Chapter 76: Peullei (Play)

As I made my way back to my bedroom, I was confronted by both my colleague who just wouldn't leave us alone and the concubine who looked like she was beginning to loose all composure. "Is Yeon ok? Did I tire her out? Can I apologise...." "Come over here for a second, let me talk to you." "Excuse me?" "Your pursuit of the girl has frightened her. Yes, she has my father's protection, but she is in fact a penniless orphan girl with epilepsy. Marriage isn't an option for her at all..." "What? Epilepsy? Isn't she a noblewoman...?" "I felt it was appropriate to dress her up that way as a favour for her. I have known the girl since she was little, and she does a good job of keeping me company, so I decided to reward her." "Company? You mean...do you intend to take her as your concubine? Have you...already..." "She has been living under my roof for two years already, what do you think?" I could only smirk in reply, already imaging Yeon's reaction if she ever knew about this conversation and how cute she was when she got angry. "No...no way, she isn't like those opportunistic maids...there is no way a pure girl like her would do that before marriage...not her...I have even asked my father to go and make a proposal this week..." "Yeon is the same girl who chased me around the village growing up. She isn't opportunistic, but she has been in love with me for over a decade now, so of course I am different for her." It was actually quite pitiful to see this man looking as upset as he was, but what on earth was he thinking? Everyone knew how she felt about me, so what on earth made other men thought that they had a chance with her? Even if her brother did find a way to take her back and away from me for a while, I knew that she would still always be faithful to me and only for me.

"You...you wouldn't consider...giving her up, maybe?" He had no chance of knowing what the answer to that question was, as he started screaming in pain the next minute when I had punched him square in the face and step on his neck, almost breaking it if the concubine hadn't stopped me. I completely forgot about her even being there until she screamed so dramatically that I had to cover her big mouth with my hand in case she woke up my entire household. "What on earth are you doing? Do you want to wake up my father?" "You...why did you...." "For how much longer are you going to interfere in my personal affairs?" "I have something to ask you about that..."

She had the damned nerve to drag me into my bedroom of all places without a hint of shame at all. I tried to deter her, but nothing was working at all, so I had to really bite my tongue and hope that this ended soon so I can re-plan my work in the palace so I can have more time to watch out for Seo Hwi. "Let me pour you some tea first before we continue. I have made it myself for the very first time just for you, so..." "you must let me speak." I had no idea what the hell was wrong with the women around me, but they had all started acting like wild animals that were hard to control, and even Yeon herself wasn't an exception. But I needed to nip this woman's fantasies in the bud before she took over my entire life. Her plans for me were far too obvious not to see, and over my dead body was I going to let somebody else control me as my father did.

"May I ask why you must persist in meeting a low inspector general such as myself instead of a noble man with better standing?" "Because I do not care for your standing or your past..." I really could not help but scoff at that last statement; the way that she kept staring at Yeon, knowing that she was a lowborn and the stories of what she did to commoners to even stood too close to her were legendary. "The tea is going cold..." "you must be aware of my enmity with your family. And his intense dislike of my father? Your new connection with my family must be sowing discord between yourself and your older family, am I right? And unfilial piety is even considered to be a crime worthy of death, you are aware of this, are you not? We aren't even married..." "So we should change that, shouldn't me? You must use your nephew..." "My nephew?" "...to sway your father. Having an heir must be better than having nothing at all..." "Having an heir that isn't mine from a family of nobility that had just fallen from grace will serve me nothing! That child will be neglected almost as badly as i was." "That is not entirely correct." "What do you mean?" "I am now aware of your intentions for my family when you took me in. But you were wrong when you said that the entire family fell. The Big Madame's sister has returned to this village and she is willing to support us through this baby. Her husband still works at the palace court and the Big Madame's husband is scrambling for support ever since that day his wife killed his career. He was already a very prominent person, he just lacks a wife. So..." "Where exactly are you going with this?" "We can always marry Yeon off to him, don't you think?"

I was so astounded at the very idea that I suddenly found myself having a choking fit out of nowhere. Was she really taking the opportunity to help my climb up the ranks by sacrificing a Seo? Once again? To marry Yeon off to a man that would be her father's age if he was still alive? "...if we give him a bride from our family, we can take hold onto his prosperity. The power will then balance itself out when the baby is born, and you can..." "I can what? Follow his orders like a puppet on a string? As if I do not do that for my own father?" "Your father refuses to help you succeed in your career. You will always be his little errand boy until the day he dies and he will always make sure of that and you know it. And due to your birthright, you will never be celebrated as anyone great. Illegitame sons always make grand plans that they can never follow through with. Trust me..." I was already treading on a thin line between everything that I held dear and everything that I had worked hard to achieve. And in the midst of my suffocation, guilt and yearning, a new and determined person was starting to rise up out of my broken heart and soul, and I was really beginning not to care about anything much anymore, even the laws that I used to push Yeon away from me this whole time due to our differences in statuses....

