"Young Mistress Seo, you indeed look very pretty, no wonder you rushed into your marriage with your husband." "Excuse me? And you are…" "I am just a concerned neighbour of yours that likes to look after the new families that move into this town, and you are very likeable at first sight. And I have to apologise to you, my poor health was to blame for not delivering the betrothal gifts to you sooner, so I must not miss anything this time." "Forgive me if I am mistaken, but I heard that you were one of the families who generously donated some of my troublesome servants that I had to put up with when I first moved here" "Oh yes, i do sincerely apologise for that mistake, so let me make it up to you with these ornate jewelleries for the new expecting bride, although he should have had a litter of children by now." "He was rather busy running around after The Third Prince and his sister, so it wasn't like he had much time to focus on himself until now, and it was his sister who chose me for him, so it all rather worked out well." "I am just saying, for his age…" "You know, I am starting to find the obsession with my family that this town has as rather odd, especially knowing that myself and my husband are both orphans, and yet nobody wanted to vouch themselves to be our seniors before his rise in the palace." I was aware that I was starting to sound more like Yeon with how aggressive I was becoming, although nobody could blame me due to my pregnancy and we all knew it. "It isn't like you are aware of my husband's age, so let us move on from this conversation, and please excuse me whilst I tend to our other guests." "And as long as my heart is with this family, there is nothing that I wouldn't be able to find out, and that goes for the rest of this town."
So this was the reason why myself and my husband were relocated to another village, we were the new prey amongst the vipers of social climbers here that all wanted a chance for their young to be associated with the palace, why else would they stay here after such a huge scene was caused just now by other noble families? They were all going to try and out-do each other and they were going to use us to do it. But this was also the day that I was starting to see why Yeon had so much faith in us staying in the brothel as women. I unfortunately recognised a lot of the men that were present in my home and I knew sooner or later that my previous identity would be exposed, and I had to talk to my husband about this before it did some serious damage to our marriage. But he was busy tending to his drunk friend upstairs, so I had to hold fort down here whilst Hwa-Wol put her daughter to sleep.
"Mistress, I do have a question if you will excuse me, but when exactly did you start living with your current family after you were widowed?" "I…how on earth did you…" "will you not answer my question then? Was it before or after your husband's ex-wife was married into the family?" "I…had an unfortunate life after I lost my husband and my cousin was merciful enough to let me into her home…" "and her bed? Who knew that you were so close to your cousin that she allowed for you to share her husband after suffering from some mysterious health issues soon after that?" "Mistress Seo! What on earth are you trying to imply!" "Maybe it is better that some neighbours keep their distance, lest our muddy pasts be brought up, don't you think so?" "Very well, you have made yourself more than clear about how you feel about us, so I will have no reason to stay here any longer! I shall leave after deploying my gifts to you, if that is quite alright." "I think that you have given us quite a lot of gifts already…" "I have these 2 servants here that re skilled in music, dancing and cooking. They can stay with you in this residence and help to serve your husband whist you are on bedrest…"
"You are a rather interesting character indeed; you just personally witnessed the scenes I have just had to put up with, and now not even minutes later, you are showing these 2 concubines in front of my face as I am barley given any time to recover?" "I really wonder at how such a young lady like yourself can speak profusely of obscene words so easily?""I cannot quite believe that a woman who has committed obscene acs can be so easily offended with only a few words? How absurd is that?" "Is this how The Seo family treats their guests?" "Wife? What is going on here?" "Our kind-hearted neighbours wish to bestow you with some musically talented concubines as you can see, husband." "I see, and did you explain to them that my father's clan long dispelled concubines from their bloodlines, even before my father broke away from his noble lineage? His Seo clan that starts with me will never adhere these old traditions like taking on concubines and however marries my sister will never have concubines to accompany her husband, nor will she ever be a concubine herself." "Yes husband, I was just about to tell her now." "I do not believe this; do you wish for a small family, Seo Hwi with little progeny?" "You see if my father was here, he would agree with you. But he is not and I am not a vastly wealthy man who can support such a large family yet. So for right now and in the foreseeable future, I wish to keep my clan as small as possible." "And do you know that I can complain about your family for this?" "And do you think that The Third Prince will let you complain about me? Especially now when the Royal family have bigger things to worry about? Like fighting a plague that will spread here soon enough? Even The Prince himself complimented my wife and showered her in a lot of gifts herself, just in case you were unaware of the situation in my marriage, so I wonder whoo would believe what you have to say about us, when it is you who is causing all of the trouble here with many witnesses as we speak."
