"Madame! Just who on earth does this girl think that she is? After seeing her elders, she still doesn't kowtow and…" "Forgive me Madame, but the whip mars on my back prevent me from bowing down in respect. I hope that you are learned in etiquette to the extent where you can at least pardon that much, right?" "You…!" "Excuse me, i have my own chores to get on with…" "Madame! The men are waiting and we need to get on with the show! What if there is a mishap? How should we explain it to them if you are bullying this girl here?" "But my shoes are dirty, and i need her to clean them for me before i meet my regulars. That is you're only day as a servant here, so clean it up or forfeit a hand." "My Lady, if i were to forfeit my hand, then there wouldn't be a soul in this place who would know how to dress you up in your many layers of clothing, even though you are one of the girls here who will only serve to take them off in less than an hour." "You bitch! How dare you…!" "Humble words from your lowly servant hold no qualifications, but it is indeed a busy day today and you need to stand out in order to make more money, right? It is probably best not to let blood taint your grand moment and fortune." "But my shoes are still dirty and i am not happy about it at all, servant." "You are already ingenious enough to have a lotus flower carved onto the sole of your shoes. But something is still lacking and i dare to offer my assurance, since you have all worked so hard to keep me locked up in here and not out there in the face of all of those men who would probably pay for me than the rest of you put together." "Oh really? Let us see what you have to offer us then."
"Why don't you mix the coloured powders to enhance your footprints, so your regulars will never forget you? Just mix it casually and step on it, that will clean your shoes in an instant when you stamp lotus flowers on the ground. I am illiterate as you all know, but I remember the story of the Noble Consort Pan of the Southern Qi Dynasty in China. She would imprint golden lotus onto the ground and it would bloom between each step that she took. It was an exquisite trick beyond words and she won her husband's favour time and time again. So today, i have offered you a simple trick to embed rose powder onto the sole of your feet. I offer my wish for The Lady to rise with each step and reach your goal." "Very well. On your plight of looking like a pug, I shall spare you just this once."
I remembered in my dreams how happy she looked before she bounced off to a large group of men who were waiting for her and they were all enthralled with her trick for over an hour until one of the men began to sober up quickly. "That girl is so mean to us Yeon, why are you helping us to achieve success?" "Matters like this always come in pairs of blessings and misfortunes Hyeon, Wether she succeeds or fails is unknown to us yet. You should go to bed and wait for me Hyeon, i don't you to be here when it all goes bad, there is no need for you to be punished." "Yeon! What are you really up to here? What are you doing? Why are you actively seeking out punishments and humiliation? Why are you looking for death?" "I will tell you everything soon Hyeon, just do what I say please, or my brother will kill me if you get so much as a bruise on your arm." "Yeon? What does that mean? What does your brother have to do with this?" "You do not need to pretend with me Hyeon, i know that you both like each other." "I…Yeon, i…." "I am alright with it, as long as you treat him well, support him in his endeavours and help us carry out father's lineage. My brother has been hurt before by a woman that he barely knows and I will kill anyone who hurts him with my own hands, do you understand me? My big brother is worth his weigh in gold and more."
I knew that I was still dreaming at this point and i really just wanted to wake up and forget all of the pain that i went through, but I went through it for a reason and i was going to have to rely on that pain to get me through my days, since I had lost my lover, the one light in my life that was strong enough to almost make me forget everything my father had taught me…
"…What is wrong with your feet, girl?" "They are lotus steps, after that Chinese concubine from the Southern Qi Dynasty in China. She entranced the Emperor with her golden lotus feet…" "Golden Lotus Feet…why does that sound so familiar…" "Wasn't the Noble Consort Pan beheaded in the end for distracting the Emperor so much that he lost the war that he barely started that year? Wha are you trying to do girl? Distract us all so we can buy your freedom and bring our noble homes to ruin instead of focusing on our own plans? Madame! Drag this cunning girl out of here!" "Wh…what did i say? no! i was just….I was just merely forging her trick to…." "Oh yes? And what else do you 'forge' around here?" "Please! You all know me! I didn't mean any harm!" "Like hell you didn't! How can you even face anyone in here after trying to get us all killed like this for stupid parlour tricks that have pulled dynasties down from under them! This Golden Lotus trick was one of the reasons that concubine was branded as a witch in the end! So what spell do you wish to cast on us, you witch!" "No! i am not a witch! It was my servant who did this to me…!" "Do you honestly expect us to believe that an illiterate servant tricked you? The most favoured kisaeng in here? Do you really take us for simple fools? Noble Consort Pan was a bewitching concubine and the Emperor at the time was completely useless! Are you all learning her tricks here to create disorder and distract us?" "If we continue be entertained by such a witch, she will surely cause us calamities! Let us leave this damned brothel and never come back here! I want my damned money back!"
