"Well? Have you learned your lesson yet? Has starving you for an entire day knocked some sense back into your head?" I was not being checked on by the maid who has carried the most gossip into our servant areas, but I had already lost the fight in me when I realised that I really missed my chance to see the Lady Min and explain my unfortunate circumstance to her. I had nothing left, I had been reduced to nothing and these cruel people wouldn't even let me kill myself. And now I had to answer to a lowly bitch like this one who had always been under me ever since she was born, who was soaking her smelly feet right in front of me. If she was a servant of my household, my mother would have had her whipped until her bones and flesh were exposed to the cows that would feed upon it. "What orders do you have?" "Come over here and throw out my feet water. And then you can have some of the well water that I saved for you when you were locked up here before anyone sees it." "Why are you being so nice to me?" "Because we have all been locked up and starved before, and us servant need to stay together. Nobody could function without us otherwise, not really." I must have really lost my touch to have let my guard down and have trusted her, because she was practically on the floor and laughing her head off from the moment that I tasted the water. "What is it? What is wrong with you? Why are you laughing like that?" "Does my feet water really taste that nice to you? You were practically savouring it with your eyes closed."
I couldn't have screamed loud enough even if I tried, but I soon found myself throwing up as soon as I ran away from her and almost ran right into my own maid and toppled over here, tripping up in my own vomit. "Young Mistress? What is wrong? Why are being so sick?" "Shut up! Do you also look down on me now?" "Young Mistress! I wouldn't dare to do so!" "All of you are so evil! You all just want me dead! Is the water here even for humans at all! It is obviously for livestock! And I am acting just like it right now, slaving away for imaginary debts that my family doesn't even have with food that is not even given to pigs to feed on! I am a Young Mistress myself and not some damned slave! Why do I have to live like this? Just because some other lowly maid stole my identity! I will not allow anyone to humiliate me anymore! This cannot go on! I have to find a way out of here and soon…."
"Young Mistress! The head maid is calling for us to come to the courtyard for more instructions, let us go before she beats you again for defiance against her orders." "Why? What does she want from me now?" "She wants you to go to the pigsty and clean it up." "What! Isn't that her job! Why is she pushing it onto me? Just because the Madame isn't here? Does she really think that she can get away with doing that? To me?" "She is punishing you for making everyone starve." "Oh is that so? Let me tell you right now maid, if you do not pick up that promo in the pigsty, then I will make you sleep on the floor tonight outside for a whole week! Well? What are you waiting for? Pick it up right now!" "Just what the hell is your problem with me! Why do you hate me so much when you barely know me at all!"
"I just simply hate Young Mistresses such as yourself! I was born to wait on you when you cannot even function without us! You just happened to be born into a wealthy family and live in luxury for probably stealing the idea of others! But without your parents to back you up, you live worse than us! And if you are smart enough and want to survive in this world, your only option is to become one of us!" She was getting in my face at this point, but I had had more than enough of this nonsense. And jousting my the weather, it was going to become the harvest season in only a matter of a few days now, and everyone was going to help these residents get ready for it. And if there was one beloved harvest item, it was always going to be liquor….
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"Ladies! Servants! Gather around the courtyard for specific instructions…you over there! Why are you so panicked all of a sudden? This is the residence of the Prince and we should be…" "Madame! You are finally back!" "What is the matter with you girl? What has happened?" "An urn of the century-old wine in the backyard has gone missing for the harvest season! This belongs to the Royal Family…what do we do! The Prince will have our heads for this!" "What! What are you….quickly! All servants stay with me so I can make sure none of you are the thieves here! Or this crime shall result in suicide for thieving against the Royal Family themselves1 Stay by my side so we can all look together!" "Madame! How could anyone steal from the…." "Only the villagers here know abut this wine, not even the new slaves know about those wine jars and we need to present them back to the Prince for his father during the festival. It is complete priceless and we shall all loose our heads if we have really lost it!" "Who on earth could have done such a reckless thing…" "…aren't we all getting in trouble for this?" "Can't we inform the local authorities for this?"
"Madame! Please forgive me Madame, but I just had no choice at all!" "What on earth are you talking about now! Have you finally lost your mind!" "Madame! It was the Senior maid who made me steal the wind for herself!" "Wait a minute, what did you just say? Your Senior forced you to steal it? But why would she…" "you can check her room if you do not believe in me! I can show you where it is!" "This is a very serious crime indeed, if you can prove it, I may be able to transfer you somewhere else where you do not have to work so hard, but only if you are telling me the truth, do you understand me?" "Hang on a minute! Madame! How can you just believe her words so easily! I would never do something so reckless like that!" "Let us check for ourselves then we can dole out the appropriate punishment to the real liar." "Madame! Please believe me! She threatened to starve me forever if I didn't agree to her request! She threatened me with that every single day! Somebody must have overheard us! But I do not want to commit such a despicable deed that could end my life! That is why I want to admit to everything and I am even willing to be punished for it!"