"Very well, I have finally gotten to know what sort of people you are and how you wish to ignore these other families due to your backer…" "Excuse me? Would you mind repeating yourself so that my wife can keep a note of it and send it directly to 'our backer', so that he can make his own judgement upon your family?" "And I shall see how you thrive in this town without my help since you refuse to acknowledge me at all!"
The crowds began to disperse from there with half the food still untouched, but my husband already seemed to have plans for it, as did my so-called brother-in-law. "Well well, you guys might be the only family that I know who can clear out a massive banquet in only a matter of a few hours." "Shut up and drink something to sober up. And take a bath too, you stink." "My apologies to my new sister-in-law, but you should already be comfortable with my stink long ago, Seo Hwi." "I most certainly am not!" "Sheesh, let me eat a little first before I have my bath, and by the way, I have gift of my own to give you." "And that is?" "Servants that your sweet baby sister personally cultivated in my father's yangban, so you can trust them more than anyone that you are going to find." "You mean that you are planting your own spies in my home?" "Well, when you say it like that, anyone would think that we are enemies, which is what we are on surface level in the palace. You can plant a few of your old men into my home when I have one, I do not have a problem with it." "I shall draw up his bath…" "leave it sister-in-law, the maids can do it and I need to talk to you, to all of you, so will you please call down Hwa-Wol and her husband?" "Now what the hell are you up to?" "Why do you always make me out to be the bad guy?" "Because you usually are." "Only you can get away with saying that to me you know." "I know, that is why I am saying it."
'Master Nam? What is going on?" "Please take a seat everyone, because a lot of things are happening in the palace that the public isn't aware of, and you need to be caught up so you will know how to proceed." "What exactly are you saying?" "The family of The Third Prince is on the brink of collapse, and everyone in this room is associated with him apart from myself, so I need to get you away from him, since I was the one who put him with you lot to begin with, even if it was my father who made me do it."
"So, you are saying…" "I am still very angry with your sister for the risk that she has taken in her mother's brothel, but it seems to have paid off." "What do you mean?" "Yeon has successfully taken down the Third Princess Consort and her entire family for just being thrown into that….place and staying away for as long as she has done. The Lady Min and her sister are being charged with all sorts of things that have brought down dynasties instead of a single concubine or whatever. She was about to the deposed and divorced if the servants hadn't announced the outbreak of the plague right there and then." "So now what?" "That will all happen when the plague is conquered, which can only happen when Moon-Bok arrives in the palace." "What? I am a mere amateur physician, I know nothing about diseases." "Well you will have to learn, won't you, since there will be a special guest from our past to find him." "Who?" "An old friend of your wife." "You don't mean…how am I supposed to…? "In the absence of all of the men, I want the woman sticking together rather than living alone, especially with all of these children that are abut to be born. As for Chief Park and Jeong-Beom, stick closely to Hwi as you can as to avoid being called in for active duty with sick patients." "What do you mean?" "The Third Prince will come here and recruit you to help combat the plague, and you will turn him down, all of you." "With what excuse?" "You men are going to liquidate every ingle single chest of wedding gifts that you have and liquidate them as provisions for your father's village and spend some time there to protect them from this plague. And I will stay here with the women and children and lodge here for a while whilst I bring Yeon home." "Can you? Can you bring her home now?" "Yes I can, which is another thing I need to talk to you about, but first I need to address the women one last time. My servants are trained by Yeon herself so you can trust them as much as you want to, but I need to prepare you for something that will surely pass as quickly as it will come." "Which is?" "Your brothel pasts will emerge in front of everyone in the village, and I need you to let it happen as soon as The Third Prince arrives, because he will be your protector, in that situation anyways." "Why?" "Because he values Hwi so much that he will vouch your pasts as a part of his service, and the same will go for Yeon. Seo Hwi and his men are rising stars in the palace and they all want a piece of you, but they know your sister will not allow it, so they will d everything to separate you both. Hwa-Wol, you need to write down all of your accounts in the brotehl as proof of your service to the Prince as do you, Hyeon. And the men will disperse as soon as The Third Prince leaves your home. In the meantime, my clan will descend upon your wife and tear her to pieces, that is why I shall stay behind here with them, although Yeon must have taught you how to handle yourself well, but you are pregnant, so I will help you with this. As soon as the plague ends, the Princess Consort shall be deposed off and so will her husband hopefully when I get put to work." "And what about her? My old friend?" "Ah yes, now, about that…."