"Well? Where is she? This beautiful girl?" "Wishing everyone here good health and long-lasting fortune. Too much alcohol can be damaging to your health, please accept these fruits that we have carefully chosen and…" "who wants to sober up when we have plenty of wine here! Madame! Your other kisaengs are certain loosing their touch! They should focus on filing up our glasses instead of wanting us sober! We wouldn't he here otherwise! This place cannot even compare to Ihwaru, the best brothel of all!" The Madame was getting more and more flustered with each insult that was coming her way that had clearly never happened before, so I could only join in and stall for some time before everyone else noticed that Hyeon had already eloped with my brother. "Are you sure that you hand-picked these fruits with care girls? It doesn't even look like you have even washed them at all, i can see the dirt on them from all the way here, and they were not even highly praised enough." i was starting to loose myself as the night went on and I couldn't stop thinking abut the las banquet that i was in with my man before i had ended up here and how affectionate we were being behind my brother's back. And it was putting me in such a bad mood that I found myself loosing my usual calm and cool composure unwillingly and slowly becoming a real bitch so everyone would have enough of me and kick me out of here already. "Perhaps you girls need to closely observe these married men's preferences from the wives that they hide from here."
Just what on earth was wrong with me? Hyoen was right; my temperament had really changed and i was bitterly angry all of the time, even though I had everything under my control and i knew my plans like the back of my hand. Was it the food here? I haven't been eating here fora while and everything that I had around me smelled so bad, bad enough to put me in a bad mood, which was really rare for me. I had never in my entire life felt this way or acted like this at all. And in just a few short words, i was already leaving some girls in tears. "I…thank you…for your advise. We haven't held a banquet this big before and we still have much to learn and your advise is always appreciated…" "is it because your Master has finally run out of money and that is why we need this 'fundraiser?" "Yes, talking of which, who exactly is the owner of this place that has scouted such a talented girl such as this one?" This immediately made the seniors here even more panicked as more questions were being raised by the patreons that were supposedly here to dole out their money whilst they got drunk and no question anything at all. And from her panicked look, I can tell that this 'master' didn't have a single clue about this little event at all since she could only get away with her business if she sold her enemies to local men of no importance, which was the opposite of was going on today. This place must desperately be in need of money that the 'master' no longer had for this place to survive.
"…even though we are not as observant as you, we are still very attentive regarding…." "Regarding what? You cannot wash fruits properly, you cannot refill glasses quickly enough and you have nothing else to offer apart from your pretty little faces and bodies. You cannot even hold a conversation together, not like I can at least." "That isn't true! Day and night, my feelings are about the customers and…" "Enough of this petty talk between the girls, where is the one that was promised to us? Let us see her now and put on a show for us." "No one talks to her that way, it looks like the girl they are hiding from us must be worth all of the mystery…" "Yes, where is Hyeon at? I haven't seen her since this morning in the courtyard, playing her flute." "Oh really? So she must have been the one playing such lovely music this morning, now I really cannot wait to meet her." "Yes, where is she? Bring her out already, why don't you? Or have you bee lying to us this whole time?" "Indeed, there are still people here who still have to learn about preferences and their timings, isn't that right, Madame? We cannot just pick out random passions at will, like with Hyeon…" "Shut your mouth girl! For goodness sake!" "Unless you want to wait for a couple of months when they bring in a new batch of girls that they kidnap…." "Yeon!" "…from lowborn families…or from the palace itself?"
I had just blown up the secret and now, i was just watching the chaos unfold in front of my very eyes as every single greedy official always wanted to find some way to continuously climb up the ranks in the palace, no matter how far up they were already. And nothing was better than getting a promotion based off solving a scandal that was related to the palace itself? These people were never satisfied with what they had, and that another worry that I had when it came to my man. What if he was also never satisfied in the palace? And what would it take for him not to be swayed by taking in other concubines for power, even if he really wasn't attracted to women? How could I live with that? How could I ever possibly share him with anyone else, even men? I mean, he told me that being with me was far more intimate, but how was i to know that or rely on that statement alone?
"Hang on a minute, palace girls? What on earth are you talking about? Are these kisengs, from the palace? All of them?" "No way…that cannot be possible, right…?" "Does that mean…a palace official is running this place? Or even…a Royal Family member? But whom?" "What are you…being older and in high favour doesn't give you the right to make such unfunded claims…and you will certainly be capable of skilfully disciplining the newcomers when they…" at this point, all of the kisaengs were scrambling to distract me as the men began to whisper amongst themselves about the not-so-subtle hints that I was dropping about the mysteries of this establishment. "I have often hear that industrious maids do not age, you are all not only hardworking, but rather good at speculating on your superiors. Maybe that is why the master of this place does not bother emptying out her pockets to fund our education here." "…it really is no wonder why she captured all of her husband's lovers and kidnapped them to a place like this, no-one else in this kingdom would dare to do such a thing, even if they were the most jealous wives in all of the world." "Will you stop being so impertinent and instigating…" "instigating what exactly? Who dares to lie abut the Royal Family like this?" "Wait a damned minute, what exactly are we discussing here? What is going on? Are these kisaengs palace girls?" "Please forgive this impertinent woman, she is just making things up to get out of the fact that herself and her friend will be solo off tonight. A war of words is always inevitable with so many women around and we are all drinking more than usual on this occasion. Who would dare to commit a crime against the palace like this? Servants Bring down Hyeon right now! quickly!"
"Is that it? You will not punish her because her words are untrue? You are just going to let this go? What does this say about your lack of management when it comes to just a handful of girls….?" "Sir! Maybe we are all forgetting what we have come here for? Let us see the entertainment before we speak of…politics that should not talk about such important matters in front of mere kisaengs. So bring out the girl Madame, just like you promised us, on your life." "God god, what sort of ominous place have we been brought to? No, we shouldn't stay here…" "if they cannot even hand out punishments, then this cannot be a real brothel as all…" "Enough of this! Now look at what trouble you have caused! Seo Yeon! You have given us no choice but to transfer you elsewhere since we can break you! Maybe sending you off to a cheaper brothel shall teach you a lesson that you cannot seem to lean here! Now go!" "Go? Go where? Where do you want me to go? Tell me?" "For your continuous breach of privacy here and spreading nothing but unfounded lies and panic, i am sending you away to another brothel in another village where you will hopefully get the life that you deserve over there! No go! Immediately! Do not even think about packing anything you have, since it all belongs to us now!" Finally, i had been booted out of here just as I had raised everyone's curiosity, so I had plenty of backers who could find me if they wanted to and help me out. It was the lest ethical choice that i had in that moment, but it was my only option that I had. It wouldn't hurt to build up personal contacts in the palace for my brother's sake…and my husband's.
I was already out of the door being escorted by servants when the tutor and his son began to spit out blood and have their seizures before they were sprawled out dead on there table. My brother had done the job that I had asked him to do well and I was out of there before anything else happened to me. But before i knew it, i was already in the carriage when the entire place burst into flames behind me, almost hurting myself in the process if i weren't just a few feet away. And suddenly my stomach was twisting in pain, so much pain that I could barely keep my composure as I was put in a moving carriage with people that i had barely recognised. God only knows where i was going, but I always kept a small bottle of poison on me just in case anything did happen to me and I could not face my loved ones after it. I had no idea if I was genuinely hurt, or poisoned, but I didn't get to find out as the world started going black before my eyes and i soon lost control of all of my senses. My limbs were going limp and the last thing that I felt was my body collapsing under me and i swear…I could have sworn on my life that I felt someone stroke my hair in a way that only my husband did before i passed out. "Husband?" "I am here wife, i am always here for you, just as you are for me…"