"Since you are expecting wife, you shouldn't walk around too much, no matter what stage of your pregnancy that you are in, you should be resting today after the disastrous banquet that we almost didn't get through." "I want to accompany my husband for a walk to relive my boredom, that is not a bad thing." "Very well, but only for today, after that you are required to take care of yourself for our child." "No! I shall walk with you every day until…" :"I know wife and I apologise, this wasn't exactly part of my plans." "Your friend may be a scheming monster, but he at least knows how to take responsibility for his actions." "That is true; as soon as we survive this, I shall never have a reason to part from you again. This shall hopefully be our last obstacle before the birth of my son." "Our son." "My father's first grandchild." "How proud he must be of you now, especially with a friend like yours. I have been thinking every single day of what this baby will look like, but I also cannot help but to fear what will come during your absence, what if our enemies are cruel? What if our child suffers?" "Our circle will never let any harm come to you or anyone else that we hold dear." "Your friend will protect us, he told me that he has plans for his nieces, nephews and his own children that are born from Seo Geom's bloodline." "Is that so? Did he indulge you in these plans at all?" "He simply stated that we shouldn't worry too much about our children's education…" "Of course he would say such nonsensical things, what a son-of-a…" "What about the upcoming wedding? It will have to happen as soon as Yeon returns home." "Yes I suppose so, at least I will have the honour of giving her away myself instead of him stealing her from me over and over again." "And Dal?" "I have to start leaving everything related to her to him, and I just need to focus on my father's village. And as soon as the downfall of the Third Prince is underway, I would like us to move there since my existence wouldn't be mush useful here and I no longer want any ties to the palace." "But what about your job as a teacher there just like your father?" "I will try my best to get out of there, but what do you think? Are are you ok with the idea?" "As long as I get to have my home with you, I will follow you everywhere that you go, Seo Hwi." "I shall miss you dearly, wife." "I shall write to you every single day and if you even miss a single letter of mine husband, I shall never talk to you again!" "Very well wife, I shall obey your commands."
I missed my wife already, just the thought of being away from her during such a special time in our lives was already driving me crazy, prompting me to stay in her company for as long as possible. We ate together, we bathed together, we slept together and I always had my hand placed upon her belly where my son was. I was never going to leave him on his own as may father did to us, even though I knew he had little choice to after my mother passed away. I was going to keep him by my side and train him as early as possible so that he could be ready to pass on his grandfather's teachings as soon as he was ready to marry into his own family. This made me think really hard about what sort of family that I was setting up for myself and what sort of rules I wanted to pass down since my father didn't have time to plan such things ahead of time.
"What are you thinking about, my love? You have been quiet for a while now." "I am simply thinking about what sort of family rules I wish to establish as soon as this baby is born." "Oh really? What are you thinking about?" "No concubines, my father wouldn't stand for it. And any girl born into this family shall be equally educated along with the boys…" "and trained as well? It would help them a lot to just know how to defend themselves, these Seo girls, since this family will always become a target for future and past enemies that will try to take them down." "I suppose so…." "What about your father's village? And your sister's workshop?" "My sons and future nephews will have a share of that land, and I think it is appropriate for the female to run that business before we give it to the boys." "And what abut dowry rules and memorials? Family inheritance and allowances? Education standards and charity work?" "And this is exactly why I need you when it comes to this kind of work." "Yeon did say that you lacked in writing work." "Ignore that god-damned brat and tell me if there are any rules from your family that you would like to pass down?" "My life stars and end with you husband, my family before you doesn't exist to me at all." "Very well, let us get started."
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"…her past with you shall be brought up against you if The Third Prince wishes to contest your future marriage, Young Master Nam, epically her visit to you under your father's roof." "What a careless person she has become since the absence of Seo Hwi in her life, and now she is choosing to try and reappear into my life? She must have heard about my marriage consent with Seo Yeon." "And for the sake of a common interest, Dal will join forces with The Fifth Prince and Mistress Han to bringup your past with her in an attempt to destroy your alliances with The Seo's, and they will say you will frame him for anything that you do against them." "And why would I want to harm my employer, The Fifth Prince? Someone sounds rather paranoid?" "They will go to The Emperor and plead justice if it comes to that." "Very well, I understand what prejudice has been set against me since my father's time in the palace. But I have done nothing wrong and therefore I have nothing to be afraid of."
