"My Lord, I…" "What do you wish to tell me? That you have had illicit meetings with my woman? You have sent her secret correspondence and gifts despite the fact that your family disallows concubinage as per your ancestral teachings?" "I…yes, I…" "Well that couldn't have happened, because I own this brothel and I see to all correspondence that takes place in and out of here, and I have never seen anything sent to the young lady apart from the letters and gifts that I send to her. And speaking of gifts; everything I see here in front of me is all pink which is her least favourite colour, and I know this because I have grown up with that particular woman since her infancy and I have hardly left her side at all. Even now I have been meeting her in this very brothel every single night, so how could you have met her at all?" "My Lord? You have had secret meetings…with her for how long? My Lord since you have been doing so, then why not just take in the girl instead of leaving her here in this brothel for other men to see her? There is no need t sneak meetings under my nose and…" "Under your nose? Who owns this place madame? Since when do I have to account for my actions to anyone else? Have you lost your mind, Madame?" "But I..I just mean that I wonder how your wife must feel about all of this. If this matter gets out, then your family home will be even more of a joke then what it already is…this wench must have seduced you in some way…is she really worth your reputation?" "Madame, it is your job to pull in married men into such a place, so why are you so concerned with my matters? Have you taken leave of your senses? And why do you sound so nervous? I am hardly married at all and…"
"…but she is clearly two timing you! It is simply too obscene to hear about and far too cunning to carry out in such a place as this despite its use. That is what the madame means My Lord…" "Unless she is speaking up for a particularly unreasonable woman that hired this madame right under my nose to kill one of her girls here for my sake? To abuse her and sell her off without my knowledge? I wonder who copied my gift ideas in the first place? She hired an idiot to send my woman the same gifts that she has been receiving from me for almost a decade now, did you really think that I wasn't paying attention to this matter at all? Only my woman has her virtue intact and refuses intimate presents such as sleeping matts and jade pillows since she cannot sleep on those things at all. I will not have her living in hell over and over again in my absence, so…"
"If her life is a living hell, then what life am I living in, husband? For over a decade now, have you ever thought of me even once? We sleep in the same bed and yet we think of different things, so how can I not feel any hate or pain as you remember her in everything that you do?" "That is because you constantly make yourself a victim to cover up your mistakes, and you should have learnt from growing up in a place like this that it never works, Hui Jae. Nobody has a good opinion of you at all, and I will not let you commit injustice against my woman anymore! So repent now and leave my sight before I bring you down worse than anybody I have ever plotted against, believe you me! I shall remove you from our lives and you will be begging me on your knees for mercy!" That is what I remember my man saying to her as I fainted right after he made his speech to that woman who had burst into the brothel after trying to sell me off. He stayed with me for a while as I developed a cold before he sorted out the madame of the brothel, labelling her as spiteful and deceitful and proclaiming that she had caused nothing but disorder in his establishment out of envy and spite. I also remember having my own moment with her as she was confined to her quarters with little service before she was sent off to spend the rest of her days in the palace dungeons.
"I had only you to rely on when I re=entered this establishment and I couldn't hope to settle in here so quickly without your help at all, you even kept me company for a while as I was put in an uncertain condition with The Lord Nam. Didn't that mean anything to you at all? You ended up hearing yourself more when you chose to betray me, but I still came here to give you my well wishes for your new journey."
"Even if I am held in contempt, I will never regret trying to better my life, for we are all not as gifted nor educated like you are Seo Yeon. What right do you have to be magnanimous over me, just because you have found someone who loves you enough to do anything for you? You dare to imprison yourself with your own misery as he waits for you endlessly, to work together and free yourself both from your walls. You are the one who is letting her jealousy and low self esteem ruin everything whilst The Lord Nam is stuck by that woman's side without your help and your skills. Every single day that you sulk and hide here is one more day that he has to put up with her and his superior's endless wants and needs. You are the one imprisoning him and punching him over nothing whilst he worked hard enough to beat his own opium addiction just for you. You shall bring misfortunate over to him if you cannot pull yourself together and if you do not reflect on yourself, then you shall loose him."
