"Sister, are you really not going to do anything about your nephew and his wife at all?" "What on earth can I do when you are so full of schemes yourself sister? My son is already gone but yours remain, so what more do you want?" "I can finally see it, why we were all scared of Seo Geom's wife! But I couldn't see it that woman herself, but her daughter is a bigger threat than her mother ever was!" "Is that why you are panicking now sister? Because you finally see what a threat she is to not only our family, but this kingdom? It is already quite scary how much The Emperor himself is protecting these 2 siblings…" "what are you saying sister?" "Are you slow or something? Nobody is questioning her about the so=called fire that she was supposed to have died in, so it means that even The Emperor is aware of everything!" "What! That cannot possibly be! No, we must be rid of her before she rids herself of us, then body would suspect us at all!" "Who do you think they will suspect first when she comes to harm amongst the Clan that held her hostage in the first place?" "Then…we will charge her with a crime to lock her up! That is it! She will rot in confinement where she can still have her baby!" "And what do you have in mind sister?" "I have just the thing in mind which will ensure that she will not come to harm, but she will be held responsible at least. We only need to inform The Senior Scholar's wife of the severe scolding that we got from that physicians wife, and we can just leave the rest to her can't we?" "And then once she births her son, I will be the one to raise since I lost all 3 of my son's because of her!" "Very well, that will be the plan that we stick to."
******************
"Good morning Madams, can I get you anything? Some tea perhaps?" "Do not bother, I do not wish for another scolding about how I am making you drag your feet during your pregnancy once again." "Excuse me?" "Madame, let me get straight to the point of my visit today since we need to discuss a serious matter and I cannot put my husband's reputation as a Senior Scholar to shame." "Alright?" "As you know, relations between servants are forbidden as you know, especially if they both come from different households. This also results in developing factions that will ,make servants rise above their masters and interfere in their business whoever possible." "Madame, I truly have no idea what you are talking about…" "Of course this has escaped your attention with all of the bedrest that your husband insists that you need! Here, take a look at this handkerchief and tell me if it looks familiar to you or not." "This is a love token that was bestowed onto me by my husband long ago, but I have no idea how this came to be in your hands, madame." "This is your personal love token?" "That is what I jus said, yes." "Well…loosing an item is nothing serious I suppose, but…" "Madame, forgive me but I am supposed to be on bedrest at the moment, so could you please get to the point?" "Very well, since I caught your maid with my servant only his morning, I had hem both drained, so you do not need to instruct her anymore." "Am I to believe that my maid who is always by my side suddenly trespassed into your yangban amidst all of your own security to fool around with a servant of yours?" "That is what I said, isn't it!" "And where is the proof? Other than you holding onto my own personal love token." "to prevent others from following suit, I have had to punish them of course and…" "Madame, that servant is a precious one to my husband, so I am asking you for more substantial proof." "…I do not expect you to raise such a minor issue with your husband, so…" "It that all you are leaving with? Just with my maid and not your husband's future concubine? We cannot house her forever you know."
She left without saying anything else, and I was left on my own to figure out exactly what I was going to do next. I hadn't seen my husband in almost a week since he was locking himself up in the office and I had no way of reaching him whatsoever since he only communicated with that servant. So I had no choice but to send over the one person that I knew he wouldn't shy away from, even if its killed me. And since I had clearly lost my role in his life, I had no other choice but to return to my father's village where I was hoping that my poor brother would take me in once again without question."
