The second reason that Hyang decided to change her plans was, amusingly enough, due to a natural bodily function.
“Gotta go! Gotta go!” Feeling a sudden urge, Hyang dashed towards the place where the chamber pot was kept.
As she pushed aside the hem of her red robe, she muttered a curse while using the pot.
“Damn it! Missed again!”
As Hyang grew older and out of diapers, the most bothersome and irritating thing for her was dealing with her bodily needs.
Although there were restrooms in the palace, they were few in number and far away.
Because of this, Hyang had to use the chamber pot for most of her needs, enduring discomfort each time.
While she had her own personal grievances, the issue of using the restroom was something that had to be addressed.
‘The palace is overflowing with the smell of excrement and urine!’
In the secluded corners of the palace, especially where there were many trees, piles of dung and urine stains were everywhere.
In severe cases, the leaves of the trees near the spots favored by the palace maids would turn yellow and wither away.
It wasn’t just about the smell.
There was also a hygiene issue.
If she let her guard down even slightly while using the pot, it would end up soiling her clothes.
‘No, the clothing itself is the problem!’
Hyang recalled memories from when she was even younger.
During the time when Grand Prince Chungnyeong still lived in the hidden residence, she remembered her mother changing clothes to do laundry.
‘How many layers are there!’
First, she would put on the inner garments, followed by the underpants, and then the wide trousers.
After that, she would wear a long skirt, layering it with different colored fabrics to create a complex skirt, and finally, she would don a splendid skirt adorned with golden patterns.
Watching this scene in a daze, Hyang internally screamed.
‘What about the movies I watched! The costume designers should all resign! The outer skirt, the inner skirt, and then right to the backside! No matter how erotic it was, it was still a theatrical release, this is too much!’
Though she had strayed off topic, the layers of skirts became the worst hindrance for women when they needed to relieve themselves.
Because the cumbersome clothing made it difficult to reach the restroom, using the chamber pot or sneaking away to a secluded spot became her daily routine.
This issue of clothing and restrooms brought along another important hygiene problem.
“I greet Your Highness.”
As the palace maids carrying laundry baskets passed by, they immediately bowed to Hyang.
“Good. You’re working hard.”
Hyang replied with an unexpected seriousness for her age, causing the maids to stifle their laughter as they gathered their things and continued on their way.
“Wait a moment. You there, maid.”
“Yes?”
“Not you, the maid third from the back.”
“Do you mean me?”
The maid who was pointed out stepped forward, looking confused.
If the royal consort had already passed the age of learning, there might be some luck—since maids were considered the property of the king, it could cause some trouble—but the royal consort in front of her was only five years old.
As the maid stepped forward, Hyang simply said, “You’ve got something on your back.”
“Yes?”
“I said you’ve got something on the back of your skirt.”
“Yes?”
“There's dung on the back of your skirt!”
The maid, still confused, turned bright red and lifted the back of her skirt.
“Oh my!”
“Go change.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
As the embarrassed maid hurried away, Hyang glared at the remaining maids.
“What were you all doing?”
“Yes?”
“Are you not going to help when one of your coworkers has a problem with her clothing?”
Under Hyang’s reprimand, the maids all lowered their heads.
“We apologize.”
“Make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
After warning the maids, Hyang let out a small sigh and moved on.
That afternoon in class, Hyang recounted the incident from earlier to her tutor and asked a question.
“It is only natural for a person to relieve themselves. But if the clothing they wear hinders that, isn’t that going against nature?”
At Hyang’s question, the tutor looked troubled and replied, “However, clothing is not just to protect against cold and heat; it also covers one’s modesty and represents one’s status, so one must endure some discomfort.”
“Status... But isn’t it also against nature to determine a person’s worth based on their clothing? Isn’t there a saying that goes, ‘Even if a gentleman wears rags, the fragrance of his virtue spreads a thousand miles’?”
“That may be true, but...”
“Don’t you think it should change?”
“Haha...”
At Hyang’s question, the tutor began to sweat profusely.
That night, as she lay in bed, Hyang made a vow.
“I will definitely create a modern restroom and reform the clothing system!”
These two reasons became the biggest motivations for Hyang to change her plans.
Whenever she encountered environmental issues, she would curse.
“I can’t stand living in this filth!”
Here, ‘filth’ meant it was literally unbearable.
Even in the hidden residence where Sejong lived as Grand Prince Chungnyeong, bedbugs were common, and fleas were also prevalent.
On top of that, not bathing frequently combined with the scent from the pouch she wore around her waist created a truly disgusting situation.
With the restroom and clothing issues compounding, Hyang decided to change her plans.
“Even in the 21st-century military of South Korea, except for a few places, modern restrooms have disappeared...”
Thinking of the restroom issues she couldn’t adapt to, Hyang changed her plans.
“Is this going to be version 1.5?”
Calculating how many revisions it had gone through, Hyang began to modify the items in her plan.
- Move the start of external activities to age 9. By the time she turns 9, she will be crowned as the Crown Prince, not just a royal consort.
Once she becomes the Crown Prince, she will have some power.
