I watched the Seo couple in agony from afar as they tended to each other with so much love that i could feel it from the other side of the palace. and i couldn't believe that i had fallen so low to be spying on them as a lowly servant who was being tortured by his friend that I had tried to seduce away from him....by the monster that i had created with my own hands.
"Husband! Come on, get your hands off of me and eat this…." "You feed me wife, i have no energy to feed myself." "Who knew that i had 2 babies to deal with? 3 actually, if we are counting your sister…" "She is my headache to deal with, you only focus on myself, my son…and the many children that you shall bear me soon afterwards…" children. Seo Hwi wanted children and lots of them by the sounds of it, but that was simply not an option for me anymore. I had always aspired to be a woman of greatness that can be used in the palace for my wisdom, just like his sister was right now. but no, if i couldn't hold onto my dreams even though i had sacrificed everything for it, then i wasn't going to allow her to, or that simpering idiot, The Widowed Mistress Nam to flourish here either. They were both inferior to me both inside and outside of the palace and I was going to remind hem of this every single day of their lives here until they had enough sense to leave the palace in their own coffins if I had to go that far.
"Come on husband, the sooner you eat, the sooner that we can return home." "Very well, let me just…you. what on earth are you doing here! How dare you spy on me and my wife n private!" "And since when were you so private, Seo Hwi?" "Since i found something worth protecting. Now get out of here and leave us alone…where do you think you are going, wife? Stay here with us…" "Husband, maybe i should give you space to talk alone...." "Are you really going to leave me on my own with another women? Have you lost your mind? I do not give you permission to leave my sight, so you sit back down here right next to me!"
"Do not fret Seo Hwi, i will not harm a hair on your wife's head, or your son for that matter. But your sister..." "What about her?" "She is currently locked up in prison for breaking a moral law." "Which is?" "She was found outside the palace with Nam Seon-Ho in a less than moral situation…." "So?" "Excuse me?" "My sister and my friend are engaged, and i was the one who approved of this, so i cannot be surprised that they were found together, especially after they have lived together for years now." "Are you saying that you will not get involved in the matter at all?" "From the moment that I gave my blessings, my sister belongs to the man that she will marry, I have no say in the situation at all. But." "But what?" "Do not even think about torturing Yeon even further, because in case you haven't noticed, everything that you have done to all of us has backfired, so do not worsen your own situation by going on a power trip, because you will loose." "what shall i loose?" "Your life, and Seon-ho will be the one to end it for you." "You have no idea what you are talking about Seo Hwi! He loves me! Better than you ever did!" "Hui-Jae, we only met for a single weekend before you helped Nam-Jeon to put me on a boat to fight a war that i was not prepared for. I was never in love with you, not for a single second…" "Why are you lying like this! We both had something, you know that we did when we flew our kites...!" "And yet that didn't stop you from chasing after my best friend as soon as i was out of the way, isn't that right?" "Seon-Ho but you name on the list of the dead from the war, what was i supposed to do?"
"Wife? what would you do in that situation? If i had left before you, if you truly loved me?" "I would have joined you as soon as I could husband, as my home is wherever you are." "Do you see? This is love Hui-Jae, at least for me. But now i realise that you have the same desire to live as Seon-ho and my sister does, but it isn't for the same reasons. That is why you will always be caught in their shadow and never be able to tear them apart." "Do not be so sure of yourself Seo Hwi, did you precious friend even tell you about the tea ceremony that he pulled out for me as soon as you left?" "He told me every single thing that has transpired between the both of you." "And? Do you have nothing to say about it?" "Why should i? It isn't as if he was in love with you , even then." "What is that supposed to mean? Of course he was in love with her…"
"Han Hui-Jae, you have no idea about the monster that you created at all, do you? There has never been a person that he has met that he hasn't exploited, including myself and my own sister. And as for you, well, i can already tell what he is doing to you without asking about it at all" "You know nothing!" "How disappointed you must feel, to have sacrificed everything that you held dear, only t be treated as what you stared out at in its truest form; you will always be a kisaeng in your lifetime and nothing more. You can never even compare to what my sister is or how capable she is due to my father's training and her education. And she will be the one to bring this who palace and The Royal Family down to its knees, not you." "Why?" "Why what?" "Why do you treat me this way? Why do you all treat me this way? Like i am scum at the bottom of the straw shoes that you used to wear! You! And your sister! You were both living in poverty when we first met! How dare you both look down on me in my current situation now!" "Just like you clearly looked down on me when we first met?"
