"Young Master Nam! May I come in?" The Lady Min made herself at home before she even gave me a chance to reply to her request, which just added to my bad mood. I put myself in such a state that I was unable to explore those mysteries quarters and now I needed time to sober up before I went there again, if any of these crazy ladies let me out of their sight, that was. "I have been worrying about you since the events of yesterday, did I frighten you at all?" "My Lady, I have seen worse torture than what you put that maid through. Well? Is she dead?" "She seems to have survived so far, but she is hanging on to dear life. I hope that you will forgive me for my sudden forwardness, but I did have your best interests in mind." "This seems to be going too far for a ingle meeting in a war that I partook years ago? Why did you harm her so?" "That maid is very troublesome to you indeed, and I can prove it. She is a shallow and arrogant person, far more for her downgraded status. You may think that condoning her behaviour has no significance, but all of the maids would follow suit from now on and be filled with false hope to seduce you and will cause you nothing but even more stress and cause greater trouble eventually." "Well, what can I say to that? I appreciate your prudence and consideration. I should have been the one to have punished her instead. Nobody here will dare to grow conceited over favour again." "We do not want any of these female servants to plot something over you again and…" "again? What does that mean? Again?" The only woman I have ever met who could make her emotions was Yeon and nobody could hold a candle to her. The maid was right, myself and my woman had been caught in someone's trap and by the looks of their reactions, she was closer to me than I had realised all of this time. But I could do nothing as long as this woman was here and by my side.
I am just afraid of more unsavoury and inappropriate woman making more moves on you, and clinging onto you shamelessly ands gratitude as a way to get closer to you. And the only way to counter this is through marriage…" "Excuse me?" What did you just say?" "As a rising star in the palace, maintaining one's image is important. But there are also people of importance that fill their heads with the image of immoral men and women all day long. So to them, everyone looks immoral, no matter what they do. And this is an unfortunate reality that we have to live in." "Well, you came here and tried to kill the only form of help that I have in my residence. Will that also not make us enemies after this?" "It will not." "And how are you so sure?" "The unhealthy behaviours of women can never really be cleaned up, they can only show temporary restraint at the most. Maids like her are usually recent, but she tried to bring closer to herself as soon as she was left alone with you. She really was 'the quiet dog that bites', which just brings us all bad luck. But you have my support against that."
"Forgive me but I have no idea what you mean at all." "Young Master Nam, are you telling me that you have no idea abut your maid's family? What her father has done? Recently, I mean?" "My Lady?" "Her father has been recently exposed to have extorted over 80 million pieces of silver and several houses for chupo (woven hemp cloth). Why else were they dragged down by debt for so many years? The Emperor is really angry this time, that is why the family is currently imprisoned, but that is far too lenient of a punishment, so my sister.." "Your sister?" "Forgive me, I made an error in speech. I already prepared a punishment for the maid in advance, that is why…" "So, is all of her family imprisoned then?" "No, not all. The maid has a legitimate half-brother who was due to inherit the family fortune if they hadn't fallen as a family. But the stepmother was repeatedly cruel to him and the father was neglectful, they have no idea where he is right now."
"In 3 years, a clean county head can make 100,00 taels of silver, but 80 million is excessive, no wonder he is to be punished. He must have been cheated out of all of it, like the idiot that seems to be." "The Emperor doesn't care for being cheated or not, you should know that. He was already stripped of his position long ago but now they are just imprisoned until the Emperor comes up with a final verdict and the females in the family have lost favour long ago." "Was His Majesty already angry? It desk't sound like him to just confine them in the palace like this, that rarely happens." "I think hit his wife was close to the Third Prince's mother and the family was only given the county head due to this alone, but he is embarrassed to deal with this huge case of fraud." "Naturally, so this is linked to the Third Prince once again…"
"As her Master, you have to do away with her quickly before anyone finds out your connection to this family. The maid is kneeling for you to attend to her, even in her most horrific condition.""I must not accumulate a cruel reputation, it is late at night and the wind is especially cold tonight, and kneeling in this weather is so improper." "She hasn't eaten or had anything to drink since yesterday , nor has she slept to take a rest and we cannot prolong her punishment anymore. Self-harm of a child of a curial family is self-sabotage, she wouldn't dare to do that."
