Chapter 6
The concubines stirred in unison at the unexpected remark.
Danbi shrugged lightly, as if she were completely unbothered by the barrage of gazes directed at her.
"I could do it. But I have no reason to follow your orders. The Rain-Praying Ritual or whatever else—it’s none of my business. So, if you’ll excuse me!"
Danbi reached up to touch her right ear, searching for the power button.
*Sigh*, I shouldn't have logged into the game; all I got was a face full of annoyance.
"Are you lacking confidence?"
"What?"
Just as she was about to press the button, the Queen approached and whispered into her ear.
"You talk a big game only to run away like a child. Isn't there a saying for people who are all talk and no action?"
"You...!"
"Who says? Who says I’ve never beaten you?"
The Queen spun around.
"As of today, Lady Yeo is forbidden from leaving her Small Palace for one month."
"Excuse me? Does that mean..."
"I intend to deal strictly with your crime of disrespect for daring to talk back to me, the Queen, with such frivolous language. I expect never to see Lady Yeo outside the Small Palace again—"
"Fine."
Everyone’s gaze shifted to Danbi.
"Fine. I’ll make that garment."
"If you..."
Before the Queen could finish her sentence, Danbi held up a single finger.
"But I have a condition."
"A condition?"
Amidst the chilling tension, a relaxed smile played on her lips.
"One week. A competition to see who can finish the Rain-Praying Ritual garment first. How about it?"
The concubines began to murmur at Danbi’s unexpected proposal. Daring to challenge the Queen to a competition—this was more than a simple provocation; it was an act of defiance.
The Queen scanned her surroundings quickly.
There were too many eyes and ears watching. If she refused here, there was no telling what kind of rumors would spread.
She looked down at Danbi with haughty eyes.
"Very well. Then, I shall lift Lady Yeo’s confinement for seven days. If you manage to complete the garment within that time, I will forgive all of today’s insolence. However..."
The Queen stepped closer to Danbi and added in a low voice.
"If you fail to complete the garment within those seven days, you will be forbidden from leaving the Small Palace for the next month. How is that?"
Danbi curled the corners of her lips as if she had been waiting for this.
***
"How could you just say yes like that!"
As soon as they returned to the Small Palace, Som’s scolding erupted.
Danbi looked up at Som with a wronged expression, but she quietly covered her ears as the nagging continued, sharp enough to sting.
"They kept provoking me, so what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just stand there."
"You should have lowered your head and said, 'I have made a grave mistake, I did not know my place'!"
"Why should I? What am I lacking!"
Som clutched her forehead as if she were dumbfounded and sank to the floor.
"The Queen is famous for having had an excellent aesthetic sense since she was very young. How do you expect to win against her, my lady, when you’ve never even held a needle before?"
"Well, maybe the 'me' from before was like that, but not anymore."
"...Pardon?"
Som slowly scanned the fabric Danbi had handed her.
The patterns were embroidered with apparent carelessness, yet the precision was enough to convince anyone it was the work of a master.
When she looked up with wide, surprised eyes, Danbi smiled triumphantly.
"How is it?"
"Don't tell me... did you do this, my lady? No, when on earth did you...!"
"I just loosened up a bit. I guess it’s not too bad, is it?"
Danbi jumped to her feet.
"Now, shall we go?"
"Go where?"
As Som tilted her head, Danbi held out her hand.
"Where else? Half of a garment’s quality depends on the fabric."
Danbi recalled a cooking competition show she had seen on TV a while ago.
Before the contestants started cooking, they threw their entire bodies into securing the best ingredients.
Ingredients were skill, and they were half the battle.
It meant that good cooking required good ingredients, and good clothing required good fabric.
Danbi grabbed Som’s hand and headed straight for the Royal Treasury. According to Court Lady So, most of the royal family’s high-quality fabrics were managed there.
But.
"What? None at all?"
It was already too late.
"Yes, well, the palace maids just took all the fabric..."
"What do we do, my lady? This must have been ordered by the Queen. Perhaps we should still go and beg for her forgiveness...!"
"Trying to cut off my supply line, how petty."
Danbi snorted and bolted out of the Royal Treasury.
"Ah, my lady! Where are you going!"
Som chased after her in a panic.
Seeing the look on her face, she felt that if she left her alone, something major would surely happen.
