps, you belong to the traitor group who sent the

anonymous letter?"

"You can recognise the lecturers' voices? How did you know about the anonymous letter?"

Deokim rolled her eyes.

"The Anti-Traitor Squad are always with big movements. If a court lady from East Palace said she doesn't know, isn't that more strange?"

Before the young man could ask about the voice recognition, Deokim jumped in with a new topic.

"No matter what, you should leave now!"

The young man did not make a move. Deokim waved around with her little fists.

He stopped her and fell into some deep thinking.

"Why didn't you take my money? Is it because | didn't give you enough? Or

because you are a loyal servant? | heard that they like to call the Crown Prince a

goblin?"        

"Ah, you are the worst nobleman I've ever seen!" Deokim pointed her finger with anger.

"Doesn't matter if it is a goblin or a female ghost, | have never seen it. | don't know.

How dare you insult the Crown Prince like this? Just because you are a bit more

educated than others?"

Deokim pushed the young man's back and tried to kick him out. It was a strong

back full of muscles. The moment when she felt his back with her hand, she started blushing.

Feeling ridiculous, the young man got kicked out the doors. Deokim locked the doors with a loud bang. After that, she tried to forget the sensation on her hand that was left behind.

"Ah, that's right!"

Deokim patted her knees and went to look for the coins the man left behind. She thought five coins could buy one book for her brother. Whoever finds coins, it's the owner.

"Or maybe not?"

Deokim started talking to herself. Inside her heart, there was this discomfort. She stared at the place where the young man stood. Sigh... No, a man who acts like a cow thief should not be the owner of such a beautiful voice. If he really was the Crown Prince, he would have given his order immediately. Deokim shook her head vigorously.

A soon as midday arrived, she closed the doors and made her escape. Deokim was a special court lady.

She started off ordinary. She wasn't any different from other court ladies who also carried their family like a burden on their shoulders. Before her parents could teach her how to be an elegant lady, she entered the palace. Among the strictly trained court ladies from internal affairs, she was known as 'Hot-headed'. Also, as a court lady from the East Palace, she often travels in and out of the Queen's Palace because she was one of the best calligraphers in the palace.

While other court ladies at the same age were suffering from lashing to write properly, Deokim could wander around freely. She wore her compliments like a badge. Her handwriting was decent and full of energy. At the age of fifteen, her handwriting was beyond decent. It was outstanding. To the point where she could look at other people's handwriting and copy them straight away. Not just that, she was also able to understand difficult Chinese characters and interpret complicated phrases. Her composition was exceptionally good, too.

Using her talent, she was able to earn some extra money from writing letters for the court ladies and also, from transcribing books. Although some of her money was sent to her old home, she also allowed herself some money to buy books.

Starting from a book or two, her desire to collect more books grew bigger. It grew so big that just reading the books was not enough to satisfy her. Looking at the books, she kept thinking if I want to say this, how would I be expressing this in my words? How would I be transcribing these words?

'Sometimes, she would pick up her own transcription mistakes. At the bottom of her transcription, she would add a small note with a calligraphy pen.

The news that she has nice handwriting spread all over the palace. One day, she was summoned to the Queen's Palace.

"I heard that you have decent handwriting and you can transcribe very quickly." The twenty-eight years old Queen had very sharp eyes.

At the age of fifteen, she entered the palace through the selection process and took the seat next to the old King. She was as strict as a tiger. As the second Queen entering the palace, she was able to suppress all the older consorts who were acting like 'scarecrows'. After more than a decade, she still frightens people. There was once a rumour that said a consort didn't listen to her and she punished the consort with lashing until her legs tum into a pool of blood. Although these stories sounds exaggerating, it may be possible that these stories were true.

"Although it may be inappropriate to use court ladies from other palaces, I am preparing for the Discipline Ceremony and I need more helping hands."