The maid was indeed in a very pitiful state, kneeling in all whit echoes when her jaw was almost torn off of her face. I didn't even know how she managed to stay alive right now, but I really didn't care much about this at all. The quicker I got this over with, the quicker I can get to my next case, break it and come backwash a bigger and better reputation. And then nobody could stop me from reclaiming what was mine.
"This maid dresses plainly to garner more sympathy than usual whilst retaining a regrettable manner for her father's actions. The pure and white are originally the cleanest, but this shouldn't be intertwined with lust, which dirties the nature of pure and white. It is late and cold at present, let the prison guard take her back and just leave her alone, she is far beyond medical treatment. Let her know that even if she manages t escape from her to beg anyone for help, then she is instantly pulling the axe on her family's heads. She is nothing anyways, and she had better take a good look in the mirror. She had better take care of herself if she wants to give her family the chance to live. And the time she has spent grouching and grumbling but her betters here, could have been better spent on taking more brown rice and Jacob's tears soup to treat her nightmares."
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I left the prison with the intention to have some dinner before making the final arrangement on this eunuch scam case in the palace where there was a lot of bribery going on which was related to the corrupt senior scholar that gave my job away, but of course the Lady Min invited me to dine with her and I could't find a way out of it. We both made our way int her carriage with my eyes locked on those mystery quarters. I had been held back for months and now I needed to find a way to rid myself of this woman who refuses to leave my side and was already taking control of my personal and professional affairs….
…but for maybe the very first time in my life, it looked like someone heard my prayers when we rolled up to the home and we were greeted with a familiar-looking eunuch that I recognised from the palace. But it was the look on her face told me that it must have been her sister's. The Lady Min, just like her sister, was very bad ah putting n heirs and graces, and she was infamously known for going against her family and shaming them once her older sister became the Princess Consort to the most feared Prince, but she was also equally scared of that couple due to her sister becoming a powerful enough figure to interfere in her own personal affairs. But despite all of that, what was the Princess Consort really doing here? Was it really just for her little sister? And what was the Lady Min really ding here herself? It cannot be just for me since she could have invited me to her own residence instead. Just what was going on here?
"My Lady Min, please head inside to the residence to accept your sister's decree." "What is she trying to scare me off with this time? Or do the walls here have ears? Besides, what can a mere eunuch like you do to me? You know not what I am capable of sir." "Despite of who I am and wha I lack, I still come with the Third Princess Consort's order, then I am naturally no longer weak, don't you agree? My Lady?" The Lady Min was already making a huge mistake in going up against any eunuch from the palace, who were most likely backed up by powerful figures, as they usually were the ones who got their hands dirty for their Master's. And I didn't know about her, but I was already starting to have an ominous feelings about this place already.
The Lady Min grabbed me by the arm and lead me to her residence in full view of the servants who hid their faces in embarrassment since I could not do so myself. But she was soon on her knees screaming her head off, crawling towards the mass of bodies that were piled up on top of each other like stacks of hay. They all looked like advisors from the royal palace, although I would have recognised them if they were. Why did she have her own set of real advisors? Women were not permitted to engage with politics apart from The Empress and Empress Dowager.
"As decreed from The Third Princess Consort, The Lady Min has been instigated by her immoral Advisors, which is punishable by death! And as she is now a part of The Royal Family, you should not behave wilfully anymore. As part of a family that receives an official salary from the people, you should set an example of filial piety for the world and if you should fail to repent, these Advisors will not be the only ones who will die wastefully in the future."
The Lady Min was beyond hysterical and I on the other hand was becoming alarming desensitised with the amount of raw violence that I was getting surrounded by. This move was certainly a slap to her face as it would finally put an end to all of her flirtatious moves that she had pulled on me so fat. And I was about to leave her there and walls in her own humiliation, if it wasn't for the fact that their death wounds caught my eye. It was a short slit to their throats, which a short and yet effective way to deal with assassinations. And it was familiar to me, why shouldn't it be? This was the work of a Seo, this was Seo Hwi's work, which meant that he was closeby and hopefully watching me and everything that I was doing here, like I have always done for him and his sister. But that didn't stop my throat from going dry, my palms started sweating and I couldn't stop indulging my paranoia by looking around me constantly. Seo Hwi, where are you?