"Enough of her lies! You can search my room all you want to, because I didn't steal anything at all! Go on and look for yourselves!" "Madame! Look! There is a hidden compartment under this servant's bed!"
"What on earth….where is she! She should explain herself for this! What is this right here!" "Madame! It wasn't…it really wasn't me at all! It wasn't….she is framing me because I ordered her around! Please look into it!" "Forgive me, but I just cannot keep lying for you anymore! I have to keep a clear concuss if I want to repent for my sins." "You bitch! You never wanted to repent for anything! You liar!" "Madame! Please forgive me! Look, she has other things in her compartments as well! She has all of this jewellery that is supposed to be confiscated!" "Madame I,,,! Forgive me, that is mine." "So if it is yours, then only this new servant would know where you hide things, correct? Who could set you up? And how could you deny this? No, you cannot slap her! Quickly, men! Garb this girl and send her to beheaded for stealing!" At long last, I was finally receiving justice for my grievances, and now I was on my way to be transferred out of here. And had no idea where I was going, but I knew who I had to make contact with, now I just needed to explain how I got here in the first place….
"…did you hear about the Young Mistress who came here to be a servant? Whose father recently hanged himself?" Isn't it his funeral today?" "Yes, but there have been more developments after his sentencing." "Like what?" "Apparently, their entire clan is being punished for his mistake! All of the adult males have t have their heads cut off, the male children are sent into exile to the western border area, and all of the females must become servants…." "Servants? Where? To which family?" "You simpleton! I am not talking about that kind of servant! I am talking about….kisaengs!" "What? Why? Did they really comment such a big crime to deserve this…" "They aligned themselves with the Third Prince and his father is particularly angry with him! He is now destroying all family clans who support him so he doesn't have the courage to assassinate his younger brothers from the deposed Queen who also died recently…" "so that is why he is so angry then…"
Wait, what did I just hear? My family clan…The Third Prince…The Empress…The Third Princess Consort…I couldn't believe this! I had lost myself in an array of emotions these past months and I couldn't see clearly at all…The Lady Min resided here, how could she not know where she was residing without checking over the guest and servant list? And The Princess Consort always took her Royal image very seriously so I didn't hinder the husband that she was obsessed with, how could she not know where her sister was residing? With the guest and servant list? The bitches! They knew where I was, how long I had been here and what I was going through…what they were putting me through!
"Did you see who came so late at night by the way? Who did you wake up to serve?" "I cannot tell you, it was a secret!" "Oh come one! I thought that we were friends!" "Ok, ok! But you must promise me that you cannot say a word to anyone, or we can both loose our heads!" "I swear I shall not tell anyone, so who was it?" "It was Seo Hwi and his new wife! I think that he called her…Hyeon? Kim Hyeon?"
Kim Hyeon! My cousin? The one who served in a brothel? Seo Hwi threw me over for my slut of a cousin who had prostituted herself for an entire brothel of men? He chose a whore over me? A whore that shared my blood, my family ties but not my face? He…really chose that girl over myself? I really didn't stand a chance at all?
I was so lost in thought that I didn't even realise that my maid had come back with a horrific look on her face. "What is it? What has happened? I need to get ready for my transfer…" The door suddenly burst open with the guards of this place all coming for me just as they did in my father's home! I was so angry and terrified at once that I couldn't help myself but to wet myself right there and then. "What is this! What is going on! Why are you all arresting me! I am to be transferred out of here…" "Forgive me Mistress, but I just couldn't keep lying to them anymore, especially after how you threatened me!" "What are you talking about?" "Why? Why did you have to be so greedy as to destroy all of the century-old wine! And why did you attempt to poison Seo Yeon's food today? When I asked you to take over my work because I had to go to the bathroom?" "What are you saying? What are you…wait, what did you just say? Seo Yeon? She is here? Has she…has she been here all of this time! When I was here! She was here….she is framing me! She is fuming me to keep me away from her brother! She…the Princess Consort! The Third Prince! They want to kill me! Please, spare me! I am supposed to be transferred today! I am supposed to be getting out of here! I need to tell Seo Hwi the truth! Do not believe those sluts! I will haunt them even in my death…!"