"This brothel is funded and run by a jealous favour righting woman who betrays her own sex by kidnapping the women that her husband is interested in and forces them into prostitution?" Is this how the precious daughter of Seo Geom chooses to insult me, her superior? And what is this that I am hearing? The girl has only been in the brothel for a few weeks and she has already gained the most favour in history there? Without serving anyone? And she keeps her money to herself? Just what sort of witchcraft is passed along the female line of the Seo women? Her mother was exactly the same; a gifted woman who got by in my brothel for 3 whole months without serving anyone and ran off with Seo Geom, my husband's biggest enemy at the time. And now her daughter seems determined to go on the same path with the rising star of the palace who is also my husband's enemy due to her brother." "We cannot harm Seo Hwi due to him being the right-hand man of your husband, and if he were to ever find out what you have done to his sister, he will free her himself." "I simply do not understand, my husband has never let his guard down this much with anyone until Seo Hwi came along. And I feared that for the sake of nurturing their friendship, that he will eventually marry that orphan slut who is already….intimately involved with her brother's best friend. I may not be bale to do anything to her brother and his men, but i can most certainly cut off her wings." "Princess Consort, do you mean…" "Sell off her friend no matter what, and as soon as the war ends, I want a meeting with the mixed half-breed away from my husband's watchful eyes." "What do you want to…" "Princess, please forgive me but I have to give you an update from the brothel!" "What is it!" "Seo Yeon has made a senior kisaeng drop dead out of fear, and she is currently trying to cut a deal with the other one…" "She is trying to clip my wings first? Very well then, but not before I clip her's first. Hyeon will be sold off tonight and as for Seon-Ho, I shall make him bring his woman to an end himself, for which man will choose a mere woman over his own ambitions?"
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This was a hard civil war, fighting for who people believe should be the new crown prince. This was certainly a new age that let princes who were vying for the throne letter supporters carry out their dirty work for them. I hadn't seen much of Jeong-Beom since we were drawn up in separate battalions but he was alive and well the last time I saw him. I on the other hand had suffered some bruises on my torso that I was going to have a very hard time hiding from Yeon. I can already here the lecture she was going to give me before locking me in her home and not letting me out again until I was completely healed. But then again, maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing after all; I could probably take some time off and plan my next steps in peace without being harassed at work all the time and being pulled into the Prince's disputes. As time went by Bang-Won's power was only growing stronger which had become a problem to me, since he couldn't have gotten this fare on his own without Hwi's help. My father's plan to gain his trust before assassinating him had truly backfired onto me as this Prince was my worst enemy who looked down on half breeds like me. And now that Hwi had earned the Prince's trust so flawlessly, it was still against his will and now he couldn't break away from him and raise his family in peace like he wanted in his father's village that I was yet to see. But from what he described to me, it did indeed sound like a good place to start afresh and the idea of rebuilding it like he wanted actually sounded pretty exciting. As grateful as I was to Yeon for helping me to get where I was, the point I wanted to prove to my father had been buried with him. Yes, I still wanted to make the world a better place, maybe in both worlds, but I had to also admit that raising a family of my own in a village like that and helping rebuild it with my resources didn't seem like bad idea at all. In fact I couldn't stop the ideas swirling inside my head ever since Hwi described it to me where practically bursting to come to life. Schools, homes, weaponry training although that was already Chief Park's territory, but maybe classes as well? I was pretty good at literature and martial arts so I could teach? The possibilities that I had for myself that I had only been dreaming about since I was chained unwillingly to my father's side were now coming to fruition, and to be honest I'd much rather be there than return to the palace sometimes…maybe living a lowkey life as a new person was what I wanted and needed with Yeon.
