Chereads / The Love They Never Had / Chapter 200 - Chapter 196: Surprise Revelations (Kkamjjag Poglo)

Chapter 200 - Chapter 196: Surprise Revelations (Kkamjjag Poglo)

I was no longer aware of how many months I had been locked up here, but I had already lost all hope that I was ever going to leave this hellhole of a place. I had been ordered to clean faeces buckets, sew clothes and had gotten punished for it multiple times due to not being able to sew accurately, I had to wash and polish smelly shoes and I even had to wash clothes that were stained with women's monthly blood over and over again, only I was tasked with these chores every single day for god only knows how long now. And every singe time that I tried to protest, I only got punished with my measly amount of food being taken away from me every single time that I did. "Madame! I shall never do such disgusting chores ever again!" "Is that so? Are you saying that you haven't gotten used to it yet? In that case, you can just stay confined in the wooden cage for an entire day as a penalty if you refuse to work! Your family is already settled with so much debt, how can you possibly become so selfish!" "Madame! I have told you multiple times that you have the wrong person! I am Kim Areum and my father is alive and well! He is a man of nobility and he has no debts at all! Let me out of here and I can prove it to you! Please!" "Who are you trying to fool? Everyone here knows that your family fell from nobility long ago! Otherwise, why isn't he here to bail you out of here? Well?" "I…I suppose that he…" "Your father has been exposed this week of framing ministers to refused to invest in his embroidery business or shopped elsewhere, he had formed sects to frame or bankrupt other rival businesses and has invoked himself with filthy kisaneg business. He has behaved shamelessly with them and no longer deserves to be recognised as a man at all! Didn't you ever wonder why your home was raided and your father was imprisoned? And even exiled? Don't you get it? He sold you to us to pay off his debts, that is why he hasn't come for you. He sold off his own daughter exactly like how he did with his own sister, decades ago."

"Wh…no, this isn''t true, it isn't…it cannot be…" "His body was found hanging from the beam of the doorframe where he was exiled to in desperation and your family business has been reinstated to the Seo's mother, as it was her embroidery patterns that your family made a fortune off of for decades now." "My…my father…is dead? He…abandoned me? He sold me off…no! You are wrong! Let me out of here! I must see the Emperor! I must see Seo Hwi! He can attest to my innocence! Open the door I say! I want to go home! I cannot take this anymore! Does anyone know what torment I have suffered through the hands of the Seo's! Seo Hwi…where is Seo Hwi!" "Seo Hwi? His is on his honeymoon period with his new wife, why would he want to see you for?"

I thought my world had already come to an end when I heard f my father's betrayal and death and now this? The man that I ad risked my life and father's business for…it runs out that he didn't take me seriously, not even once? To the extent that he never came to beg for my help to release his sister…and he got married? To whom? Who did he meet that was possibly better than myself? Could she give him everything that a young man such as himself needed? What could she provide for him that I could not? Financial security? A comfortable lifestyle? The prospect of never having to work ever again? Was the slut who married him even a noblewoman at all? Or was she a penniless orphan just like he was? Penniless, ugly and useless…she was nothing compared to myself, she was nothing…there wasn't a single soul in my life who could function without me at all…everyone loved me, everyone adored and they wouldn't ignore me anymore, they wouldn't do that to me…

"…what an arrogant slut indeed! How can she proclaim not to do any chores when she is no better than a slave for real now?" "She is arrogant and her father is no better, he couldn't even die like a real man in the palace? What a disgrace indeed…" "…His Majesty moved at the speed of a thunderbolt and they simply had no time to hit back at all…" "My brother also works in the palace and he told me everything about her father's sentencing…" now people who literarily born inferior to me were all mocking me in a way I had ever experienced in my entire life. Was this truly what I had out Seo Yeon through throughout her entire childhood? When I over-exaggerated her epileptic condition throughout the entire village after her father died? Was it really this lonely and painful? To the point where I could feel my tears painfully well up every single time I saw another person stare at me as if I was she sort of animal? Ot talk about me belligerently to my face without using the proper etiquette to hide their gossips as I have done so throughout my entire life? Was it really this bad and daunting?