"Sister? What are you thinking about standing in the cold like that?" "I am just getting some exercise brother, just as Seonho has firmly instructed to me in his absence." "Come inside if you start to feel tired, Chul is waiting for you to play with him." "Has he left yet?" "Seonho left as soon as you fell asleep to put the home in order as his clan has finally descended upon them." "He left as soon as he heard the news; does he even care for me at all? I guess that pregnant women are like flowers in gardens; some bloom whilst others fade away in age, like a circle of Spring that never comes to an end. But despite their beauty; the apricot flowers are sour and their seeds are bitter. Life is completely meaningless, it begins well and ends badly." "Are you saying that you would rather become an evergreen like pine and cypress; to bear or bloom any fruits at all now that you have accomplished it? Come inside, my wife has made you some partridge stew with both sweet and bitter apricot kernels. It is the most nutritious time of the year and Chul is whining endlessly without you in his sight." "Very well, let me attend to your princes for you, but brother, did something else happen for him to leave me as soon as possible?" "Why are you stressing out like this sister? Come on, tell me what is going on?" "What do you think? My home is not peaceful and everyone thinks that we are dead so I cannot be as bold as I used to be. I have a big enemy that I need to face just as I have conceived child along with her servant and the remainder of The Nam Clan." "Seonho isn't upset with you, he just wasn't expecting this to happen now. I already had a stern talk with him about him no relying on your help during this pregnancy and I will not hesitate to pull you out of there if something does happen to you." "Brother…I am so tired of it al; constantly being betrayed, constantly fighting to prove myself and save us all, constantly being watched by the palace and constantly doubting the man who never leaves me alone or hasn't abandoned me yet. I am so tired brother, that I could sleep today and almost never wake up again…"
"Don't even think about such things sister; you were never one to get depressed, so what issue is disturbing you now? Apart from the obvious ones?" "I wish to be a quiet wife and a devoted mother, but what if Seonho relies upon me too much again? I can never escape him again, not after this and he needs to practise respecting boundaries, but how can he do so under so much pressure?"
"Married couples work together to fight any obstacle that comes their way, even more so when there is children as well. I know that you are tired sister and I am sorry that you didn't feel as if you could come to me about anything that you were worried about or going through. I do believe that this allowed him to take advantage of that and swoop into your life so that you have only learnt to rely on him. But if helping him helps your peace of mind and the future of your children, then you must never stop helping him no matter if you are pregnant or not. You are his woman and you belong to him and your life rest in his hands, along with those of any descendants that you have with him." "Brother…I cannot be away from him anymore, even if he is distancing himself from me to protect his much awaited children." "Then I shall send you back home to him in the morning along with some of my mos trusted servants to always keep an eye out for you." "Thank you brother; I love you and I miss you so much…" "I know, I do too. I always have your favourite meal every 3 days and I am waiting for the day that I can hold my nephew in my hands." "Promise me that you will always love me and wait for me forever." "You always have a room here and I will keep the nursery for your children when you visit our fathers village again." "Aunty! I was waiting for you! Why did you take so long!" "Forgive me Chul, I thought that you were playing with your friends…" "Aunty, I don't want to play with them if you're here! Come on, we have to play soldiers and…aunty, why are you crying?" "Nephew, am I your favourite person in the world?" "Only after my parents, but yes! You always spoil me so much, how can I not love you?" "Chul, I love you so much and I promise you that when it is safe for you, I will have you and your brother meet me so many times that you will have 2 homes, so that I and your uncle Nam will spoil you endlessly…" "Uncle Nam spoils me too much as well; he says he will train me to be the best of the best, but I cannot do that without my father's training first." "Chul? What are you talking about? When did this happen?" "When you fell asleep, my uncle took me on a secret walk when all of the adults were busy and he promised me a place in the army when I grow up." "You mean as a solider, just like in the games that you play?" "No silly, he is going to make me a general in the army! He says I need to do it, to get revenge for my grandfather and carry on the Seo name in peace, whatever that means…"