Chapter 212: Seon-Ho/ Seo Yeon

I could only sit back and watch my scintillating wife's plan work out accordingly. I exchanged looks of relief with her brother and we both simultaneously collapsed further into our seats feeling drained in every way. My daughter was already holding onto me as usual but I reached out for my son who finally looked at me with the same look on my face and he held me back, giving me all the motivation I needed to finish this once and for all. Hyuk actually followed me to stay with his cousins who were just as surprised as everybody else.

It wasn't too hard to act disgusted as I was genuinely lost in how I managed to get myself and my family caught up with such people. I then declared my intent on cutting off my 'sister' before 'storming off in shame' with my family in tow...until the prince stood in Hwi's path asking him if he was really going to follow me instead of staying behind with him to eliminate the Queen. He just looked at him with an apathetic look on his face and told him that their alliance was over. I had a feeling Hwi was hiding some things from me for some time but I would deal with that later. We all left the banquet before the royal family themselves, myself and Hwi then went to convene with his army friends about the next step while leaving the women alone with the children. I didn't let anyone out of my sight until they got safely away. As mine and Hwi's positions had nothing to do with this particular internal dispute of the royal family all we could do was wait to be called upon as witnesses.

The plan to destroy the royal elders had come into fruition; after the Queen's eminent disposal, her son's were left at Bang-Won's disposal, who couldn't help himself but to have them eliminated sadly. But for once, sentiment had gotten the better of him soon after his father's death...and he was left completely vulnerable...as for Bang-Gan, it was said that he was the first to be murdered in his bed only a few hours after his father passed away...

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Our long meetings that same night was all for naught as the King passed away the next day but thankfully not before he named my husband regent as he had no choice to depose the Queen after her scandal was revealed to the entire nation. And as Regent; my husband's first command was to send Prince Bang-Won into exile for uncovering his plans to not only usurp the throne...but it was also uncovered after a long through investigation that it was him who framed my wife's father's death as the prince feared his growing power along with Hwi's help just as he was so wrapped up with dealing with his horrible stepmother the Queen once and for all. It turns out that he had sensed my family's growing tension with the Queen and he got so caught up in it that he finally let his guard down in more ways than one...and Hwi finally had a chance to look through the archives that he had guarded so tightly for years now. Bur it was a shame that there were several people hanging around the archives that day thanks to his wife so he couldn't be entirely sure who ratted him out as he had no qualms about exterminating everyone who stood in his path...except for Hwi. We could all tell for a while that the Prince was getting more and more attached to him, trying to somehow reconstructing our very own brotherhood for himself which we both found highly disturbing.

Nam-Kyu's servants and high connections were another story; my husband managed to exile their families in exchange for their death sentences for humiliating the Queen...and all of her other surprise business which he managed to put in separate accounts for my children as emotional compensation for all they had to suffer at their hands. Nam-Kyu however couldn't escape the death penalty as her part of the scandal was clear to all. She was kept imprisoned and tortured...by me. I beat out every delusion that my husband ever loved her or wanted her. I beat her for the sake of my children who had to go without their father at times as well as my nephews who absolutely adored him. I beat her for the sake of the relationship myself and my brother had with him since childhood and sent him on his darkest days. I beat him for myself who turned my soulmate into the devil himself sometimes who had no choice but to take out his frustrations on me, even though I took it without complaint. I had her whipped every day until she was sentenced to death by poisoning herself.

My husband was away a lot sorting out this business and acting as a reagent. We had to move in with him for a couple of years until the chosen crown prince could rule himself. All the pressure took a toll on him, just as my poor husband was thinking of early retirement; we were wealthy enough to live out our days comfortably for the next twenty years or so. But he had me and my brother by his side as well as my smart son and he finally achieved his goals of banishing laws pertaining to birthrights, almost demolishing the class system itself!