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I was no longer aware of how many hours or days I had been locked up in this wooden cage that was half of my size, but I had los my sense of time a long time ago and now I was beginning to loose everything else; my heart, my mind, my soul and my superiority, which was the one thing that I had in this life to make myself the centre of attention always. Not even my own father or future husband wanted me, so what was the point in continuing to live at all? I had become so numb that I could barely feel my hunger, thirst or even my bruises from carrying out chores all day long and sleeping with insects. My hair was matted, my body reeked, my clothes were positively falling apart and my beauty that I had once been praised about non-stop had withered away somehow, just like the rest of my existence. But I still couldn't stop thinking about Seo Hwi, even in my darkest of times. Where was he now? With his wife? Was he successful? Was he making a name for himself? Did he have stable-footing in the palace? Enough to have the power to over-turn what had happened to my family if he chose me and not the slut who seduced him from me?

"…orders were already given that you have officially become a servant that will be paired up with a family to serve them soon. You are no longer a Young Mistress, so put those foolish notions out of your mind that you can ever reclaim your old status, because you cannot as a penniless orphan now…." "you epileptic penniless orphan! Seo Yeon! How dare you stand up against me! You attention seeking whore! Is there anyone worse than you in this world! Well, what can I expect from an orphan like you? You have no-one around you to teach you about manners, curtsey, etiquette and the social hierarchy of our Goreyo Dynasty! Only those uneducated, illiterate and ill-mannered orphans such as yourself would commit such disgraceful and lowly acts!"

And now where was the girl who so proudly shouted all of those things at that ugly duckling of a girl who had lost her family, her home, her femininity due to her epilepsy and her footing in society? I remembered that day when I said all of those things to her the day after she had lost her father and I wanted to pull a prank on her as soon as my father raided her home and stole my aunt's embroidery patterns. Bu her brother had caught me in the act and had a defence ready for her when my mother pulled us all in for questioning afterwards.

"How can a mere orphan babe instigate my daughter into such a fight? Look at how insensible your niece has become already, husband! Look at how badly she is turning my only daughter and child to be like! Just because she is orphaned now, she really doesn't expect to receive any special treatment from us, does she? Let me make this clear to you now Seo Yeon, we are unable to take in yourself or your brother! From this day forth, my family shall have nothing to do with yours! So do not even think about coming to us to beg for anything at all! Especially after you assaulted my child…" "Aunty! What are you talking about! I never touched Aerum at all! She was the one who pushed me into the river! Look at me! I am soaking wet and your daughter is perfectly dry in my old clothes that my father only bought for me!" I remember my mother skipping her across the face after that, and more than once on my behalf. Yeon was so scared of her that she burst into tears at that point whilst I continued to play with her teddy bear right in front of her face to rub my superiority in her wounds even more. And mow look at myself, I was the one covered in wounds whilst she had a whole roomful of men who would happily give up their lives to protect her.

"Aunty! They were both involved in this! You cannot just exclude my sister alone! Or you can call upon a physician to confirm my sister's wounds? But I guess that you do not want to do that lest your daughter's bratty nature is exposed to the entire world, then what would happen to her future prospects? She is only a girl after all right?" "Mommy! Don't listen to him! She was the one who tried to push me in the water first! I just fought back to protect myself, and that is why she got hurt!" "Your lying! You called me uneducated, illiterate and an ill-mannered orphan girl! And a whore! And I have never hurt anyone in my entire life!" "Well, it sounds like the parens should be blamed then for not educating their daughter better." Hwi chimed in once again to protect his sister, which was just making me even more angry than usual. And what was worse was the fact that my mother was beginning to get flustered with every single rebuttal that he came up with.

"Listen here nephew, my daughter may sharp-tongued, but she is also kind-hearted and generous to low-borns such as yourselves. She probably just wanted to play with your sister after everything you have been through recently and your sister just took out her frustrations upon her! So who is in the wrong now? Her words may have offended you , but she didn't mean it…" "Your daughter initiated the fight, so she would be held responsible! I have her hobble that she left besides the water to trip her up in it! It even has my uncle's family stamp on it! Now you have real evidence if you want to investigate this even further, but for now I will take my sister home and put her straight to bed! But you can check my cousins hands, if you wish to. Her com-plot failed and her hands must be scratched up by the hobble when my sister threw it away, just in case you cannot remain impartial as you should, since you are the adult here." "It is just a little squabble between children, there is no need to take it so seriously."

I hated Seo Hwi for constantly sticking up for his sister and ignoring me completely. I hated him fr living his sister more than me and always fighting in her corner when I had to constantly make up scenarios to catch my parents attentions. I hated this his sister had someone close in age to rely on for company when I was always on my own and now? I really was on my own with no-one in my corner to fight for me, so I had no choice but to take on the brunt of this situation.