Chapter 43: Jiltuui Dog (The Poison of Jealousy)

Why? Why wasn't anything I had said worked with this girl? Just what on earth was she made of? I had managed to convince Nam-Jeon of all people to hire me to watch over his only living son, I had managed to convince Seon-Ho to trust me, but nothing I said or did had any impact on that so-called lowborn who still could not tear his eyes off of him. I thought when people lost their memories, that they would transform into new people since they could not remember anything from their previous lives? So why was Seo Yeon still obsessed with the Young Master as she was in her childhood? Even the Young Master himself would laugh as he recounted her childish antics in front of him, so what happened to the pair of them now? I was the only person that the Young Master had after he had eventually betrayed his only friend, but for the very first time, I could not read his mind when it came to this girl at all. He was either to gentle or too intense with her with no warning at all. His behaviour was completely unpredictable and I was getting sick and tired of it. His performance in the palace was below average for the first time and he could not focus at all despite working so hard his entire life to get into the palace and I knew it had something to do with the Seo's. I was going to find a way to kill Seo Hwi myself, but now it looked like Yeon was the one who was the cause of his confusion. So maybe killing her brother wasn't the best plan, but bringing him back to his sister would remove a huge obstacle of mine so we could get back on track with our goals in the palace.

But it wasn't just her presence in the Young Master's life that was a distraction, it was her's in mine as well, or lack thereof. I was clearly in control of the Young Master, but it was like she couldn't see me at all. I was the one who took care of him long before she showed up in this home of ours and it was like they only had eyes for each other. I was the one who really ran this household, I was the one that a tyrannous man like Nam-Jeon trusted to control his son, I was the one who helped both Nam men in the palace...and I was the one who helped him out of the water when he let his brother drown. But nobody remembered my contribution at all. I was the one who ran errands for Yeon when she needed it, but her gratitude seemed to be directed to the beats of the man that everyone despised, apart from her. But why? What did she see in him that she couldn't see in me? I could accomplish far more than he could, I could even do a better job of it and I could take care of Yeon far better than even the Young Master or her brother could due to his low status. In fact, I think it was time to find him and show him exactly what his best friend had turned his precious little sister into. But not without saying my goodbyes to her, the lowborn girl who had outdone what most married women failed to do and who as starting to invade my thoughts and mind. But it looked like somebody had beaten me to it when I made my way over to her quarters to find the Young Master just sitting outside the closed doors, where the shadow of Yeon was also sitting. They were together again and they did not even need to speak a word to each other. The master had already been beaten by his father and instead of tending to his wounds straight away, he just sat outside in the cold weather with a frozen chrysanthemum flower in his hand. A flower which I had never noticed or held before until now I had realised.

"Young Master? Your father and neighbours are summoning you." "Go to sleep Yeon, and remember do not seek me out unless it is an emergency, do you understand me?" "...yes, brother." "Yeon!" "Yes, Seon-Ho." "Let us go, Dal." "But I..." "I said...let us go. You have no reason to talk to her at all, do you?" The look in his eyes had completely betrayed his cold manner. He was in pain, but he had to keep going on for all of us. "You want me...to stay away from her?" "I am the only person in this home that has a connection to her, I am the only person she has..." "...apart from her brother. Who will find her and take her home."

"...Confucius is flourishing at present; if you keep talking about wanting to divorce your wife and ending your marriage, how will the scholars look at you then?" "So what do you suggest I do after what she did today? Continue staying with her after she..." "Why don't you send her to a nearby temple to become a nun. She does come from a powerful family after all..." "She is indeed clearly muddle-headed, and slowly becoming senile. She has even displayed signs of madness today in your home and completely forgot her manners in your presence and that of your family..." "You do not need to worry about that bastard son of mine, just sort out your wife before this talk of your family reaches the ear of the emperor, or any of his princes. And take back your concubine since she is just nothing but dead weight..." "My goodness, both of these women will bring down my entire family clan..." "Just deal with the women first so we can both restore peace in our households..." "I am going to bed Dal, I need to wake up early for the palace tomorrow."

