Myself and my husband were finally home and we couldn't be any happier than we were, even on our wedding day as soon as he found out that he had an heir on the way. He simply couldn't stop touching me, even more so now than before and he gave me such comfort and warmth even though I was barely showing yet that I truly felt like I had landed in heaven after being a part of a noble family that ignored my existence for years. He tended to my every need, he had his sister's factory make me maternity clothes and he even ate meals according to my cravings, which seem to vary as the weeks went on. But sooner rather than later, everyone in the village seemed to have received the news even though I was rather paranoid in keeping it a secret in case it became a target to any of our enemies. The Third Prince's protection was simply not enough and I just wanted to stay besides my sister-in-law, who could surely protect me better than anyone I had ever met. But this servant called Dal was backing our access to her, Nam Seon-Ho warn't written to us for the longest time, Moon-Bok would surely be called into the palace with the rest of the men so I was busy in making preparations for his family to stay with us until the plague was over. I was a bit more at ease to have Hwa-Wol at my side, but I couldn't help myself but to desperately miss my dear sister-in-law, who plays kept all of us together. But as soon as the village spoke of my pregnancy, they all insisted on hosting a banquet for myself in my own home, which I knew would put us in a lot of trouble now that word was spreading about a plague in the capital and The Emperor himself cautioned his people on the importance of frugally now more than ever.
"What are we going to do about this banquet, my love?" I asked him as I rested in my husband's arms in bed in the summer's heat with not much covering me since I was starting to feel uncomfortable in my pregnancy. "We will have to come up with the excuse that we are housing people due to the nature of the plague and that holding a banquet at this time would just disrupt everyone we bring in." "And luckily for you, they are all associated with The Third Prince, so nobody can refute us." "How are you my love? Are you comfortable?" You have a strong boy waiting for you if he is already giving me this much trouble, husband, I cannot stop eating no matter how much I try and then I end up feeling bloated all night long." "Forgive me wife, for putting you through this, it seems a beastly business indeed. But he will end up strong enough to protect you when I cannot." "So about this banquet?" "I shall have to take up a meeting with a marquis or something like that and leave a couple of hints in the name of The Third Prince." "What did your friend's letter say?" "That we might have more company than we are expecting soon, but do not worry, I know how to handle it." "What does that mean? Will I have to prepare more rooms? But to who? I do not more people here, not when I am in this condition, husband!" "I shall do my best wife, but I am not nearly powerful to stop it." "Are we talking about another trap?" "From The Third Princess Consort herself, it looks like." "So if this goes according to plan, then we can put an end to her as well?" "Seon-Ho wants you to take revenge on The Third Princess Consort yourself since my sister is apparently preoccupied with that damned servant from the days of her hostage in the Nam yangban." "Your friend is rather…pervasive, isn't he?" "His skills of manipulation are almost on par with The Third Prince himself. Exploiting anyone and everyone for survival has been embedded into his blood and he has become far better than his father ever was ever since his death. It was the one thing Nam-Jeon didn't have, and he constantly punished his son for it." "Husband…" "I know wife; he has used me in the past and I can see in his eyes that he has a use for me yet, but it isn't what you think it is. He will end up using you as well, but he does it all for us and that isn't the only thing that he does!" "So he is a master, but more on the gentle side." "It is what he was raised to become and he knows no different." "He would have become a better man if the world didn't tear him apart from your sister and you know it. Or would you rather her be embroiled by the never-ending rivalries in the palace when The Third Prince deposes of your wife and seeks to make Yeon the future Empress instead?" "That isn't fair and you know it." "It is the truth and you know it; I know that you miss her terribly, but we both knew that the reason why you are not storming around the country to find her is because she is protected by your best friend, then only man that you trust with her. He is a monster that she can tame and you know it, doesn't that show you how much he longs to be a normal man instead of what he is now?" "I…I love them both so much, wife…" "And I will set up there chambers upstairs so that they will always have a home here with us, for all of your fiends actually." "Would you really do that for me?" "I will only house the people that we trust and no more husband, let me make that clear to you now, and if you want more rooms, then you get to work on a guest home in the courtyard."