I didn't mean to eavesdrop into his conversation, I just wanted to personally bring him a meal as a teen of my gratitude for staying with myself and Hwa-Wol when our husband's would be away helping my father-in-law's village. But instead I was greeted with the many empty liquor bottles that he had under his desk and a look of utter dejection and loneliness in his eyes in the absence of his wife. He was in lover with her, truly he was, and I had some idea of why he would never admit to it.
"Forgive me for imposing, Young Master Nam, but I can tell that you haven't eaten all day and I simply wish to bestow you a meal…" "and it just so happened to be one of her dishes?" "She complained that you were a fussy eater and that you didn't have the same taste in food in common." "Did she now? She cooked this for me all of the time after my first war that I had come home from, but I always insisted that she cooked something else for me instead. And when the Liadong war was at its most dire point, that is when I wagered my breath for a must-win victory, so that I could be entitled to a wish. And that secret wish was to come home to her rather than seeing her missing from my mother's quarters and reuniting with her brother so soon." "Yeon said that you were…less than pleasant to her after that war." "That was because of a certain woman that I thought that I liked was filling my head with nonsense against her, and because I knew that she would leave me soon to find her brother, I wanted to believe in that hate for her so that I could use it against her in any way that I pleased." "To bind you to her, even if you went against her as you did? Multiple times?" "I wanted her to never leave my side since the moment she woke up in my father's roof and began to conquer him in a way that I never could, with sheer bravery, even if my heart wasn't with her yet…" "Yes it was, and it always has been." "What do you mean?" "My husband is your lifelong friend, but you have never taken him under your roof like you did with his sister, despite the circumstances that you were facing back then." "That was because my father wouldn't allow it!" "If your father matches the description that my husband gave me, Yeon's condition would have given her cause to hate her even more than her brother, and yet she thrived in his yangban and under your care."
"On the battlefield, the tip of a sword nearly pierced my heart and I had thought then that if I should have ever returned alive, I will completely disregard her and obtain her…" "…because you love her?" "…for my future plans, that is all! Even if she hates me, resents me and curses at me every single day like the rest of the world does, I will still obtain her. I will confine her to my side forever, that is what she owes me for my care…" "…and it is what she owes your heart for hurting it, which doesn't sound like you at all." "I had a thought before I…liked her that I must be a gentleman no matter what anybody spits in my face and that I must be lenient with her and strive for her happiness." "and now? You are realising that solving her issues is the key to…owning her?" "But she is living rather well now with my half-brother who never even liked her in the first place! Only I showed an interest in her! Only I cared for her! Only I bothered to visit her…!" "After you used your father's threat again her life to isolate her? After you provoked you family's maid and that concubine to repeatedly test her? And used the kisaneg girl to provoke jealousy in her?" "Yeon….she knew it all? Everything that I did to her? Back then?" "Yes." "So why didn't she…." "Because she has always been in love with you and she let you…explore her as much as you wanted to. But she is facing her own family difficulties and she wishes to keep you out of it t protect you." "If she wanted me to keep away from her, she should have never saved my life when I was a child, for every breath that I take belongs to her. And that is why I cannot bear to keep away from her, but this taste of jealousy is making everything much worse. It is like a poisonous snake that gnaws at my heart all of the time. Anyone will become ugly after tasting this disgusting emotion and I fear it will bring us more trouble than anything else. But I really cannot endure this on my own and…" "No! You ask too much of her! You are also a human with a range of emotions that you cannot control, nobody can."
"Do not try to defend her sister-in-law, she knew exactly what she was putting herself through when she chose to stay with me in my father's yangban. She knows that I hold grudges easily and that she has to make up for them since she accepted me. This is just the kind of monster that my father created and she knows it." "You will only push her away, specially since how broken she is in your absence." "Is she really broken in my absence? Or has she found herself a better man to hide behind when I find her?" "Dal always had his eyes on her from the moment that he approached her in the brothel, but you are the reason for her no-contact rule with any males at all." "Did she really go untouched in that place? Truly?" "You were always in her mind and heart, how could she let anyone harm you?" "Mistress Seo? You have additional presents waiting for you outside of the yangban from the palace." "Very well, bring it inside."