After the demise of Nam-Jeon all the servants went their separate ways; I still tried my best to reach out to Seo Yeon but Seon-Ho actually sold me off himself to the first person who showed a bit of interest in me. He personally watched all of this happen before his every eyes, but before he walked off completely I managed to confront him a little. This wasn't the smartest idea since he was constantly high and drunk ever since she left…and I wasn't any better off myself for that matter. I managed to call him out for being jealous of what I had with the girl he kept pushing away. I didn't mean to do it, I was just so sick of his and his father's hypocritical behaviour!…I ended up telling him everything that we did together; all the talks we had, all the places I took her behind everyones backs and how I took more care of her than he ever did. From the moment he brought her into his lifeless home he had been ignoring her, so why did he act like her leaving was akin to his whole world crashing down? What did he know of the struggles she had been through in his home? How that wretched Chun-Ae had banded all of the servants together against her from day one? The girl was a lowborn and they were feeding her food from their plates and didn't think about if she got used to it or not? The poor girl was constantly throwing up and was always hungry, she would have starved if I didn't keep the kitchen open for her so she could make her own food. She didn't have anyone to confide in, just like I didn't. This bastard made her miserable when she was here so why was he acting like he had broken heart now? And the result of this confrontation? The face he had on him when he turned around he looked like the devil himself had entered his body as he flung me against the wall as if I was a leaf and he vented out what felt like years of frustration onto my body with his bare hands.
I was sold off to a couple of places, some good and some bad, but I decided to follow Yeon's lead and I started studying what I could whenever I could; either from my master's study or from the spoilt children I was meant to serve. I had no idea how Yeon had the patience to teach children like she did for almost 4 years, or maybe her student's weren't like the children that I was meant to serve. They didn't know a good thing when they saw it, so naturally they didn't miss a book or two. But in just a few months I was able to work myself up the ranks the home I was in, the master of the house was impressed with me enough to bring me to the palace alongside him where he worked in Nam-Jeon's old privy council circle. I learnt a lot from them, but when my master didn't want to me go and continued treating me like a servant I ran away. I was homeless for a little while until of my ex master's men recognised me and took me on.
Not long afterwards I did indeed see Yeon again, who looked completely different but in a good way. But I decided not to approach her straight away and watch her for a little but until I knew what to do. And when I saw who she was working for in this new village I decided to make myself known to the owner so I could try and at least give her better working conditions although I had no idea why she was working at all. Rumours told us that her brother had made his riches now so I didn't know why she was wasting her time doing this but I figured that she might have a reason. So I made friends with the owners, enough for them to recommend me when they made it clear that they were looking for a husband for his niece which turned out to be no one other than her thanks to his daughter's new rants whenever she came into the workshop. I hadn't seem much of her in the beginning but recently she had been doing in almost everyday to spy on her cousin as if it was her lifelong obsession. So I figured that I should most definitely meet Yeon's brother and start courting her immediately so I could get her the hell out of that nightmare.
I was more than impressed with her brother who wasn't obsessed with my background and social status like everybody else was. He had surprisingly made peace with me and even apologised for everything that he put me through, saying that he knew Seon-Ho's temper too well t be mislead by him again. On the other hand, I was so used to it that I had started acting like a nobleman myself, although I was just an assistant in the privy council. We talked for a while but I could tell the he was a little distracted, in fact I could feel that he felt torn between something, but I didn't pry in case he changed his mind. But when I finally decided to tell him how I knew his sister he seemed to be a little relived, but then he started asking me questions about his sister and Seon-Ho! I didn't realise the connection until he mentioned something about an old friendship, and I figured out that was why he aways looked so…conflicted when it came to Yeon. It now made sense why he treated the her the way he did but he still could have done a lot more for her. I was torn between telling her brother the truth and lying to him so I could keep Yeon for myself without a single chance of anything ruining this opportunity. But in the end I decided to tell him everything, in hopes that he would finally cut off their relationship once and for all, but I couldn't read his face from then on. He and his sister had that in common I could see, they always concealed their true emotions.
Meeting Yeon again face to face was a real treat, a little bit of happiness that I did not think I would ever get to savour in this lifetime. She was equally surprised to see me but for some reason she looked just a torn as her brother. I soon cut off contact with her uncle who kept sending me messages at my accommodation to retrieve information about her before I stared courting her every single day. More than a few times she tried to pull me to the side and try to convince me that it was in my best interest that I stop courting her since she still carried her epilepsy disorder in her blood and that it would probably be hard for her to get pregnant because of it. I had to admit that this did put a damper on things for me since I wanted my own children, but when I saw that she was serious I did indeed give us both some time off so I could think about what to do next. The very last thing I wanted to do was to give up on her, she was my reason for surviving and climbing this far. But when I came back to inform her of my decision…she was nowhere to be found at all.
Seon-Ho must have returned and taken her away from me just like he did the first time. He must have convinced her brother to somehow keep this a secret from me and he must have already have sent for her hand in marriage already…
…or so I thought, until I was sent a letter from a rather well-known noble woman to meet me at my place of residence. I was rather intrigued about what was going on and why she wanted to meet up with me. But as soon as I saw for myself what was going on, the opportunity to mess with my so-called brother completely dominated any other desire that I had to do anything else. I needed to pay him back after everything that I had been through, all of my plans that failed me and all of the plans that I could now make for the future. I did feel bad for Yeon, but it was the only way that I could get my revenge on him. I had met all of the ladies that were involved in this so-called scheme and I had to admit that they really letting their petty jealousy blind them from the truth. Seon-Ho would't be around any other woman apart from Yeon because he could not function without her. Concubines? Mistresses? I was surprised that he even liked a girl like Yeon as much as he did when even I knew that women weren't exactly…to his taste. And if he ever did need a woman, it would be high-functioning, high intelligence level and multitasker like Yeon who could help him to build up his career. Without Seo Yeon, Nam Seon-Ho was nothing and he knew it. Now I just needed to come up with a plan to make sure that he never found 'his woman' ever again so that they could both move on. It wasn't like he was short of women chasing after him either, I wonder what he would do if he knew that there was a woman of high caliber that could do everything that Yeon could do who wanted him just as badly? Would he give up Yeon forever? Or would he commit social suicide by running after a brother woman? Every single day she was stuck here, she was throwing away her viability in marriage. Then who else could have her apart from myself?