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I had absolutely no idea what happened to Seon-ho as i hadn't seen him since we were both arrested in the palace. I screamed and I cried for him, but i didn't hear from him no matter what i did. Nobody would talk to me, nobody would fill me in on what had transpired for us to have been followed us and reported us. but we didn't doo anything wrong; he was technically my fiancé and if my brother had nothing to say abut us, then was anyone else to say anything? Seon-ho told me himself that he had The Emperor's permission for us to marry so why was this such a big deal? Who could have such a big issue with myself and Seon-ho being alone for a few hours…
"Yeonnie! Where are you! Say something! Yeon!" "Brother? Where are you! Why are you here! Brother!" "Guards! I have the authority to release my sister from The Third Prince himself, who has just woken up from his coma! So let her go, immediately!" I hadn't seen my brother this angry in a really long time, even i was scared of him at this moment and I was unable to say anything at all. "Brother? Where is he? Has something happened to him? and what happened to me? Who reported us…." "Let me get you out of here sister, then I can answer your questions in peace…." "Brother? What is wrong with you? Why did you just stop talking? And why do you look so pale all of a sudden?" "This jail room, this specific one…this is where our father was kept when he was detained…." "Brother?" "Listen to me sister; Seon-h has been sent away on work for a little while and Concubine Park will start going though some difficulties on her own since she refuses to leave with us. But i couldn't do much in your favour; The Concubine Choi agreed to house you and your fiancé's sister-in-law in her palace of residence. you must overcome them both as quietly as possible whilst i return home where The Nam Clan is waiting for me." "what? Why? Why would his family come after you of all people….i should be coming with you.." "You must stay here to look after the Imperial Children alongside Mistress Nam until The Royal Family is content, that is when they will let you go and i will be here to pick you up so that i can bring you home with me before your wedding." "My wedding…?" "Yeon, forgive me for doing this to you, but our lives can only rest when you marry him, after everything that he is doing for us, despite his exploitive methods…" "What are you talking about? What do you all know that i don't? What is he doing? What has he done for do not fight, especially you all? Why isn't anyone telling me anything at all?" "You will find out at the end, so stay with him and do not fight with him over what you see, because it isn't the truth. He is the same person that we know, even if he cannot prove that right now. Stay by his side and help him no matter what, and i am sending a servant your way to keep an eye on you for me…!" "Brother! Do not leave me here on my own! Please!" "The sooner you marry him, the sooner that we can all be reunited outside of the palace once and for all, i have his word on that." "Brother…" "I love you Yeonnie, with every fibre of my being, don't you dare forget that! Your big brother loves you and he is waiting for you as soon a you are released from here!"
My brier took a part of my soul with him after he took me back to my new quarters, which were stripped of any luxury items that my previous accommodation had in the palace. I continuously begged him to take me with him in tears as i had began to fear for the worst here without Nam Seon-ho to protect me. He was right and he had been right all of this time; just who the hell did i think i was to take on the palace alone by myself and without his help? I didn't know this place like he did and i didn't have the power that he did either; i was surviving on my reputation alone and who knew how long I could do that for until i did something reckless to mess that up on my own? I needed my brother's guidance and i needed Seon-ho's status t survive here. i should have just married him before i came here instead of constantly pushing him away from me for my own good. no, i should have just married him off before i was thrown into the brothel so that we couldn't have having all of these issues now. And now he was gone somewhere and i had no idea when exactly he would return or what punishment he had suffered because of me and i had no way to repay him for everything that he had done for me…including loving me at all…husband, where ever you are, please return to me soon.