"I am going to bed Dal, I need to wake up early for the palace tomorrow. I am going to the palace Dal. I need you Dal. I cannot function without you Dal." I was truly getting tired of this routine that had been put in place between us for over a decade now. The Young Master was failing in his plans without a single back up plan to fix the mistakes that he had been making recently. He wasn't even concerned about the concubine anymore, he barely noticed her existence. And as for Hui-Jee, the woman he proclaimed to love, he hadn't mentioned her since his return from the war. Maybe I should also consider bringing her back as well, she was as good as woman as any other he was going to meet in this life to politically motivate him, more than Yeon ever could. Let us see how he handled that situation without my help so I could have just a single day long with Yeon so she could realise my worth and recognise who could truly help her and save her from this place. Because it wasn't going to be the Young Master who could barely take care of himself. It looked like I needed to visit a whole list of people at this rate to process onto my own goals since the Nam's had been rendered useless for me now. Nam-Jeon had been whisked away to secret meting for months now and Seon-Ho wasn't doing anything at all, so why should I continue to exert all of my efforts for them? If I too hadn't come from a lowly family myself and caught the attention of the Master Nam, I would have been a vagrant on the street just like the rest of my family with no prospects at all. No, I wasn't going back there, not even if it was the last place on earth. If the Nam's wanted to slack in their work, that was their problem and not mine.

"What now?" "Now that we have gotten rid of the concubine, we can start making arrests on the family for the corruption that the women have done to bribe their sons into court. The youngest of them holds a position in my office. I can start by exposing his deeds and take over his workload before I can start to catch up on mine. Then I will work my way up like you want me to with the same intel that they possess through Hwi." "Seo Hwi?" "They will not hand anything over to me directly, so of course I need a pawn like Hwi in my line of work also. We can both benefit from using him for your purpose in the palace. So you need to keep him alive for that." "Are you sure? Or have you still not let him go and still trying to come up with ways to save his life?" "And why would I do that if we are not friends anymore? You were the one who put an end to that, remember! Also, he is paranoid about his sister and he will never forgive me for giving her a noble life before he himself had the chance to better their family status. So you do not need to worry about him; as long as his sister is here, he will not go anywhere else." "I will be the one to make that sort of judgement." "Yes, My Lord. I shall now retire early so I can get ahead in the office tomorrow."

"My Lord?" "Yes Dal?" "I was hoping to take some time off..." "for what exactly!" "I...I have some leads to look up on for the Young Master..." "I have told you 100 times that your Young Master can look after himself! I have no idea why you baby him so much, but it stops now! Just run his errands for him and say by his side. Unless the luxury you have in this household means nothing to you..." "Forgive me, I..." "And keep that little gold-digger away from him." "Which one?" "Both of them! And kick the concubine out and distract Yeon with whatever you can."

I couldn't help but to storm off in anger and I found myself outside Yeon's quarters for absolutely no reason at all. And yet I couldn't help but to notice how her shadow immediately ran over to the door, as if she was expecting someone else...

"Brother? Are you there?" "Brother? What brother do you have here?" "Dal? What are you doing here?" "Why can't I be here?" "Has something happened to the Young Master? Does he need my help with anything?" "Why would he need your help with anything? Why do all of you women flock to someone as cold and as useless as he is?" "He isn't cold and useless!" "Then what is he?" "He is my saviour and my guardian." "He is also your prison guard." "So what if he is? Better him than anyone else." I really could not take this injustice anymore. I made my way through the guards, ripped her door open wide and I could not help but to grab her close to me just like the young master did to her all of the time. But whenever he touched her over and over again, she just let it happen and stared at him like an abounded little puppy. But as for me, she wrestled herself away from me as soon as she could. "What are you doing? You know that we cannot touch each other!" "Oh really! But he touches you whenever he can!" "No he doesn't!" "Why are you lying for him! You don't even realise that he doesn't like you at all! You are only a sister to him as you have been all of this time! Hoping him as much as you are will not change his heart towards you! Don't you realise that!" "I never said that I..." "Han Hui-Jee, a girl born in the ihwaru brothel. That is the girl that he has fallen in love with! Even if she is an orphan like you, she is well-connected with the men of this town and only she can help the young master in his ambitions! Not an epileptic brat like you! He only loves her and he is pursuing her, so do not get in the way of him achieving his only happiness! So you had better think twice about where your loyalties lie! In this household, only I can give you what you want! I can give you everything, not him!"

I did not even give myself a chance to look back at her face as I ran as quickly as could out of there. I wanted to scream and shout at the world for this injustice. Why couldn't anyone look at me the way she looked at him? Why did she still like him when she couldn't even remember him? Why didn't anyone praise my hard work and help me out? Why did the biggest rift between that unless friendship only bring the sister closer with the young master? If I had to live this life alone, then it was only fair that he had to as well. But before I could tell him what was on my mind, he was already waiting for me in my quarters with a very dark look on his face that I had never witnessed before.