Chapter 142: Seon-Ho/ Seo Yeon

As I watched my soulmate make my her way towards me to finally be mine in all ways legal and recognised by witnesses I felt the knot in my heart that I had felt since my father left my life untie itself. She was finally, finally mine...and she couldn't part herself from me even if she wanted to.

On the other hand I had Chief Park and Hwi make sure that the other party couldn't arrive on time...due to some family issues...maybe a property or two burning in flames here or there...some people locked up in a few places...misplaced wedding dowry and expensive gifts....a few tampered carriages, so on and so forth. And they were even 'unable to send any messages out'...so what could I do apart from get the wedding over with, have a good time with our loved ones and start this new chapter in our lives. I finally...finally had my own life, my own path carved out for me. Instead of spending it in misery, alone and angst my soulmate had given me new hope, a new family and the freedom to love me as I am, even the bad parts of me.

We only had eyes for each other the whole day until she was taken from me to wait in my room for our wedding night until the festivities were over. And when my new family returned home, I felt alone...but I had my new wife waiting on me. I was grateful for their acceptance and their friendship but until I cut my ties in the palace I would always be their enemy on the surface. I was tired of it. Whenever I felt bad or estranged I always pictured my life with Yeon in her father's village where I was free of constraints and obligations. I could work where I pleased, when I pleased and come back to a cozy home filled with warmth instead of a cold ostentatious home that was only decorated for show.

The closer I got to my room the darker was feeling already. Yeon wasn't stupid, she knew what was going to happen tonight...I just really hoped she could help heal me for good. I wanted to be a normal person just like everyone else; to be merry, to trust other people...to have inner peace.

I saw Yeon fast asleep in our bed already, waiting for me. I had my men watch this other family so I was free from stress for at least tonight. I undressed myself entirely as I made my way to our bed and just watched her sleep for a while, completely grateful to her for every blessing she gave me...and the ones she would give me in the future. The minute she felt my presence she began to cling onto me as usual...until she figured out that I had no clothes on. She woke up and took one look at me and embraced me as much as she could...

In the middle of the night the other party finally arrived dishevelled and enraged. I heard them kicking up a fuss and mistreating the servants which I knew my wife hated so I went out to greet them barely dressed while Yeon was lying in bed, already in a bad mood by their presence. I hated it when anyone disturbed my time with her, as if my job didn't keep me away from her enough. I came storming out and immediately punched the man who dared to shove my people around, even if they were servants, not even caring who he was. That finally shut everyone up. It turns out that the man who I punched was to be my brother-in-law who I still left on the ground in a daze. He drunkenly started giving excuses for his untimely arrival and he was even shocked when he heard that none of the messages he sent out were received by anyone. Even more so, they were stunned into silence when they heard that they angered the King so much that he granted my first marriage already. I turned around without saying a word, fully aware that they already unloaded their carriages but I used to King's anger to my advantage and closed my gate. I received work that yet again on the Queen's orders she was spared on a last chance to infiltrate my home.

*************

It all seemed like a beautiful dream; the wedding my love gave me was like a mythical story. But I couldn't help but feel like something was off with my new husband. His eyes looked at me with such love I didn't dare to believe before but he looked sad as well. I tried to ask him what was wrong a couple of times but he would just stare at me intensely before walking away to greet wedding guests, leaving me on my own around a swarm of other guests I didn't know, all begging me for intimate details on my new marriage, curious to who I really was. I tried looking for him to pull him by my side and he was nowhere to be found until he aggressively pulled me to his side as the wedding had come to an end.

He bent down to my level and began touching me in ways he hadn't before...before he pulled me very tightly in his embrace and confessed everything he had found out after he had returned from the war, everything he was forced to do with other women to get Nam-Kyu off of his back who was trying to bribe everyone in his office to feed her information about us...and what he had found out about my mother's death and my father's investigation...he even recounted how I spend my day with the Prince when we were away! He also made it very clear that was the only time I was going to get away with that behaviour again when I almost suffocated in his embrace. All of his behaviour started making sense then, especially this marriage when Bang-Won was only in the palace for a limited amount of time, and they were taking meetings together with his father. I just closed to my eyes to keep him from seeing my tears but it wasn't working. I opened them again and he just gave me a crude smile before he grabbed me by the arm, and forced me to drink the wedding wine before making sure I was facing him when he began to tear my clothes off. At that moment I knew he had trapped me to stay by his side whilst also making me pay for leaving him and not involving him in my secrets. And I had no idea what he had been through whilst I was way but I guess I was going to pay for that as well. But it wasn't because I didn't care, in fact, I was too scared to ask him.

It was a long hard night; he didn't let me get any rest at all. I was in tears but he ignored them for the first time. I wanted him to hold me but he just wanted to keep going on. I couldn't get his face away from mine no matter how much I tried. My body was full of his scent, taste and fingerprints. He left light bruises like trophy marks on almost every inch of me. When he finally finished hours later, he stayed in my bed but it felt like there was an invisible wall between us. I tried to turn away from him but he grabbed the back of my hair to make me face him all night long. I stared into the face of the man who resembled the one who loved me, but I saw his father in him as well. I couldn't be sure but...I think he wanted me to prove that I would never abandon him again. Apparently, the wedding and our vows weren't enough for him; he looked as broken as he used to under his father's tyrannical rule. But despite everything he put me through that night, I still loved him and didn't want to give up so I made my way to him and kept apologising to him for hurting him until I fell asleep.