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"The Young Master Nam must be very lucky indeed to have such a fertile bride and so soon after his marriage!" "What young lady doesn't want such a man for a husband?" "The good days have finally appeared for him at last, his father must be so proud of him." "But I wonder about her background? Didn't her family fall in debt? Why did Seo Hwi choose her out of everyone around him?" "Who knows, there must be a secret that they are hiding from us." "I thought that The Nam man would have been here as well, where is he? Nobody has heard about him since the war." "I am starting to feel suffocated already with these complimentary insults, husband." "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can just go back to bed. And you have Hwa-Wol to help you out." "I wish that your sister was here." "So do I, hopefully Seon-Ho is doing something about that to bring her home to me." "Come everyone, let's drink and rejoice at my new sister-in-law's good news!" "Hear, hear." "Well, Young Mistress Seo? Do you know what you are having? Are you craving anything sour (boy) or spicy? (Girl)" "Unfortunately, it is still too early for me to tell at the moment." "So you have not experienced any cravings yet?" "I am still in the middle of my first trimester." "So will you have both foods served to us? Sour and spicy?" "Forgive me, I am still trying to figure out my new pregnancy diet." "Young Mistress Seo, someone from the Nam clan has brought you some sour dishes to enjoy." The Nam clan? The remaining members of my husband's friend's family? What did they have to do with us? But a single look from my husband already told me everything that I needed to know and sure enough, I was hoping that Nam Seon-Ho himself would also reunite with us as soon as possible.
"Very well, bring the dishes inside." "Greetings, Young Mistress Seo, and congratulations on your pregnancy. My Masters and Mistresses have asked me to make you some sour almond biscuits that I am rather good at making and…" "And you just so happened to make a batch on the same day as my banquet? And I gather that these biscuits have come from the city, where he plague is running rampant?" "I…i have had the food checked…" "Very well…but unfortunately, I cannot seem to handle the smell of such overpowering sour foods at the moment, I think I shall indulge in some spicy chicken instead, but you may bring this dish to my husband instead." "Young Mistress! I mean, my Mistress says that the taste of a pregnant person is usually so bitter, so eating something sour can make it more appetising." "Look ver here girl, this dishes clearly making my sister-in-law positively want to vomit, and you keep waving it around in front of her face? Whatever for? What intentions are you harbouring around a newlywed girl who is only 2 months pregnant?" "Forgive me! I didn't mean to offend anyone…" "The descendant of The Nam Clan, Nam Seon-Ho has been close with Seo Hwi since their childhood, and yet they have been deprived of the absence of the Nam Clan, so what reason could they have to want to be involved with my brother-in-law now, after almost 3 decades have passed?" "I…forgive me, I…"
"…may I see your invitation cards, Madame?" "I have none, but I would really like to see who dares to stop Consort Kim, the cousin of The Third Princess Consort!"
So the time had come to take my revenge, but did it really have to happen right now, as I was pregnant? Couldn't I just enjoy this most miraculous time privately with my family and new friends? Where was Yeon and Seon-Ho? Did I really need to deal with this without them? I had only known Yeon for a few months before I married her brother and as for The Young Master Nam, who was highly manipulative why was he leaving his family issues to his best friend and newlywed wife? Unless…
"Where is The Young Mistress Seo? Tell her to come out here and greet her superiors, as she should!" My husband almost flew to my side, and I held onto him like a lifeline in my hands with Hwa-Wol taking the other. I wasn't alone anymore; I had a new family to protect me and was going to make Yeon proud in order to repay her back for this wonderful marriage that she had given me. "Young Mistress Seo! Kneel down below your betters and admit to your crimes!" "And what crime have I committed, may I ask?" "You girl, have no talent, no sense of virtue, and you are loyal and unfilial for not inviting every noble person of value to this shabby little banquet such as myself. Are these not crimes to pay for?" "And who are you exactly?" "You dare…to move into my town without even knowing your neighbours thoroughly enough?" "My Lady, I shall ask you again, who exactly are you and why are you barging into my home like a gang of hoodlums who are supposedly from the noble class? Where exactly is your decorum and all of the etiquette that separates our class from the other for centuries now! Well! Speak!"
"Forgive my wife, she is currently pregnant with my firstborn, so her hormones are all over the place. I also hope that you forgive me for not receiving you earlier, please allow me to show you to the table." "I didn't receive any invitation here, so why should I sit down?" "Exactly my point; you showed up here in my home without an invitation, creating a scene about how you were not invited here. So when I try to accommodate you, you then continue making a scene about how you will not walk past my threshold for the very thing that you have made a scene about? What exactly are you here for then, if not to cause a scene during my wife's very first banquet and humiliate her to the point where she could miscarry our first child? What then? Shall you take responsibility for it only after the fact? No wonder Seon-Ho abandoned this clan as soon as he could; only the family of Nam-Jeon can create such chaos and them turn themselves into victims in mere seconds. Unless you want to go the same way that he did; hanged publicly for being a traitor to the nation?" "How dare you! Wha do we have to do with the Nam Clan…" "You have been associates for years, that is why they cut Nam-Jeon off as soon as he bore his half-breed son, is that not so, Mistress?"