"My goodness, what is that awful smell that is hanging around in the air? I have never smelt anything like that at all…" "Haven't you heard? A maid has been put to death recently in the Prince's yangban!" "What? Really? Are you sure? For what? What on earth could she have done?" "Apparently, she kept waking up her Master due t having really bad nightmares, and it disturbed his sleep so much that he behaved in a less-than-appropriate way to the Lady Min of all people! So she was forced to swallow 5 bowls of biting hot medicine! It was so brutal that hew jaw almost fell off…" "so she died?" "Obviously! Who could survive that….?"
The Lady Min? The Third Princess Consort's sister! She was here! She was actually really here! She could be my link to the Princess Consort herself to save me! To get me out of here and restore my family name, even if was an orphan now. What better way to get back at Seo Hwi and show him who his true soulmate was! And as for his sister, I could deal with her later…but wait. My family had a fallen now and my father…would she really be willing to hear me out and help me? I wondered what else these servants knew as they gossiped around their lunch break.
"But wait? How could one dead body cause such a smell?" "Haven't you heard of anything else?" "Well…" "What? Tell us! Don't keep this information to yourself!" "Another servant told me that all 8 of The Lady Min's Royal Advisors! She left their family after having an argument, so her sister killed them and left their rotting corpses in her courtyard! Right in front of her guests and servants!" "But why? Why kill them of all people?" "Haven't you heard about her character?" "No, what do you mean?" "They were her 'kept men', all of them!" "Wait, do you mean…" "The Lady Min is an immoral woman who funds the lives of the men that she sleep with and their families! What else did you think 'kept men' meant? And it was all done in front of her new victim! Someone else that she wanted to seduce!" "No! She must have become this biggest laughing stock now!" "Rumour has it that the family that she originally betrothed to were so embarrassed that they broke off the engagement entirely! Her parents have nowhere to put their faces anymore and the Third Prince is furious! He left the palace as soon as he heard about it and he hasn't been back ever since! Not since the world knows about his in-laws! What a complete and utter disgrace!" "I cannot believe that such a woman exists! A woman who doesn't stay at home and learns how to become a virtuous woman, who would want to marry that sort of a person? Who? No wonder she is reportedly so insanely jealous of her sister's marriage, while she cannot commit to a single man herself!" "This is the life of the rich, they just do not know how to handle their own affairs privately." "So what happens to her now?" "I think her sister is sending someone to pick her up and bring her back to her family or the palace for questioning and to reestablish her engagement tonight."
I didn't have a single moment to waste; I needed an escape plan to find the Lady Min and beg her to take me back to the palace with her tonight, or I would be stuck here forever or worse, be made to serve a family. No, no way, I was not going to let that happen. I quickly ran back to my room to find my old maid to draw me a bath quickly. But she was in a bad mood herself and refused to help me at all. "You damned servant! How dare you…oh, forget it! I shall just have to do it myself! Butt I shall have you caned as soon as I return! And how dare they feed wee with this sort f food that is fit for beggars only! 5 months of this foul….I want steamed rolls and cubilose congee! Not any of this village crap!"
"Maid! Where are you! Why aren't you working! You can only take baths at night! Get out of that right now! You are no longer a Young Mistress who can do as you please!" "You damned servant! How dare you speak to me like that!" "This is not a place where you can bathe and eat for free! You have just now forfeited your own breakfast, so you can now scrub the faces bucked on an empty stomach!" "No! I shall never carry out that chore ever again, not now and not ever! The Lady Min shall rescue me from this place and…" "The Lady Min? Why would she step foot in a place like this? She hasn't even asked for you even once, so why would she now? You can never go home again, so stop wasting everyone's time, or you shall forfeit everyone's food for tonight! I was given orders to treat you as a servant, so you shall be treated as thus! And if you continue to throw tantrums, then you will starve everyone else here along with you! And allow me to remind you that your maid has her own chores to get on with. So after you scrub the buckets, you can pick up the horse droppings."
"No! I won't do it! Not anymore!" "Then you have forfeited everyone's food for today and you will have them to answer to when they all starve. And I will scratch your eyes out if you continue to look at me like that! Men! Lock up her room and keep her confined for 2 days if she refuses to eat or work! Go!" "No! No, wait! Please!" "This shall also teach you a lesson for drinking water before the completion of your chores!"
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After the rude awakening that I stumbled into the Lady Min's courtyard, she had been confined to her residence and I had all of the motivation to do anything sucked out of me temporarily, knowing that Seo Hwi was close by, but he still hadn't approached me yet. What was he waiting for? Was he upset with me? Was he angry with me? Had I done something to upset him? We were completely fine before I went away for the way and this was the longest I had been away from my loved ones in a very long time. Or was he blaming me for what had happened to his sister, which I was still unclear about myself? Did he really hate me now? Was our friendship over entirely? I could be a little cold hearted at times to Yeon, but there was only 1 line that I could not cross with her, and that was the one that involved owning her without her brother's permission, as he was amongst the bigger reasons why I had chosen Yeon in the first place. I wanted my old friendship with him back at all costs despite my…feelings that I had for his sister, which were now biting me in the arse every single day. I was completely numb without her, and I may as well be a part of the living dead. It was rather ironic that I had finally become the lifeless killing tool that my father longed for me to become without the person I was trying to protect her from…
"Look at this wife! Look at how pretty and yet useless my so-called best friend is to live in a pig-sty like this! And here I was, looking forward to spending a few days in a nice luxurious place like this after riding on horseback for almost 3 days straight with little food to keep us…" "Husband! What are you doing! Stop embarrassing your friend before I even have the chance to meet him…!" "He deserves this scolding! He is the only rich friend that I have and if he thinks I am going to let my sister live in. Pig-sty like this then he has another think coming!"
I almost jumped right out of bed and landed on the ceiling when I heard Se Hwi's voice getting closer and closer to me, until he practically snatched my blanket off of me, kicked me aside with excessive force and had the damned nerve to lay in it himself! "Hwi…what are you…." "For the love of god, go get bathed, dress up nicely and take myself and my wife out for a nice fancy meal, she is meeting you for the first time. Treat her well as she is currently cleaning up after you before even meeting you, now go! I shall take a small nap in the meantime and I hope that you are already well-rested, for we have a a lot to talk about." "Your wife…" "You can treat us to an extra expensive meal since you chose the damned country over your brother-in-laws wedding, now go! You stink! And hide those bloody clothes from her, for goodness sake!" Predictably, he fell asleep within seconds whilst I was still on the ground and taking my time to process his set of instructions to me before I ran to make my own bath to me. I couldn't believe this, my best friend had actually gotten married? Without waiting for me to return home? Was that son-of-a-bitch really that damned desperate for a wife that he really couldn't wait for me to see this girl for myself so I could approve of this match?
"…husband, you really shouldn't have done that…" "Wife, you may as well rest up yourself, that man takes longer than any girl I know to get ready, especially in the absence of his servants, he cannot function without them. Come on, you have had a hard time as well on that horse." "Just let me feed him before I…" "For goodness sake wife, just take a rest when I say! We really do have a lot to update him with and it shall take him a while to process everything…" I already thought that I had taken everything that I possibly could in this lifetime; a bad birthright, unloving parents, rejecting from women and constantly going to war over a country that was determined to stay with its excessive rotten roots of corruption, but now what was this? What else would I have to contend with? What else do I have to deal with without my woman helping me with it all?