And that ominous premonition did not miss by even an inch.
"...My lady!"
Som looked around with a terrified face. Fortunately, there was no one there yet.
No, there *should* have been no one there. If someone caught them doing this, their heads would surely roll.
"My lady!"
Som shouted desperately toward the hem of Danbi’s fluttering skirt. Only then did Danbi look back and press her index finger to her lips.
"Shh! What if someone hears you!"
"You’re the one worrying about that while doing this? Do you have any idea how conspicuous you are right now!"
After realizing she could no longer obtain fabric within the palace, Danbi had reached only one conclusion.
Let’s go outside.
It was a simple logic. If you can’t get it inside, you have to get it outside.
But the problem was that she couldn't just leave as she pleased.
"Then what else can I do? I can't ask for permission, and I can't sneak out in disguise. What else am I supposed to do when this is the only way I can think of!"
In the end, Danbi decided to climb the wall. Fortunately, the agility she had gained from dominating the playground with a single pull-up bar as a child still remained in her body.
She climbed the tree immediately. Before she knew it, she had reached a height where she could look down at the red-tiled roofs.
"What on earth are you going to do once you get out?"
"I have to get fabric. If I don't get it today, it’ll be tight to finish the clothes in time."
"Isn't it easier to just beg the Queen for forgiveness?"
"That is absolutely out of the question."
When Danbi replied firmly, Som pouted.
"No, why on earth are you going this far?"
"That is..."
Just then, the branch she was standing on let out a *snap*. Her body began to tilt over the wall.
"My lady!"
With a loud *crack*, the branch broke.
Reflexively, she grabbed the top of the wall. In the split second she was falling through the air, her body defied gravity and spun lightly in the air.
And just as she was about to land.
*Huh? Why is it so soft?*
Someone’s face appeared right in front of her. Without realizing it, she was sitting halfway on top of a strange man.
"Oh, I’m sorry."
Startled, she stood up, and he rose slowly from the ground. His movements as he brushed the dirt off his clothes were neat and composed.
Unlike his clean, scholarly robe that looked like it wouldn't have a speck of dust on it, the man’s eyes were sharp.
"It is fine. However, did you just climb over the wall?"
"Excuse me?"
"You appear to be a palace maid."
The man looked back and forth between Danbi and the wall, then narrowed his eyes.
"Don't tell me you did this without the permission of the Inner Court...!"
"No, that’s not it... Oh! Look over there!"
The man turned his gaze to follow her finger. But there was nothing there, only leaves swaying in the wind.
Realizing he’d been tricked, he turned his head, but the suspicious woman’s back was already disappearing into the distance.
"Wait...!"
The man’s feet, which had been about to chase her, stopped. He heard a rustling sound from beneath his feet.
He knelt to pick it up, and it glittered yellow in the moonlight.
It was a dainty yellow *norigae* that had been hanging from the hem of the woman’s *jeogori* as she fell over the wall.
***
Danbi hurried her steps, looking back every few moments. She had almost been caught climbing the wall by someone.
"However, did you just climb over the wall?"
No, in fact, she had practically been caught.
Hmm, what to do.
Danbi crossed her arms and quietly racked her brain. But the good thing was that she had succeeded in running away from him.
*What’s the big deal? Isn't that enough?*
He was someone she met outside the palace anyway. She would never have to meet him again.
So, problem solved!
Danbi entered the marketplace with a refreshed face. As the vitality she had felt when she first entered the game world washed over her, her tension finally eased.
"Excuse me...!"
Just then, someone grabbed her shoulder from behind. Her neck went cold by instinct.
In that instant, she twisted the arm that had grabbed her and subdued the opponent in one move. A groan of pain erupted right in front of her.
"Ouch, I’m dying!"
"Who are you?"
As Danbi asked, a young girl came running from afar.
"Father!"
"Hyang-ah!"
She had her black hair tied neatly with a white ribbon. It was a white ribbon just like the one she was wearing.
Danbi apologized to the man, who was bowing his head, saying he had mistaken her for someone else. She hadn't intended to go that far, but her body had reacted on its own.
Come to think of it.
"I don't think this is the first time."
Suddenly, the moment she fell from the wall came to mind. To grab the wall and spin her body in the air in that split second.
Danbi looked down at her two hands blankly.
"How on earth did I do that?"
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