"Well well well, it sounds like the perfect plan, doesn't it? To sell me off for your goals." I really didn't think that Yeon would be somewhere within earshot of us. But once i heard her voice after what we had just discussed, i was started to the point where i almost shot out of my seat so fast that I almost tripped up over myself.

"So? What do you think about it, cousin? Isn't it about time that you left the Nam yangban and found yourself a husband?" "No, wait..." "You are absolutely right; i have overstayed my welcome here and it is time that I found myself..." "what? Found yourself what?" "A husband of course. Now that you have a woman and a child on the way brother, I really cannot help but to be a little envious." I would have to have been blind, deaf and dumb to not feel the sarcastic anger in her voice but the fact that she was going along with this rubbish was putting me in a dangerous mood that I hadn't felt for a while. I know she was upset, but i didn't agree to anything, so she needed to watch where she was going to take this conversation before i made her regret it.

"Hush your mouth, you are not getting married to anyone and you are not leaving this yangban. Go back to your quarters and reflect on your actions." "I am not a child anymore brother, i can make these sort of decisions for myself now." "No, you are not that grown up yet." "I am almost 19 now, I can think for myself." "Oh really? You know how to think for yourself, do you? You know how to choose a man and what to look for in a husband?" "Yes, i do." She snapped back at me and I was really not in the mood to play this game with her. And i was under so much damned stress that I completely snapped and I grabbed the girl and dragged her back to her quarters and I locked the door before the concubine could come after us.

"What the hell do you think you're doing! Get off of me!" "Just what the hell you think you're playing at? You are not getting married to that old man! Or any man at all!" "Why not? You cannot expect me to stay by your side forever! Even when you get married for real, you cannot expect me to take care of you forever!" "And why not! You will follow me everywhere I go, whether you like it or not! Stop! Where are you going?" "I am going to look for Dal and I'll see what he has to say about this." "He doesn't have anything to do with this! What are you going to him for? I said stay! Yeon!"

This brat of a girl was really starting to get under my skin today and I was beginning to loose control of my actions and words. I pulled her back with such excessive force that she fell back onto me, but I managed to catch her on time. But once i had my arms around her tiny little waist, i was having trouble letting go. "What do you think you are doing?" Her voice sounded unusually high in these circumstances and i could have sworn that I could feel her blush. I however, was in a rather different mood that I didn't want to shift from. "Why should i let go? Weren't you boasting a few minutes ago that you were old enough to handle having a husband?" "What does that have to do with you? Please, let me go..." "Do you really want me to let you go? Truly?" Truth be told, I haven't even had the time to get this far with Hui-Jee, and here I was, doing ungodly things to my one and only semblance of happiness here.

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I had no idea wha I said to make him loose this much control, but the man looked like he was in a trance when his hands began to wander around my body dangerously and his lips were already so close to mine. In fact, it was already over with as quickly as i turned around and I felt his lips pressed against mine with so much force that I almost fell backwards onto the floor if he still wasn't holding me by my waist. But he still wasn't letting me go, despite the fact that he was starting to scare me a little. Who on earth was this man and what was he doing to me? He was locked in a war with my brother, he already had a concubine, he had a lover in the village so what was he doing to me? Did he possess his father's never ending greed? Or was this a result of something i had done or said? Did I tease him? No, he was always the one who was flirting with me, even if he didn't realise it half the time. But then he started to take things too far when he kept trying to capture my face into his hands and trying to kiss me as if he was drunk. I tired everything in me to remind him of his woman since i didn't want to be the one who broke them up over this silly mistake. The very last thing I needed was for my brother to hear about this if he wasn't already watching me from outside. But what really threw me was the fact that he told me to stop mentioning his own woman when I said her name, it was as if he really didn't want to be reminded of her at all. "Please stop...." "Stop bringing her up, she knows that men are entitled to more than one women."

Excuse me? Men are entitled to more than one woman...did he have a clue what he was saying? Was this really the same man who lamented over his mother's death privately for over a decade? Didn't he always complain about her sad life as a maid/concubine? That one sentence pulled me back into my senses; I had thought that he was a faithful man all of this time...but I guess not. "Yeon..." "No! Stop it! You have a woman already...and if you cannot be faithful, then I do not want this." I really couldn't believe that i just came out with that without thinking twice. But Seon-Ho on the other hand, he looked as if he had been slapped clean across the face, and i was honestly contemplating doing so. We were both silent and awkward with each other for a few moments before i tried to usher him out of my quarters. But he caught my hand again when i tried to shove him out when he wouldn't leave, only to tell me that he had meant what he had said when he wasn't an unfaithful and fickle man, which just made me more confused than before. But i still couldn't look at him in the eyes before he just stormed off back to his quarters. But he had only made it a few steps when he was stopped by a panicked-looking Dal, who informed his publicly of a disastrous flood that had occurred in the North kingdom and how we needed to be prepared to be summoned early in the palace tomorrow morning.