Chapter 95: Seo Yeon

I kept myself busy when my man had work. I was still working on my own plans in my free time and I finally had a break, I had Hwi's men secretly correspond with me when they could in their free time and finally...Prince Bang-Gan was in town again. I still corresponded with him on and off unbeknownst to my brother and Seon-Ho, but I couldn't ask him for an obvious favour like this. Chief Park had done me a huge favour and had gone behind the scenes long enough to attract his attention and they were finally to meet up for a few drinks in Ihwaru. I eventually told her what I needed her help for but I didn't dare tell her the whole plan just yet...I knew I would need her in the future to relay my emotions point of view to the men in case they made stupid and reckless decisions. She waster happy keeping secrets from my brother but she knew me well enough that if I didn't elaborate on my plans that I was up to something. Hwa-Wol also did me a huge favour by keeping a lookout for Seon-Ho who was pretty unpredictable and could leave his work whenever to look for me.

Prince Bang-Gan seemed to be watching and waiting for met the minute he seemed to have his eyes locked on me. That completely put my brother's men on the edge but before he could say anything to him the Prince announced that he wanted a private talk with me and in fact he wanted to ever since my scene at the palace a year ago. He tried to chase Hwi away who found us but nothing worked, along with Hui-Jee. They both looked alarmed at the sight of me being followed by the Prince as he tried to book a room for us. Hui-Jee took permission from Madame Seoul to use the main room that could only be fit for a prince. We all filled our places but he made it clear that it was me he wanted to talk to...and he ordered a row of drinks...just for the two of us. Everyone who knew me knew that I despised drinking and drugs; I had given both Hwi and Seon-Ho hell about it enough times over the years. But no-one could say anything, not to a Prince. I was on my own on this one...but luckily I had witnessed both men drunk enough to imitate their actions...I hope. "Well well Seo-Yeon...I've been highly impressed with you since you helped to sentence your father-in-law to death. And I bet my brother was grateful as well, he was sporting a black eye for at least 2 months" he chuckled. That memory made all of us wince; but he then ordered me to drink with him as we talked. I took a deep breath before doing so, completely taken aback by the bitter taste. It took all of my restraint not to throw up immediately. "So...my brother has an epileptic minor uncovered the plot to usurp the throne, recovers her lost birthright, frequents a brothel such as this one and keeps busy with her various jobs come work for me without my permission. You sure are efficient." I really couldn't tell if he was insulting me or praising me, but I just went along with him, trying to ignore the murderous looks that were coming from the men. By this time Hwi's army fiends had joined in and they weren't happy either, far from it. I observed him for a while before replying "you praise me too much My Lord...in fact I am no different from you." I carried on drinking, trying not to throw up.

Everyone looked at me like I had gone mad, but in fact I had studied him and his brother Bang-Won years ago; the dynamics of their relationship was very interesting. Bang-Gan was the eldest but it was Bang-Won that everyone feared, even his older brother. And there were ugly rumours about him being in love with both sexes made everyone stay away from him...but he was approaching us now just when his brother began making plans with mine to rule over the inner court so he had an easier time contending for the throne...so he defiantly had some ambitious plans if he was going up against his brother of all people...which meant that he had to have a powerful backer...

"Really? I do not know what you mean..."he replied with a slow chuckle but I needed to get this over with before all the men in the room lost their tempers. "Well...I could only achieve all of this with my crutch, as do you" he gave me a questioning look so I continued "I was only able to achieve these goals with the help of my epilepsy, otherwise I wouldn't have had any motivation to do anything; just like how you able to achieve all of your goals with the rampant rumours of your love life that even separates you from your royal family." I shrugged as I continued to drink. "I was far from what a woman should be for years, but the people I leaned on gave me strength to carry on. But it's lonely though isn't it?." I could tell he wasn't expecting that but I didn't have time to delve into it, I had to get out of there and fast, I was already getting light headed. I made my bow and tried to get out of there as fast as I could but before I could leave he ordered me to start working at the palace at the agreed time. There was no way out of it; I agreed and my brother had to carry me in his arms as I passed out after my first time drinking, now that my plan was finally falling into place.