******************
The very first thing that I noticed about him as I made my way into his office was that the light in his eyes had disappeared. He was just sat in his office chair wih a blank look on his face and he kept incessantly fidgeting with his hands, which was completely unlike him. I wore my best outfit just to surprise him, and yet he looked and smelt like he hadn't bathed in a week's time, he must not have eaten in a week's time and…it was just overall a bad situation. But I would be lying to myself if I said that I was surprised by this, I knew that Yeon would let him down someday and I knew that SeonHo himself would be all too consumed in his feelings for her to be able to let go of her, even if she did start to hurt him. "Husband?" "Who the hell is your damned husband? It certainly isn't me." He shot back at me without looking back at me at all, which was stating to feel a lilies eerie to me. "If you are not my husband, then whose husband are you?" "The one I trapped to keep her by my side, the one who I pursed and trapped her by my side by getting her pregnant." "Was that really what your relationship with her was all about? Trapping her by getting pregnant, even before she was ready? She was so young, and an orphan as well…" "And just what the hell was I supposed to do? She was the only person to entered my world willingly and she shone too brightly for me to let some other man have her, some other man who would never appreciate her intelligence, not in this era of men anyways." "And you sure didn't let her looks go to waste either." "Stop it! You do no need to remind me of what I did to the girl!" "So you finally admit it to me, that it was all planned from the start." "Of course it was all planned, I have survived in this life by the skin of my teeth by planning my every single move." "So…she is only your insurance…?" "Why are you here?" "Your wife sent me to you to talk about an impending issue with The Senior Scholar and his wife that just took place today…" "What? What issue? Did he come to see her? The Senior Scholar? Did he touch her? Did he go anywhere near her! Did he get close enough to smell her? Tell me!" "What? No! What are you talking about? Only the wife came over to accuse your favourite maid and her own personal maid into having an affair. The maids are already detained and are pretty much getting tortured at this point…." "…just so her husband can accuse my wife on spying on him to bring me down…"
"Personally, there is nothing wrong with servants finding solace in each other, especially considering what you did to your own wife. They work to the bone each and every single day without companions or anyone else to live for. It is inevitable that they feel money and sorrowful, so why not turn big problems into small ones and small problems into nothing at all? Your wife is pregnant, so she should not have tolerate killing or beatings of any kind. everyone…deserved somebody, don't they? Nobody should try to extinguish human desires, so you need to solve this quietly; if this draws anymore attention than you shall be ridiculed even more than yu already have been…" "And who do I have to thank for that?" "I thought…that if I treated you that way and kept you in your place, that you would…" "I would what? Stay by your side? Forever? As if you are my master instead of it being the other way around?" "Why? Why are you like this? You cannot accept me as your equal, but you can accept her when she is smarter than even yourself? No I do not understand this…" "Equal? You want me to accept you as my equal? You have never wanted us to be equal, you wanted to be a madame of a brutal both inside and outside of it! You want to become an Empress with a less-than-equal husband to boss around and lord yourself equal! Yeon helps me in my work because she truly sees us as equals and…!" "What is it? What is the matter?" "Yeon sent you here in her place? Yeon sent you and not me nephew…"
He ran out of there so quickly that he actually knocked me over onto the floor almost in the exact same manner as how he collapsed when I bought him hone from the dungeons. He was so weak back then, but even in his worst state of mind, he only accepted a bath in our home and nothing else. As soon as he was able to walk, the very first place that he went to was the brothel to find her instead of saying in my presence for a moment longer than he had to. They were already a family living in bliss despite the torture that he had suffered just for her, whereas I was the old hag who suffered easily from nosebleeds and simply injuries thanks to the bitter medicine that I had been taking in order to help me conceive. I was even doubling the dosage just so that I could stand a chance before The Senior Scholar messed things up for me as he kept threatening me incessantly. But unlike Seon-Ho, he didn't have an ounce of care for me at all, he just wanted to one up him now that all of the attention was on his wife and her own pointed belly. But I was staring to loose hope even in the best ginseng, donkey hide gelatine and deer antler powder. I was still showing no movement at all and its looked as though even Seon-Ho's nephew might be getting married soon, and I had to get pregnant before his own wife did for certain. Otherwise I cannot survive in that family without any support at all, but what do I do about The Senior Scholar? What can I possibly do to be rid of him?
"…Did you hear about The Nam servant who had an affair with the servant of The Senior Scholar? How on earth can The Madame Nam show her face now? Even with that point belly of hers?" "If I were her, then I would never be able to show my face again!" "Maybe she wanted to seduce his master instead!" "Do not be so quick to show your red lips and gleaming teeth servants, for I have just seen The Lord Nam carry that servant out of the dungeons himself!" "What! Already! So quickly? But how…" "His brother-in-law intervened in the matter, and any gossip about the servant girl will also reflect badly on Seo Hwi, which His Majesty will never allow. So stop creating such disorder amongst yourselves and learn how to identify the inferiors amongst the superiors here in the kingdom." "So what about The Mistress Han? I swear that she is an old and ill omen to The Lord Nam, and that is why he intends on gifting her to someone very important." "Even The Madame Nam goes out of her way to avoid her…" "Everyone that she comes in contact with dies, starting from her own mother…!"