The Discipline Ceremony was a new event invented by the Queen. While there was a deterioration of discipline for the state, the purpose of this ceremony was to straighten people's discipline by setting the royal family as good examples. All the concubines, royal consorts and wives of the high ranking officials will gather in one place. They will read lecture books together and engage in discussions. They will make suggestions on how to correct people's behaviours. Overall, it was a very healthy activity. However, because of this event, they need a large number of books. Court ladies with good handwriting were asked to help, this included some maids, senior court ladies and court ladies from the East Palace. Since then, Deokim worked really hard. Maybe because it was an appointment

from the Queen, no one dared to say anything about Deokim's after work activities. Even Lady Seo just gently reminded her not to cause any trouble at the Queen's Palace. After the job was done, the Queen still summons Deokim often. The Queen gave books to Deokim to transcribe. It started off with simple literature but it got more and more strange. The Queen started asking for Book of Master Zhu Xi, The Book of Greater Knowledge and so on. Books with knowledge were not for 'women to read. These books were for men. Her demand was unusual for Deokim. It was also not part of the Queen's job to read these books. As the mother of the sate, she should be studying books for women.

After giving way to the Queen many times, Deokim could no longer endure the difficulties. Although these were very precious books to read, the degree of difficulties made her feel like the Queen was playing tricks on her. She could no longer endure.

One day, when the Queen was passing books to Deokim for transcription, Deokim

pushed the books back to her. The Queen smiled lightly. "I like you." The Queen said with a gentle voice but with a sense of pressure. The Queen pushed the books back to Deokim. Unwillingly, Deokim accepted the books.

This was also the reason why Deokim eavesdropped on the Crown Prince's lectures. She was doing so to catch up with the knowledge standard from the books given to her by the Queen. Although Deokim just wanted to live a simple life, she ended up being given the hard job. Regardless, it was still her responsibility to finish all her jobs. During the difficult times, she comforts herself by saying, 

"It isn't bad to receive the affection from the Queen."

In return, the reward for doing a hard job was good. The Queen introduced her to transcribe for more people. She was able to earn a very reasonable amount of money.

Deokim was on her way for another transcribing session with the two princesses. On the way, she walked past a lily pond and collected some tadpoles with a bag she obtained from the food storage room. She wanted to use them for pranks.

Kyunghee spotted Deokim and asked her to help set up the pavilion where they will be transcribing with the princesses.

While setting up the pavilion, Kyunghee continued with her grumbling. She had a bandage on her finger. Kyunghee belongs to the embroidery room in charge of making garments and blankets. If there was a ceremony, she doesn't even get to sleep but to stay up all night working with her hands... 

She had a face as white as an egg with very deep double eyelids. She had a high nose and small lips in 

the rosy peach colour. She was slim with long legs. . With a look like this, she shouldn't be a court lady. She was known among the court ladies for her temper. Her words were harsh and often caused

unwanted reactions from the listeners. She grumbles all day.

Kyunghee asked about Deokim's brother who was taking the public exams for government positions. Deokim said her second brother failed the exam because he fell off the horse during the examination. Bokyeon who works at the King's laundry room arrived suddenly. She had a strong body and you could misunderstood her as a bear coming from the forest. Bokyeon and Kyunghee started arguing again over trivial matter. Kyunghee was someone with lots of self-discipline while Bokyeon was always the one making silly mistakes. Although they argued a lot, Kyunghee has never bullied Bokyeon like the other court ladies did. In fact, the reason why Kyunghee was so unpopular All among other court ladies was because she often spoke up for Bokyeon when she got bullied by others.

Younghee finally arrived at the pavilion. She belongs to the East Palace washroom. To Kyunghee, Younghee got the 'most unfortunate job. Since Younghee was a little girl, she had an ordinary face. Looking at Kyunghee, Younghee often wonders how she grew up more and more pretty day by day

"Why are you late?" Kyunghee asked.

