"Your Highness has only been staying with myself lately, you should really visit the other concubines as well. Shall I bring one of them over to sing for us as we eat…husband? What is the matter?" "I am simply wondering how it is that my men's wives's pasts were exposed the way that they were during my visit, wife." "How am I supposed to know, husband? I have been far too busy controlling the plague in the palace to even think about…" "…and what about my sister's miscarriage? I hear that she will take this to my father to pled for his judgement." "Husband! I have told you many times that I am not responsible for who my people send my gifts over to!" "If only the new concubine was here to talk to me, I miss how forward she really is instead of drowning me in unnecessary flattery like you do in your speech. Men! Bring her here to join me for dinner!" "Husband! Please! For goodness sake!" "…and bring her favourite dishes here!" "You must really care about her a lot to remember what she likes to eat, when all I consume are your favourite foods, husband…"
"Peace be upon you, Highnesses." "And to you, come and join us." "Thank you." That is a very pretty dress that you are wearing, where did you get this from?" "I am glad that you like it husband, because I got this from the Seo's shop that they are trying to open up in the capital. I know that you are quite close to Seo Hwi, so I choose to get my garments from there from now on." "That is a good choice, I shall have to pay him a visit about that sooner or later, maybe after I have found the doctor to cure this plague so that I could be at home a lot more. But why aren't you eating anything? Isn't the food to your taste?" "Forgive me Your Highness, but I am not able to eat any of these things anymore." "Really? And why is that?" "It is because I am with child and I am forbidden from consuming red meat for the duration of my pregnancy."
I really couldn't believe that this was happening right now; even during a dangerous plague, my husband just couldn't help himself from spending time with every other woman apart from myself. But after all of these years of struggling, of loneliness, of yearning and doing everything that I could to win him over, I was close to giving up as ever as before. A new flame will always burn higher than the old one, and the other concubines that I had been humiliated before now were all experiencing what I had to for years now. This new concubine that he had picked up from a family of criminals of all places used every single trick in the book to lure him away from me so actively and my husband was letting it happen. As much as admitting to this was beginning to break me, there was no use in making a man stay for the night when I had no control over his heart at all.
"Congratulations husband, I shall gift you the mandarin duck screen that was presented to me on my wedding day, concubine…" "Thank you, Your Highness." "I wold surely lament for you if all of the there concubines resented you for being exclusively favoured, given you unique past…" "Wife! I am warning you…" "How dare the daughter of a convicted criminal act so ostentatiously to my own husband right in front of me!" "Your Highness! My father was acquitted, released, na reinstated to his old position…" "Shut up girl! That only happened due to my husband's lust for you, which I strongly opposed several time! I even tried to get him the death penalty for himself and your entire clan, but he just wouldn't let me! And being acquitted doesn't mean that you are guilt-free, but you have a brilliant mind, so let us see what happens now, especially when you have to come in for your greetings every single day." "Forgive me Your Majesty, will you allow me to leave?" "We haven't had a chance to even talk yet!" "Where are you going with standing on ceremony!" "Forgive me Your Highness, but my pregnancy restricts my movements and my ability to kowtow, please forgive me again!" "Where are you going ! How dare you just…!" "Enough of this! Servants! Let her pass through and escort her back to her quarters gently!" "But husband…!" "Why is it that you will not allow me to enjoy a single day to my heart's content? Why must everything be a battle with you! Even something as simply as dinner!" "Because you always come up with excuses to avoid me! That is why! I want you for myself sometimes, why is that so wrong! We are a married couple! You haven't tried to have a baby with me for years now, how am I supposed to feel!" "I don't give a damn how you would feel because I never wanted to marry you in the first place! Don't you understand that simply concept yet? The day that you inserted yourself in my life after breaking up my betrothal with your sister, I began to hate you! And if you have a lonely life now, then that is your fault! You shall never be the owner of my heart, so forget all about your infatuation with me before it sucks us both dry!"
"That is because you do not know how to truly love anyone beyond yourself! You only break hearts along the way of whatever mission you are on to fix your daddy issues! And you cannot seen who is on your side and who isn't! At least Seon-Ho chases his lover everywhere that she goes…!" Our fights always ended up with him walking away from me, but this time he didn't even hesitate to slap me across the face and smashing up my entire newly decorated and furnished quarters before running off to be with the next concubine.
"How dare she…how dare he do this to me…she is too pregnant to stand on ceremony! She has just been diagnosed…how dare she become so full of herself right after she conceived…if only he didn't take in concubines after me, then he wouldn't have any live children at all…when she gives brith, her arrogance will be sky high…but how unfortunate for her to get pregnant right in the middle of a plague….but she is young and pretty and her favour has outlasted all of the other ones in such a short amount of time…" "Your Highness! I am afraid that you are really not making that much sense…" "I even tried waiting outside of his residence earlier when she was inside, and I was the fool who insisted on waiting….no, I can't loose my power like this…I need to stage and impeachment with our new official ministers…and as for that bitch…I will get her back for this…I am the most visited woman in his harem and she was the least this months and still ended up getting pregnant….that damned Concubine Park…seen dust mixed with horse urine will cause a person misfortune if it spills on the base of it's walls! Yes, that is it! I shall mover her quarters to somewhere more remote and unfortunate place! What an arrogant girl she turned out to be indeed! Constantly showing off her father's reinstatement without a hint of shame at all! She even holds the title of concubine when she should still be an attendant!"
"Your Highness it is true! She has even begun to lecture the etiquette instructor for the new girls that arrive annually!" "What a bully indeed! Bring back the etiquette instructor and find someone that she cannot use at her will. The servants here, he etiquette instructor, the impeachment….I need money and I need it now. I need gold and I need silver and I…can only get this from my dowries now, I do not have a choice. Quickly! Servant! I need you to retrieve…."
"Your Highness! Please forgive me! I have been meaning to tell you, but…." "But what? What is it? Tell me!" "It seems as though The Lady Min has snatched away all of your dowries and you…parents refuse to hand it back over, since they have drained all of their funds…" "With a f family like this, who needs enemies! But I suppose that life without my father must be hard on my mother, and this is her way of warning me to rescue him…" "Your Highness, The Third Prince has also announced that he will leave tomorrow in search of the doctor that we took down ourselves…" "WHAT! But we are in the middle of a plague and he has never strayed from the palace this far before during a crises like this one! No, he cannot leave like this… I will not let him…quickly! Assemble the ministers to come up with a petition to…"
"Your Highness! There is bad news!" "What is it now! What could have happened this late at night?" "It is your newly-appointed ministers…they are all missing! They have been abducted from their homes and…" "Who on earth…what on earth….by whose orders!" "By the orders of the Fifth Prince via his man, Dal! So we cannot go ahead with the impeachment!" "No impeachment, no ministers, no baby and no husband from tomorrow…I shall be all on my own…"