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Imagine my shock when I overheard of my sister's plan to bring down the man that I had planned to marry as soon as I laid my eyes on him when he had the guts to hand in his own father to the Emperor for the betterment of this country. I confided my marriage plans to my family, but they were against me for obvious reasons, but they failed to see the bigger picture that I had in mind for my own plans of advancement. After the demise of Nam-Jeon my family had to physically remove me from our home and basically kidnap me somewhere far away where I couldn't be seen around Seon-Ho whose future was pretty unpredictable in that moment, even though I told him I was running away to soften the blow. I was completely torn; I know that he must have come to his senses and miss me terrible so I wanted to be there for Seon-Ho and support him in every single way that I could, as he surely could be the man that his father raised him to be, but without him everything seemed impossible. How would Seon-Ho support me? Where would we live? How long could my family support him if we lived with them? The possibilities were endless and my concerns were only growing more and in the end I felt confused myself. My family made me see other possible suitors but they were all the same men with endless ambitions who were ready exploit their families no matter what. The difference between them and Seon-Ho was that despite the very obvious connection he had to the palace through his father, Seon-Ho was basically self-made, which was pretty much unlike anything I had seen before. Growing up in a noble home and society meant that someone stronger was always overtaking the weak, someone was always stealing someones ideas and beating them to everything they wanted or just straight up taking over something or someone that didn't belong to them.
I had had more than enough though, no matter what luxuries were lavished on me from all my suitors, they were not him and I couldn't get him out of my mind. And then all I could think about was that night my cousin found me to tell me some nonsense story about the epileptic orphan and my man. Even though the whole thing seemed to be my cousin's fault in the first place, I couldn't ignore the softness in his eyes and his face whenever he latched his eyes on her, which would follow her everywhere until she was out of sight. And I swear…I could have sworn that I've witnessed him watch her a few times through her quarter's late into the night. To be honest, I hadn't heard anything about her since she was probably the first woman after the Empress and Empress Dowager to not only enter the court hall but to testify against one of its members, nt even my powerful sister had set foot in that room. No one in our city could have missed the metaphorical rise of her brother, but Yeon was nowhere to be found.
But when I heard the new nonsense that my sister was trying to tell me now about what they had been up to in my absence refused to believe it. But I guess that there was no harm in torturing her either, especially since I couldn't forget how humiliated I was because of her very existence and the sheer effect that she had on Nam Seon-Ho. I also knew and seen with my own eyes what ridiculous lengths he went through for them…especially her. I also couldn't help but remember how his absence from the palace tortured me as soon as she left. So I had plenty in mind for her to make up for.
Yeon…had most definitely changed from the time she was with her brother and when she was with my fiancé. Yeon, as much as I hated to admit, had most definitely become a woman, even far more than I was. She looked like a matured teenager in the Nam residence but now she…well she wasn't a damned goddess or anything but…she was…ok I guess. And she had that annoyingly pure innocent virgin vibe about her that pulled in almost everyman around her and…bewitched them with it. She was the type liked to act all innocent on purpose to seduce rich men until she got what she wanted. Not once could he have known how bright his fortune was and I guess that was why she wanted him to herself now as a woman. But now she could think twice about that whole act as she was made to service men…in every single way, and Seon-Ho could really think about who could bring him more advantages and happiness in this life; a noble woman like me or a lowborn epileptic slut like her…even though he spent an extraordinary amount of time just…watching her.
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"Mother! Mother! I am having a bad dream again! Mother, where are you…" "Areum? My daughter? What is it? What is the matter?" "Father! Oh father, I just had the worst nightmare! Do you remember Uncle Seo Geom? When he visited once with my aunt? We were poor as children and he managed to bring back such beautiful fabrics for his family, even when he was a lowborn at the start of his career? I desperately wanted one, but he actually pushed me aside and said that it was all for his daughter? He even put Yeon above his own wife! I cried, but he actually had the nerve to ignore me! He looked at me as if I was a disgusting pig and told me that his own daughter never cried over such insignificant things!" "Daughter, why do you think of such memories? He is dead now and we made sure of that, a very long time ago. And now we are here in the palace under the orders of the Princess Consort herself."
"You do not understand father! My own cousin killed my mother due to what we did to her family! And she will come for us all! Father! No matter how hard we work, or I work for myself to become the best that I can be, I can never escape her shadow! As long as she still exists, I can never become my own person! But the worst thing is that if i kill her, i can never have her brother! I love him father, I truly do! Just like his parents loved each other!" "Daughter, i have never denied you anything before. But you must forget Seo Hwi. He cannot be bought and he will sacrifice himself for his sister, or they will both go down forever. Are you even aware of who he is since he grew up? He is the ex-lover of that kisaeng girl who brought us here to the palace in the first place! And she will not let you have him." "Wait, what? What did you just say?"