Younghee looked at Kyunghee and replied,

 "I don't want to talk about it. It's a terrible day. Someone pulled a prank early in the morning. The Crown Prince found out and spoke to the Head Lady. So they gathered everyone and gave us a long

lecture! I just got away from it."

Deokim felt her pain because she was the one who pulled the prank. Her playfulness in the morning left behind all the trouble to the maids in the kitchennand the washroom.

"Did they catch the person?" Kyunghee asked

"No, they didn't. That's why we all received a long lecture as punishment."

Deokim quickly changed the topic. "Anyway, we are all here now. We're justwaiting for the two princesses. When are they coming?"

"They will be late again. They are never on time. There shouldn't be much

transcribing sessions left." Kyunghee said. 

"You always say the same thing!" Hearing Kyunghee's grumbling, Bokyeon couldn't resist.

"It's the truth!"

After some time, Kyunghee's words became reality. The endless wait made people very tired. Deokim was fidgeting and made a suggestion.

"We've passed midday already. Aren't you hungry? Should we eat something?" There were some leftover snacks left in the bags. The four of them put their hands in without hesitation. Bokyeon mumbled her words,

 "The girls working in the food and wine storage room are so lucky. They will come across lots of good food."

"The girls making the ceremony food always have to smell the oil. Whenever I mention the word 'fried twisted buns', they want to vomit."

"No way!" Bokyeon reacted as if she will never get tired of the job till the day she dies if she gets the job.

"I envy the ones who work in internal affairs like Deokim. I heard that if you take good care of the high ranking people, they will shower you with many good things." Younghee said.

"Being the personal maid of the Crown Prince, all you get is your life taken away." Thinking about the spooky rumours in the East Palace, Deokim replied cruelly.

"You have never been out of that place." Kyunghee pointed out.

"However, I heard that if you work in internal affairs, you can become a senior court lady a lot faster. Also, there's not much difficulty to deal with." Younghee continued to dream. Deokim and Kyunghee pretended they didn't hear anything.

" just don't want people to look down on me." Younghee added. It was true that this was the biggest advantage you won't find anywhere else in the palace.

"If Kyunghee calls me 'My Lady', I think it's worth all the sacrifice." Deokim said.

Bokyeon and Younghee burst into laughter but of course, Kyunghee looked angry.She started grumbling again.

"Honestly, I heard so many scary stories about the Crown Prince. He's very picky and full of temper. It will be a nightmare!"

"You have never seen His Highness." Younghee said. Kyunghee's harsh words disheartened Younghee.

"l am just saying..."

"You should feel sorry for your words." Bokyeon felt empathetic and spoke up boldly.

"I'm just telling the truth. You watch your words, too!"

With ears burning red, Bokyeon stuck a piece of snack into her mouth. Before she could think of anything else to say, Kyunghee screamed.

"Hang on! This bag belongs to Deokim!" Kyunghee's face turned white. "Can you eat this?"

"Of course! I brought this from the food storage room."

"You're not playing another prank again?"

Now, even Bokyeon and Younghee started to get suspicious.

"Because | was running late, | had no time to explain to Kyunghee."

The three friends relaxed for a bit. Then, Deokim added,

 "Besides the tadpoles, there's also some mouse poop in the bag." Bokyeon wanted to vomit.

"It was only a joke. It's just a joke."

 Deokim laughed while patting Bokyeon's back.

"Do you know how bad you were?" Kyunghee rolled her eyes.

"Whenever the other senior court ladies mention your name, Lady Seo will start to tremble? Do you know how many times I cleaned your mess?"

"What did I do?" Looking at Deokim's thick face, everyone was startled.

"You cut the shoulder strip on my undergarment and pretended you didn't know about it. Do you know how humiliated I was?"

"You put blue colouring in the court ladies' laundry bucket. Everything turned blue. If you wear the clothes, the blue gets on the skin and you cannot remove the colour."

"You painted on the footpath and let the court ladies with long dresses walk over it."