But living in the palace was no easy feat. Although he rejected concubines and kiseng's alike it certainly didn't stop some women from all class types from throwing themselves at him. We faced all sorts of tricks; from drugs in his food and drinks to aphrodisiac incense and other gifts. There were always false rumours about him and a different woman every now and then but our children learned from Chun-Ae not to believe everything they heard. We kept them busy and in no time my son was ready to take his place in the army at the tender age of 16 which absolutely broke my heart and it took a lot of reassurance from my husband that he would keep a special eye on him. Hana, still a daddy's girl no matter what took after my interest in books and studying as well as secretly learning weaponry just like I had to hide it for my brother's sake once upon a time ago. My husband was absolutely furious for the first time when he found out and threatened to lock her in the palace for the rest of her life until she got married but I wasn't too concerned about this. In fact, I was dead proud of her and it took him a lot of convincing to see how good she was until he reluctantly let her continue. But we all knew he wasn't really angry at her; my husband was one of the few men who took an interest in women's rights. Buts she was just too precious to him he almost stopped her from growing up just like my brother did to me when I had my epilepsy. As for Hwan...he was an exceptionally bright boy with knowledge of almost everything but he attracted trouble everywhere he went for his age, even Hyuk couldn't control him anymore although they had a close brotherly bond. But he still trailed after Hana everywhere she went and became popular amongst her friends. But he caused so much trouble my husband had no choice but to keep a close eye on him; on most days he had to bring him to work just to watch over him. My husband, on the other hand became more possessive over me than ever. He always kept me by his side whether it would be meetings or trips and still placed himself in every room I was in and kept an eye on everything I did. If he was invited to any ladies' event he would make me enter the room first and still held my hands in public as the years went by. He never entertained anyone else and we were both still obsessed with each other long after our children had grown up and were almost ready to start their own lives with their spouses.

And soon enough Hyuk was the first to marry his childhood sweetheart as he soon took over as army general in the palace whilst managing his own private businesses along with his cousins. Moon-Bok's children soon got married after him, but Hana was a different story. She and her brother had a lot of people pushed towards them for courtship and marriage. My son stood firm in his decision and as for Hana...she and Chul had developed their own bond after they testified against Nam-Kyu. It wasn't easy at all but they got over the little bumps in their relationship as my daughter liked to tease the power she had in both worlds . There was also some trouble for a while about the friend she had who had let her stay over in order for my husband to find her and Chul in poor health. Apparently she...looked up to Hana a little too much and nobody like it at all, the situation was not unlike Chun-Ae as well who had gone so far as to imitate my looks for herself. In fact, the boys had all soon grown tired of her clinginess soon after she had joined Hana into moving her after that mess with Nam-Kyu and the resentment had only grown until Chul and Hyuk had more than enough of her antics and had sent her back to her family.

The rest of us, on the other hand had relocated to my father's village where my husband ran his school for a while before he officially retired along with my brother. My husband couldn't be happier with her choice of groom, for there was nobody else he could give his princess away to. Hwan on the other hand had a lot of women he went after much to his father's disdain but once he fell in love he fell just hard as anybody else. He also helped his older brother and cousins when he could but in the end, but he had a worse temper than his father and his other grandfather combined. He soon found his path as nothing could calm him down more than training...my father's spirit must have found him, for he soon became the next greatest swordsman of his generation.

My husband and brother were both old men at this point but when they reunited in my father's village, they were like children again in their prime and were once again inseparable with their endless sparring and drinking matches. As for myself; I stayed by my husbands side as dedicated to him as I was when I first fell for him. We started our day together, ended them together and I even had little surprise for him as soon as Hwan turned 5 years old. I got pregnant with my last baby; another baby girl and he couldn't be more happier if he tried. He had chosen all of our children's names but this time I chose to name my little girl after my mother-in-law, and my husband loved me even more for it.

We had survived against the worst together. What started out as the strongest brother bond for my brother when we had our nobility stripped away at such a young age with a poor boy away from his slave mother who loved him more than life himself by his rich father and raised to be a cold-blooded warrior at his disposal actually got a chance of living a normal life with a family he never thought he could have in this lifetime or in fact any other. I had overcome my epilepsy and turned into the woman I was fated to be; a final sister, an infatuated lover, and wife, and most certainly a devoted mother.