And with that, one of the most favoured kisanegs was dragged out by her hair and tied to the same pillar that i was only hours ago and she was stoned to death for the Golden Lotus Footsteps, which meant that myself and Hyeon had one less bully to deal with in this place. But of course, i couldn't just get away with this since I had implemented my plan in front of others, which really wasn't like me at all, so I had to ensure my punishment the next day as the brothel had lost it's biggest earner of money overnight.
"Servants! Take this lowlife servant who brought death into this place to the courtyard to be whipped 20 times!" "Madame, why are you so angry? You all were the ones who chanted that i was a jinx, so why are you now surprised that your predictions suddenly came true?" I couldn't help but to laugh in her face as she threw my blanket off of me and woke me up with a bucket of water that she tossed all over me. But the look on her face made me fearless in the face of getting more whippings, it really did. I was pushed beyond my limits inside that brothel and I didn't care for much there, not even my own life anymore. But i wanted to protect my brother's future bride, so I had no choice but to take on all of these tortures onto myself. "Let her remember this forever, that she is nothing but a lowly servant…"
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"Let her remember this forever, that she is nothing but a lowly servant, how dare she kills one of our best girls?" "But won't she loose her life if she is whipped 20 times agin? It isn't the first time that she…" "She will be fine as long as we do not mar her face as instructed to us." "Let her be punished, it will teach her a lesson two not trust anyone apart from myself." I had been present in the brothel every single day that the girl who broke my heart and walked away from me with my brother. I did try in the past to put everything behind me, but seeing her do everything in her power to resist selling herself for money just for my half-brother, it sent me into a rage that i could no longer control. I was behind every single torture , punishment and humiliation that Yeon had suffered in this brothel. i wasn't proud of it, but she herself gave me no choice but to do this, it was the only way she would come running to me as her saviour to buy her freedom and marry her humbly so she would be out of sight of the Royal Family who were insistent on ruining her.
i had been through a lot in my unfortunate life and I was very close to gaining favour from the Emperor himself if it wasn't for the fact that my half-brother turned Yeon against me emphatically. The humiliating punishment that i suffered after the disaster relief plan was still to traumatising to give me any peace, which i could only achieve by killing him off once and for all after taking the one person that he forced himself on for years now.
"…Young Master Nam? What are you thinking about?" "I have just had the woman that i love beaten ruthlessly, she shall never forgive me if she finds out about this…and I am not sure if i can forgive myself either, Kim Aerum." "Well, you can look at it like this; if it wasn't for you, then Seo Yeon would have been dragged to the torture room and have suffered a much worse fate right now. She will understand your intentions once you enter into her life again and play the hero." "She is demoted to a servant from a noble woman now and danger lurks in every corner for herself, and she has more than 1 pair of eyes on her in this place." "Exactly, you are only doing this for her betterment and you are also finally putting her in her place at long last. And besides, gaining power by the side of the Fifth Prince will only help us to find a better future for ourselves. And i would have had that by now if it wasn't for that bastard Nam Seon-Ho taking everything away from me! My luck ran out as soon as he stole Yeon and my disaster relief plan away from me!" "Ah yes, I remember hearing all about that. Will you tell me what happened then? What was the true story of the disaster relief plan?"