"Because they suspected that you put poop on the walls of the Inspection Office, the inspection court ladies came to question all of us as revenge. The books that I've collected for a very long time got taken away!"

"Is that you who pulled the prank this morning?" Kyunghee and Younghee took their turns to fight back.

"Seems like you're having a lot of fun with all the pranks."

"This is how you should live your life." Deokim replied frivolously. Suddenly, Kyunghee broke the silence.

"In the past, in middle of the night, someone opened the door of my room and threw in a stack of cow dung." The other three all burst into laughter.

"That's right. It hit Kyunghee's face."

"How did you know?" Kyunghee grabbed Bokyeon who spoke the truth.

"Umm... No, I heard some people talking about it..." Bokyeon tried to avoid her eyes.

"See? You see how humiliated I was?"

Deokim started rolling on the floor and laughed out loud.

"It was used as medicine by the medical office. I hid it away for a while but Lady Seo was about to find out, so I have to get rid of it. If it gets taken away without me trying to use it, it will be such a waste. So I threw it into any room. Fortunately,it was Kyunghee's room."

"Fortunate! Why fortunate?" Kyunghee got really angry and avoided Deokim.

"Talking about all this feels so good."

"Of course, this is a pavilion for the King. There is no way court ladies could use it.Thanks to the princesses, we get to sit in here?"

Before Kyunghee releases her anger, Younghee stepped in and changed the topic.

"When are they coming?"

Kyunghee looked at the sun in the sky and started grumbling again.

" hate this. I am only here to help Deokim. I am not here to get myself into this headache for the two princesses."

"But both of them were working hard, too."

"Working hard? They gave us all the difficult parts. They were just here to give instructions. It's like they are the main leads in this transcription. They are so proud of it."

Younghee tried to comfort gently. "There's nothing much we can do because these books are for His Majesty.

"Some of our transcribed books were offered yesterday?"

"I think so. It was all our effort. His Majesty must be happy. Then, the two princesses received all the credit."

"Receiving love from the King? Do you want receive the King's grace?"

 (T/Note: Spend the night with the King and become his woman)

Deokim burst into laughter.

"What are you talking about? His Majesty is over 80 years old!" Younghee startled.

Everyone started laughing. Kyunghee was twitching while holding back her laughter.

"I heard that after you receive the King's grace, you don't need to work anymore." Bokyeon continued with her good dream,

"Then what's the point? You lost all your youth while having fun with His Majesty. Once he lost the interest, it will be over for you. Then, you will live life like an outcast. This is even worse than becoming a senior court lady too early."

Even though Deokim tried to interrupt, Kyunghee continued her talk.

"This is why after receiving the King's grace, what you do is very important. If you do well, you will be a favourable consort. If not, it's over." She was deep into her thoughts."

"Right now, His Majesty is at his old age. For court ladies to receive his grace is like a myth. However, if the Crown Prince ascends to the throne, someone we know might become his consort."

"The Crown Prince hates the court ladies"

"After he becomes the King, he might change his mind. No man would resist to have ten women."

"Maybe it will be you?"

Deokim pretended to be naive but Kyunghee could see through Deokim.

"What's not possible?" Kyunghee teased.

"If I get chosen, it won't be a sad ending for me. My father is an important figure. Even in the eyes of lecturers, he is a reputable translator. I am not an ordinary woman. Even for the king, he could never look down on me."

Kyunghee's high nose was reaching high in the sky.

"Of course, my woman! I will never leave you. Every night, I will hug you in my arms while we have our dreams together. When | look at you, it feels like I already have everything in this world." Deokim teased.

She leaned her body on Kyunghee while bursting into laughter. For sure, Kyunghee pushed Deokim away.

"What's the funny story you are telling?" Princess Cheongyeon asked.

While they engaged in this funny conversation, the two princesses finally arrived. The court ladies all jumped up and came down from the pavilion.

TO BE CONTINUED…