- Once crowned as the Crown Prince, she will begin outings.
She will observe the lives of commoners living outside the palace and in the capital to support the reform policies Sejong will promote.
- In addition to the above, she will accelerate the creation of the Hunminjeongeum (the Korean script).
“This should be enough.”
Reflecting on her revised plan, Hyang got up from her seat.
Opening the window and looking outside, she muttered softly, “I wonder if that kid is growing up well?”
The ‘kid’ she referred to was Prince Suyang.
With Sejong being crowned as the Crown Prince, changes also came to the family.
Since Hyang was the eldest, she entered the palace together, while the third son, Anpyeong, was born in the palace.
However, Suyang, the middle child, was living in a private residence.
Though he should be brought into the palace, the timing for Suyang’s entrance was still undecided due to the overlapping events of Sejong’s coronation, the conquest of Tsushima, and Anpyeong’s birth.
Historically, Suyang entered the palace when Hyang was 8 years old, and he was 5 at that time.
“This part seems like it will flow similarly to actual history...”
Hyang recalled memories from her past life.
According to her memories, it was customary for princes or princesses to leave the palace upon reaching the age of 15. However, in reality, it was common for them to be independent around the age of 8.
“But now it’s the early Joseon period...”
Hyang lightly counted on her fingers.
“Shortest would be 3 years, longest 10 years... What should I do with this kid during that time?”
Knowing that her younger brother, who was living outside the palace, would later usurp the throne, Hyang pondered how to deal with him.
“Since there’s no time to handle him before he enters the palace, I’ll have to take care of him once he’s in. Should I be harsh from the start? Or should I gently coax him as a kind older brother?”
As she deliberated over whether to use a ‘carrot or a stick,’ Hyang couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Come on... He’s only five years old. By the time he’s eight, if a kid bullies another kid, he’ll just get scolded...”
While Hyang was contemplating how to deal with her younger brother, who would later become a usurper, her mother, Queen Sohyeon, was also deep in thought.
“Yoo Ah must enter the palace as well... Hoo~.”
Sighing, Queen Sohyeon’s gaze turned towards the room where Hyang was.
When Hyang first saw her newborn brother, wrapped in swaddling clothes, she sensed something unusual in Hyang’s reaction.
‘Hostility? Why?’
Worried about Hyang showing hostility towards her newborn brother, Queen Sohyeon asked the nurse with concern.
“It seems the eldest child hates the second one. What should I do?”
At the queen’s question, the nurse smiled and replied, “It’s a natural thing, my lady.”
“Natural?”
“When a younger sibling is born, the firstborn often doesn’t like it. Their affection, which was solely directed at them, now has to be shared with the younger sibling. This will resolve itself as the elder grows a bit and is trained.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s right.”
Despite the nurse’s reassurance, Queen Sohyeon couldn’t shake her worries and earnestly urged the nurse, “Please take good care of the child.”
“Understood.”
After that, whether due to the nurse’s efforts or not, Hyang no longer showed hostility towards her younger brother.
However, Queen Sohyeon’s worries did not easily dissipate.
While the hostility had vanished, it was replaced by indifference and then by excessive expectations.
“Hyang, what are you doing?”
A few days after Yoo’s first birthday celebration, Queen Sohyeon found Hyang in Grand Prince Chungnyeong’s study, looking for books.
At the queen’s question, Hyang straightened her posture and replied respectfully, “Yes. I was looking for a few light books to clear my mind and to see which books would be suitable for Yoo to learn later.”
“Hyang, Yoo has just turned one. Isn’t it a bit too early to choose books for him to learn?”
“Preparation in advance is the best approach, as I have learned.”
“That’s not incorrect, but...”
Since Hyang’s statement wasn’t wrong, Queen Sohyeon hesitated and then asked again, “So what do you think is good?”
“I believe the Tonggamjeoryo would be good. Now that he has turned one, it would be best to start right after he turns two.”
At Hyang’s answer, cold sweat began to bead on Queen Sohyeon’s forehead.
“Isn’t that a bit too fast?”
“Fast?”
At Hyang’s counter-question, Queen Sohyeon nodded.
“It’s fast. You are intelligent, Hyang, and you started your studies early, but other children don’t start that early.”
At the queen’s explanation, Hyang expressed her dissatisfaction.
“Father is renowned for his exceptional intelligence, and all the people of Joseon know it. It would be unacceptable for the children who inherit his blood to be ordinary.”
“Hoo~.”
At Hyang’s firm response, Queen Sohyeon let out a long sigh.
“Hoo~.”
Recalling the past, Queen Sohyeon sighed again.
“I thought having a clever child was a blessing...”
It turned out that having a child who was too clever became a burden.
Compared to the first child, the second and third were intelligent but had their shortcomings.
It was like the moon being bright but incomparable to the sun.
The problem was that Hyang measured her younger siblings against her own standards.
No, it wasn’t just Hyang who had the problem.
From the time the princes began their studies, the officials would surely measure everything against Hyang.
“Hoo~.”
With a sigh, Queen Sohyeon’s sleepless nights continued.